Carlos and Communication 101: Know Your Audience

As a career writer and editor, I’m hard pressed to do much of anything without that lens on life. Now and again, I publish book reviews for Arabian Horse Travel. A recent book smacked of communication fundamentals disguised as horse training, so I couldn’t let that pass without comment here.

My review starts, “Humans and horses have built an incontrovertible bond over some 6,000 years now. Those who prefer paddocks over patios don’t look to explain this connection, although 105 million search results for the phrase suggests otherwise. Paddock people like me do search for a deeper understanding of this bond to guide them with practical tools for a better horse-human relationship. Bonus? A touch of inspiration. I found all that in Through the Eyes of the Horse by Carlos Tabernaberri (Moonrise Media).”

You can read the rest of the short book summary, but the essence of the author’s approach is enviable in its simplicity: know your audience. Carlos teaches readers that your horse is your focus (aka audience), not the other riders on the trail or the judges of the show ring. It’s Communication 101.

We want to influence behavior (buy this product) but we too often ignore the very people we want to motivate. Instead we create social content or ad campaigns we think the boss will like or the lawyers will approve or that will win industry awards. We might even think we’ve got the audience/customer in scope, but sometimes that’s no more than a line entry on the creative blueprint. It’s not enough.

What spells success for communications that influence is not unlike horse training. As I note in my review of Carlos and his approach, horses want you to walk in their hooves for a bit and see the world through their eyes. If you cannot see the outcome from your audience’s perspective, you need to go back to the drawing board. Or the training ring.