Two Words You Should Never Use When Building a Brand Platform
There are two words you should never use when building a brand platform.
1️⃣ TARGET
Don't ever use the word "target" to refer to the lovely people your brand serves. Even if you're just saying this internally, they can sense your energy. It's predatory and repellent.
What to use instead: COMMUNITY
Community is alluring. It's fun. Everyone wants to be a part of something. Why not give your people the feeling that they belong with you? As opposed to the feeling that you are going to line them up, aim and fire.
2️⃣ DEMOGRAPHIC
Marketers are obsessed with demographics: age, income, location, etc.
Omg, who cares??
I can't tell you how many times clients have given me "insight" that says their customers are women and men 25-60 in various countries around the world.
What am I supposed to do with this information?
What to use instead: PSYCHOGRAPHIC
I don't care where and when they were born.
What do they want? What do they lose sleep over? What lights them up? What can they not wait to do next? THAT'S what we need to know.
If you don't know what your community craves the most, we need to clarify that right away—before you launch, before you drop another product, before you post one more TikTok.
Personally, I have always had friends of all ages, backgrounds, and economic circumstances. I'm not interested in people who are in the same "life stage " as me (whatever that means). I'm interested in people who share my beliefs and desires, or who can help me expand in some way.
That's what you should do as a brand: find the people who believe what you believe and are excited by the same things. They may or may not fit what you thought your "target demo" was.
And that's okay.