Do you just post like a robot, schedule everything, and never respond? When's the last time you took a look at your target audience? Who are they -- really? In this episode of the second season of the Launch With Words Podcast, Bridget is joined by writer and social media manager, Carol Stephen, for an insightful conversation on the importance of empathy in our marketing.

"I think empathy is more important than ever. And if somebody's bullying somebody else, for example, that doesn't go over. You know? People are quick to jump in and help that person. I think that's become more evident over the last couple of years" Carol Stephen

Follow Carol on Twitter

https://twitter.com/carol_stephen

Carol Stephen's Blog

https://yoursocialmediaworks.com/blog

https://launch-with-words.castos.com/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/launch-with-words/

00:22.64
Bridget Willard
Hey hey! Welcome to another episode of Launch With Words. This is season 2, episode 8 with my very good friend Carol Stephen. Carol, how are you doing today?

00:33.77
Carol Stephen
But I'm doing great today. It's a wonderful day. We just had a big rainstorm and we're in the middle of a drought. So we're very happy. Oh yeah, everybody just loves going outside after the rain.

00:41.50
Bridget Willard
Yeah, that's good and I love the way it smells after the rain. It's just, it just feels, it smells so fresh and clean and it's just wonderful. Gets all the pollen out of the air.

00:59.35
Bridget Willard
So, when it comes to like you're small. I mean I know like you have roots in technical writing and you've worked with a lot of startups in the Silicon Valley area of the Bay Area of California but you also work with small businesses. So a lot of times you're doing the writing but I imagine sometimes people are like where do I even start? I mean what is your advice to small businesses who know they need to be blogging like we've said it enough like how do they even start.

01:32.74
Carol Stephen
Oh my gosh. Well I think the number 1 thing is they have to find their audience. So they need to know who their audience is. Like who is that person in the middle of their target? And I think for some people, that's probably changed since they started their business and they might not have revisited who their audience is. So if it's been two or three years I'd really recommend that people revisit figuring out who their target audience is. Now you don't necessarily have to pay somebody to help you do this but you you know you could find somebody who's just outside your business and someone who'll be honest with you to give you some advice.

02:14.35
Bridget Willard
Yeah, that's really important. Rhonda with Fat Dog Creatives and I are doing a presentation at our small business chamber in a couple weeks. And we're like your website has to talk to your customer. It's not about you and then we both said that to each other and then we both went and looked up our own websites really quick.

02:35.25
Carol Stephen
Ah, well, that's right because I was thinking about my own business and it's changed so much. So I mean this is something that I'm telling myself as much as I'm telling the person listening to this that um that person that you were targeting is not the same person. And that that goes for everybody. So a refresh is good even if it is the same audience is it's a good reminder to do this exercise to figure out who that person is so.

03:03.60