If you've read any major newspaper this week you'll know that the Spiderman play on Broadway this week has just been panned by the critics. What you may not have worked out yet is that this probably doesn't matter. The show hasn't officially launched yet but has allowed audiences to attend the "extended pre-release rehearsal" sessions at full price. It's played to a packed theatre everyday so far, in fact the director has suggested that he'd be happy to keep going like that even if the production never comes up to scratch. So what can you learn from this?
Critics don't matter as much as they once did.
It's true that in days gone by that a critical savaging could kill a business or a product in seconds. But that was in an age where your only information sources were formal either newspapers, magazines or television. Today people have the Internet and a wealth of informal content to turn to, and they are.
In terms of your online business this means you don't have to pander to reviewers without authority, you can set your sights on a wider audience.
The opinion of a group is more important than the opinion of an individual.
No single critic is viewed as an "authority" now; people are more interested in the views of their peers. In the case of Spiderman this is a good thing because those who have seen the show have pretty much universally said they had a good time at it.
For your business you need to talk to your satisfied customers and get their opinions out there, because people trust other people more than the "critic".
Managing expectations is key.
One of the smart things the producers of the play have done is to manage the audiences' expectations; they've been upfront that it isn't perfect. They've repeatedly released statements saying the show is unfinished and they'd prefer that the critics waited until they formally launch the show. This means that the audiences who've been to see it have been prepared for an unfinished product, and that they never expected to see a perfectly polished product.
By the way it's not just Spiderman that seems to have succeeded out in the cut throat world of theatre despite the critics, Les Miserables one of the world's most popular shows was also panned at release.
So while you shouldn't ignore critics entirely, after all you may learn something from negative feedback, you can concentrate on the positives and rise above them.
Nick is the President of http://www.authoring4u.com a specialist consultancy based in Shenzhen China, which helps companies from around the world save time and money in the areas of; technical documentation, Internet presence and marketing and Press Relations.
Nick has just written a free e-book "Perfect Press Releases" which you can download for free from the Authoring For You website. So download it today!
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