The mysteries of this new world are many. If the old way to fame was to build a big audience while restricting direct access, the new way is to pursue a small audience and grant much more access. But those, friends, are two of the most important knobs to learn how to twist on this strange and futuristic machine. But let’s not forget that third knob over there, the Ghost A: advertising. Are you trying to do something in this new world? Does it matter that others see what you do? Then, it might be worth thinking about how these three particular forces work for you. And, for entertainment’s sake, let’s start with the third of these, first.
Advertising: The Ghost A
In the past, advertisers spent a great deal of money to access certain communities. These communities, by the way, gathered most often around some form of entertainment. Listen to the radio? There were advertisers there, hoping you loved Groucho Marx enough to tune into the Bird’s Eye Open House. Move to television? The Ed Sullivan Show had many suitors. The same rings true today. Advertisers still seek those who understand how to build a caring audience, dare we even hope for a community. But how does that work?
Audience: The Almost-Excellent Word
An audience forms when you entertain or educate (or perhaps both). A street busker knows how to play a few notes and draw a few eyes in her direction. Perhaps you represent yourself, and are a consultant hoping to book more clients. Maybe you are the manager of a marketing team, hoping to gather more interested customers to see your wares. Or perhaps you’re a true performer, seeking to gain attention (and the spoils of such) for your art. Then audience is your almost-excellent friend.
A quick aside: I say “almost excellent” because we all know that community is far more valuable than an audience. See also: the difference between someone who buys a Tiesto album and Lada Gaga’s army of Little Monsters
The requirement for audience used to be that it was very large. But this is the least true detail of this magical new world. We don’t need 1 billion users. We need some far smaller number (1000?) to satisfy our needs. Further, the audience has given notice: they aren’t interested in being called “you guys” any longer. They all have names, and they want you to know them. All of them.
That an audience cares is now quite important. That an audience understands matters in most cases. An audience is so much more important than ever before, but not in bulk. You need just enough. And they want access.
Access: The New Equation
In the old world, one of the qualities that made people successful was the inability of “normal” people to reach them. This exclusivity, this lack of access, for whatever reason also bestowed that person with magical powers that somehow translated into other kinds of power. If you were “big” or “famous,” no one should be able to reach you. This has shifted powerfully.
I have been blessed to meet and communicate with some amazing people from strange and varied walks of life. I’ve spoken with Sir Richard Branson, the owner of over 300 companies (and counting), with personal development guru Tony Robbins, with the former Chairman of General Motors, and with many other fascinating people. The picture that accompanies this post is from a visit Jacq and I had with James Norwood Pratt, the world’s foremost expert on tea, as well as a historian, a poet, a spiritualist, and many more titles. (Jacq and I interviewed him here, and you should check that out).
Granting access has become, for all of these people, part of the next chapter of their success. By learning how to interact differently with people, in person, and also via these social channels, these people are growing a whole new kind of success. And that’s just the beginning of what needs to be understood with Access, because you must also learn to use these platforms to grant access to those who seek to learn from you, as well. Ah, see how tricky this can be?
The Three A’s Require a Lot to Tune Them
Should you wish to find some level of success (and please use that word to mean whatever you seek: money, new church followers, new listeners to your great songs, someone to consider buying your soap), learning how to court an audience (shhhh: and also to help turn them into a community), how to work with the new rules of access, and to understand what works and what doesn’t in the realm of advertising are the vastly important Three A’s that should become your dials to experiment with and calibrate.
You’ll note that we didn’t talk much about the meat of what it is you choose to do. Though that would be the most important part of what you’re working on, the point is to consider how audience has changed, how access is now something far more important to work with, and how advertising is not nearly as effective these days without an audience who cares and feels that they have access to you.
Chris Brogan
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/
Advertising: The Ghost A
In the past, advertisers spent a great deal of money to access certain communities. These communities, by the way, gathered most often around some form of entertainment. Listen to the radio? There were advertisers there, hoping you loved Groucho Marx enough to tune into the Bird’s Eye Open House. Move to television? The Ed Sullivan Show had many suitors. The same rings true today. Advertisers still seek those who understand how to build a caring audience, dare we even hope for a community. But how does that work?
Audience: The Almost-Excellent Word
An audience forms when you entertain or educate (or perhaps both). A street busker knows how to play a few notes and draw a few eyes in her direction. Perhaps you represent yourself, and are a consultant hoping to book more clients. Maybe you are the manager of a marketing team, hoping to gather more interested customers to see your wares. Or perhaps you’re a true performer, seeking to gain attention (and the spoils of such) for your art. Then audience is your almost-excellent friend.
A quick aside: I say “almost excellent” because we all know that community is far more valuable than an audience. See also: the difference between someone who buys a Tiesto album and Lada Gaga’s army of Little Monsters
The requirement for audience used to be that it was very large. But this is the least true detail of this magical new world. We don’t need 1 billion users. We need some far smaller number (1000?) to satisfy our needs. Further, the audience has given notice: they aren’t interested in being called “you guys” any longer. They all have names, and they want you to know them. All of them.
That an audience cares is now quite important. That an audience understands matters in most cases. An audience is so much more important than ever before, but not in bulk. You need just enough. And they want access.
Access: The New Equation
In the old world, one of the qualities that made people successful was the inability of “normal” people to reach them. This exclusivity, this lack of access, for whatever reason also bestowed that person with magical powers that somehow translated into other kinds of power. If you were “big” or “famous,” no one should be able to reach you. This has shifted powerfully.
I have been blessed to meet and communicate with some amazing people from strange and varied walks of life. I’ve spoken with Sir Richard Branson, the owner of over 300 companies (and counting), with personal development guru Tony Robbins, with the former Chairman of General Motors, and with many other fascinating people. The picture that accompanies this post is from a visit Jacq and I had with James Norwood Pratt, the world’s foremost expert on tea, as well as a historian, a poet, a spiritualist, and many more titles. (Jacq and I interviewed him here, and you should check that out).
Granting access has become, for all of these people, part of the next chapter of their success. By learning how to interact differently with people, in person, and also via these social channels, these people are growing a whole new kind of success. And that’s just the beginning of what needs to be understood with Access, because you must also learn to use these platforms to grant access to those who seek to learn from you, as well. Ah, see how tricky this can be?
The Three A’s Require a Lot to Tune Them
Should you wish to find some level of success (and please use that word to mean whatever you seek: money, new church followers, new listeners to your great songs, someone to consider buying your soap), learning how to court an audience (shhhh: and also to help turn them into a community), how to work with the new rules of access, and to understand what works and what doesn’t in the realm of advertising are the vastly important Three A’s that should become your dials to experiment with and calibrate.
You’ll note that we didn’t talk much about the meat of what it is you choose to do. Though that would be the most important part of what you’re working on, the point is to consider how audience has changed, how access is now something far more important to work with, and how advertising is not nearly as effective these days without an audience who cares and feels that they have access to you.
Chris Brogan
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/
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