4 Things 50 Cent Can Teach You About Audience

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Four Things 50 Cent Can Teach You About Connecting with Your Audience...http://www.copyblogger.com/robert-greene-50-cent/2 of 18 12/2/2009 11:38 AMKnow your environment from the inside outMost people think first of what they want to express or make, then find the audience for theiridea. You must work the opposite angle, thinking first of the public. You need to keep your focuson their changing needs, the trends that are washing through them. Beginning with their demand,you create the appropriate supply. Do not be afraid of people’s criticisms—without suchfeedback your work will be too personal and delusional. You must maintain as close arelationship to your environment as possible, getting an inside “feel” for what is happeningaround you. Never lose touch with your base.~ The 50th LawAn experiment in reconnectionIn early 2007, Fifty decided to start up his own website. He thought of it as a way to market his music andmerchandise directly to the public, without the screen of his record label, which was proving quite inept inadapting to the Internet age.First, he decided to experiment. As he prepared to launch a G-Unit record in the summer of 2008, he leakedone of the songs on to the website on a Friday night, then the next day he refreshed the Comments page everyfew minutes and tracked the members’ response to it.After several hundred comments it was clear that the verdict was negative. The song was too soft. Theywanted and expected something harder from a G-Unit record.Taking their criticisms to heart, he shelved the song and soon released another, creating the hard sound theyhad demanded. This time the response was overwhelmingly positive.He put up the latest single from his arch-enemy The Game, hoping to read the negative comments of his fans.To his surprise, many of them liked the song. He engaged in an online debate with them about this and had hiseyes opened about changes in people’s tastes and why they had perhaps grown distant from his music. Itforced him to rethink his own direction.Creating a radical connectionTo draw more people to his site, Fifty decided to break down the distance in both directions. He posted blogson personal subjects, and then responded to his fans’ comments. They could feel they had complete access tohim.Using the advances in technology, he took this further, having his team film him on their cell phones whereverhe went; these images were then streamed live on the website. Made dramatic by Fifty’s flair forconfrontation, membership grew by leaps and bounds.As it evolved, the website came to strangely resemble the world of hustling that Fifty had created for himselfon the streets of southside Queens.He could produce testers (trial songs) for his fans, who were like drug fiends, constantly hungry for newproduct from Fifty; and he could get instant feedback on their quality. He could develop a feel for what theywere looking for and how he could manipulate their demand.He had moved from the outside to the inside and the hustling game came alive once more, this time on aglobal scale.
Four Things 50 Cent Can Teach You About Connecting with Your Audience...http://www.copyblogger.com/robert-greene-50-cent/3 of 18 12/2/2009 11:38 AMFour keys to the fearless approachThe public is never wrong. When people don’t respond to what you do, they’re telling yousomething loud and clear. You’re just not listening.~ Fifty CentFifty’s approach isn’t just for pop culture icons. His insights into rebuilding connection are universal.Most of us live in a society of apparent abundance and ease. We lack a sense of urgency to connect to otherpeople. In such a melting pot as the modern world, with people’s tastes changing at a faster pace than everbefore, our success depends on our ability to move outside of ourselves and connect to other social networks.At all cost, you need to continually force yourself outward. You must reach a point where losing thisconnection to your environment makes you feel uncomfortable, even vulnerable.The following are four strategies you can use to bring yourself closer to this ideal.1. Crush all distanceIn this day and age, to reach people you must have access to their inner lives — their frustrations, aspirations,resentments.To do so, you must crush as much distance as possible between you and your audience.You enter their spirit and absorb it from within. Their way of looking at things becomes yours. And when yourecreate it in some form of work, it has life. What shocks and excites you will then have the same effect onthem.This requires a degree of fearlessness and open spirit. You are not afraid to have your whole personalityshaped by these intense interactions. You assume a radical equality with the public, giving voice to people’sideas and desires.What you produce will naturally connect in a deep way.2. Open informal channels of criticism and feedbackWhen Eleanor Roosevelt entered the White House as First Lady in 1933, it was with much trepidation.Denied an official position within the administration, she decided to work to create informal channels to thepublic, on her own.She traveled all over the country — to inner cities and remote rural towns — listening to people’s complaintsand needs. She brought many of these people back to meet the president and give him firsthand impressionsof the effects of the New Deal.She opened a column in The Woman’s Home Companion, in which she let her audience know, “I want you towrite me.” She would use her column as a kind of discussion forum with the American public, encouragingpeople to share their criticisms.Within six months she had received over 300,000 letters, and with her staff she worked to answer every lastone of them.
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4 Things 50 Cent Can Teach You About Audience

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