Finding Your Audience

What is an Audience?

For the purposes of CCCreating and CCCatering to the people we serve, notice we use the word 'audience' as opposed to 'crowd'. This is because we are seeking an attentive and interested audience as opposed to a room full of people who don't know where they are or why they've come there in the first place. (eff u Webster!)


How Do I Find My Audience?

Take a second and look into the mirror. What do you look like? How do you feel about life? How do you think? How do you live? Chances are your audience looks, feels, thinks, and lives in a very similar way to you.

Where do you go for fun? What are the odds that your audience goes there too? Try going there and talking to them about your event or service while letting them know how they can help and how it can help them. Don't get me wrong, introducing yourself as "Hi my name is this and iiHost that" while shoving a flyer in someone's hand is not a great way to break the ice and will probably gain you a fast reputation for shameless promotion.

The purpose of having an audience is to connect with people about your life, your thoughts, your feelings, your desires and everything else in between. The people whom you share these with are likely to be the first and most loyal members of your audience.

Whether it's your local coffee shop, open mic, or a social networking site, finding your audience is the first step to connecting with them. And connection is key to creating your brand.


What is my Brand?

The term branding comes from the process of burning a logo onto livestock, so that everyone knows who owns that animal. Branding in business terms has a similar definition.

You are your brand. You may have heard this or read this somewhere, and it still holds truth in Decatur. Your brand is your outfit, but it's not the clothes you wear. Your brand is your voice, but it is not the songs you sing. Your brand is what people recognize and expect from you. It is the type of service you get when you go into a restaurant, or the funky logo that your favorite independent musician rocks so well at all their shows.

Think of a casual restaurant like "Moe's". Think of their fun-looking logo, their outrageous menu titles, and their staff yelling a welcome across the restaurant to every customer who comes in. Branding doesn't stop at fancy logos and yelling "Welcome To Moe's" at every customer that comes through the door. It is reinforced by what goes on behind those images.

For instance; wouldn't it be weird if you walked into Pappadeux's and every waiter, bartender, and host suddenly stopped, turned to you, and yelled "Welcome to Pappadeaux!"? Why is that? It is because unlike Moe's brand, which is festive, casual, mexican cuisine in which you can accept a hollered greeting over the quick, humble, and shushed seating you would expect at a restaurant like Pappadeaux. This is where brand image is reinforced by the actual product. (The "Welcome To Moe's" greeting became so popular that Moe's made it their website's URL, talk about strong branding~)


To be more specific than "You are your brand.", we would say, "Your brand is an extension of yourself." (your look, your sound, your feel, your smell, your taste (nasty!)). As is your audience.



How do I Connect my Brand with my audience?

The short answer is they are already connected. Find the ways in which they are connected and highlight these as much as possible to as many of your audience and potential audience members that will listen to you. (Tip: Start with 1).

The Long Answer: Start With 1.

Who is your biggest supporter? Why do you think they support your craft so relentlessly? What do you have in common with this person that makes them relate to your music or art just as much as you do?

Answering these questions will start you on the path to making connects between your audience and your brand. When you begin to find what you have in common with your audience you are more equipped to finding out what makes them tic (not really, but my cccreative side wanted that to rhyme). What you are really on your way to is creating a better service for them, and thereby a better brand by giving them more of what they want. What they want is your perspective. And they want you to accept theirs as they see it reflected in you.

Get comfortable with this and highlight the reflection in as many creative methods as you can think of and actually produce. Soon, people will begin to make the connections on their own and what is born out of this mix of is a brand. It is what people think of when they hear your name, your tagline, see your logo, your photo, anything that has to do with you in any public sphere.

You have the ability to influence what people think of when they think of your brand. Always go to your biggest supporter (real or imagined) and continue create art, scenery, wordplay, merchandise, distribution, and events that reinforce the conection you have between yourself and your audience. Highlight the connections between yourself and your supporters, and you will have the tools necessary to not only create, but grow a strong brand that speaks to your audience directly.