153,000 Readers and Knowing Your Audience

While I continue to publish books, the most recent of which are Mastering Triangle Chokes and Don’t Wear Your Gi to the Bar, much of my writing as of late has been for companies and brands. I manage social media properties, I write copy for websites, I develop ads, and I do anything and everything in between. If it has words on it, I write it.

Ultimately, I love telling stories, and I got to thinking about just how many people are hearing the stories that I tell. I’m not at liberty to disclose sales figures for my books because of certain contractual agreements, but we can talk about the clients that I work with (in general terms) and the stories that I tell on their behalf.

Currently, I am writing for:

• A social entrepreneurship that sells jewelry to raise money for various non-profits.
• A healthcare non-profit in San Diego that works with non-profit leaders in their community.
• The brand behind a reality television series, which includes managing their monthly magazine.
• A New York Times bestselling health author.
• A financial services firm.
• A web and mobile development agency.
• A creative communications agency.
• An industrial equipment manufacturer. 

Using the low ends of my estimates and not taking into account my various publishing projects, my writing reaches a conservative estimate of roughly 153,000 people a month. In the first draft of this post, I broke down the audience for each client so that you could see how I reached that figure, but I eventually opted to err on the safe side of my non-disclosure agreements (because I love working with my clients!).

The audience for each client varies greatly, and it wouldn’t make sense to tell a story to a financial services client using the same approach that I would use for someone shopping for a new piece of equipment for their job site, and neither approach would work for a Facebook fan of a health leader.

When you write, the most important variable to consider is your audience. Whether you’re writing the next great travel memoir or sending an email to your boss, audience is paramount. You choose your tone, your pace, your word choice, and your structure based on your audience’s needs and perceptions.

Know your audience, and think about what is best for them when you communicate.