Halloween—and everything—is about the audience
This is the last year I'll get to pick my son's costume.
The timing of Halloween this year means this holiday lasts forever. Thursday’s trick or treating will cap off almost a week of Halloween parties, fall festivals, costume contests, and other events. Parents are tired.
My son’s name is Jack, and he’s two. This is his third Halloween, and his third year as a Jack pun: Jack O’Lantern, Jack the playing card, and, now, a lumberjack.
This, obviously, got me thinking about audience-focused strategies. He doesn’t really know what Halloween is, and, crucially, he doesn’t know that he has a choice in what to wear. But he also doesn’t know what a lumberjack is, and it’s clear he has no idea why he’s wearing this outfit.
I bought him a Paw Patrol set to wear to school on Thursday because I thought it would be more comfortable, especially for nap time. When I showed him the outfit, his eyes lit up. And this, my friends, is how I knew my time of dictating Jack puns was coming to an end, though I will certainly continue to offer up suggestions in the coming years.
It’s a lesson in what it always comes back to: It doesn’t matter what you want to write about or what your editor wants to see on social. It’s about what serves the audience.
What I’m reading
User Mag: How Substack's follow feature betrays its original mission
Charter: The founding dean of Apple University on the skills today’s leaders need to have
Institute for Nonprofit News: When mission drives audience strategy
New York Focus: Why Can’t New York Keep Up With the Demand for Bilingual Teachers?
The 19th: These OB-GYNs are running for Congress to protect abortion
Nieman Lab: Why do broadcast journalists look and talk the way they do? Look to the imagined audience.
Harvard Business Review: How to Answer “Why Do You Want to Work Here?”
And a bonus link: There are resources available for free childcare so you can vote.
One more thing
I voted today! Have you?
See you next week,
Rachel
If you’re enjoying this newsletter, I’d love for you to recommend it to a friend. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, subscribe to receive future editions in your inbox every Tuesday.