How much do you think your clients know about you? How much do you know about them?

Do you know if they have families? Where they live? Where they went to school? What other products they buy?

If your answer is no, then the real question is: WHY NOT!?

True communication means putting the attention on the audience. Yet so many of us worry solely about ourselves. ie: How do I sound? What words should I use? Where do I look? How’s my inflection?

These are all important points to focus on, but in order to truly communicate with substance, you need to also put attention and focus on the other person.

How can you do that when you don’t even really know who you’re addressing?

That’s why you need to do research on your audience! Find out what they care about, what’s going to resonate with them, and what they need.

• Knowing your audience better helps you figure out what content and messages people care about and gives you clues to the appropriate tone and voice for your message.

• Doing some research on your audience can also help you discover information to build common ground between you. Did you and your client go to the same school? Do you both have kids that are similar ages? Do you share a hobby?

• Being able to talk about more than just business creates a sense of camaraderie and likability. The more we like someone, the more apt we are to listen to what they have to say.

Researching your audience can also give you clues to the right tone and voice for your message. Recently I was speaking at a large virtual conference. My questions to the organizer were - what has the audience heard before me, will they have had a break, what does the audience want to walk away with? From there I was able to ascertain that I was speaking right before lunch and therefore I had a tired and hungry audience on my hands. That set the tone for my message. I needed to make my presentation more interactive, fun and entertaining in order to keep attention. 

Before you speak with an audience, be it a crowd or one person, ask questions and look around on the web! You should always be checking

• Linked-In
• Google
• Facebook
• Instagram

These are simple social media sites that can actually give you complex clues to help you better personalize your message. 

I always ask my clients if they’ve researched me prior to meeting and the answer is almost always no. I never understand how someone can walk into a meeting not knowing a thing about the other party. Because I know everything I can about whomever I’m communicating with, I have the advantage. 

So give yourself a leg up in the conversation and do some research on whomever you’re addressing. The result will be a more targeted and tailored form of communication with a message built around your client’s needs.