Finding Your Target Audience and Niche

Who are you writing for?

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When I first started writing online I didn't have a specific audience that I wrote for. I just wrote whatever I felt like writing. You can't say you write for everyone because not everyone will care about what you're writing. I'm so glad that I settled on an avatar. That one specific person that I write for. That one person that was where I once was. I named her Penelope.

Penelope is 30-45. She is dissatisfied with her chosen career and is searching for her purpose. That thing she was born to do. Having Penelope in mind helps me to create content that she can relate to. It helps me to address her questions about her writing journey. 

Understanding the Concept of Target Audience

Who do you want to write for? Are you trying to help entrepreneurs? How about working mothers? Maybe you also want to coach aspiring writers. You will be able to come up with a wealth of ideas to write about when you know exactly who your target audience is.

Benefits of Identifying Your Target Audience

I figured out who my audience was by thinking about a problem that I solved in the past two years. I got that idea from Nicolas Cole. There were a handful of issues that I overcame but the one that I felt the most passionate about was my newly established writing habit. 

From barely being able to write due to health complications to writing online or in my journal every day of the week for an entire year. That was a major accomplishment for me. I remembered how scared I was at times to share my writing in public but there I was with my big girl pants on. Finally doing what I had wanted to do most of my life. 

Steps to Identify Your Target Audience

1. Research and Analyze:

I didn't automatically choose my niche. I analyzed the analytics of my posts on Medium. Most of my engagement came from my stories of my health battles and my love for writing helping in my recovery. 

Knowing that fear had played a part in me delaying my writing dreams. I focused on creating content for that as well. 

2. Demographic Profiling:

I settled on women in a particular age range because it was the same time period that I started wondering if I was doing what I wanted to do for the next 20 to 30 years. 

3. Psychographic Profiling:

I focus on people that have core values that make them want to learn about themselves, move towards their goals and help those that are a few steps behind them.

Discovering Your Niche

There are countless writing coaches, so you have to find ways to set yourself apart from the rest. My niche is helping new writers face their fears and pursue their purpose. There are definitely other coaches that talk about overcoming fears like imposter syndrome and self-doubt, but how many of them talk about facing your fears along with dealing with health challenges? 

Other people talk about finding your purpose but how many of them ran from their purpose for 30 years? I haven't run across anyone that has my story. 

Find where you fit in.

Steps to Find Your Niche

1. Self-Assessment:

Your niche should be whatever you are passionate about. The most popular are health, wealth and relationships but you can find success in the sub niches. If you can create a hybrid of all three you may have yourself something fantastic. 

Example:

Health-battling MS

Wealth-writing business 

Relationship-building an audience 

2. Market Demand:

When I was focused on writing about relationships, I studied everything that I could relate to. 

• Family 

• Parenting

• Dating 

• Marriage 

Whatever niche you decide on, make sure it's something that you care about. Something that you can write about for years to come. Find a gap in what's already out there and fill it with your life experiences. 

3. Combining Passion with Demand:

Once you decide on a niche based on your interests and passions. Do some research to figure out where your experiences will fit the best. And what problems you have the answers to. Then you've found your niche, your purpose in life. 

Strategies to Connect with Your Target Audience

Even though the algorithm makes me mad at times, I think Medium is one of the best places to write and connect with readers. Of course Substack is also a contender that I'm growing to love a bit more. 

Reply to your comments because people could just read and roll. But if they take the time to engage with you, show some appreciation. 

Make sure you are writing about subjects that your target audience resonates with. Know their pain points and goals. 

However you decide to package your content make sure it has value to your readers. If you give good free advice, people will be happy to support you when you have paid offers.

Conclusion

Finding your target audience and niche is essential for connecting with your readers. It makes it easier when creating content that resonates. Identify who you are writing for and understanding their needs.

• Identify Your Audience: Determine who your ideal reader is. Like I did with Penelope, a 30-45-year-old woman seeking her purpose.

• Research and Analyze: Look at the engagement and feedback on your content. This will help you to understand what resonates most with your audience.

• Demographic Profiling: Focus on age, gender, career stage, and other demographics. All these are identifiers that align with your target readers.

• Psychographic Profiling: Consider your audience's values, interests, and challenges.

• Discover Your Niche: Find a unique angle or combination of topics that sets you apart from others.

• Combine Passion and Market Demand: Make sure your niche aligns with your passions. As well as the needs of your audience.

• Engage with Readers: Respond to comments. Provide valuable content and build a supportive community.

Understanding and connecting with your target audience, you can create content that resonates.

Resources

Stephanie Rodnez is the creator of Godlywood Girl University. She started off with dreams of filmmaking but after trying to sell her films, she was told that no one would buy her type of films unless she had a companion book available. My girl struggled with goal setting and actually making money but then the Lord put something on her heart. 

She now teaches aspiring writers how to launch and run their faith-based writing business. Her filmmaking background gave her the skills to create comprehensive YouTube videos. Her subscription based Godlywood Girl website is literally a university filled with tutorials to walk writers through a variety of skills to get their books written, published and sold. 

Until Next Time

Have a good day, good person and keep writing. 

If you would like to see what I'm doing when I'm not here, you can always check me out on LinkedIn, X(Twitter), or my blog. I also post occasionally on Medium. 

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