TEEN-a-ramma-lamma-REMIX (Or why you should tap into your inner teen)

Okay, let me roll back the clock one or two (or twenty) years. The core of everything I loved to do is the core of what kids are up to these days. We used to dance like idiots, sing along to music at the top of our lungs even when in the most inappropriate places, fight for things we thought were important -- I can't even get my head around how unbearable I would have been if the Internet had been around and the world was my platform. (yipe!)

But mostly, the young naked spirit that was 'me' was just like these kids today:



I was amazing! I was talented! I had the greatest friends on the planet! And if someone would just give me a chance, I would take over the world!

This same wonderful feeling is what I get when I watch kids like these online (or the flip side... "I'm trapped. I hate my life. My friends are all big fat jerks").

People ask me all the time for the inside track, or the really good answers to "How do we tap into kids and capture the teen market?" And today's special, just for YOU, because you absolutely deserve to know... I'm going to tell you what I tell them:

• Think like a teen, but don't forget that you aren't one anymore
• Remember that inexperience and a lack of intelligence are NOT the same thing
• Know what's important to your audience
• And if you don't know, Ask (research, research, research)
• Keep up with the trends
• But DON'T try to follow the trends unless you can keep up (the Helio is SO 30 seconds ago)

Most of all, don't try to market them, try to connect. Teens absolutely hate to be marketed to. Find ways to integrate your product or service into what they are already doing in a way that is valuable and obvious.

Okay - so right about now you're saying... "What? You're only going to state the OBVIOUS?" And this is the point where I say "YES". Yes, connecting with kids & teens online is hard - but only because we are too experienced, too set in our ways or too convinced that we alone know what really 'sells'.

I say shake it up! Tap into your inner teen! Do a REMIX on your own assumptions and expectations, and spend some time talking with your target audience in relation to your product. The answers will reveal themselves. All you have to do is listen.