Speak Your Audience's Language
You are your perfect audience — mirror the community you actually belong to.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 83%
Shands filled a Miami podcast summit with predominantly Black creators who flew in on little notice, and his answer for how is disarmingly simple: he's Black, he's been in the community for a decade, and he speaks their language. He notes he couldn't attract a white audience even if he wanted to, because he doesn't speak that language — no fault of anyone, just a different flavor. The framework says you attract the community you authentically belong to by delivering what they want, in their flavor, with faces they recognize. Taha reframes it: you are your perfect audience, so mirror it.
Origin
Shands's Miami Podcast Summit drew ~750 predominantly Black attendees despite a skeptic predicting failure; he attributes it to 38 years of authentically living in and speaking to that community.
Core principles
- 01People are drawn to brands and people that share their identity and group.
- 02You attract the audience whose language you natively speak.
- 03Serving a niche that's underserved elsewhere makes you the first of its kind for them.
- 04Authenticity beats reach — mirror the community you genuinely belong to.
How to run it
- 1
Know the community you belong to
Identify the group whose language, references, and flavor you natively speak from lived experience.
Pro tip You are your own perfect audience — mirror the community you're actually part of.
- 2
Find the underserved need
Locate what your community wants but can't get from existing offerings that aren't built for them.
Pro tip Shands's summit was the first podcast education event many attendees felt was made for them.
- 3
Deliver in their flavor
Shape the experience — tone, format, energy — to your community's culture rather than a generic template.
Pro tip It's not better or worse, just a different flavor and flare that makes your people say 'this is good.'
- 4
Put recognizable faces on stage
Feature names your community recognizes and wants to meet in person to deepen the pull.
In the wild
A CEO friend predicted the summit would flop because Shands hadn't started marketing. Instead ~750 predominantly Black creators flew to Miami on short notice, because Shands spoke their language and offered the first podcast-education event built for them.
→ The event executed flawlessly and is positioned to become a yearly staple, built on authentic community fit rather than broad marketing.
Common mistakes
Trying to speak every language at once
Aiming for a generic mass audience produces a diluted flavor that fails to create deep belonging in any community.
Faking membership in a community
You can only authentically speak the language of a community you actually live in; imitation reads as inauthentic.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders and creators building a niche community they're an authentic member of.
Not ideal for
People trying to manufacture belonging to a community they aren't part of.
From the transcript
“I am black and I know what my people want I know what my people don't have and I'm speaking their language”
“when you're thinking about creating a brand you actually need to mirror your audience so you are your perfect audience”
From the episode
David Shands: The Entrepreneurial Mindset, How to Build a Loyal Community and Hone Your Niche for Massive Success
David Shands