2.1 Out there waiting

Just because you think you have something interesting to say doesn’t mean anyone is listening.

It feels like the start of a hundred internet memes, and you should feel free to pick an appropriate openly licensed image to paste it into. As a statement it challenges the assumption that a sender always has a receiver, as in the Weaver-Shannon Model. It is tempting to think that your bright idea has a group of people out there waiting for it. When you think about communicating with customers, how do you imagine them? Have you heard yourself using phrases that assume customers are just out there, waiting for your product or service?

It is an easy assumption to make. For example, in the film industry it seems logical to assume there is an audience out there for a next super hero film, or for a musical based on the songs of a famous band, and so on. However, another way to think about it is that the audiences and customers are not out there waiting, they only form once they hear about the offer.

This is a perspective that comes from those who study politics and ‘the public’. It suggests that we really need to talk about public in the plural, to think about publics, with ‘a public’ only forming in relation a particular issue or idea. The formation of a public is entirely dependent on the ability of someone to persuade them of the importance of an issue (Warner, 2002; Hauser, 1987).

This concept is relevant to business enterprises because they too can be tempted to assume that there is a public out there waiting for their product or service. Instead, we suggest that the idea creates the market, with the audience or market brought into existence only when your product or service exists and people have had an opportunity to be persuaded of the value of your proposition.

Interesting as it is to flip your perspective on the audience for your communications, what does it mean if they are not out there waiting to hear from you? How do you find them, and how do they find you?

Market research can tell you where your customers are located, how many there are, how much they might be willing be spend, and so on. However, in order to communicate effectively and to tailor your message, you not only need to understand where your customers are but also how to reach them.