Here’s your latest issue of Influence Anyone—where you get a playbook each week to shape decisions, change behavior, and become impossible to ignore, from Howie and the Behavioring Company team.

Sophie Cross runs a print magazine for freelancers. She has over 800 paying members and has been running it for 5 years. That’s nothing short of amazing since the world has turned digital and print is more complicated and… expensive

(I am convinced we’ll see an analog revolution soon though. Who’s with me?)

In our conversation on the Influence Anyone podcast, Sophie brought up a problem that anyone trying to build an audience, community, or customer base should think about:

The people who could benefit from your (or your company’s) expertise don’t necessarily see themselves as the people it’s for.

And that creates an interesting audience problem.

Let’s dive in.

🎁 Two boxes of Inner Propaganda by Owen Fitzpatrick have arrived. Do you want a free book? Details at the end of this email.

Before your brain evaluates whether something is useful, true, or worth your time, it runs a check first: is this for someone like me?

Psychologists have studied this since the 1970s. It’s called self-categorization theory. The finding holds up everywhere it's tested. People don't process a message on its merits first. They process it on whether the intended audience identity matches who they believe they are.

If it doesn't, the message gets ignored.

Sophie Cross watched this happen with her own magazine. Consultants and independent strategists who'd clearly benefit from a community of self-employed professionals skip it, because "freelancer" doesn't match how they see themselves.

It happens inside companies too. An engineer who could genuinely use a lesson on influence hears "personal branding" or "communication skills" and tunes out, because they don’t see themselves as a “marketer” or “speaker.”

I've got a version of this problem as well. There's no existing identity for someone who wants to understand why people do what they do and use that to change behavior. So I can’t quickly help people answer the question: is this for someone like me?

So what can we do?

The takeaway: choose how you define your target audience based on the current reality

The goal isn’t just to define your audience. It’s to make it easy for the right people to say, “This is for me.”

As promised, influence in 60 seconds.

If you want the deep dive 👇🏽

For most of human history, sorting people into "one of us" and "not one of us" decided who shared food with you, who warned you about danger, who you could actually trust. Miscategorize a stranger as safe, or an ally as a threat, and the cost could be your life.

Brains that made that call fast, even on little information, outcompeted brains that took a minute longer. That's the same machinery running when someone glances at a subject line or a job posting and decides in half a second whether it's meant for them.

It gets stranger. In the 1970s, Henri Tajfel ran what's now called the minimal group studies, sorting total strangers into groups using something as meaningless as a coin flip. People still favored their own group, handing out more rewards to strangers randomly lumped in with them, for no reason beyond sharing a label. The category didn't need to be real. It just needed a line around it.

That should make you a little uncomfortable and a little hopeful all at once. The wrong label can cost you an audience that would've said yes. But a brand new label, one you make up on purpose, has a real shot at working, as long as you give people a line to stand on one side of.

1/ Lead with identity when people already claim the label. If your audience already identifies themselves as a CFO, a founder, a working parent, saying so does the work for you. Naming an identity someone already owns is one of the strongest attention signals there is.

2/ Lead with the problem/ outcome when the identity is limiting. This is Sophie's blind spot. Freelancer Magazine is built around the word "freelancer," and it works great for the people who already wear it. As she put it herself, "one of our main goals is to help freelancers see themselves as business owners," an identity shift she's actively trying to create inside her own community.

So in this case, she should lead with the outcome. "A community for people building a business around their own name." This would attract consultants, freelancers, strategists alike.

The corporate version: nobody signs up for "communication skills training." People sign up for "stop freezing in the room" or "get budget approved the first time you ask."

It just describes what they walk away with. Conversely, you can use the problem or trigger different groups face. The best example out there? Snickers, linking their product to hunger. Watch Betty White playing football 😂

3/ Create a new identity when the group doesn't exist. This is the hardest of the three, and the one I'm building.

Professional of Influence: Someone who has real expertise in something, and is also a student of human behavior, why people do what they do, and how to influence that for good.

Does "professional of influence" describe you, or have I just been convincing myself that this is us.

I asked Sophie, on the record, what she'd do about this exact problem.

Her answer: "You have to meet people where they are. Maybe you're not talking about human behavior in the first instance. It's almost about finding the people who are curious." And that’s what I’m doing, daily.

So before you publish anything, before you put something out there, think about who your audience believe they are. Start there and you’ll end up with something more of the right people will pay attention to.

(a new section for the most recent stuff I bought that made my day)

Disclaimer: I am NOT paid by Live It Up

So last year I was on a mission to find the best tasting and more affordable immune support supplement in the form of a drink. I see Huel, AG1, and so many different brands pop up. I landed on Live It Up Supergreens and it was one of the best investments I’ve made. It tasted really great and while I was drinking it, I avoided two bouts of Covid and Cold in my house with two kids (this is just my personal experience.)

What was sad was they had a recall in January this year and they stopped production to fix everything. They refunded me for the recalled packets and I kept my membership and patiently waited. And when they came back online more than 6 months later, I received this package 👇🏽

What a way to reward your loyal customers! It’s definitely one of my best splurges. Curious: do you use supplements like this and what’s your experience with them?

🎁 10 copies of Owen’s new book Inner Propaganda left! Does no one reads books anymore? (this is hilarious btw) All you have to do is reply to this email and say “I want it!” and you get a free book.

Unfortunately this will only be for folks in the USA.

Professionals of influence, I’ll see you next Sunday! 😉

Change behavior, change lives 🤘🏽

Howie Chan

Creator of Influence Anyone

P.S. Sophie told me she still questions her own niche, even with 800 paying members and five years of proof it works. If someone that far in still wonders whether their audience definition is right, you're allowed to still be figuring out yours.