3 ways to touch your audience

One of the most common problems for many software engineers and content people is that at the end of the day they have little more than a hunch about what it actually is the user would find value in.

To many market research is not something you invest in. Instead you design for yourself. You develop what you would like to use. And - depending on ego - you know or pray that what you’re doing is going to be a massive hit. Unfortunately it isn’t so

Because if that was the case there wouldn’t be so many examples of services and applications going belly up without ever getting traction. There wouldn’t be the overly focus on fun and killing time instead of looking at solving real issues for people. And there would be - and this is my point - a lot more money floading around for developers and content producers.

So what do you do about all of this?

Well, first of all you step out of your circle and actually go and meet some of the people, you are trying to do something for. You observe, you engage in conversation, you listen - and you learn about their painpoints and your opportunities for adressing them in worthwhile way. You would be embarrassed to know just how little people actually perform this exercise, even though it’s crucial.

Second of all, you get the software of the content out to people, who are not your friends or immediate family and who may not look like you at all - but resembles the end user of your product or content. This will give you insights into what they really think playing with your stuff, and furthermore it will give valuable new insights as conventions have it that it is from people unlike ourselves, we get the most useful feedback.

Finally, you enforce a company regime where the user is king. You have not put yourself, your service or the content in the world, because you know best and because people should adhere to your every beg and call. No, you have been put, where you have put yourself, because you want to serve. You want to make a difference - and get paid for doing so really well.

It really is that simple.

(Hat tip to Bokardo/Joshua Porter)