If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed that my bio has changed two or three times in the last couple of weeks. I am working on what is called my “I help” statement, with the help of some excellent coaches and an amazing group of fellow students.

You would be surprised at how difficult many of us are finding it to decide whom we help. Surely the products or services we have chosen to represent are great for everybody – every age, every stage of life. That’s why we are working with these companies, after all. So what is the problem?

As many marketing coaches have said, when you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. Your message becomes so generic that nobody feels like you are talking to them, and so nobody pays attention to what you have to say. This is true not just in marketing, but in everyday life. If you are addressing your spouse, your children or your friends, you use their name and make sure you are speaking specifically to them, not just declaiming to nobody in particular. There’s a reason people used to get odd looks when they walked down the street talking to themselves. Now we just assume they are on their phone. But in any case, talking to somebody specific is considered the norm in human interaction.

So how do we “niche down”, as the marketers call it? By imagining a very specific person, to whom we are addressing our content – such as this blog post, for example. As I write this, I am trying to see you in my mind’s eye, and make sure my words are relevant to you. I am not always successful, of course – some posts are better than others. I always know that I have a good one when I get responses!

This focus is no more or less than a discipline, which can be honed and practiced like any other. If you are a creative, free-flowing spirit, it can be one of the hardest things you might do. But it will do great things for creating your audience, at least to start with. Remember that you can always change the person to whom you are speaking, if you decide your interest has changed.

So whom are you serving in this life? Even if you don’t have a business, you have people whom you care for and want to help. Do you know who they are? How and why did you choose them? I’d love to know!