Marketers are obsessed with size. Especially size of market, and they often spend billions of dollars chasing the biggest market of all: New Customers.
And yet, rock stars follow a completely different marketing path. Instead of marketing to New Customers, they go out of their way to create experiences and engagement with their biggest fans. Lady Gaga created LittleMonsters.com to cater specifically to her most hardcore fans. Taylor Swift has T-Parties just for a handful of her biggest fans at each concert. Amanda Palmer does secret shows where she usually gives away tickets to her biggest fans, even to the point of excluding ‘New Customers’ from the selection process.
Notice the complete difference between how most brands and most rock stars market. Most brands market completely to New Customers, even to the point of all but ignoring their Brand Advocates or Fans. While on the flipside, rock stars go out of their way to connect with their biggest fans, even to the point of ignoring New Customers.
What do rock stars know that most brands do not? Rock stars understand that Fans Have Gravity.
Think about your favorite restaurant. The one you always take out-of-town guests to when you want them to experience the ‘best’ your city has to offer.
How many people have you encouraged to visit that restaurant in the last year? Your loyalty and excitement for that restaurant is attractive to other people. Your friends and the people you talk to about the restaurant are more likely to visit it because of interacting with you.
Why does this happen? Because…
1 – Fans are more trustworthy than brands. When a brand runs a commercial saying they are awesome, we don’t believe it, but when a fan says the same thing, we do.
2 – Fans have passion, and passion is sexy. Fans are genuinely excited about the brands they love, and their passion is infectious.
3 – Fans want others customers to be fans as well. Fans love their favorite brand for whatever reason and want to share that love with others.
So if fans have gravity and pull other customers to them, what happens when multiple fans are in the same place? Their ability to attract others becomes stronger. This is why rock stars focus on connecting their biggest fans to each other. Simply being in the same space with other people that love the same rock star helps validate that love for each fan. It makes their ability to attract other people to them and the rock star that much stronger.
Rock stars relentlessly focus on connecting with their most rabid fans ONLY, even at the expense of connecting with new customers. Look at concerts: Concerts are the lifeblood of every successful musician’s career. They are cash cows for the music industry, and always have been. Why? Because they are events designed to appeal to the rock star’s hardcore fans only. The person that has never heard a U2 song would think you were a fool to pay $100 for a U2 concert ticket, but the U2 fan would not only do so, he’d happily stand in line for 3 days just for the privilege. For the fans, concerts are a way to get special access to their favorite rock star. They can be a few feet away from them while they perform. They can get an autograph after the show. ‘New Customers’ of the rock star have no interest in any of this, and that’s why the rock star doesn’t market to them. They connect with their biggest fans and create magical experiences for them.
How much money is your company leaving on the table by not connecting with your biggest fans and creating amazing experiences for them?
I was just reading about a coupon deal that was only valid for new members and previous members. Not valid for current members. BACKWARDS! As you point out, the current customers are your most important audience, and retaining them is more important than trying to attract new ones.
Exactly, Steve! The current customers are far more likely to continue to do business with you, so if you REWARD them for their EXISTING behavior (buying your stuff) then they will TELL OTHERS.
It’s like Dish and DirecTV coming up with these amazing deals for new customers, so all it does is encourage us to hop from one to the other based on whatever deal the are offering. If you’ve been with either for 5-10 years, you get nothing and feel like a sucker to see your neighbor get $1,000 worth of free equipment and programming cause they just joined.
As you said….BACKWARDS! 🙂
Mark – great post. Many customers that I work with are not sure who their real fans are until they focus on mobilzing them. People are surprised how willing these advocates are to support them and I agree that many companies waste this opportunity.
I like how you used rock stars as an example. In a future article you may want to delve into the technology aspect. Look at how rock stars use Twitter and other social communities to interact with their fans. It isn’t very difficult for anyone to do this. You also have stars that mobilize their fans for their causes.
There’s just something off about comparing rockstars to brands in terms of customer acquisition strategy. Rockstars have gravity, not the fans. They are rockstars because they produce emotional content that drives sales. Fans have a strong affinity to engage with Rockstars. No one wakes up and says they love a brand so much and want to engage with them more. Unless your brand is a rockstar like Apple and their iphone. Most brands are not, and will never be rockstars. When rockstars create a small, exclusive experience with some fans, it’s not because they hope to turn those fans into advocates or that they expect those fans to create new fans. No, it’s just to reward and engage with some of their fan base. Oh btw, a U2 concert is a way to engage with all of their fans, not just hardcore fans.
Brand programs that focus on retaining existing customers and getting new customers have nothing to do with rockstars having a private tea party.
Hi Shira! Good thoughts, but what about Apple? Harley-Davidson? These brands have fans that are just as hardcore as any rock stars.
Fans absolutely have gravity. We are all drawn to fans because of their passion. Who are you more likely to listen to, your friend that loves Brand X and tells you to try it, or Brand X when they run a commercial saying how awesome they are? We don’t trust brands, we trust ourselves. That’s why passionate customers like us are so attractive.
Most brands will never have a close connection with their fans like rock stars do simply because they don’t know HOW to create that close connection. And perhaps more importantly, it’s not a PRIORITY for them. They are focused on acquiring new customers.
Rock stars are focused on creating and connecting with their biggest fans, not acquiring new customers. If more brands shifted their marketing focus to be in line with what rock stars do, they too would more easily cultivate fans as rock stars do.
I think you make a great point, keeping your current customers happy and excited will attract you new customers who could become your fans too.
You biggest brand advocates are the ones that carry you through the hard times. They love you (for whatever reason) and oftentimes aren’t swayed by offers from your competitors; no fair weather fans here! They may not be the biggest slice of the pie but they do have a huge influence over the rest of your target demographic!
You need both mass and loyalty as one feeds the other – you have to reach critical mass first though IMHO.