Marketing pros are always looking to connect with their target audience. Who are we after? Who is our most likely customer? We are targeting them to do whatever we want them to do. For many that means we want them to give us money. Please pay here.
I’m all for getting money from people. In fact, if you like to give me a $1 tip, you can do that here.. Ha. Seriously, though, even though the term target audience has been around for a while and many use it, it just seems a tad overly aggressive to me. I am targeting you!
Let me submit for your consideration the term interested community instead. Who doesn’t want to be part of a meaningful community? I know I do. I certainly don’t want to be part of an audience that was targeted. Interested community seems friendlier, more inclusive, nicer overall. Plus, when we think about building community, it’s a different relationship. It’s about building stronger connections. Communities grow and achieve things together. There’s pride to be a member of communities we’ve chosen to be part of. Plus, when we create for interested communities, we might end up being even more customer-centric, because we aren’t thinking about our goals as much, but more about the community member’s best interest, which interestingly can lead to us reaching our goals.
Thanks for choosing to be part of The Authentic Storytelling Project community.
[Tweet “”I love my community of authentic storytellers.” – @ctrappe”]
Related:
Stop the call to action madness
Changing the status quo is so hard