When creating great content, it can feel overwhelming to try and understand what your audience is looking for. Often we are so deep into our own brand, we have a hard time taking a step back and looking at our presentations with fresh eyes. This is where setting some goals for your relationship with your audience comes in handy. It’s important to tailor your content to cultivate great relationships with your listeners. Three key factors an audience is always looking for whether consciously or otherwise, are expertise, authority, and trust.
Showcasing Expertise
Sure, you can spew off fact after fact in a beautiful presentation—but what does that mean to your audience if they don’t know your credentials? Think about the reasons you’ve been appointed to speak on your topic. Don’t be afraid to share those with your audience! It’s not bragging—its showing expertise. Great content comes from experienced experts in field of the topic at hand. Tell a story, make a joke, or make a candid comment so this feels more authentic to you.
Developing Your Authority
Just because you said you went to Harvard and explored your topic of choice doesn’t automatically mean that you are the foremost expert. Your audience is looking for others who see you as an authority in your space. Speak to that! Great content is full of these authoritative angles. Talk about who has deferred to you on the subject and how you’ve not yet lead them astray. Maybe speak to your failures and how you learned from them to know what you know now. People don’t just want to know what you know, they want to know how you know it and why they should take you at your word.
Building Trust
The most important thing that you can walk away with is your audience’s trust. Great content will anticipate skepticism and get ahead of it. Think about all of the reservations you’ve heard in the past about your product or service. Understand that, to some people, what you’re saying may sound “too good to be true” no matter how much of an authoritative expert you are. Break down for your audience the items that make them most leery, and earn their trust with candor, honesty, and a genuine narrative. Speak from the heart, and back up your statements with facts.
By showcasing your expertise, developing your authority, and building trust in your narrative, you’ll ensure you’re serving up great content to your audience every time you speak. This may take some soul searching! It may take some SWOT analysis. Perhaps you may require a competitor analysis as well. Do the hard work on the front end so your talk is a resounding success. Need a third party perspective? Ethos3 has been helping some of the world’s most beloved presenters achieve greatness for over 15 years. No speaker is too small, and no platform is too big for us to handle! Let us know how we can help you today!
