Why You Need To Involve Your Audience With Your Creation Process
Being an entrepreneur is the new normal nowadays. One of the best things about being your own boss is that this can look a million different ways thanks to the internet. Perhaps you run a large social media account on the side of your regular job, or maybe you have a podcast, a blog, or copywriting service.
Either way, being an entrepreneur can mean running an entire company with employees other than just you. Or it can mean you are your brand and you mostly share links with your followers. There’s a spectrum, to say the least.
Regardless of what business you have, the size, and how you run it- there’s no doubt about the fact that you’re creating. Probably almost every single day. Because a huge component of being an entrepreneur is about creating in some way, shape, or form.
This post will speak to all the entrepreneurs out there who are in the creation process by sharing 3 ways to organize your thoughts while you create. This post will also emphasize why and how to involve your audience with your creation process in order to set up your next launch for success.
3 Ways To Organize Your Creation Process
Let’s be real, the creation process can be raw, real, and a bit chaotic. I don’t know about you, but when it comes time to create something new, it’s like the thing just comes through me. While this can be a really fun process to embark on, it can also use a little organization here and there. The purpose of these tips is to streamline your process, rather than dampen your creative spirit.
Write It Down
When the creative juices are flowing, sometimes I feel like my body can’t keep up with my brain. Anyone relate? One of the best pieces of advice my therapist gave me when I’m in this mode is to actually get the thoughts out of my head, and write them down.
So, instead of a million and one ideas swirling around, and possibly keeping me up at night- I need to actually write them down in any way that I can. Whether you love the Notes app, and make a Beautiful Mind-like list of things to do. Or, you go the pen and paper route. It doesn’t matter as long as you get the thoughts out of your head, and into reality.
Calendar Block
Lean into your calender during this time. Actually block off time for creation. So that the thoughts and the process are contained by the boundary constraint of time. While you’re at it, turn your phone on airplane mode. Don’t even think about touching social media- and just take that entire time block to pour yourself wholeheartedly into the process.
You’ll get a lot more done in this way, which means less spinning out at home about it. And if you work from home, then try to create some sort of dedicated workspace. Yes, even if it’s at your kitchen table like I’m doing right now- so that when you walk away from that zone, you’re signaling to your body and mind that you’re done.
Delegate
Now that you have your thoughts on paper, and you time blocked to make those lists into a reality, notice what you can delegate. Trust me when I say I know that delegating is hard. And it’s also scary to think about paying someone to do something when you might not be making any income at all from this project yet.
The beauty of delegating is that you get to stay in your mode of genius, rather than wasting your precious time and energy on learning how to do things that you don’t need to learn how to do. Thanks to sites like Fiverr and Upwork, there are a ton of affordable freelance options at our fingertips to help us in the areas that aren’t our strongest.
Why You Need To Involve Your Audience in Your Creation Process
Okay, now that you’re creation process is a little more streamlined, we’re able to talk about getting your audience involved in the process. I know it can seem a little scary to share your ideas with the world before they’re fully refined. But remember, done is better than perfect when it comes to launching. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, read my post to learn more.
Feedback is valuable
Getting feedback from anyone on anything can be intimidating. And there’s also such a thing as getting too much feedback. And trying to please everyone, which inevitably pleases no one. So, there is a fine line to dance when it comes to asking your audience for feedback.
It’s important that you understand your clear vision and ethos behind your project. So that the feedback you receive along the way will enhance this vision, rather than water it down. You want to feel challenged by feedback, without losing yourself, nor the integrity of your product.
Your audience are your customers
Let us not forget that our audience is our boss. We think we work for ourselves, but the truth is that we work for them. They’re the ones buying the thing that we’re putting out there. So it’s important to know that there’s a need for whatever we plan to sell. And, there’s also a want for what we’re planning to sell.
Yes, we want the product to be specific to your particular vision and be uniquely yours. But that doesn’t mean you can ignore the future customer-base altogether, because otherwise you might not sell even one item.
New ideas
Our audience has the ability to provide us with fresh new perspectives and ideas that we might not have been able to find on our own. Chances are, your audience is from all different countries. Meaning, they have different background, cultures, and beliefs which influence their thought process.
Allow the newness of these varied perspectives expand you, rather than intimate you. Remember, keep the integrity of your vision and ethos above all else, and then be open to the new ideas of your future customers to get inspired.
Creates successful launch
Allowing your audience to be a part of the creative process will inevitably set up for a successful launch. When you bring them into your process, you’re personalizing the experience for them, while also getting people excited about what’s to come, without giving too much away.
One of the best things you can do for a successful launch is the whole “teasing phase,” which is about creating countdowns, and alluding to new drops coming soon. This keeps people interested, on their toes, and making sure to follow along more closely so they don’t miss it.
Audience feels ownership
When your audience is involved in your creation process, they start to feel ownership of the product before it even comes out. This empowers the audience, and also increases the likelihood of purchase, because in some way they already feel like it’s theirs.
There’s an element of pride that comes with creating something new, right? And when we’re able to pass that along to the audience, they’re way more likely to rep whatever that thing is, because they’re proud to be a part of it.
How To Involve Your Audience In Your Creation Process
Luckily, there’s a ton of ways in which you can involve your audience in your creation process with ease. Also, thanks to the sophisticated tools of social media, it keeps all of the responses pretty easy to find, organized, and clear cut along the way.
Social media
The best way to involve your audience in your creation process is by using social media. I love to do this with Instagram stories with features like using polls, the question box, or quizzes. These are interactive features that are fun to use, and interesting to see the results of. You can always access the results, in the archive even after the post has expired.
You can also do this simply by opening the conversion through overlay text on a Reel, or an open-ended question in the caption. Both of these options allow for people to share freely in the comments. Although this option is a little harder to sift through if you have a high volume come through.
Mailing list
Perhaps you’re not a big social media person- that’s okay! I get it, it’s not for everyone. And, hey, maybe that’s something to delegate. Just saying.
In the case you want to expand beyond social media, let’s talk about your mailing list. Once again, you can share with your audience about what you’re doing, and end with open-ended questions that people can respond to via email, simply by hitting “reply.”
Another option is to create your own poll or quiz that you send out in your newsletter, to get the results in a more manual fashion. This would be more applicable if you don’t have a huge volume of responses, otherwise it might get a little messy.
Perks and discounts
One of the best ways to get people involved is to entice them into participation through perks, discounts, and special offerings. Say you do send out a questionnaire to your mailing list, let them know that anyone who answers will get *blank* from you. Ideally, you provide something they get access to immediately, rather than a promise for a discount on the item they’re creating that’s released sometime in the future.
You can offer perks or discounts in a big way, or a smaller bonus kind of way. You get to decide what feels like a fair exchange here. Pro tip, offer something that you already have, rather than creating something brand new to giveaway. Maybe that means you partner with someone to give away their product, or you giveaway something of yours that’s for sale.
You’re on the right track in your creation process. And, once you involve your audience, your next launch is going to be a mega-success. I just know it!
Have fun with it, my friends.
xx,
K