To read Nader Anise's bio on Wikipedia, go to:
Dear ,
I remember visiting Egypt every summer with my family when I was growing up...
Smothered in my aunts' and uncles' hugs and kisses...
Playing indoor soccer in Taeta's narrow hallway with an overstuffed sock with about 80 of my cousins (ok, maybe not 80, but it felt like 80!)...
Being obsessed with going to the zoo in el Giza as often as possible... and...
Going to the "nadi" (the club) to eat stuffed pigeon.
Each experience more memorable than the other -- but I have to say, eating stuffed pigeon (prepared the authentic Egyptian way) is a tough act to beat.
I remember being about 6 or 7 years old and telling my American friends that my favorite food was stuffed pigeon... to which they immediately screamed...
Eeeeewwwwww... Nader Eats Pigeons!!!
Let's just say that didn't go over very well with the all-too-anxious-to-ridicule 2nd grade crowd.
All year I must have had cooties -- no one dared sit next to me in the lunchroom for fear that I might whip out a stuffed pigeon out of my Six Million Dollar Man lunchbox.
Ah... good times...
Anyway, that's all in the past. But, honestly, I'll never forget that day -- and I learned a valuable lesson:
In Life, In Business, In Anything...
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!
If I was mature and knowledgeable enough to know that the American culture frowns upon eating pigeon, I would have certainly kept my appetite for the feathery friend to myself.
But... I was unaware.
I dare say, we often go into business meeting, pitches, presentations, speeches, etc. with the same level of ignorance. Myself included.
There's no substitute for research and preparation!
Know your target audience inside and out: their likes, dislikes, fears, joys, habits, what keeps them up at night, and so forth and so on...
The better you know your audience, they better you can speak directly and perfectly to them.
Your marketing message will be on point and resonate with them.
Tune in tomorrow... when I'll tell you about the time, very recently, that I failed to heed my own advice -- and it cost me big time!
Until next time...
If you have any comments, ideas or suggestions, please email me at: nader@copticchamber.com.
