Why Your Customers Need a Community

It matters more than you think

Photo by Matty Adame on Unsplash

Happy Tuesday, y'all! Thanks for reading, please click the Like button for me and if you enjoy this issue, please Restack it on Substack, as that will help increase visibility. Thank you!

The greatest marketing tactic ever invented is the rock concert. Why? Because it's a way to bring hundreds, sometimes thousands of like-minded individuals together, and have them connect with one another. Even a sporting event can't quite match that appeal, because the sport teams will be the ultimate focus. But with a rock concert, it's all about everyone being on the same wavelength and connecting as a community.

Everyone is there for the same reason, being together WITH other like-minded people makes the experience itself even better. And that's the key to why community matters; There's true power in being connected to other people who have the same interests you do and who are having the same issues and experiences that you are.

It's helpful, comforting, and reassuring.

“I looked, and I saw something in his eyes. It was terror.”

I began my formal education long ago in Ye Olden Days, in the first grade. When I started school, there wasn't pre-kindergarten yet, and even kindergarten wasn't the standard yet. But I would later learn after joining my school in the first grade, that most of my class had attended kindergarten together the previous year. So unfortunately, I started my public education experience as ‘the new kid in class'.

It's a role that I would unfortunately play often over the next 12 years. I stayed at that school until I entered the 7th grade. About a month into the 7th grade, my family moved, and it required me changing schools. So once again, I was ‘the new kid in class'. My new school was a very tiny 'country school'. And it was a bit of a shock, I joined as a 12 year-old, but some of my classmates were 15 even 16! Being a 12 year-old boy and being in class with a kid with a moustache was…something!

This tiny school went to the 9th grade. I attended through the 9th grade, and then I had to transfer to a much larger high school in another city. How much bigger? Well my 9th grade class had 9 kids. My 10th grade class at the new high school? It had 175!

Yes, it was a culture shock for me. Big time.

And once again, I had to play the role of ‘the new kid in class', as all my classmates had joined the high school together in the 9th grade, so they had already made friendships. Quite honestly, the 10th grade was the worst year of my schooling, by far.

The next year was a bit better, and so was my senior year in high school as I finally made some friends and started to fit in a bit.

After high school I went straight to college. I was actually looking forward to this, because I figured that for the first time in my educational life, I would be joining a new school and I would NOT be playing the role of ‘the new kid in class'. Because we would ALL be new at the same time!

So finally…I would be on equal footing from a social standpoint. And I was right. I remember my first class in college, it was an art class. I found a seat in the studio, and there was a VERY nervous energy in the room. All the students were nervously fidgeting, no one knew anyone. A collection of strangers thrown together in a completely new academic world.

I was looking around the room and I noticed a guy nearby was nervously looking around the room and I caught his eye.

He was terrified.

But as soon as I saw the look in his eyes, I immediately realized something: That was the SAME look I had on my face every time I joined a new school and was ‘the new kid in class'! I just knew it as soon as I saw the look of nervousness on his face.

Needless to say, I loved that first semester in college. It was honestly the best time of my entire schooling and it was simply because I felt like I was part of a larger community, I wasn't an outcast. It made all the difference.

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A Community is the Gift You Create For Your Customers

And it will make all the difference for your customers. Creating an environment for your customers where they can connect with and help one another not only creates value for them, it gives them a reason to be more loyal to your company. They will appreciate you giving them a way to create meaningful connections, and that will translate into them advocating on your behalf.

Even beyond the value a community creates for your customers, it can be an intense feedback lab for your company to collect invaluable data and insights into who your customers are and what they want from you.

This idea works not only for businesses chasing customers, it also can work for nonprofits seeking donors, or even politicians seeking input from voters.

Case in point, last month Robert F Kennedy Jr launched a website called “Policies for the People':

The basic idea behind this website isn't new, brands such as Dell with its Idea Storm and Starbucks with My Starbucks Idea have launched customer-crowdsourced forums in the past. Yet this is a great way for the incoming Trump Administration to get a better sense of the policies that resonate with voters, and to also tap into new ideas suggested by voters. For the members, it gives them a way to participate and feel they are making a difference in the future of America. And it also gives them a way to connect with like-minded individuals. Both of which create tangible value for members, and gives them an ongoing incentive to participate.

Think back to the start of this issue when I talked about what a wonderful marketing tactic the rock concert has become. At its essence, it’s simply a way for like minded people to connect around a common passion. Doing so creates value in a shared experience for everyone involved.

Give thought to some of the shared passions that you customers enjoy. Ones that aren’t directly related to your company or products, but rather how your customers use your products. Or look at the Substacks here, each one is related to a topic that attracts interest from readers who are passionate about that topic.

If you were going to create an online community, what would its Substack topic be? This might help you think about how to position the focus of the community in a way that makes it appealing to members.

A New Structure for Free and Paid Subscribers

Starting today, I am going to try something new with subscriptions here. Previously, free subscribers got a weekly post every Tuesday. Paid subscribers received access to that post plus a second post a week every Thursday. The Thursday post could only be commented on by Paid subscribers.

As I thought about it, I realized that was likely creating LESS value for Paid subscribers, not more, since Thursday posts get fewer comments and that results in less value for the reader. So starting today, all new posts will be available to all subscribers for one month. Posts that are older than a month can only be viewed if you are a Paid subscriber, or if you are a free subscriber, you can unlock one older post for free.

So if you want access to the entire archives of posts, a Paid subscription will unlock everything. Those of you who are already Paid subscribers will continue to have access to everything for the duration of your subscription.

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead! Next week is a biggie: Tuesday’s post will be Marketing and Movies: The Time Traveler’s Wife, while Thursday’s post will be Marketing and Music: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison.

See you then!

Mack