Glen Gould explains how mainstream and social media aggregate audiences for advertisers, not to inform. He breaks down how outlets target emotionally engaged viewers and shows small business owners how to apply the same tactics: identify your ideal customer, focus your message, evoke emotion, and repeat.
Sometimes I just want to bash in the TV. Hello again, Glen Gould here. It is time that you knew the truth about the media. Now I know that this is Wednesday, and on Wednesday I like to do a video that helps you in your small business or entrepreneurship. And of course, even if you're employed and working for somebody else, these tips can help you. And I promise that I will get to that today, but I'll get there by telling you the truth about the media. There's been a lot of talk in both traditional media, the press, social media, and even just general conversation about the media lately. And why wouldn't there be? We are obsessed with information. And while you may think that the media's job, and certainly traditional media, the network television and CNN or the newspapers, you may think that their job is to inform the public, you are absolutely Wrong. We could sit and we could debate the fact that the media that we think of, the media, isn't really the media at all. I mean, after all, the media is everything. Everything, anywhere that we get information, we are participating in the media. This medium right here of video is part of the media. Social media is a part of the media. Conversations you have around the water cooler could even be considered part of the media. It's where we get our information. So the idea that the media is biased really in that sense doesn't hold any water because what's biased is the viewer. And the truth is the media that we think of as the media—newscasts and informational websites and things like that—that are supposed to, in our opinion, inform us really are not. Their job isn't to inform us. Now, maybe a long time ago newspapers and maybe even network television, it had a responsibility to inform us, but But the idea that it would inform us without an opinion couldn't possibly have happened because it's being done by people who have opinions. The media's job is to aggregate an audience. That's it. They aggregate an audience in order to sell products and services for their advertisers or to justify investment in their company by investors. That's the purpose. That's the sole reason the media exists. It does not exist to inform us by any stretch of the imagination. That is a byproduct of why they exist. Now, this is important if you really understand it because then you'll know why the media is so biased. You see, in the past when there was 1 or 2 outlets for your information, the audience was broad and therefore their opinions needed to be broad as well. Competition for attention and eyeballs is so stiff that the media or individual mediums have had to find a way to get their audience to be fiercely loyal. So what they've done is, is they focused more and more on a particular position and less on broad-spectrum positions. That's why you may find that a certain outlet, in your opinion, is either liberal or conservative, because they really are. There's no denying it. They're aggregating an audience And to do that, they have to have loyalty, and they get that loyal market, and then advertisers are willing to advertise to them and spend money with that particular outlet. And this is very important if you understand it for your small business. The simplest example of this would be an employee working for an employer. That employee has skills that the employer wants, and therefore they have an audience for their product or service. When you become an entrepreneur or when you start a small business, you're now going to be trying to attract more people who have the same need in order to render your product or service to them. It's aggregating an audience who are interested in what you do. Once you understand this, you'll be able to leverage the information to do a better job of attracting the right customers for your business. It's as simple as that. This is why so many times I talk about the need for having an ideal customer and for knowing exactly what value you bring to that customer and repeating that over and over. Let's use this for an example. Let's say that you sell tires. If you're trying to sell tires to someone who does not have an automobile or a vehicle that requires tires, you're trying to sell an audience that has no use for your product or service. There's no possible reason for them to buy your product or service. Whereas if you're selling strictly to people who make automobiles, well, they have a need for tires all the time. It's a simple process. You need to find the audience aggregate the audience, and then talk about what's important to them over and over and over. Now, there's one last thing I didn't mention when I was talking about the media and how they attract an audience of like-minded people, whether liberal, conservative, or otherwise. Their further purpose is to keep you in an energized and emotional state. People buy emotionally. When you're energized and emotional, and then that ad comes through, you're far more likely to be receptive to it if you haven't used the remote to switch to another program. So understand that you must figure out a way to find like-minded people who want your product and service, and then you must talk to them about their needs and about the things that get them emotionally charged in order to get them into the position where they'll find you as the best solution for their problem and therefore purchase your product and service. And then do it over and over and over again. Remember, the media has no interest other than aggregating an audience. They're not here to inform, they're not here to enlighten, they're They're here to aggregate an audience to either sell products and services to by advertisers or to justify investing in the company by investors. That's their job. When you realize that, you'll realize that it doesn't matter what their position is. It matters what yours is and which one you listen to. Just like it does with your product or service. It doesn't matter if you're the highest price in the market or the lowest price in the market or somewhere in between. When you find that audience that is interested in what you do for them, what they need to be done, you'll be able to get an audience who wants to buy from you over and over again. So I hope that tip's helpful for you. Remember that we do new videos every Wednesday. Would love for you to subscribe. When you subscribe, you get the updates every week, and also I publish some other information from time to time. You'll be able to get that information first as well. Please like us on Facebook and share this video. I think it's really important, especially now, that we understand that the media really isn't here to inform us. They're not doing us any favors. They're doing favors for their advertisers and for their investors. And it's important for us to sometimes be exposed to something maybe we don't like in order to find out what we really do believe. We'll see you next week. Have a great week, everyone.
