The Who: Enthusiasts
All enthusiasts have one thing in common: passion. It might be passion for a sport or other pastime. Maybe a product or family of products, a brand or brands, a lifestyle.
It might be a daily or weekend activity – and it is an activity, even if it’s non-aerobic, because enthusiasm requires energy!
They might do it/feel it alone, or with friends or family. Or with peers: Enthusiasts can be customers, patrons, and even vendors and employees.
Whatever it is, these people identify with that passion. They’re proud of it. They’re enthusiastic about it. And they want more.
“More” might be more products, more doing it, more entertainment, contributing more to it – it all amounts to them being more “in that world” in some way, every day. Maybe several times a day.
In the digital world we’re in, “more” starts with media.
All media have converged, and the web has enabled the “niching” of media. Technology is expediting this constriction, which has been going on since the first magazines, TV shows and even radio shows. This “concentrated splintering” helps us find and recognize enthusiasts, refine and redefine their niches – what they’re enthusiastic about – and reach them in new ways.
Niches and their enthusiasts are not the same as they were even 5 years ago. Recognizing this is the second step. The first step is understanding that every business has enthusiasts.
The third leg of the stool is understanding that good media (not “any media”!) is the key to reaching enthusiasts, and that anything digital IS media – meaning all companies are now in the media business and need to treat their media that way!