Last week I had the privilege of sitting in four days worth of focus groups to have random people within a pre-defined set of variables, watch and dialogue about some of the Halogen content that we’ve created. Let’s just say, it was very interesting.
As you can guess, you can’t please everyone and our content proved to be no exception to the rule. Here are a couple of the memorable quotes from the week:
- Each participant was asked to rate each show on a scale from 1-10. One of the participants wrote down a 1 and the moderator began to ask this person questions. After a minute of bashing the show, the moderator asked, “Why didn’t you rate it a zero?” He quickly replied, “I didn’t know it was an option.” – Ah snap.
- In describing another show, one girl said, “My time is very valuable and I don’t have time to watch shows that are milquetoast.” – Yeah, I had to look that one up.
Overall, it seems that our demographic wants drama and a lot of it. Oh, and sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. I kid you not. I heard that a lot during the four days.
However the biggest takeaway didn’t come from what I heard, but what I realized. My perspective is not the perspective. Sure, I knew that, but these focus groups proved to be a very real reminder that we all see things differently and if we live in a vacuum, life will end up sucking. So how do we avoid this? Good question. Here are three ways to avoid living life in a vacuum:
- Find your Simon Cowell – We all have those friends who will tell you like it is, no matter how painful it is. Hold them closely and rely on them for honest feedback. Most likely, they hold the exact insight you need.
- Ask your “friends” – The beauty of social networking is that we have more friends today that we know what to do with. Ask them to review and respond. Everybody loves to be heard. Give them a chance.
- Create your own focus group – Find people from a diverse age span, gender, ethnicity, location and worldview and invite them to be part of your virtual focus group. Incentivize them with something worth their time and start asking for feedback.
