Knowing Your Audience,
Speaking the Language
by Danny Rubin
Account Manager,
Rubin Communications Group
Know your audience, speak the language
- What is content marketing? (2 examples)
- Importance of understanding your audience
- Classroom exercises in concise writing
- How to reach the Millennial generation
Know your audience, speak the language
Principles of Content Marketing
• Demonstrate your company or organization’s expertise and value through
content.
• Content is king, and it always will be.
• Don’t tell me; show me.
• Let other people share the message for you; nothing is stronger than peer-topeer recommendations.
• Find your niche and exploit it.
• Recent examples of content marketing:
o RCG’s Joel Rubin on lessons learned through crisis communications.
o RCG’s Danny Rubin on leadership lessons through Kanye West quotes.
Know your audience, speak the language
Understanding Your Audience
• Tone matters – how do your words ‘feel’?
• Are your topics relevant?
• How much can your readers handle? (i.e. length, depth)
• Where else do your readers go online, and what do those sites say
about them? (i.e. BuzzFeed)
• How do they react to content?
• Google Analytics determines who’s reading what and for how long
• Comment threads give insight into audience opinion
• Facebook fan page data reveals what has ‘virality’
Know your audience, speak the language
Classroom Exercise in Concise Writing
New York Times, July 29, 2013
Peaches, the gem of the Southern summer, are just not so sweet this year.
The tomatoes in Tennessee are splitting. Tobacco in North Carolina is drowning. And watermelons, which seem as if they would like all
the rain that has soaked the South, have taken perhaps the biggest hit of all.
Some watermelon farmers in South Georgia say they have lost half their crop. The melons that did survive are not anywhere as good as
a Southern watermelon ought to be.
“They are awful,” said Daisha Frost, 39, who works in Decatur, Ga. “And this is the time of year when they should be the bomb.”
Day after day, the rains have come to a part of the country that relies on the hot summer sun for everything from backyard tomato
sandwiches to billions of dollars in commercial row crops, fruit and peanuts.
While the contiguous United States as a whole is about only 6 percent above its normal rainfall this year, Southern states are swamped.
Through June, Georgia was 34 percent above normal, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National
Climatic Data Center. Both South Carolina and North Carolina were about 25 percent above normal. Alabama’s rainfall was up 22
percent.
• Condense the above news article into a 10-word description
• What’s the main point? What does the reader absolutely need to know?
• Which pieces of information are most essential?
• Can you say a lot with a little?
Know your audience, speak the language
Classroom Exercise in Concise Writing
Correct these sentences for brevity and clarity:
- Original version: There is just one thing that I just can’t seem to understand. Why do people write more words
than they need to in order to say what they are trying to say?
- Corrected version: There is one thing I can’t understand. Why do people write more than necessary to say
what they mean?
- Original version: The paper was written by the student who thought he had enough time to turn it in and was
trying to complete the assignment before the end of the day on Friday afternoon.
- Corrected version: The student thought he had enough time to write the paper and turn it in by the end of the
day on Friday.
- One possible answer to previous slide: Too much rain is soaking the South and damaging its produce.
Know your audience, speak the language
Targeting Millennials Through Content
• News To Live By is a blog for Millennials
that highlights the career advice and
leadership lessons *hidden* in the
news.
• It is designed for young people in
college or out in the work world.
• Columns appear in The Huffington Post
and Parade Magazine.
• 15,000 unique visitors a month
• www.newstoliveby.net
Know your audience, speak the language
What it Takes to Reach the Millennial Audience
• Must be authentic (‘ME ME ME Generation’ column)
• Lists are extremely popular (‘25 Things’ column)
• Everything needs to read quickly
• Happy over sad
• Power of sharable content
• Tips and tricks go a long way
• Consistency and clarity: always on topic
Know your audience, speak the language
Selection of News To Live By Headlines
• What Every 20-Something Will One Day Tell Their Kids
• Smokey Bear is Mocking the Millennial Generation
• 15 Career Milestones Everyone Should Reach by Age 30
• The Summer Intern Who Embarrassed the US Government
• The 4 Questions Every Millennial Should Ask in a Job Interview
• 9 Reasons Why Every Twentysomething Needs a Side Hustle
• You’re Damn Right I’m Part of the ‘ME ME ME’ Generation
• 25 Things Every Young Professional Should Know by Age 25
Know your audience, speak the language
Danny Rubin
Account Manager, Rubin Communications Group
danny@rubincommunications.com
757-285-7617