A lesson on defining our Audience: What Can We Learn from the Galactic Starcruiser Shutdown

TLDR: Disney's Galactic Starcruiser hotel, which opened in March 2022, is already closing down. Read the news here.

The Star Wars-themed hotel costs a wild $5000 for a two-night stay. If you are a Disney or Star Wars fan even, you might agree this was not made with our audience in mind; this might’ve been their mistake.

But their experience brings us a teachable moment: Know Your Customer.

As business owners, we put forth all of our efforts to make ideas flourish and become the next big idea in business. However, we know that entrepreneurship is far from being a straight and smooth journey.

Keep Your Audience In Mind, Always.

When you are building a business, chances are, you don’t go in with the sole idea of just making money. You go in for a variety of reasons, but the number one is: Solve your customer’s problem.

When developing a product, always listen to your customer. Get the pain points and see how your product can solve them.

But what does that have to do with the Galactic Starcruiser? The hotel was solving this problem: Creating an immersive experience inside the world of Star Wars during a hotel stay will increase customer satisfaction.

All businesses solve a problem, and there are many levels of problems. Disney solves an entertainment problem; your business can solve a more practical problem.

Keeping solutions and customers in mind allows your product to sell easier. Disney had a great idea. The Star Wars fan community was looking forward to spending money on it, but there were not prepared to spend their rent, utilities, and food money for 2 nights.

That is where the company missed the mark. The high ticket item was not meant for us common folk. But we are the audience they need. The lesson? Know your audience.

Tips on Defining Your Audience

Defining your audience is the first step for working on your product and creating strategies in marketing and sales. The idea that everyone can buy your product needs to be out of the window. Yes, theoretically, every individual can buy a product, but that doesn’t mean they will.

Here are some tips you can do to define your audience:

• Analyze your current customer base: There will be similarities for the people that buy from you. Get an idea of age group, lifestyle, and interests.

• Take a peek at your competitors: What are they doing, good or bad, and what can you do about it? Observe who they sell to and see if it matches your current ideal customer.

• Create a buyer persona: This might seem silly to some, but building a character on paper is the best way to define your audience. Name them and write anything from their age group to their interests and challenges. This paints a clear picture of who you are talking to.

• Update your audience profile constantly: The longer you are in business, the more data you have. You will be able to see trends in who buys from you and see if there is a shift. Always update your buyer persona; this will allow for better social media posts and market your product to the right people.

Final Thoughts

In a world where businesses are often evolving, invoke the powers of the Jedi and empower yourself with the knowledge to fight the empire. (see what I did there)

Podcast episode to listen to:

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