There is a new model of marketing out there that is proving increasingly effective. In fact, the majority of Fortune 500 companies are now using it, as are most successful solopreneurs.
Seth Godin calls it having a tribe. Michael Hyatt calls this marketing method building a platform. I like the word community. Call it whatever you want, building a passionate community of like-minded people is quickly becoming the most effective way to build a business.
How does it work?
Imagine a large group of people that gets together online or offline around a shared passion. It could be a certain style of parenting, dating with integrity, servant leadership, healthy eating, or Christ-centered marketing. While these people have other interests and are certainly formally and informally a part of other groups, whenever they want to talk about this “one passion” they do it at a gathering facilitated and informally led by you.
This is a beautiful thing in and of itself even if none of those people ever becomes a client. But from a strictly marketing point of view this group is also a pipeline full of people ready to coach with you.
The more you share, the more people will be drawn to you. Many of your fans will want to spend more time with you and some will be eager to work with you.
Michael Hyatt says it this way,
“Without it (a community), you’re lost. You’re never going to succeed in the marketplace today and even if you don’t think you need it now…5 years from now you will have wished you started it today.”
It’s time to think beyond building a business.
What can you do today to start building a community of raving fans?
Kim Avery
Good advice as always. It’s easy to build up your twitter followers, or facebook friends, but unless you’re having meaningful conversations and providing valuable information, your marketing is just noise in the channel.
My activities today need to be brief, so I’ll write a short note to put on fb and the blog, and scan my page stats to see what kind of posts have had the greatest reach and in particular likes and shares.
I’m pretty sure God designed all of life to be lived in community. Community – that’s my word of choice too. Thanks Kim!
Give back with inspirational quotes.
What a great way to build coaching relationships. I have a fairly large network of friends/colleagues through my work and service activities. I will begin a blog this summer and try to create different groups. My first attempt will be one regarding parenting issues with fellow moms.
Great reminder, Kim. I read his book a couple years ago.
Hi Kim, I never thought of it this way that you describe, but I’ve been doing this for a few months with a small group of women that birthed out of the Women Connecting With Women book study I led. Some of us wanted to stay together, so I host the group on conference call and it has been amazingly beneficial for each of us. I doubt I am doing it the right way (like platform or tribe), but it has been good and we are tremendously loyal to each other and everyone is free to bring whatever topic they want to the forum.It is a “safe” place to “BE” together and process.
I want to start another group with the same purpose…another community of women that edify and encourage and lift each other in prayer. That’s in the “visioning” process right now. YAY! This is encouraging me to move forward with it soon!!! Thinking….hmmmm…..:-)
I will accept the invitation to teach a Sunday school class.
Without community, we are an island. Islands are pretty lonely unless you bring a community with you and then it can be a party! I agree that word of mouth is the best (and cheapest) form of advertising. The key is to get ourselves out there and get started.
Today I sent a thank you to a fellow business owner that endorsed me on LinkedIn. It seems small however this business owner mentioned she wanted to hear me next time I am speaking in the community. Kim these strategies are working. Thanks so much!
Secured another client today after talking to him last week. I asked him four strategic questions and he was so excited about getting started! Thanks for all the marketing tips Kim!
Being part of a community has been a lifeline for me as a solopreneur. There are times when I just don’t know and it’s great to be able to throw out a help line into the community for assistance/advice. Social media groups gives me that outlet. Day 14: Created audio clip for my private FB group and worked on my coaching assignment from my business coach.
The article about having raving fans is intriguing. Whether it be a ‘tribe”, a “platform” or a “community”, I would love to build more of that into my life. To find and to have those endearing kind of relationships would be truly rewarding!
Also, I have taken one of the suggested marketing activities from your earlier page regarding monitoring my website to determine the number of sentences that describe me and my qualifications verses the number of sentences that describe the benefits that my clients will receive from my therapy. I can see there are some things I would like to change…
oops!
receive from my ‘Coaching’. (I am still practicing Marriage and Family Therapy.)
Kim, you always bring us back to the best that we have to offer to others. Thank you.
This one really got me thinking…I am considering starting a community involving coaching and aspiring authors. I’ll keep you posted!
THE CHALLENGE has caused me to reconsider if the solo approach would even work for me. Now the Tribe aspect has encouraged me to take action by following up on a contact I made a few months ago that will put me in activity with a whole other group of clients. While these would most probably be my free ministry group, the organization they are connected to would be a platform of many ministry contacts that would invite coaching opportunities. Network & advertising at it’s best for someone like me.
This post fits in perfectly with thoughts I’ve been pondering about my potential marketing strategies. And I was thinking about it after my coaching session today (I was the client). I learned about Triberr last week and it makes so much sense to me. I believe life is all about relationships and our relationship to Jesus Christ is first and foremost. Wrote follow-up notes to people I’ve met with to specifically discuss my life coaching business.
Building community is a great concept. The Bible say in Proverbs 15:22 that there is wisdom in the multitude of counsel. Social media helps develop community faster. I started a meetup ministry of Christian women last year and we meet monthly in person and share emails and social activities during the months. I am developing a friendship at this point. I have not talked about coaching yet. I did pass out my business cards.
Day 11: Community is critical to relationship building and it is humbling to think that I can create a place where others can feel connected to others. I need to think and pray about how I will accomplish that with my identified niches.
Today I finished my 1-2 minute intro and have been practicing phrasing and emphasis so it sounds natural and relaxed. I also established another email address as a prelude to future business activities.
I was talking with a friend about this very thing today…this friend is also a client AND an excellent writer/therapist. I am trying to convince her to go into coaching as well as she would be brilliant at it. So, in order to create a win-win-win, I asked her if she would be willing to work with me, writing newsletter articles (something which overwhelms me – I am an excellent writer but I write a lot creatively for my job and the creative energy isn’t always there to consistently write newsletter articles) in exchange for continued coaching. She gets coaching (win), I get help with my newsletters (win) and she learns more about coaching to whet her appetite to pursue it as a career (win). God is good, all the time!
I’ve heard you mention the Michael Hyatt book before and I am definitely going to read it. Community is very important to me in my spiritual walk so why shouldn’t it be this way for my business. I always think of “giving back” as a way to build up the community in every realm. Thank you again Kim.
Day 14: Today was my day to focus on a particular local networking organization for which I’m the Administrator for our Mentor Program. This role expands my ‘brand’ as a Coach. I spoke to several new members of our organization about how our Mentor Program will help them tremendously in achieving their goals for joining our group. I’m then the ‘matchmaker’ for the new member’s ‘mentor’. Such a joy to day to use my coaching skills in these conversations. I’m not compensated per se for this activity but my identity in the organization continues to grow in a very positive manner.
I’ve been building a community on social media but honestly, my mindset has not been intentional regarding the business marketing aspect. I guess you could say, it’s been more organic. So, this past week, I’ve made it a priority to post daily words of wisdom and I plan to continue. Thank you very much Kim!
Hi Beverly, I think encouraging people just comes naturally to you, and that’s wonderful that you’ve really been doing this all along. Keep up the great work.