Ask Jupiter No. 2 — 'SOS! How do I talk to multiple target audiences?’
People contain multitudes and so does your business
Hi Jupiter!
I run a small (but steadily growing) consulting agency that works with large corporations knocking out very specific tasks. I’m also trying to eschew the pitfalls of capitalism at every chance I get. After years in corporate hell, I created my business so I could offer my services for good money but keep corporations at an arms length. Yay boundaries!
I hire people who feel similarly and share my values, whether or not their requirements line up perfectly with the job. I would rather hire an army of queer people that I have to train vs ever work with a crusty straight man ever again.
I also want to find other similar small business owners to partner with or refer. If the old boys club is allowed to refer each other on the golf course, I want to make it happen with other business owners, trying to keep money in the hands of marginalized people.
Finally, I'd love to find new clients who are also trying their best in the corporate hellscape, so sometimes I need to talk to these people too.
Because of all of this, I basically have three separate target audiences (but sometimes they definitely might bleed into each other). Do you recommend segmenting them for different platforms or content types? Is it okay if not everything you share is relevant to a certain segment of your audience? If I need to keep content separate, should I speak to talent via LinkedIn posts only, clients via newsletter, etc etc? What goes where? I feel like the answer could absolutely be "it depends" so are there any good questions you can ask yourself when either generating content or deciding where would be the best place for it to go?
— Spinning Plates Sustainably
Hellooo Spinning Plates Sustainably!
You busy bee!! You absolute mad man!
Running a business in the middle of ya know all this *gestures wildly* ain’t for the faint of heart and I am so glad you, too, are building an army of queer people to take over the world.
To lay everything out for the class, you have 3 key players you will eventually create content for:
Cool Hires 💻 🎨 🤞
Skills-alignment: 🟢🟢🟢⚪⚪
Values-alignment: 🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢
Partners in Capitalism Crime 🔗🤝❤️🔥
Services alignment: 🟢🟢🟢⚪⚪
Values-alignment: 🟢🟢🟢🟢⚪
Corporate Clients 🏦💼📊
Services-alignment: 🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢
Values-alignment: 🟢🟢🟢⚪⚪
Before you can dive into the specifics of juggling each, you gotta nail down your brand voice.
Brand voice?! What’s that?
Much like you or me, every brand has its own extra special voice.
Not to get all marketing professor on you but, Sprout Social defines brand voice as “Brand voice is the distinct personality a business curates to communicate with its target audience across mediums.”
Basically, imagine your brand is a person (even though corporations are NOT people LOL).
Brand voice is the reason the Duolingo owl pops his owlussy on main and Dunkin’ keeps Ben Affleck on speed dial.
Your brand voice is the bedrock of all communication.
Whether you’re sending an internal email, hopping on a client call, or presenting a pitch deck, your brand voice is a unified front. There are areas of expertise you are confident to speak to, jokes you like to crack, ways you like to explain things, and topics you don’t touch with a ten-foot pole.
Most professionals recommend developing that brand voice before you do anything else (I am no different) but I recognize that most small business owners are a scrappy bunch with a “figure it out as you go” mentality.
Now is that time to figure your brand voice out.
Honing in on your brand voice means getting extremely CLEAR on what you do, what you believe in and what you have to say as a company.
How you develop that voice is kinda up to you (perhaps good fodder for a future question). There are several ways to figure out your voice and even more to present the info.
💬 For the scrappy DIYers, I recommend something like Holisticism’s Baddie Brand Book (Free!).
💬 For the DIYers that need a lil more oomph, I recommend the Brand Messaging Workshop from Cool Copy Club.
💬 If you’re like, “I just want this done yesterday!!!” There are tons of marketing agencies that specialize in brand development (might I suggest VVITCH Digital).
If you’re getting itchy like “what if my three audiences are so different that I need three separate brand voices!?”
Shhh.. baby…no no no..
Do not be led astray by the urge to cater to every single potential audience member! It’s comes across disingenuous much like when people are fake IRL.
Ya know when you meet someone and they are sooo stoked on whatever thing you’re talking about (say living in a major city — omg! love it! couldn’t live anywhere else in the world!) and then you see them talk to someone else and it’s a full 180 (ew! it’s so loud! I need to move expeditiously).
*Oprah voice * So what is the truth?
Even though you have separate target audiences for each goal, your brand voice should be strong enough that if one of your three key players sees something meant for someone else and still thinks “that tracks.”
Brand Voice ✅ Now what?
Introducing Brand Voice’s hyperfixating, quirky sister: Brand Tone. Sorry to introduce more jargon here but I promise I’ll get back to talking about owlussy (jk… haha… unless)
To keep it succinct: Brand voice is what you say and tone is how you say it. Your voice should always stay the same. Your tone will change.
(If you want more on brand tone and voice, my friends at VVITCH Digital have an excellent blog on this topic: Brand Tone and Voice: Why You Need a Guide.)
You have a different tone with your girliepops vs your uncle vs your doctor, but they are all still you!
Maybe with your ~ Corporate Clients 🏦💼📊 ~ your first priority is coming across as efficient experts, whereas with the ~ Cool Hires 💻 🎨 🤞 ~ you want to come across more down-to-earth.
You’ll want to craft your brand voice and subsequent tones to address each one without diminishing the others.
I realize this sounds convoluted and complicated at first, but I assure you, it won’t always be. Just like public speaking or going to the grocery store high, with practice, you’ll be killing it in no time.
Locating your Audience 🔎
My sweet bb many-plated angel, are you still with me? I promise this will all tie together with a bow shortly (and a Hannah Montana reference).
I like your instinct to create content with a platform and its audience in mind! But here at Jupiter Content Co., we believe in working smarter not harder, so I’m NEVER going to suggest you create vastly different content for each platform.
Also you’d be surprised at how content intended for separate audiences still draws others in. Like seeing your crush in a stupid Halloween costume, maybe a little confusing? But also alluring? ANYWAYS
Each of your key players will largely seek out your brand in one specific place. You can think of where they land as a point-of-contact.
🖌️ I am painting with a big ass brush and guesstimating based on your letter! Hopefully, you can apply this framework with your specifics 🖌️
Cool Hires 💻 🎨 🤞
They find you through job boards
Point-of-contact: Job listing
Partners in Capitalism Crime 🔗🤝❤️🔥
They find you through LinkedIn posts
Point-of-contact: Social profile
Corporate Clients 🏦💼📊
They find you through word-of-mouth recs and web search
Point-of-contact: Website landing page
In each case, I’d make sure your point-of-contact content speaks directly to its target audience.
💻 🎨 🤞 Your job listing should speak to the hiring requirements and skills you value. In this space, you can keep it a lil more real with potential applicants (if you want!) and less so Standard LinkedIn Job Post.
🔗🤝❤️🔥 Your LinkedIn posts should showcase a mix of services and values to encourage folks to partner with you!
🏦💼📊 Your service-specific landing page should point directly to what you offer Corporate Clients and why they should hire you over, say… a crusty straight man.
Mix it all together and you know that’s the best of (many) worlds.
See, I told you Hannah Montana would come back around.
Let’s say you own an architecture firm that is “Not Like Other Architecture Firms.” Your brand is transparent and savvy, bringing a “won’t bullshit OR bore you” attitude to the work you do.
You’re looking to hire someone new and want to prioritize hiring an out-of-the-box thinker normally ignored by the traditional industry.
If you go into your LinkedIn job post guns blazing, “Screw the traditional industry! We are hiring daring people ONLY,” your potench clients might stumble across the post and think “Woah, wait! I don’t know if I want daring when it comes to structural engineering?”
However, a job listing that speaks to your desire for creative thinkers, passionate folks eager to learn, and maybe note you mentor candidates to meet all requirements if they do not already, your potench clients will be like, “omg! love that!”
Brand Voice and Tone ✅ Audience located ✅ What if I am still nervous about confusing or alienating folks?
I’d argue that the people that hire you already love you for what you do and how you do it, knowing that you approach the industry in a different manner than standard.
They might expect to see you push the envelope with equitable hiring and the icky underbelly of your specific industry.
If you know addressing a specific topic might hurt your relationship with a client, ask yourself, “is it worth the client or is it more important to me to share what I believe in?”
You really have to dig deep and figure out what you stand for.
At the end of the day, my many-plated friend, the right clients, coolest hires, and true comrades will understand and the wrong ones… you won’t have to deal with for much longer!
💌,
KP @ Jupiter Content Co.
P.S. If you’re like “Wait I have so many ideas can I borrow your brain for an hour?!” I offer 1x1 consulting, you can book a call with me here.
Have a question for Jupiter? You can DM Jupiter on Instagram of send an email to ask at jupitercontent dot co
If you have made it this far, I have a gift for u 🤲🎁
Holy cow this is so thorough wow we are blessed!!
Loved your distinctions between voice and tone! Honestly this post is a home run of a blueprint for anyone trying to figure out how to speak to an audience. Can’t wait for more ❤️