Ron Johnson — the genius behind the Apple Store — was hired as CEO of JCPenney to grow the company. His plan: ditch the coupons and the loyal middle-aged, middle-income female shoppers who were actually buying things, and go upmarket to attract a younger, “sexier” demographic. He gutted beloved private-label brands with loyal followings and replaced them with new ones that meant nothing to the customers JCP already had.
He torched the loyal audience that was already there to chase a new audience that never showed up.
Sales and profits rapidly collapsed. Johnson was fired after just 17 months and his predecessor was brought back in to salvage the train wreck, but the customers had already moved on and the company fell into bankruptcy. Today — thirteen years later — JCPenney is bleeding $177 million a year and teetering on a second bankruptcy filing. All of it traceable back to 17 months of stupid.
Ron Johnson didn’t just hurt JCPenney — he broke a cardinal rule of business I’ve seen repeated over and over again: Abandon the loyal customers already buying by changing the “formula” to chase a new audience or a new “improved” product or service you think they should want.
I’ve always said, pick the WHO first, not the WHAT: Identify a very specific target audience with a problem you can solve, and then in all ways — product, pricing, design, marketing, messaging — appeal ONLY to that customer and no one else.
Give them what they ACTUALLY want, not what you think they SHOULD want or what YOU want to deliver to appeal to your ego.
It’s so simple, yet the fear of criticism, the fear of alienating a few customers, the fear of looking “old” or outdated, the fear of offending someone drive many CEOs to abandon the horse that got them across the river in the first place. And NEW people coming in often make the ego-driven mistake of wanting to change things to put their stamp on it.
Let me be clear: bold moves, innovation and even polarizing, controversial stances ARE a good idea, but ONLY if they align with the core values of your customer. Black Rifle Coffee gets this exactly right. Their intentionally edgy, comedic and political videos and ads are extremely polarizing, but have driven the brand to nearly $400 million in revenue with an extremely loyal following. Nike, the opposite politically, also got it right when sales rose 31% in the days after the Kaepernick “Just Do It” ad launched despite the massive backlash from many consumers.
Most businesses just sit in the middle of the road — another way they disrespect their BEST customers. They refuse to specialize or turn anyone away. They fail to be about something specific and end up generic. They do it because it’s safer to be vanilla. UNremarkable. Take NO risks. Ruffle NO feathers. Try to appease everyone so you offend and alienate no one.
This fails two ways.
First, the only way to be completely free of criticism and “cancel culture” is to do nothing, say nothing and make no opinions known. Climb into a metaphorical pine box, bury yourself 6 feet under and wait patiently until nobody remembers your name. Make sure it’s an unmarked grave. Eventually, no haters — but also no social following, no leads, no customers, no revenue and no legacy.
Further, this ridiculous idea of managing such a pristine, “all-inclusive” reputation where you offend no one and stay completely neutral so you don’t offend a single potential new customer is naïve at best. It is NOT a worthy goal. It’s a participation trophy for cowards.
Haters aren’t a problem to be managed — they’re proof your marketing is WORKING.
Second, the misguided pursuit of universal appeal guts your ability to resonate deeply with any one audience. Instead of raving fans, you get casual browsers. You become the flat, roadkill squirrel in the road who couldn’t pick a direction.
One of the greatest lessons I learned about this was from Daymond John, who is a genius at building brands. He taught me the most successful rap artists knew how to use their HATERS, not just their fans. The ones who played it safe, avoided controversy, never poked the bear?
Forgotten. Eminem’s “cold product.”
Every hater I’ve ever had online was a NON-buyer. People who never gave me a dime yet had a lot of opinions about me and my content. The notion that being less “me” and more palatable to them to win them over as a paying client is a fantasy — and IF I was able to get them as a client, they certainly wouldn’t stick around once they got in a room with me, so I couldn’t turn them into raving fans anyway.
You’re never going to appeal to everyone, so stop trying. Know who your core audience is and go all-in on them.
