The concept is simple, but it allows you to...
1) Think strategically about building your own audience
2) Analyze the relative strength of other companies' audiences
3) Understand the similarities & differences of different audience channels
Audience Building 101
Every company in the world is an audience company.
Whether it's a Media, VC, or DTC business, if you're not building audience Day 1, you're not prioritizing the right things.
Here's my framework for thinking about & building a killer audience 👇
The concept is simple, but it allows you to...
1) Think strategically about building your own audience
2) Analyze the relative strength of other companies' audiences
3) Understand the similarities & differences of different audience channels
1) Rented Audience
2) Owned Audience
3) Monetized Audience
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁: This is your top of funnel. It allows you to build mass awareness & is key for developing a relationship with your audience.
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘀: High shareability, high discoverability
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀: You don't own your audience
- Social networks (IG, FB, Twitter, TikTok)
- Video platforms (Twitch, YouTube)
- Search engines (Web content)
Examples of Businesses with Big Rented Audiences
- @BuzzFeed (Instagram)
- @GoPro (YouTube)
- @charlidamelio (TikTok)
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁: This is your opt-in audience. It allows you to build a deeper, more intimate relationship.
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘀: You own the relationship with your audience.
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀: Low shareability, Low discoverability
- Free newsletters
- Free podcasts
- Virtual events
Examples of Businesses with Big Owned Audiences
- @MorningBrew (Newsletter)
- @tferriss (Podcast)
- @salesforce (Event)
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁: This is your highest intent audience. This allows you to extract value from your audience directly.
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘀: Extends LTV of best customers
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀: Difficult to pull off, must be done with existing owned or rented audience
- Paid newsletter
- Paid web subscription
- Membership
- Commerce
Examples of Businesses with Big Monetized Audiences
- @something_navy (Apparel)
- @nytimes (Subscription)
- @MrBeastYT (Burgers)
Now, here's how to think about it with your own audience:
1) Rented Audiences aren't inherently bad.
You must leverage them responsibly. Use the power of platforms (size, shareability, discovery) to kick-off a relationship with your audience.
Remember, you don't own the relationship. A platform, network, search engine does. You must become great at building large, rented audience & moving that audience down the funnel.
Just look at @MorningBrew. We built an owned audience from scratch.
2.6 million email addresses later, we have the privilege of building up audience elsewhere.
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Should we go into the details of these 125 years?
SA is built on the exploitation of labour. That labour has functioned on alcohol unfortunately. Very few people consume liquor purely for enjoyment unfortunately. When SAB opened its doors 1895 workers were paid in alcohol- the dop/tot system. 2 years into SAB's establishment
The Prohibition Act is introduced. This means black people are barred from buying your wines, beer etc. So SAB's products are exclusively for white people. But during this period beer brewing by Black women is the norm. Ayinxilisi ncam ke this type of beer. Apparently it had some
Nutritious elements to it. Now some of the context around drinking culture during this time is migrant labour to the mines, further land dispossession, the Anglo-Boer Wars, Rhodes corruption (our first state capture commission if you will) which leads to his resignation.
This context plays a role in how our cities and small towns are constructed, how they lead to the confinement and surveillance yabantu. Traditional beer brewing is identified as a threat because buy now mining bosses have identified that there's money to be made here.
SAB has formed part of the fabric of SA for the last 125 years & we've stood behind the nation through its triumphs & challenges. After much consideration,SAB has decided to approach the Courts to challenge the Constitutionality of the decision taken to re-ban the sale of alcohol pic.twitter.com/40rWpJSW5b
— SABreweries (@SABreweries) January 6, 2021
SA is built on the exploitation of labour. That labour has functioned on alcohol unfortunately. Very few people consume liquor purely for enjoyment unfortunately. When SAB opened its doors 1895 workers were paid in alcohol- the dop/tot system. 2 years into SAB's establishment
The Prohibition Act is introduced. This means black people are barred from buying your wines, beer etc. So SAB's products are exclusively for white people. But during this period beer brewing by Black women is the norm. Ayinxilisi ncam ke this type of beer. Apparently it had some
Nutritious elements to it. Now some of the context around drinking culture during this time is migrant labour to the mines, further land dispossession, the Anglo-Boer Wars, Rhodes corruption (our first state capture commission if you will) which leads to his resignation.
This context plays a role in how our cities and small towns are constructed, how they lead to the confinement and surveillance yabantu. Traditional beer brewing is identified as a threat because buy now mining bosses have identified that there's money to be made here.
