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You’ve probably already figured out which client profiles are non-starters (and swept the bad-fits from your client base).
But have you done the same with your email list?
If you’ve pivoted at least once—never mind several times—you probably have a few different audience segments on your list.
Say your old audience was Marketing VPs at big consumer corporates and your new audience is Marketing VPs at B2B companies in the tech sector.
Same title, vastly different interests.
Curating allows you to lean into the clients where you can do your best, highest value work.
Think of curating your audience in three ways: content, voice and selection.
Content means getting exquisitely clear on your lanes of content—the three or four topics you’ll be writing and speaking to your ideal audience about regularly.
Every time you write or speak, look over your lanes of content and pick one to dig into.
Just like niching down to a specialty, narrowing your content lanes allows you to concentrate and focus so you can get the most leverage from your publishing.
When it comes to discovering the right voice, imagine your absolute ideal client or buyer (here’s a link to my Client Avatar exercise if yours needs fine-tuning) every time you write or speak.
Pay attention to nuance and start using the handful or two of key words that your best people respond to. How do they think? What’s their worldview?
As you change your messaging, notice that those who don’t respond to it start falling off your list (that is a good thing)—as the best fits take their place.
To make curation work though, you must actually make a selection. That means politely turning away your less-than-ideal fits when they first show their colors.
They don’t like your style of taking on the industry bad boys? Buh-bye. Or the deep, thoughtful emails your people love that are 3x longer than your peers? Sorry, not changing.
Instead of feeling guilty (“Oh, I ‘should’ help them”), focus on your best people and leave the rest for someone else to serve.
There’s plenty to go around.
Related: Why Consistent Effort and Some Natural Talent Are A Killer Combination