Last week I attended another fantastic workshop run by Rob Grundel, the founder of Somekind, a story driven consultancy. In the previous workshop we had focused on how to tell a great story but this time, at the WeWork offices in Southbank, we discussed the importance of knowing your audience.

Rob explained that knowing your audience in detail is important when telling a story as ‘without an audience there is no story’ - knowing who your audience is helps you make your story more interesting and relevant. This is particularly important for start-ups, small businesses and entrepreneurs as for them having a unique story and a clearly defined audience will help them build good PR and develop interest in their business.

Who is your Carl?

Rob asked us to imagine our audience as a man called Carl. He asked us each in turn to describe our Carl in great detail and then he asked us to say what we wanted our Carl know, do and feel after he had heard our story.

My Carl

My Carl is an entrepreneur. He quit his job in IT when he was 30 to start his own company. He had to move back in with his parents for 6 months. He started out on his own in his parent’s basement.

He has just got his first round of funding for his technology startup and now has 20 employees. He now wants to promote his business further but most of his money is still going toward developing his product so he is on a tight budget.

What do I want Carl to know after hearing my story?

After Carl hears my story about The Work Crowd he will know that as an entrepreneur building his small business, effective PR and communications is key to support his business growth.

He will understand that successfully communicating his value proposition to his audience will increase business and that PR will help him build and maintain a good reputation for his business. It will enable him to engage more effectively with his audience, influencers, the competition as well as with his potential customers; by developing his story and a dialogue with key journalists.

He will know that PR and communications is a good return on his investment and will help his business thrive. It can attract new customers, retain and maximise existing ones, open doors, generate leads, attract investors and ultimately boost sales and potentially the value of his company.

What will Carl feel after he hears my story?

After Carl hears my story he will feel that The Work Crowd is a trusted community of professional freelancers and that we are best placed to meet his business needs. We can provide a fast and cost effective solution compared to other routes available to him.

What will Carl do after he hears my story?

After Carl hears my story he will go back to his office in old street roundabout, log on his computer and sign up to The Work Crowd. He will post a project for a PR professional to help him for the next 9 months with a budget of roughly £1,000 a month. He will set milestones for each month suggesting what he hopes could be achieved by that time. He will tag ‘Media Relations’ and ‘Technology’ as the key skills that he wants in a freelancer and will be instantly matched to 8 fantastic freelancers. He will shortlist 4 of these that he thinks looks the best and will send them each a message to ask if they are interested.

He will go to bed happy that night knowing that he has made a wise choice.

Are you our Carl? If so register and post your project today.