A networking site for Radio advertising sales professionals.
Audience Empathy
To write effectively for any audience, you need to know as much about them and their lifestyles as possible. A versatile radio writer needs to "become" a middle-aged businessman, an extreme sport enthusiast, a Latina housewife with three children, a retired corporate executive, or an African-American teenager. How do you reach each of these various groups if you aren't a member? Talk to them.
I advocate informal focus groups. How informal? At your next family get together sit down and talk with your grandparents, your little cousin, your uncle. Talk with people on the bus, in the park, at your local coffee house. What brings them joy? What's important in their lives? Do they listen to the radio? What commercials do they like or dislike? What insults them? What persuades them?
In short, find out as much as you can, so that when you create a commercial, you are actually writing about life from their perspective. How often should you continue this process? All your life. It will keep you informed about changing values. It will make you a better writer, better able to empathize with your audience. And...it can be a lot of fun.
Don't begin with any preconceptions. Simply ask questions, be open to the answers, and encourage honesty. With real responses you'll be able to create commercials that are more honest and will resonate with the lives of your audience.
As he travels about the country giving talks on advertising, Jeffrey Hedquist turns chance encounters with strangers into informal focus groups, until he is finally asked to return home to Hedquist Productions, Inc. P.O. Box 1475 Fairfield, IA 52556.
Phone 641-472-6708, Fax 641-472-7400, email jeffrey@hedquist.com or visit http://www.hedquist.com.
© 1997-2009 Hedquist Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.
I advocate informal focus groups. How informal? At your next family get together sit down and talk with your grandparents, your little cousin, your uncle. Talk with people on the bus, in the park, at your local coffee house. What brings them joy? What's important in their lives? Do they listen to the radio? What commercials do they like or dislike? What insults them? What persuades them?
In short, find out as much as you can, so that when you create a commercial, you are actually writing about life from their perspective. How often should you continue this process? All your life. It will keep you informed about changing values. It will make you a better writer, better able to empathize with your audience. And...it can be a lot of fun.
Don't begin with any preconceptions. Simply ask questions, be open to the answers, and encourage honesty. With real responses you'll be able to create commercials that are more honest and will resonate with the lives of your audience.
As he travels about the country giving talks on advertising, Jeffrey Hedquist turns chance encounters with strangers into informal focus groups, until he is finally asked to return home to Hedquist Productions, Inc. P.O. Box 1475 Fairfield, IA 52556.
Phone 641-472-6708, Fax 641-472-7400, email jeffrey@hedquist.com or visit http://www.hedquist.com.
© 1997-2009 Hedquist Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.
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