With the advent of the Digital (or Internet or whatever you want to call it) Revolution we are now fully immersed in, people have become ravenous consumers of content (information, how-to’s, self-help, ways to improve my business, and a ton of other things). We. Can’t. Get. Enough!
But we have also become very discretionary about this content…if it’s crap, it’s crap and we throw it away in seconds. We don’t invest any time in it and we have so much to choose from we move on. Think of it like the buffet line you are looking down at one of the casinos in Las Vegas. There is more food variety of food than you could ever consume. You skip what you know you don’t care about…maybe take a sample of something you don’t know about (if it’s good you go back for more, if it’s bad you didn’t waste a lot of space on your plate)…and there’s the food you really want a lot of because you know you like it.
THIS IS YOUR AUDIENCE (CUSTOMERS) TODAY…constantly going through the buffet line looking for things that they can “consume” relating to content with one primary purpose…HOW CAN THIS HELP ME IN MY LIFE.
Let’s define this “to help them in life” a bit more. This can be personal improvement, recreational activities, humor, analytics, research, business ideas, branding, and anything else that will help them in their life. Our lives aren’t one channel…they are personal, friends, work, improvement, and of course entertainment.
Here’s the SECRET TO SUCCESS with your current and future audience…IF YOU DON’T STRETCH THEM, THEY DON’T NEED YOU!!
Think about it in your own world. With a constant stream of new and innovative ideas, thinking, ways to do things, ways to solve problems, how to make your life easier, more fun, more rewarding (financially and personally), better work environment, and many others…why would you want old, stale information. Worse yet…why would you ever want an advertisement…you can find anything you want with a few clicks.
Your audience (employees, customers, partners, etc.) are all going through the buffet line…constantly. The question to ask yourself as a leader is this…”Are they picking me/us when they go through the line as a main helping, or taking a sample, or skipping us entirely?” With so many options coming on the buffet line daily, how can you remain the “food of choice” for your audience?
The answer is actually much more straightforward and simple than you think…HELP THEM MAKE THEIR LIFE BETTER WITH EVERYTHING YOU DO. Let me repeat this just in case you missed it…HELP THEM ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY HAVE A BETTER LIFE EVERY TIME THEY INTERACT WITH YOU!
My only CAUTION…you can’t help everyone…pick the ones you know (and want) to help and go all out on helping them. Let the ones you can’t (or don’t want to) help get their help from someone else. In terms of customers, find the segment(s) (and personas) you want to have a relationship with and help them. Design your helping for them. Learn what would help them…then build it into your business. If you don’t know, ask…they are dying to tell you.
Here’s an example…I love seafood. If I was the target audience, I would seek out all the buffet’s that had lost of great fresh seafood (nothing deep fried…ever). When I found the best buffet with my favorite seafood items, I would go back…again and again and again. And I would bring my friends…who also happen to love seafood…and they would bring their friends…and they would bring their friends. This is the goal of any business…getting your customers to do the marketing for you…bringing you more of the right audience. And your seafood buffet won’t attract those that don’t like seafood…that’s OK, someone else’s buffet will attract them (go wild over the customers you want and serve them exactly what they need…content…and they tell others). With social media, this translates to thousands of the ideal customers.
Translated…DESIRABLE CUSTOMERS SEND MORE DESIRABLE CUSTOMERS TO YOU!
Once you know what they want…go nuts…give them more of it than anyone else…CROWD YOUR COMPETITORS OUT OF THE BUFFET LINE. When you do this, you stretch their thinking…and they will remember it…they will thank you for it…and they will TELL OTHERS about you. In fact, they will go out of their way to tell others because you have been so helpful to them…they want others to know as well. And the best part…people hang out with people like themselves…so they send more people like them to you. This is why it’s critically important to know what audience you want to help…they send others to the buffet line like themselves.
Load up your buffet line…figure out (create a strategy and plan) the selection of items (content) your most desirable audiences (your ideal customers) want to see more of…and give it to them…lots of it. This is what they are dying to see in the buffet line (from you and your business). Capture that space on the line and don’t give it up…because your competitors are trying to take it from you every day.
