Your audience is always right. 100%

Ojelola Ojelabi
3 replies
That's the thing about creating a brand, a company, or a personal brand. What "others," think matters. They are your audience. How they perceive you should be considered. It doesn't mean changing who you are. It means understanding: - Why Do They Come - Why do they stay - Why do they buy

Replies

Yassin Bouacherine
Hi! At what stage of the company do you think the audience is always right? I think it may differ if you are a startup or an established company. Great question btw! ;D Cheers
Yassin Bouacherine
@ojelola_ojelabi Thanks for answering! ;D I would add, for a startup in this context, there is this huge dilemma in providing a product in the first place, or at least the mock-up of the concept. At this stage, the audience would just be irrelevant, since there is nothing to base any critics on, etc. They would also not hesitate to tell you that they won't work for free at developing your own idea. I think that's what new startups are struggling the most about. I was particularly struggling between developing the idea and judging myself about the relevancy of this concept being given any sort of interest for those potential future customers. At the same time, I couldn't directly present the concept, since it wasn't done yet and on the other side, it had to fit a certain type of market I aimed for. I went and tried with Balsamiq Wireframe to create my first mock-ups. Then went on until I felt I was satisfied with the design and features created. But at some point, when I got to face the reality, I had to drop my ego and look at what people would think about it. I had the structure and foundation but this time, I had to start to be open-minded in developing something that would be not based on my liking only, but on the liking of those who come to get to know about it. As you said, they are the audience, and they are those who make it happen. For the other part, I had to change myself in some ways. I had this strong conviction (mainly due to the time spent in developing the app) to be in the right and people would fit perfectly into the way I designed it. But like you said, this cannot be done. It means understanding: - Why Do They Come - Why do they stay - Why do they buy This is truly the endgame of what questions should be answered and I am joining you on the audience being 100% always right. It's just gonna take a lot of time to get there, cause you gotta give them some content first to feast on. Even for fully launched startups, the ego may be a huge challenge to break through; it might even be worse. I think it's extremely important to remind us that the audience is the main concern. and we should not be overly protective about our "creations". On top of that, we think we know what's best for them, and that's a really bad mindset to have. Great topic! You made me rethink and reconsider my strategy completely on how I should approach those issues in a more constructive manner. Thanks!
Ojelola Ojelabi
@jack95 Agreed, there are nuances. An established company may have more insights into specific data that says otherwise from what their audience says. My statement was directed more towards startups as Product Hunt is a home for startups, lol.