On Valentine’s Day, I took my girlfriend to see her favorite band, Bon Jovi (I know! How awesome a boyfriend am I!?), and one of the things about the show that stuck with me for days after was how well those guys know their audience and how they are more than happy to play to that audience.

I already know what you’re thinking: isn’t that what every band does in concert, play to an audience? And by the strictest definition of the word, yes, that’s true. But Bon Jovi went much further, because they know very well who their audience is and how it had changed over the years and have adjusted accordingly.

Back in the day when the band first broke, I went to a couple of their concerts, bought their albums, and watched their music videos. (Remember when music video channels actually played music videos?). Back then, their show was all about what the band’s demographic of that time wanted: lots of explosions, glammed out costumes, big hair, sexual innuendo, and hot girls. It was a great time that represented the band’s popularity and the times well. The girls attended because Jon was attractive, and the guys went to meet the girls who were there. Simple marketing, and full stadiums…

So what was different this time around? It’s still the same band right? Well, this time the explosions were gone, the stage attire was definitely toned down, the hair has been cut, and there was something else noticeably different: the audience. In the past, there was always a reasonable split between men and women, but this time around it was a different crowd altogether. While there were a whole bunch of couples there (it being Valentine’s Day and all), there was another demographic that clearly made up a good portion, if not the majority of the crowd: the 30+ year old female. They were out in abundance, and they were vocal…especially the group of four women in matching  Bon Jovi t-shirts sitting a couple of rows behind us who started shrieking like pre-teens at a Justin Bieber show when Jon went into an acoustic mini-set.

If you think this was all a coincidence, make no mistake, the band knows full well who their audience is. There was proof enough of that early in the show when Jon Bon Jovi announced, “Bon Jovi is like Viagra for women,” and got an almost-deafening response from the crowd. Clearly, they know who is filling the seats and buying the CDs, and they are more than willing to play to that audience.

So what does this have to do with your business? That’s easy; if you know your customers, potential clients, site visitors, and everyone else who can benefit from your business as well as Bon Jovi knows their audience, and if you deliver what they need like Bon Jovi does, then you can’t help but be successful. As the band themselves declared, ”We’ve been around for 27 years, so we must be doing something right!” Would you like to be successful for 27 years and counting? To be, as Jon said during the concert, “Like a fine wine, just keeping on getting better”? I know I would…