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Core Content Question: Sez Who?

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Earlier this week, in her guest post on our Say It For You blog, Erin Jernigan stressed the importance of choosing one’s niche audience before creating content. “Niching, she stressed, allows refining your message and rendering it much more powerful, creating a deeper connection.”

I thought about “niching” the other day, when, at one of my online networking groups, the discussion leader posed the following question: If you were to start a podcast today, what would you name it? My answer: “Sez Who?”. That’s because those “deeper connections” to which Erin alluded run in both directions.

When online readers find your content, not only is it important for you to have understood them and their needs and preferences, they need to know “who lives here” and be helped to understand you. That means that, in marketing a business, practice, or organization, we content creators absolutely must make clear “who lives here”, using opinion to clarify not only what differentiates that entity from its peers, but also what guiding principles are “held dear’ over there.

It’s true that, at Say It For You, I’ve been fond of saying that the “what” needs to come before the “who”, meaning that the first order of business in content marketing is writing about the audience and their needs. In other words, I have often advised, only after you’ve told them what’s in it for them if they continue reading, should you be writing about what you do, what you know, and what you know how to do.

Michelle Noel calls it “brand value”, saying that it’s no longer enough to offer great products and services, To build strong relationships, you must communicate:

  • Your purpose: Why do you exist?
  • Your vision: What do you aspire to do?
  • Your values: Who are you? What do you believe in?

Those “deeper connections” of which Erin Jernigan speaks? They run both ways. That’s why, were I to start a podcast, I’d name it “Sez Who?”.

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Clarity Before Content: Why Trying to Talk to Everyone Hurts Your Message

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“Trying to reach everyone means you reach no one.”

It’s a phrase we hear often in marketing circles, but most business owners nod politely and keep casting a wide net. They fear that choosing a niche means turning down opportunities. After all, if your services can help everyone, shouldn’t your message try to include them all?

As a strategic consultant and the creator of Define Your Light’s Roadmapping Sessions, I see this hesitation constantly. Clients come in with good intentions and great ideas, but they’re stuck in what I call the content fog — producing a mix of blogs, social posts, and website copy that sounds helpful… but doesn’t land.

Why? Because the message is diluted.
And usually, the root problem isn’t the marketing — it’s the lack of clarity.

I’ve Been There Myself

For a while, I wrote almost exclusively to parentpreneurs. I thought that was my niche – other business owners juggling growing companies while raising kids. And while I absolutely care about that segment (I’m one of them), I realized something important: the people who were actually hiring me weren’t choosing me because of our shared family dynamics.

They were choosing me because I brought calm to their chaos. Because I could translate their ideas into action. Because I made strategy feel personal.

The label didn’t matter. The clarity did.

Why Content Needs a Compass

That realization reshaped my business, my content, and it’s now at the heart of the Roadmapping process I offer. I believe in Clarity Before Content — the idea that messaging only works when it’s grounded in a deep understanding of who you’re speaking to, what they need, and what you want to be known for.

One client, overwhelmed by a sea of possible audiences, told me:

“I feel like I can help everyone. I don’t want to box myself in.”

She wasn’t alone — it’s one of the most common things I hear.

So we slowed down and worked through a focused series of exercises designed to bring her audience into sharper view. Instead of staying stuck in vague generalities, she began to see patterns — the clients who energized her, the problems she solved with ease, and the places where her expertise created the biggest transformation.

Through this process, she realized she wasn’t narrowing — she was refining. Her message stopped trying to speak to everyone and started resonating with the right ones. And with that clarity, her content began working harder — not because she was producing more, but because every word had direction.

By the end, her messaging shifted from general to magnetic.
Her website, emails, and even how she described her work in conversation became clearer and more confident — not because she changed her offer, but because she finally knew who she was talking to.

The Truth About Niching

Niching isn’t about cutting people out — it’s about drawing the right people closer.
It’s how you stop chasing and start attracting.
When your content reflects true alignment, the impression not only lands — it lasts.

That’s the kind of clarity I love helping clients discover — whether it’s in a full Roadmapping Session or a more nimble Marketing Sprint. These focused sessions are all about cutting through the noise, finding the message that truly resonates, and shaping content that connects with the right people.

That’s what clarity creates.
Not just better strategy, but deeper connection.
With your work.
With your audience.
And with the business you’re building on purpose.


Today’s guest post was contributed by friend and fellow networker Erin Jernigan, business & nonprofit strategy consultant,  at Define Your Light. 215 804 6870   www.DefineYourLight.com.

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Do Your Titles Encourage Ear Reading?

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“We actually we read with our ears and our eyes, so we need to activate multiple senses,” the Integrated Learning Academy points out. In fact, as Psychology Today explains, “we don’t experience our senses individually. Rather, our brain meshes with our vision and hearing to create our conscious experience of the world.”

In reading through my copy of Kiplinger Personal Finance May 2025 issue this morning, I saw many illustrations of the power titles have to “catch” readers’ attention through sound.

In alliteration, a consonant sound is repeated. The words don’t need to be directly next to each other in the sentence, but when you read the line aloud, you “hear” the repetition. Three examples I noticed right away in the magazine were:

  • Staff Cutbacks reach the Social Security Administration
  • Walmart Woos Wealthy Shoppers
  • A Broad Bet on Innovation

The repeated sound can be a vowel, rather than a consonant; the term for that is “assonance”. In both these Kiplinger titles, the repeated sound is the “a”.

  • A Cap on Overdraft Fees Faces the Axe
  • Get Back on Track After a Divorce

Of course, I didn’t need to peruse that financial news publication in order to find alliteration and assonance – they’re everywhere. The title of an advertisement for children’s clothing at the Lunch Money Boutique, “Elevating Style and Celebrating Childhood” catches our ear with those “short E” and “long A” sounds. Many popular consumer product names are alliterative (think Coca-Cola, Dunkin’ Donuts, PayPal).

As content creators, we teach at Say It For You, we can take advantage of the sounds of words to make titles of posts and articles more “catchy”, tempting readers to use both their ears and their eyes to engage with our messages.

Take time to create titles that encourage ear reading!

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What’s in a Number? In Content Marketing — a Lot!

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“What’s in a number?”  In the journey towards 100,000 CFP® professionals that began more than fifty years ago, Lynn McNutt explains, numbers not only reflect the trust and confidence that advisors, firms, and consumers place in the certification, they “quantify the momentum that drives the profession forward”.

“In the realm of marketing, numbers do more than just quantify,” Sowmya S of the ISBR Business School agrees in a LinkedIn article. Odd numbers, she adds, create a sense of curiosity and interest among consumers, while even numbers are associated with balance, stability, and predictability. “Numbers are ‘brain candy'”, Mike Hamers writes, because they automatically organize information into logical order; according to Mark Walker-Ford, using numbers strategically adds clarity and credibility to messaging.

Statistics, I explain to business owners and professional practitioners, can serve as attention-grabbers. In fact, using data in content marketing relates to the theory of social proof, meaning that, as humans, we are simply more willing to do something if we see that other people are doing it.  On the other hand, at Say It For You, we caution content creators to avoid becoming “numbers nudniks”, tossing numbers around for mere effect. Sure, readers may be temporarily attracted to raw data, but they need your guidance in understand what those numbers mean – for them!

In training content writers, I emphasize the value of using numbers (assuming, of course, that statistics are presented fairly and honestly). For one thing, using numbers in titles is a great way to set reader expectations of what kind of information they are going to find. But, where the words come in, I believe, is they put statistics into perspective, helping answer readers’ “So what?” and “So, what’s in-it-for-me” questions.

As is more than evident from social media and referral sites, people are unfailingly interested in who-else-is-doing-whatever-it-is-your-company-is-recommending-I-do. Online readers, in particular, look at what others are doing when making an online purchase of a product or service. Just as Lynn McNutt explained to financial planners, numbers can reflect the trust and confidence that others have placed in what you have and in who you are.

What’s in a number? In content marketing –a lot!

 

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Is Three Perfection in Content Marketing?

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Aristotle taught it. Hemingway used it. Matthew McConaughey still does.  In “The Oldest Rule of Compelling Writing”, Linda Caroll is referring to “Omni trium perfectum”, meaning Three is Perfection.  With the human brain a pattern-seeking machine, the smallest number it identifies is three, Caroll explains.  As an example, in McConaughey’s Oscar acceptance speech, he said that, in life, we all need three things: someone to look up to, something to look forward to, and something to chase.

 

The laminated student guide “Writing Tips & Tricks” by quickstudy.com advises: “Ask yourself what you want the reader to know about your topic….Think of three details or three examples for each idea.”  Quick Study is referring to student essays, typically much longer, much more formal, and more detailed than blog posts. In fact, their sample outline format contains three main ideas, each with three details and examples.

In content writing for business, by contrast, I recommend a razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of a business, a practice, or an organization.  Other aspects can be addressed in later posts. Focused on one thing, I tell business owners and practitioners, your post will have much greater impact, since people are bombarded with many messages each day. Respecting readers’ time produces better results for your business.

That doesn’t mean blog content writing shouldn’t make use of the “the three-legged stool” idea, with three examples or details supporting the main idea of each post, and using the three elements of:

  • Visual (images and charts)
  • Word content
  • Delivery (expression of the opinion clarifying the difference between the business owner and his/her competitor )

Three may be perfection, but all three of those must support one main concept in each content piece.

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