Creating Flirty and Thriving Content

Have you ever seen 13 Going on 30? Do you remember the scene near the end, where Jenna (Jennifer Garner) and her ex-friend Lucy (Judy Greer) are both pitching ideas on how to save their failing magazine? I think about that scene so often, especially when I am trying to create marketing content or copy.

Hey there, I'm Chelsea Thatcher, and welcome to the first edition of my newsletter! If you are looking for writing and marketing tips, tricks, and lessons that I had to learn the hard way, you have come to the right place! Today, I am talking about knowing and understanding your audience.

So, back to 13 Going on 30. Lucy's pitch is up first, and it is... intense. Lucy wants the fashion magazine, Poise, to be "deadly serious," and so edgy that the Demon Barber of Fleet Street would cut himself on the pages. The whole presentation is fixated on d**th, with triggering phrases about dr*g ov*rd*ses and su*c*de. Honestly, I don't think that this would have been allowed in a Rom-Com if the movie had been made recently. It was blatantly insensitive to mental health struggles, and I know that it was for the story, but yikes.

Now, Jenna's presentation is so wholesome that it makes the editorial team, and the audience, teary-eyed. She talks about how they should feature real women with real success stories. If Poise is where women are looking for inspiration, then they should show inspiring women. The entire team cheered at the end of the pitch, and they walked away feeling as if there was hope for the magazine.

But, why? Why did this fashion magazine choose authentic and home-style over edgy and gritty? Aside from the fact that this is a fictional movie and that was how the plot would continue forward, let's look at it in terms of marketing.

Lucy did not take the time to understand her audience. She created her presentation solely on what her idea of fashion entails. Which is disturbing if you think about it. I mean, if she is always thinking about fashion in relation to traumatic d**th, should we check in with her mental health? But, Lucy never did any research into why Poise readers chose their magazine. Or, why readers were overwhelmingly dropping Poise in recent months.

Jenna went out and found herself, but also connected with the real women who read Poise. Her ideas and presentation were influenced by her experiences, but she took the time to see the "why." She learned and understood that her audience wanted a breath of fresh air in fashion, and she tailored her marketing to that.

Maybe you have a great idea for a marketing campaign. You get so excited to show it off to the world that you are shocked when it falls flat. You can have great ideas and strategies. In fact, you should! But if you run headfirst into it without researching why your audience chooses your business in the first place, you might just find that you become the villain of the story. Or, at least, the person who fails because they can't understand anyone else's point of view.

Do your research. Learn your audience's likes, dislikes, hopes, and dreams. Tailor your marketing to those specific and unique desires. That's how you find success. That is how you make your writing, and your business, thrive.