Yesterday I was listening to a conversation, when it struck me that the answer being given, wasn’t an answer to the question being asked: it was the answer to an entirely different question. It happens all the time, doesn’t it? You observe someone asking a question, and the responder answers a different one. It can happen quite by accident: either due to the pressure of the situation; or because you’re so focussed on one thing, you can’t actually hear another; or because you don’t think you know the answer to the question, but you want to be helpful in some way, so you tell them what you know.
It can also happen when you’re writing a blog post. We all want to write about things that our readers will find interesting, entertaining, or useful. We seek to advise, or inform, or engage. But however sincere our intentions may be, we can often find that our writing falls on deaf ears. It doesn’t provoke the response or engagement we’d expected. There can be many reasons for that, but a good way to test how relevant your post is to your ideal client, is to ask yourself two questions:
1. What’s the question I’m answering?
2. Is that a question my clients want the answer to?
If you can’t answer the first question, then chances are your post would benefit from more clarity; if you can’t answer ‘yes’ to the second question, then perhaps you need to get clearer about your ideal client, the problems they have, and what you do for them. If you need help in either case, you know where to find me!