One way is to partner with shared experiences they enjoy and create your own opportunities. Once you understand the idea, you’ll see a whole new way to connect with your audience.

A shared experience is simply something that your target customer already knows and understands. It can be the weather, a holiday, a major sports event or a cultural event. Listen to the town you live in. In Milwaukee, the Opening Day of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team is a cultural event. For baseball fans, they take the day off work and tailgate at 10 AM. It becomes a true cultural event though because everyone has seemed to agree that Opening Day is the final day of the brutally long and cold winter. Never mind that we don’t plant our gardens until Mid-May, Opening Day is the last winter day. In addition to days like Thanksgiving and Halloween, these special local quirks make for great shared experiences to use.

But, be careful because you only engage with the biggest items. TV shows on Netflix and music artists are likely not big enough to be a true cultural event. They may be events with a narrow audience, but only about 6% of the country watched the “Game of Thrones” finale. That’s nothing compared to the percentage of your audience blasting fireworks and working BBQ grills on July 4. 

Here’s an example that might illustrate the opportunity: Let’s say you’re a travel agent and you’re targeting Women 35-54 in a certain part of town. And, let’s say the shared experience you select is back to school. When you pick your shared experience, you need to think about it from your audience’s point of view. As a husband of a lovely mother of two kids, the back to school day is a liberation of some responsibilities and a break from the long summer. She’s hungry for a little “me-time.” With that perspective in mind, you simply infuse your product into a promotion or event to get their time and attention. Using your social media reach, your database and a few partners, you could create a “Back to School Relaxation Retreat” starting at 8:30 AM on the first-day school is in session. You invite women to come to a brunch restaurant for a delicious breakfast, a mimosa and some “me-time.”

Notice what we didn’t say: travel. No problem. They are invited by a travel agent; they know you are hosting and coordinating the event and you can ask in several ways what they’re interested in as far as travel. You could ask what their dream destination is on the registration form. You can do a 3-minute talk after everyone places their order about second honeymoons or all-inclusive, relaxing destinations. You can also give out brochures and small bottles of sunscreen with your name on it. In other words, you’re creating an event that is all about your audience hosted by you. Not an event all about you that you hope to find an audience.

Think about that for a moment. How many times have you heard your colleagues host a “cruise night” event and beg people to come? Hosting an event about your audience empowers you to be the organizer and host and then earn the opportunity to share your messaging.

This key distinction underscores the power our target audience has today.