Your focus determines your reality.
- Qui-Gon Jinn (Star Wars)
Recently I helped a client write a letter of formal complaint. She had done all the legwork herself, she knew who to write to and what to include with the letter, she even wrote a draft copy, all I had to do was edit it. The result? I scrapped everything but the first paragraph and told her it was too “wishy-washy”.
I have no idea where I got that term from but my point was this; her letter came across as almost apologetic, as if she were in the wrong for pointing out the council’s error even though they were the ones entirely at fault. The point of her letter was diluted, its intended purpose lost amidst irrelevant details such as her day to day job and other things that had no bearing on what she wanted to achieve. I asked if she wanted a reply along the lines of:
Thanks for your letter, we’ll look into it.
Or instead something like this:
Thank you for your letter dated 22nd July. We apologise for any inconvenience we may have caused and have taken action to remedy the situation.
Well the same can be said about blogging. Do you want a visitor to read your posts but make little to no investment in return or do you want to turn that visitor into a subscriber/paying customer? A no-brainer really, but if your posts lack focus then your point will be difficult to make and you’ll end up sabotaging your own efforts. The end result will not be what you expected (or wanted).
Knowing Me, Knowing You
In order to minimise the risk of losing focus there are a few things that you absolutely must know:
- Know your audience
- Know yourself
- Know what you want to say
Knowing your audience is paramount to any business. You could have the best product or the world’s greatest service but if you’re talking to the wrong people you won’t make a dime. Spend a large amount of time soliciting feedback from your audience. Find out what they think, how they feel, what problems they face. Knowledge is power, use that knowledge to address your audience directly using the same language they use to communicate with you. Once you master this skill you are already half-way home.
My client was writing a letter to the council, when I asked if her tone of writing reflected the kind of tone they use in their written communications the answer was no. So I asked why not adopt the same formal style. It’s what they are used to, it’s direct and may even make their jobs easier.
Essentially you’re communicating on the same level.
The other half comes from knowing yourself. This is not as easy as it appears. You need to know what you are capable of and what you are not. Don’t try to deceive your customers by promising things you cannot deliver. People appreciate honesty, don’t be afraid to openly admit your limitations. If instead you gloss over them you will lose that focus along with those potential customers.
In my client’s case she was worried about making the right impression, that she should be thanking them for taking time out of their schedule when all along they were the ones inconveniencing her! Part of my client’s job involves working with teenagers, disadvantaged teenagers. When I pointed out that she doesn’t deal with them in a “wishy-washy” way she said of course not, by being direct she commanded their respect. I rest my case m’lud.
Putting It All Together
Once you know your audience and yourself, focusing on what you want to say becomes a whole lot easier. Sometimes however, you can still lose your way; here’s how to stay on track:
- Don’t underestimate your audience. If you find yourself writing a paragraph just to explain your point in the last paragraph then you may be dumbing down your copy and you risk patronising your readers. Remember to know your audience!
- Adopt the “so what?” attitude. All through your post ask yourself “so what?” and if you can’t come up with an answer to justify what you have written, delete it.
What do you think? Am I being too “wishy-washy” here? Maybe I am being patronising? Is my own focus spot on? Please comment and let me know.
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