How to engage audiences on complex topics

Sarah Brown
May 26
7 min read

Transforming complex subject matter into compelling content is a crucial capability for many brands navigating today’s digital landscape. It requires a nuanced understanding of your audience, a clear explanation of your offering, and creative storytelling that captures attention and drives engagement. To set your brand apart and deliver the most persuasive messaging possible, consider asking yourself the following questions:

To understand your audience:

What keeps my audience up at night?

If you want your content to truly resonate, start by uncovering your audience’s pain points to ensure you’re creating messaging that’s relevant, empathetic, and actionable.

Speak with your teams. Begin by tapping into internal expertise. Your sales and customer support teams are on the front lines and often have a clear view of the most frequent concerns and questions from customers. Ask them: What challenges do you hear about most often?

Engage directly with your audience. Conduct one-on-one interviews with current or ideal customers. Ask open-ended questions about their frustrations, goals, and day-to-day struggles. Not ready for individual conversations? A well-designed survey can be an efficient way to gauge common pain points across a broader group.

Dig Into the Data. Your audience is already telling you what they care about—through their search behavior. Use tools like Google Search Console, SEMrush, or AnswerThePublic to identify common queries in your niche. This reveals the questions they’re actively looking to solve.

Listen to the Market. Pay attention to where your audience naturally shares their concerns. Scan platforms like LinkedIn groups, Reddit, Quora, or industry-specific forums. Look for recurring complaints, frequently asked questions, or themes in discussions.

Build Informed Personas. Once you’ve gathered insights, translate them into rich, detailed customer personas. Go beyond demographics—include emotional drivers like fears, frustrations, aspirations, and common decision-making hurdles. This ensures every piece of content you create speaks directly to your audience’s real-world concerns.

What is my audience’s level of expertise?

Effectively communicating complex ideas hinges on understanding your audience’s level of expertise. It's important to gauge not only how much complexity they can handle, but also how much they expect. The key is to strike a balance—too much technical detail can alienate readers, while oversimplification can diminish credibility. To align your message with your audience's familiarity with key terms and concepts, assess their technical background before you begin writing.

Leverage your consumer personas. When you develop personas, you dig into their roles, challenges, goals, and what they already know or don’t know. This helps you predict how much background information they’ll need and what kind of language or technical detail will resonate.

Segment your content offerings. By publishing introductory, intermediate, and advanced content, you can then track which segments perform best. Over time, this data helps you refine your understanding of your audience’s expertise and tailor your content accordingly. Testing different content styles and measuring responses allows you to adjust tone, complexity, and depth to better match your audience’s needs.

Use industry jargon sparingly. While some industry-specific language may be necessary to convey accuracy and depth, use it thoughtfully. Prioritize natural, conversational language that mirrors how your audience actually speaks. This approach helps uncover the human element, even in the most technical narratives.

To connect audience and solution:

How does my brand provide much-needed solutions?

Your audience isn’t just looking for tools—they're looking for outcomes. They want to know how your solution drives growth, improves efficiency, delivers return on investment, reduces risk, or creates a competitive advantage. Effective content makes this connection clear by reframing your offer in terms of strategic impact. It answers their core questions: How does this help me solve a critical problem? How does it align with our goals? What's the business case?

Be empathetic. Rather than simply pitching a solution, demonstrate you have an understanding of the real-world pressures decision-makers face. Whether it’s managing tight budgets, aligning stakeholders, navigating complex regulations, or staying ahead of industry shifts, showing that you understand their world builds credibility. This empathy positions your brand not just as a vendor, but as a trusted advisor.

Earn trust by providing proof. Decision-makers are naturally skeptical and require evidence to make informed choices. Strong content supports its claims with real-world case studies, solid data, and testimonials from industry peers. These elements lend authenticity and make your message more persuasive.

Offer strategic thinking. Provide value by delivering insights that help leaders anticipate change and make smarter decisions. Whether through original frameworks, industry foresight, or practical decision-making tools, content that guides rather than sells helps position your brand as a partner capable of thinking at their level.

How does my brand inspire?

Great content marketing is powerful because it’s aspirational—it doesn’t just address immediate problems; it inspires a vision of what’s possible. Apirational content creates an emotional connection that motivates action. When someone reads your message and thinks, “I want that. I can do that,” you’ve moved beyond mere communication—you’ve sparked inspiration. And that’s what turns passive readers into customers, champions, and long-term partners.

Offer a clear vision of success. By outlining both the desired outcome and the steps required to reach it, you create a sense of possibility and direction that motivates your audience to take action. The message is simple yet compelling: here’s what success looks like, and here’s how to get there.

Demonstrate transformations. Effective content shows a journey from frustration to clarity, from stagnation to progress. The story is clear: change is possible, and here’s proof of what that transformation looks like.

Speak directly to identity. People don’t make decisions based on facts alone—they act on who they want to be. Whether it’s being seen as innovative, respected, forward-thinking, or impactful, aspirational content aligns with those personal goals. It helps the audience recognize themselves in a new light, reinforcing the idea that your solution doesn’t just solve problems—it supports who they aspire to become.

To tell a compelling story:

Who are my cast of characters?

Characters are the heart of any good story because they bring it to life and make it relatable. In essence, characters create a bridge between the audience and the story, making the experience meaningful and memorable. Marketers have a compelling list of characters to chose from:

Bring your consumers into the story. When you make your customer a central character—facing challenges, navigating obstacles, and ultimately succeeding—you shift the narrative away from selling and toward inspiring, making your audience feel seen and supported. When your audience sees people like themselves succeeding, they believe they can too.

Leverage your internal thought leaders. Using internal thought leaders as characters in your brand narrative can add authenticity, depth, and credibility to your storytelling. These experts bring real knowledge and unique perspectives that help humanize your brand and make complex ideas more approachable. By featuring them as key characters, you give your audience relatable figures they can trust and learn from.

Bring in external experts. Scaling your content efforts also means looking beyond your organization. Partnering with external experts and influencers can expand your reach and credibility. Their voices add authority and provide diverse perspectives, making your content more compelling to a wider audience. Collaborations like these bring depth and fresh energy to your messaging.

What is their journey?

Storytelling remains one of the most effective tools for holding your audience’s attention and drawing them into your content journey. Classic storytelling techniques can transform even the most technical subject matter into compelling narratives. Here are some common narrative structures offering different ways to frame a message:

The hero’s journey. This classic structure involves a protagonist who leaves their familiar world, faces challenges, learns lessons, and returns transformed. In marketing, your customer is the hero, and your product or service is the guide or tool that helps them succeed.

Example: A small business owner struggling with inefficiency discovers your software, overcomes operational chaos, and scales confidently.

Problem–agitate–solve (PAS). This simple yet powerful structure identifies a problem, intensifies the emotional or practical consequences of not solving it, and then presents your solution.

Example: “Managing your team’s workload is chaotic. That chaos leads to burnout and missed deadlines. Our project management tool brings order and visibility.”

Before–After–Bridge. This structure paints a picture of the current reality (“before”), then contrasts it with a better future (“after”), and finally shows how your solution bridges the gap.Example: “Before, your marketing felt like guesswork. Now, it’s data-driven and effective. Here’s how our analytics platform gets you there.”

Sparklines. This technique contrasts the current reality with an inspiring vision of what could be, creating emotional tension that drives the desire for change.Example: “Today’s education system is outdated. But imagine a future where learning is personalized and accessible to all. We’re building that future.”

In Medias Res. Latin for “into the middle of things,” this structure drops the audience right into the action to hook their attention, then fills in the backstory.Example: “The system crashed—again. Sarah’s team scrambled, frustrated. But just a month ago, they had switched to our new platform…”

The Petal Structure. This organizes multiple related stories or points around a central theme. Each “petal” is a different perspective or example, all reinforcing the same core message.Example: A campaign featuring five customer success stories from different industries, all showing how your product drives measurable results.

Common complexity topics:

Financial services (e.g., investing, insurance, retirement planning)
Healthcare and life sciences (e.g., diagnostics, treatments, regulations)
Technology and software (e.g., AI, cybersecurity, SaaS solutions)
Legal and compliance issues
Enterprise-level solutions (e.g., cloud infrastructure, supply chain systems)
Scientific or engineering innovations
Sustainability and ESG reporting

These topics are often full of jargon, technical detail, or abstract concepts that can be difficult for audiences to fully grasp or care about—especially if they’re not subject matter experts.

Storytelling helps make this content more impactful in several ways:

It creates emotional engagement.

Facts alone rarely move people. A relatable story with real characters and stakes helps humanize complex ideas, making the content feel relevant and important.
It provides context.

Instead of diving straight into features or technicalities, a story frames the topic within a real-world situation. This helps audiences understand why the topic matters and how it applies to their own challenges.
It simplifies the abstract.

Metaphors, analogies, and narratives make technical or conceptual content easier to digest. Storytelling can distill complexity into a journey that readers can follow step-by-step.
It improves retention and recall.

People are more likely to remember a story than a list of features or statistics. Story-driven content sticks in the mind, especially when it evokes emotion or delivers a clear outcome.
It builds trust and credibility.

Customer success stories, founder journeys, and expert interviews offer social proof and real-world validation. These stories show—not just tell—how your solution delivers value.
It guides decision-making.

Good stories don’t just entertain; they lead readers toward a conclusion. By illustrating a clear before-and-after scenario, storytelling helps audiences visualize success and take the next step.