What’s a book with no audience called? A diary.
Audience mistake #1: Going broad instead of niche. The riches are in the niches.
Audience mistake #2: Don’t know why the audience will care. Your audience doesn’t care about your book. They only care about what your book gets them.
Audience mistake #3: Mixing up psychographics and demographics and focusing too much on demographics and not enough on psychographics.
Demographics = Who people are
- Sex
- Age
- Race
- Marital Status
- Social Class
- Income
Psychographics = How people think
- Emotions
- Values/Beliefs
- Attitudes
- Interests
- Opinions
- Tribal/group affiliation
Primary audience definition
- Micro-tribe
- 1,000-10,000 people (rough)
- People who will be excited by your ideas, will implement your ideas, and will share your ideas with their peers.
- People who must know about your book for you to reach your objectives
My primary audience: Adults 30 and older without sleep disorders who have careers and multiple time commitments who know that their sleep isn’t great and want to improve their sleep to get more energy, improved focus, and overall better health.
Secondary audience (wider scope): Adults who want more energy and mental focus to improve performance in all areas of their lives.
Describe a typical person in your primary audience (avatar) using the following questions.
Who is the ideal person to read your book?
Blansden has a typical white collar job working in an office or cubicle. He puts in forty hours/week on average and sometimes more. He’s didn’t go to school for what he’s doing, and he’s not particularly passionate about his job but it’s what pays the bills. He dreams about having a different career and making an impact on people’s lives. He doesn’t have any major health issues that he knows about, but he’s overweight, doesn’t exercise much, and has a bad diet. He has a hard time getting to bed at a decent hour and has a hard time getting out of bed in the morning and hits the snooze button multiple times every day.
What pain is this person experiencing because he or she hasn’t read your book?
Blansden rarely feels like he has extra energy. He feels like he wastes his energy at work and by the time he gets home he doesn’t have the reserves to do much of anything else but sit in front of the TV or play on his iPad. He is often forgetful and sometimes has a brain fog that seems to have set in as he has gotten older. He tells himself he is going to work out or get some exercise, but when the time comes he doesn’t feel like he has the energy or motivation to do it. He has become depressed that his energy and sharp mind that he had when he was younger has waned. He chalks it up to just getting older.
What benefit is this person getting by reading your book?
After reading the book, Blandsden realizes that the way he is feeling is largely because of choices he has made. He discovers that not prioritizing sleep has set him up for failure. He knew before that not sleeping sufficiently was bad, but now he realizes inadequate sleep is very detrimental to his health. Blandsden makes a commitment to track his sleep and start using the strategies in the book to establish habits to improve sleep. Blandsden commits to a schedule, and makes sleep a top priority. After a few weeks, he starts to see improvements physically and mentally. He has more energy. He doesn’t crave junk foods. His brain seems to have been given a performance jolt. Blandsden has discovered the foundational key of good sleep, which has now given him the energy and focus to pursue his dreams and further improve his health.