If you’re looking to build an audience, it’s not just enough to create good work.

Yes, your work needs to be good, and while work that meets (and maybe even exceeds) the minimum bar of acceptability might be one of the only necessary ingredients if you’re creating a commodity, chances are, you’re dreaming bigger than that.

No, in order to build an audience around the work you do, you — and your work — must have something to say.

There’s no one specific stance or opinion all creators should take, that’s up to you to figure out. But your work needs to tell a consistent coherent story that resonates with your audience.

Often, this story might center on how your work was designed and created intentionally to serve people who were underrepresented in your space, or maybe as a pushback to a worldview or way of being that is no longer working for the people you’re seeking to serve.

At Counterweight Creative, we have a client who’s a dietician and health coach whose messaging revolves around creating a non-sexualized space for women who are interested in living healthier lives but who are sick of scrolling through Instagram feeds of scantily clad fitness models who look nothing like them.

Her methods are likely very similar to a lot of other health coaches who may run the very Instagram accounts she’s pushing back against, but her messaging tells a very different story and appeals to a very different group of people.

The story you tell must be true, and if you want it to resonate with others, it will need to resonate with you first.

Your story should be chosen thoughtfully. It’s the through-line that is going to run through everything you create after all, and it’s essential to be consistent in your messaging.

The best way to find a story that will resonate with the people you’re seeking to engage with is to talk to them. Discover their dreams, challenges, and frustrations and then create work that speaks to those sentiments.

You don’t have to have the perfect messaging right out of the gate, you probably won’t. Tweak and experiment until you’ve found a story that resonates with a small group of people and then run with it.

Most of all, just make sure you’re saying something.

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Want to hear more about building an audience around work that matters? I think you might enjoy these reads.

https://medium.com/@jeremyenns/your-work-good-enough-11e82fe6178bhttps://medium.com/@jeremyenns/your-work-good-enough-11e82fe6178b