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September 13, 2009

the twenty

10 Comments

[A car­toon I did for Debo­rah Schultz back in 2007.]

Yes­ter­day on Twit­ter, I wrote:

“There are roughly 20 peo­ple in your space who mat­ter. They’re either rea­ding your blog, or they’re not.”

 

I don’t know what industry you work in, but I do know that the num­ber of peo­ple who “own the con­ver­sa­tion” in your space is very, very small.

When I wor­ked with English Cut, a Savile Row tai­lor [$5000 hand-made suits], the num­ber was about twelve. When I wor­ked with Stormhoek in the UK wine busi­ness, the num­ber was pro­bably even sma­ller [80% of the wine sold in the UK is from the same four or five large super­mar­ket chains].

And by the time we were done, all the peo­ple who mat­te­red to us in both these busi­nes­ses were rea­ding our blogs. We saw to it. We made sure it hap­pe­ned. We made sure “the con­ver­sa­tion” was inte­res­ting enough that they really had no choice.

I would sug­gest that right this minute, you make a list of the twenty or so peo­ple in your space who mat­ter. Then ask your­self, who on this list is actually rea­ding your stuff, actually follows what you’re up to, actually knows that you exist?

If most of the peo­ple on the list are rea­ding you, the others will follow. If they’re not, then you’ve got a wee bit of a mar­ke­ting problem.

But at least now you know what that pro­blem is…

[UPDATE:] I like what Gary Wal­ter said in the com­ments below:

This […] goes right along with my phi­lo­sophy of life. I nee­ded the remin­der though. As my blog has got­ten more popu­lar, I’ve found myself wri­ting to the exten­ded audience. Howe­ver, if I’m not wri­ting to/for my core, then nothing I write is worth the elec­trons that carry it.

Exactly.

[Backs­tory: About Hugh. E-mail Hugh. Twit­ter. News­let­ter. Book. Inter­view One. Inter­view Two. EVIL PLANS. Limi­ted Edi­tion Prints. Pri­vate Com­mis­sions. Cube Gre­na­des.]

Tags: Deborah Schults, English Cut, Gary Wlter, Stormhoek Winery

10 Responses to “the twenty”

1. Daniel Edlen says:

   September 13, 2009 at 11:24 AM

   Exactly where I’m at. My wife and I were tal­king about how few artists in tra­di­tio­nal visual arts are visibly suc­cess­ful inde­pen­dently. Hazel and who else? So I just rede­sig­ned my home­page for action, reading/subscribing to my blog and news­let­ter, and buying pie­ces. Coin­ci­den­tal to your rede­sign, btw.

   Peace,
   @vinylart

   Reply
2. PhilFeed › Fresh From My Twitter today says:

   September 13, 2009 at 11:41 AM

   […] @gapingvoid New blog post. “There are roughly 20 peo­ple in your space who mat­ter” etc. http://bit.ly/15M4mF Eva­lua­ting risk and oppor­tu­nity (as a human) http://bit.ly/pGqos Powe­red by Fresh From This was […]

   Reply
3. Gary Walter says:

   September 13, 2009 at 12:54 PM

   This is bri­lliant — and goes right along with my phi­lo­sophy of life. I nee­ded the remin­der though. As my blog has got­ten more popu­lar, I’ve found myself wri­ting to the exten­ded audience. Howe­ver, if I’m not wri­ting to/for my core, then nothing I write is worth the elec­trons that carry it.

   Thank you.

   Reply
4. Ken Brand says:

   September 13, 2009 at 1:24 PM

   Truer words — Time to figure out 20 who, what, where, when and how.

   Thanks.

   Reply
5. Jack Hadley says:

   September 13, 2009 at 1:26 PM

   Thanks for remin­ding us of this impor­tant idea, Hugh. It reminds me of a post by Seth Godin (that you likely know and remem­ber) entit­led, “First, Ten”. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/04/first-ten-.html

   Reply
6. the twenty | Gapingvoid « Bold Strokes says:

   September 13, 2009 at 1:46 PM

   […] 2 Comments […]

   Reply
7. The Old Hat Creative Blog » Blog Archive » Monday Miscellanea says:

   September 14, 2009 at 8:53 AM

   […] Great post over at Gaping Void on the peo­ple who follow you that really mat­ter. Read more here. […]

   Reply
8. Meikah Delid says:

   September 15, 2009 at 12:54 AM

   Good point! Just a curious ques­tion: if your friends don’t follow or read your blogs, does that make them less of a friend?

   Reply
9. Jack McJack says:

   September 15, 2009 at 4:08 PM

   THIS IS DEATH

   Reply
10. Gary Walter says:

    September 17, 2009 at 3:11 PM

    Thanks for the kudos.

    Reply