As an introvert, I’ve always struggled in gaining attention from people by simply making noise. However, I found out that there are different and even more effective ways to get attention as a professional: first, listen and observe what people like, care about, and need. Create things you care about and enjoy, share consistently, build up relationships one by one, and repeat.
What do you need to know about your market?
To actually get attention, you first have to know some things about your target audience.
You need to know who your audience is and what they want.
Say you're marketing a news article or press release. Your target audience would be journalists. They are looking for newsworthy stories with an interesting angle to publish. You'll want to include facts that capture their attention and ensure they will want to share your story with their readers.
If you want to gain attention from bloggers, your audience is different: bloggers are usually driven by topics they care about. Bloggers generally want to share their thoughts or experiences on these topics with their readers, but the topics can vary widely. This is why being specific about your market can help you offer relevant value to them.
These fundamental knowledge on what your target market then includes their triggers, the problems they face, the solutions they are looking for, and what success looks like for them.
The following are some ways to gain attention from the market:
Listen and observe
The key to gaining the attention of your target market is understanding what they care about, how they express that care, and what they are doing about it. Before you start marketing your product, you should make sure that you understand who your target market is. If you don’t, you may miss out on an opportunity for marketing that would be effective for your brand and that could generate more interest in the market. One way to make sure you're listening is through social media. You can learn a lot by simply following and engaging with other people on social media.
There are lots of free tools available—from Facebook's page insights to Hootsuite—that will let you see how many people interact with you on social media and how many people see your posts. This information can help you determine who your target audience is and what they're interested in hearing about. This is your chance to reach out to them.
Create things you care about and enjoy
A lot of artists make the mistake of making things they think other people will like. If you're an artist, listen up: don't do that. When you make something you care about and enjoy, it'll naturally appeal to others. Anyone who feels the same way about that thing will be attracted to it, and anyone who doesn't will not be attracted to it.
It’s important to know that once you listen and observe people, you’ll already know what they want. Now your job is to create things that you care about & combine it with what you learned.
The best way to find your audience is by creating things for yourself and letting them find you. If someone else out there shares your interest in what you've made, they'll let themselves find it; if no one does, then the lack of an audience means you're simply making what interests you and that's all that can reasonably be expected from any artist.
Share consistently
Regardless of whether you're a writer, an artist, a photographer, or something else entirely, there's one universal truth about getting noticed in the world of art: if you want someone to know about your work, you have to share it. It's not enough to keep all your creations under wraps and wait for the right person to stumble upon it. In fact, if no one knows about your work, then it doesn't exist—even if you've produced the most amazing pieces anyone could ever hope to see.
So how do you get people to notice? Post it online. We live in a golden age of sharing—anyone with an Internet connection has access to a global audience. All they have to do is open up a social media account and start posting images and videos.
If you're sharing it on Facebook or Twitter, the audience is already there; if you're posting it on LinkedIn, the audience is there as well. On other platforms like Pinterest or Instagram, though, they may not be following you and may not even be aware of your presence. That's where being consistent comes in: by making sure that all of your platforms are updated regularly, you'll maximize the potential exposure of any given post and help generate more interest among people who wouldn't otherwise see it.
Build up relationships one by one
It's easy to get frustrated with the market when you're trying to get your business off the ground. You might feel like it moves too slowly, or that you're not getting enough exposure. It can feel like you have to build up your relationships one by one, which is just time-consuming and tedious.
The more you share your content, people will start reaching out to you for help or advice. This is where you can deploy empathy and help each individual with their specific need. listen to them & find a solution. It might even open up new ideas for your work.
While it may feel unnatural, it's important to build up your relationships one by one with people who could help you get to where you need to be. Some ways to do this would be to connect with your industry thought leaders and with your prospects as well. Engage with their content or posts, answer their questions, start a conversation, and build a genuine relationship and connection with your community.
Repeat
After all that, the only thing left to do is to repeat the process and integrate them as part of your business operations. It’s also important to monitor which one works for you, and to improve on what doesn’t.
Maybe you’re thinking, gaining attention is easier said than done. For introverts, it can be hard to start a conversation or event. You may start trying too hard, going out of your way to meet the people who can help you. But here’s the thing: stay true to yourself and build meaningful connections with people one by one. For now, let us try to be more observant and keep note of our market’s behavior:
- Which types of content do they engage in more?
- What are their complaints in reviews and feedback online?
- What language and tone do they use?
- What topics do they engage in with thought leaders?