Who are you talking to as a marketer?

(slow relaxing music) - So, you're a marketer and you are reaching people. You've got the stat sheet, people know that you're talking to them, everything is up and to the right. Except it's not. The real question is who are you talking to? And what does that look like for you? You can never have a goal around talking to a diverse audience. It doesn't exist, because you're already doing it. Whether you know how you sound to the groups of people you're talking to is a completely other question. It's right, yeah, it's here? As a marketer, you're dealing with this constant tension of the perception of what it is you're doing and how you'd like that to be received and the reality of how the audience you're intending to receive that message is going about their life and engaging with the things you're doing. Not acknowledging that tension can lead you down a really, really dangerous path of starting to perform and having diversity become a stage show. The problem with performance is is they're not substantive. They're not deep and they're actually not reflective of what you're trying to do which is connect, engage, and grow along with people. So, how do we start thinking about solutions? Well, first, we have to get really honest about the things we're already doing. So, we've got messaging out there. How are people reacting to it? And what is the messaging potentially saying that we didn't mean it to. The second question or thought starter for you is more inward focused. It's around are we providing the things that we want? Or is this about the audience we're trying to connect to, needs and wants from us? If we're only focused on what we think is going to work, we limit the amount of ideas and innovation we can see that already exists everywhere that audience we're trying to talk to is doing and making things. A quick, nope, not quick, it's going to be long. A word of caution. We love data, it informs what we do, it helps us make faster decisions but it doesn't give us the full picture. Data is a telescope but what you need is the right lens to see past and into what you're trying to reach. That right lens might begin with you acknowledging the things you might not have actually focused on before, the dissenters, the people who might not like you, there's innovation there. If they're not engaged with you, what are they engaged in? Why, for how long, what is their loyalty to? Understanding those questions helps you build a customized lens for what you're trying to reach and can give you all the insights you need combined with the data you've already been getting to refine your strategy and find out exactly what you need to focus on going forward.