Are you my audience?

I'm sitting at the Rockets game tonight thinking, this audience is great! Before losing to the Boston Celtics and ending the Rockets' 22-0 winning streak, our fans were HOT and excited about being one of the best teams in the league today. We were really pumped like no other game before. But right after the fourth quarter started, the crowd started to drizzle out. Why? Because the team seemingly wasn't trying as hard anymore. The coach pulled all the starters and allowed others some playing time. So why do people leave? They think the content of the game is gone. Why did I stay the whole game? Because I don't truly believe in leaving especially when the team has accomplished a 22-0 winning streak. That's something to be proud of staying til the end of the game to applaud how far they have come (and without Yao Ming I add).

I'm pretty sure I lost some of you already so I'll get to my point. First, content is KING. EVERYONE knows that and if you don't know that by now, well, jot it down and post it on your forehead. Now to my point - KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! It's quite simple, really, but at the same time it's down right freaking difficult.

This is what has worked for me so far:

• What's in it for me? That's the attitude of your audience and you can win/lose them but telling them what you can offer them with your product or service.
  
• I don't have time!
  Tell me what I need to know quickly or don't tell me at all. That's 2 to 3 seconds you have to capture a person's attention with an ad or promotion or whatever you have. Use that time wisely!
• Be honest
  Your audience wants to know the truth. They will like you and respect you more for it. Don't lose your audience in fancy copy. You can be direct and to the point without being too wordy.
  

That seems pretty easy right? Yes and no. Here's an example:

Sarah Lacy's interview with Mark Zuckerberg at SxSW keynote on 3/8/08:
She knew her interviewer (pretty well I suppose since they had met and talked the night before and maybe a time or two before that). As for the audience, once she opened her mouth, we all knew the interview was going to be long and painful. We were just hoping that she would get to something good and interesting. It's a room full of techys and geeks. Unfortunately, it took a few people from the audience to just tell her straight out what they wanted. Don't just research your content, research your audience too. Find out what they want from you (and no, don't just ask your friends/family).

This doesn't just apply to marketing campaigns, it applies to your work as well. Our whole department took a work personality quiz called, DiSC. I'm 50/50 D and C (yes capital D, capital C) which loosely translates into D=reacts and makes decisions quickly and C=gathers all the information before starting a project. i = social, extroverted personalities and S=supportive personalities. After revealing everyone's results, we all started to understand how each person works. Ah! KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! When my colleagues interact with me, they know I like it better if they just get to the point because they know I get the work done quickly/efficiently. When I talk to "i" personalities, I know I should let them talk because that's their thing. With "C's" I know I need to get all my data before I even go up to them. To all you "S" personalities... YOU ROCK! It must be that helpful nature. Knowing your audience allows you to understand how you need to communicate with them. You figure out how best to get your message across just by knowing your audience.

What about the Rockets? It just goes back to content. Watching a losing game is not fun. For some reason, we just haven't bred those "die hard" fans yet but they are definitely there. They are definitely trying with the RED ROWDIES. Do they know their audience? Of course! People wouldn't attend if they didn't want to watch the game. In the same sense, how do you make them stay the whole game? That's the hard part.

The world we live is so fast paced and "real time" than it was a year ago. As technology evolves, so does our life and how we live it. Understand what your audience wants from you! YOU will benefit from it. THEY will love you for it.

Thanks, Y'all!