The Art of Staying Disconnected

Based on the content I currently consume, and my general awareness in entertainment, politics, and recent pop culture - I am more American than Indian, anti-national as it may sound. While there is no right or wrong in choosing the content one needs to consume, I am of the opinion that it always helps to learn what our core consumers identify with. And for that, there are only two ways I can think of

Consume (watch/read) content that the core TG reads, and try to understand why they identify with it.

Meet people and have unbiased conversations with them on a daily basis. Try and delve deeper into what excites them, what disappoints them and how you can try and genuinely delight them. You'd be surprised at how the answers are different from those in your head.

The above two points sound easy, but over the past few months, I've found it really difficult to put into practice. What makes us turn our noses up and laugh at/get offended by most of the GEC content that's out there without actually consuming it? If we look at the people we meet and the conversations we have on a daily basis, what percentage of it is with our core TG? What makes our audience laugh, and what makes them proud, or angry? What makes us feel confident that we can make products, craft communication and design campaigns that speak to and delight people we hardly know?

Unfortunately, most of us have perfected the Art of Staying Disconnected. We love living in a world where we're blissfully oblivious about the very consumers we're trying to delight. We base our communication on assumptions and hear-say, paying no heed to the real aspirations and world view of our core TG.

I firmly believe that, in marketing (and otherwise), if the story works, the numbers generally add up. But for the story to work, we first need to know what our audience likes listening to :)

PS: Yet another Saturday night ramble that may barely qualify as a legit post :)