Who Is My Audience?

Advertising pieces are audience-driven tools. They are extensions of an organization's brand's promise to customers. I have been fortunate enough to be on the developing end of communication pieces that address the needs of the businesses and organizations that I represent, and the needs of their prospective clients and stakeholders.

My strategy for developing advertising copy that gets results is to first identify the overall goal. Oftentimes short-term goals have a different objective than long-term goals. If our overall contract is engagement to develop a branding campaign that raises awareness, it’s not uncommon that a client will have a short-term goal that drives traffic into their business, or enrollment into their classes. In reviewing this goal, I seek to answer the following:

After creating a profile-or multiple profiles-of my audience, I identify rhetorical appeals that I can employ to generate compelling copy. This step is often missing in standard agency copywriting where they take a market approach that fails to take into account rhetorical techniques.

I then review other pieces that have been done in the space in which I’m writing. Again, I love the idea of building upon other texts. When audiences are in need of a product or service, the outcome desired is the same: an improved situation. So whether it’s a college education, or the attaining of a GED®, or banking services, audiences want a “better” from any new experience they have with a product or service. I keep that in mind as I’m reviewing muses for the intertextuality they bring to the process.

The following represents a sampling of advertising pieces that I have developed as a member of The Design Group team. I am pleased to have shared these pieces with my clients and the public across my nine-year career.

  1. Direct Mail Examples
  2. Radio Files
  3. Social Media Creative
  4. Television Spots

Outcomes Addressed

Analyzing a variety of rhetorical situations: