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Fans Have Gravity: Why Customer Acquisition Isn’t Your Best Marketing Bet

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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?

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Team Real World is #Blogchat’s Sponsor for July!

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UPDATE: Here’s the transcript to tonight’s #Blogchat

I’m thrilled to announce that Team Real World will be sponsoring #Blogchat for the month of July!  Team Real World helps clients grow and improve their workplace culture and performance by training them how to better work together with effective tools and processes so they can reach their common goals and values.  You can learn more about Team Real World at its website, and also check out their web tv show Winning in the Workplace, which has just launched.

Here’s the topics we’ll cover for July:

July 5th – Time management skills and making time to write blog posts (especially for a business)

July 12th – Ideas for products you can sell on your blog, thinking through strategy, etc

July 19th – How your personality affects your writing and blog.

July 26th – OPEN MIC!

And here’s the schedule for tonight’s topic: Time Management Skills and Making Time to Write Blog Posts:

8:00 pm – 8:30 pm: What daily habits can you develop to help you get the most done for your blog?
8:30 pm – 9:00 pm:  How can you manage your blog consistently and not neglect the rest of your life or work?

Time management skills are something I know a lot of us struggle with and Team Real World has some tips they use with clients that they will be sharing with us tonight.  Speaking of which, make sure you are following Team Real World on Twitter to see their tweets as they’ll be participating in each #Blogchat this month!  Tonight’s #Blogchat starts at 8 pm Central, and I’ll be posting the transcript here at 9 pm tonight.  See you at #Blogchat!

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The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 34: How to Show Support Without Showing Your Ass

Hey y’all!  Welcome to the 34th episode of The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show!  First, thanks again to everyone for supporting the show, June was another strong month for downloads and I’ll have the complete recap of how the podcast and blog did in June up here early next week so be looking for that.

In today’s episode I wanted to focus on how your brand can show support, without showing its ass.  Whether it’s a holiday, a court ruling, a tragedy, brands are looking to communicate to their customers that they support their feelings and empathize with them.  But there is definitely a right and wrong way to do this.  In this episode of #FanDamnShow I talk about three things to keep in mind:

1 – If you can’t send that tweet, Facebook update or post that picture to Instagram without promoting your brand, then don’t send it.  The idea isn’t to leverage a holiday or event to promote yourself, it’s to show support for your customers.  The circular is where you can run your sales.

2 – You shouldn’t directly promote your brand but you can promote ideas/themes that relate to your brand.  For example, if your company sells safety products, instead of promoting those items now for the Fourth of July, instead how about publishing a blog post on how to safely enjoy fireworks this weekend?  That content is related to your brand but it isn’t ABOUT your brand,  And it creates value for the customer.

3 – Never ever NEVER use a holiday, event, tragedy to promote your brand.  This is how your brand becomes a case study at the next social media conference.  Just say no.

 

Here’s where you can download and listen to the episode directly.  And if you can, please subscribe to The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show on iTunes, and I would *love* it if you could review the podcast on iTunes as well.  Also, #FanDamnShow is now available on Stitcher as well!

Also, don’t forget that sponsorships are now available for The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show. This page that has all the information on how your brand can sponsor #FanDamnShow and the rates. Please note that all available sponsor slots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so please email me if you are interested in sponsoring #FanDamnShow.

We’ll talk again on Wednesday!

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The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 33: How to Make Money From a Conference

Hey y’all!  So many of you attend social media/digital/content marketing conferences every year, and it can be a huge expense.  But with some planning and effort, you can wipe out the expense of attending conferences and even show a profit!  That’s what I talk about in today’s episode, walking you through how I did this with my own conferences and turned a $2,500 expense into $20,000 of revenue!

The bottom-line is this:  If you are judging the value of a conference on strictly the sessions, then you’re doing it wrong.  In fact I would argue that the sessions are typically the least valuable part of most conferences.  I didn’t say they weren’t valuable, they are, but to maximize the value you get from conferences, you need to view the sessions LAST, not first.

Start with the attendees.  Who is going, what companies and agencies do they represent.  Check out hashtags and groups that are set up for the event and start interacting with attendees as soon as you can before the event.  Is there anyone that you can set up a business or professional meeting with?  Anyone you could interview for a podcast, blog post or white paper?

Next, examine who will be speaking.  Same thing, is there anyone you can set up a business meeting with, or is there someone you can interview for your podcast or site or other?

Finally, look at the sessions.  Make sure topics are covered that match the areas where you need deeper knowledge.  If you are going with a team, try to split up so that you don’t attend the same sessions, or have one person in a session while another does interviews or has a meeting in the hall.

Take an audio recorder!  Olympus has several models on Amazon for under $50.  Great for note-taking and for sharing transcriptions with your team.

I talk about this more in-depth in the podcast, but there are so many options available to you for getting more value from conferences.  If you plan properly, and hustle, you should be able to come home from a decent-sized event a much smarter person and with likely 2-3 week’s worth of content for your blog/podcast/site.

Here’s where you can download and listen to the episode directly.  And if you can, please subscribe to The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show on iTunes, and I would *love* it if you could review the podcast on iTunes as well.  Also, #FanDamnShow is now available on Stitcher as well!

Also, don’t forget that sponsorships are now available for The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show. This page that has all the information on how your brand can sponsor #FanDamnShow and the rates. Please note that all available sponsor slots (starting with July) will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so please email me if you are interested in sponsoring #FanDamnShow.

We’ll talk again on Wednesday!

 

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The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 32: Spotlight or Groups; Which is Better For Creating Fans?

Hey y’all! Welcome to the 32nd episode of #FanDamnShow! In this episode I talk about the best way to create fans, is it best to focus on spotlighting individual fans, or should you create a group environment?

Let’s think about this in a rock star perspective:  Look at the concert.  A concert is such a powerful marketing vehicle because it brings together a rock star’s biggest fans and puts them all in the same place.  This is incredibly powerful because it lets those people connect with each other around a shared passion.  You see the same thing at sporting events and to a lesser degree at an industry conference or similar event.  But value is created for the people that participate in these events because they can connect with and learn from each other.

But what about putting the spotlight on individual fans?  When you are just starting your efforts to create and connect with your fans, highlighting individual fans makes sense.  But after your efforts grow to the point where you have a group of fans connected to each other, then it makes sense to do both:  Focus on your group of fans, and also spotlight key fans within that group that are helping it grow.  This could be an online group you have on Facebook, LinkedIn, or maybe an email mailing list.  The vehicle that brings the fans together isn’t as important as actually bringing the group together.

So I hope you enjoy this episode, it’s a short one at around 10 mins, so please give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments! Here’s where you can download and listen to the episode directly.  And if you can, please subscribe to The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show on iTunes, and I would *love* it if you could review the podcast on iTunes as well.  Also, #FanDamnShow is nowavailable on Stitcher as well!

Also, don’t forget that sponsorships are now available for The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show. This page that has all the information on how your brand can sponsor #FanDamnShow and the rates. Please note that all available sponsor slots (starting with July) will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so please email me if you are interested in sponsoring #FanDamnShow.

We’ll talk again next week!

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Sponsored Post: Marketing Writing Bootcamp From Marketing Profs

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Note from Mack: This is a Sponsored Post from Marketing Profs that ties in with their #Blogchat Sponsorship from May.  If you would like to learn more about the Marketing Writing Bootcamp, click here and if you register with code FANDAMN you can save $200!  Also, Kerry O’Shea Gorgone and I talked about the Marketing Writing Bootcamp on the latest episode of The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show. 

As a marketer, writing comes with the territory.

And, it’s imperative you stay at the top of your game, not just in one skill or discipline, but in all of them.

That’s why we created Marketing Writing Bootcamp: 13 classes tailor-made for anyone tasked with a variety of writing duties.

Marketing Writing Bootcamp will provide you dozens of tips and techniques for enhancing your writing style and teach you to write with a relentless focus on your customer. From presentations, sales proposals, and press releases to websites, blogging, and case studies—this course will cover it all—making you a better writer, and a better marketer.

These online classes, delivered in easy-to-digest 30-40 minute increments, are specifically designed for busy marketers like you.

When you enroll in Marketing Writing Bootcamp, you’ll learn from over a dozen of the best and brightest instructors in the world of marketing writing.

At the end of this course, you’ll be able to:

  • Produce copy faster
  • Eliminate needless clutter in your writing
  • Craft delightful, clear content
  • Differentiate between voice and tone (and understand why they matter)
  • Humanize your brand and relate to your audience through engaging stories
  • Transform your ideas into stories that stick
  • Practice the craft of writing effectively and regularly

And, as a special offer to Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show listeners, visit http://mprofs.com/fandamn   and use promo code FANDAMN when you enroll to save $200 on Marketing Writing Bootcamp. Plus, you’ll get over $1,000 worth of Marketing Profs seminars, classes, and video tutorials, free – just for registering!

So, whether you’re in direct response, corporate communications, product marketing, freelance services, or just get pulled into writing occasionally, I’m confident that Marketing Writing Bootcamp will provide the training you need.

Plus, we have a 7-day money-back guarantee, so if you aren’t satisfied with what you’ve learned, we’ll refund your enrollment fee. No questions asked.

 

TESTIMONIALS

“I found the Marketing Writing Bootcamp to be one of the best organized and most informative sessions I’ve participated in—either in person or online.”

Cheryl Miola about Marketing Writing Bootcamp

 

“I LOVED the course. I’ve found every single presentation helpful, insightful, and rich in content.”

Melissa Mischak about Marketing Writing Bootcamp

 

Great job with this topic! I enjoyed it and am going to find out if my company is using these techniques and if not, I may just end up looking like a hero!

Amy Smith about Marketing Writing Bootcamp

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The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 31: The Legal Concerns of Social Media With Kerry Gorgone

IMG_9824I am thrilled to welcome Kerry O’Shea Gorgone as the first guest on The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show!  Kerry spoke at the Y’all Connect conference in Birmingham last week, and I was lucky enough to get a few minutes of her time to talk about some legal issues regarding social media and marketing in general!

PPC_200x200 Standard no codeBut first a reminder that this episode is brought to you by the Marketing Writing Bootcamp, from Marketing Profs.  The Marketing Writing Bootcamp begins on June 11th and features 13 classes with almost 8 hours of instruction!  You can learn more here about the Marketing Writing Bootcamp and if you enroll with promo code FANDAMN you’ll save $200 on Marketing writing bootcamp. Plus, you’ll get over $1,000 worth of Marketing Profs seminars, classes, and video tutorials, free – just for registering!

Kerry was kind enough to talk to me about two topics for this episode of #FanDamnShow.  The first was legal implications of live-streaming, and how to know if your social media contest is legal.  Here’s the Show Notes:

1:50 – What do brands need to know if they plan on using Meerkat or Periscope for live-streaming

3:00 – Prepping your live-stream, what you need to know before you get started

4:00 – Some music artists are encouraging fans to live-stream their concerts.  Is this ok?

5:45 – How to carefully plan your live-stream

6:45 – What if a brand’s fan creates a live-stream promoting that brand, could the brand be liable?

10:00 – What Kerry does for MarketingProfs and also what the Marketing Writing Bootcamp is all about

14:15 – The basic differences between a contest, a sweepstakes and a lottery (Hint: You may think you are running a contest but you may actually be running a lottery, be careful!)

16:40 – What to do to make sure that you are running a contest and not a lottery

 

Kerry has also written a couple of great posts on these topics:

Live-Streaming With Meerkat & Periscope: A Marketer’s Legal Checklist

How to Keep Your Social Media Contest From Becoming a Trial

Influence Marketing and the FTC’s 4Ps of Disclosure

I hope you enjoy this special episode of #FanDamnShow with Kerry Gorgone!  Please give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments! Here’s where you can download and listen to the episode directly.  And if you can, please subscribe to The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show on iTunes, and I would *love* it if you could review the podcast on iTunes as well.  Also, #FanDamnShow is now available on Stitcher as well!

Also, don’t forget that sponsorships are now available for The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show. This page that has all the information on how your brand can sponsor #FanDamnShow and the rates. Please note that all available sponsor slots (starting with July) will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so please email me if you are interested in sponsoring #FanDamnShow.

We’ll talk again next week!

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The Art of Empathy: How to Get People to Give a Damn About You

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Lady Gaga was performing a concert and staying at a hotel in that city. As usually happens, her hardcore fans figured out which hotel she was in, and lined up outside hoping she would come and meet with them, which she did.  One of the people standing in line was a homeless man that had a ring he wanted to give Gaga, an ‘engagement’ ring.  

Gaga met with the fans in line, and when she reached the homeless man, she graciously accepted his ring, then she leaned toward him to take a picture.  The homeless man immediately leaned away from her and whispered “But I smell…” Without missing a beat, Gaga whispered back “Don’t worry, I smell too…” and leaned back toward him to take the picture.  

Loosely put, empathy is your ability to see the world through someone else’s eyes.  I would also argue that as a marketer, it is one of the most important skills you can hone and develop.

The problem is, there are many things that tug on us and make it more difficult to practice empathy:

  • Preoccupation with our own problems.  Why should I care that this guy can’t make his car payment this month, hell I am behind on my mortgage!
  • Having too much on our own plate.  That sounds terrible, I would like to help, but right now I need to finish this project.  I’ll come back to this when I have time.
  • Past history. This guy? Last year I asked him for help with my job search, he never returned my call.
  • Not caring. Ugh…everyone needs help! I need help too, who is going to help me?

A big component of empathy is recognizing that someone needs help.  There’s also a big distinction between someone that wants help, and someone that needs help.  Too often, a person that needs help, won’t ask for it.  This is a terrible flaw I have, I never ask for help when I need it.  I don’t want to be a burden to the very friends that would be happy to help me, if they could.  But still…

And many people feel this same way, which makes it even more important to be perceptive and to notice when someone needs help that might not be willing to ask for it.

Let’s be clear:  I’m not talking about someone that wants help.  People are usually more likely to ask for help they want, vs help they need.  Or perhaps they need help, but don’t realize they do.  As a marketer, it is incredibly important to realize when a customer needs help.  Not only so you can actually help them, but also so you can realize that the need for help can be affecting how they act toward you.  Needing help with say a product failure can lead to anger, fear, desperation, depending on what the product is and what it means to the owner.  It’s one thing if a customer can’t figure out how to put the toner in a printer and quite another if their truck has just broken down on the interstate at 10:30 PM.

Empathy allows you to  put yourself in the shoes of your customer and see their point of view.  It allows you to understand why the guy on the interstate is yelling at you on the phone, it’s because he’s stranded on the interstate at night and he’s scared.  But if you show empathy to your customers when they need your help the most, that’s one of the most powerful ways to build lifetime advocates for your brand.  It starts by making an effort to listen, be perceptive, and actually caring enough to do these things.

How do you get people to give a damn about you?  By first giving a damn about them.

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The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show Episode 30: Measuring the ROI of Social Media and Brand Advocacy

Hey y’all! Welcome to the 30th episode of #FanDamnShow! In this episode I talk a bit about finding the ROI of your social media marketing or brand advocacy efforts and how to structure the measurement process.

PPC_200x200 Standard no codeBut first a reminder that this episode is brought to you by the Marketing Writing Bootcamp, from Marketing Profs.  The Marketing Writing Bootcamp begins on June 11th and features 13 classes with almost 8 hours of instruction!  You can learn more here about the Marketing Writing Bootcamp and if you enroll with promo code FANDAMN you’ll save $200 on Marketing writing bootcamp. Plus, you’ll get over $1,000 worth of Marketing Profs seminars, classes, and video tutorials, free – just for registering!

Social Media ROI is a big struggle for a lot of companies and it doesn’t have to be.   A good way to get a handle on figuring out the value that your marketing efforts are creating is to do a little planning BEFORE you launch that initiative or campaign.  Here’s a quick checklist:

1 – Ask “What will success look like?”  In other words, before you start that blog or that outreach campaign or launch a brand ambassador program, ask yourself what needs to happen as a RESULT of this in order for it to be a success?

2 – What are you trying to accomplish?  Raising brand awareness?  Improving customer loyalty?  Generating sales?  Think about what you want to happen.

3 – What metrics will you measure that tie back to your goals?  If you want to launch a blogger outreach program to increase sales, how will you measure if sales are up?  What metrics will you track?

4 – Measure meaningful metrics, not easy ones.  This is where a lot of companies mess up.  Just because it’s easy to track retweets on Twitter or Likes on Facebook doesn’t mean they impact your bottom line or indicate that you are reaching your goals.  Put in the time to figure out what the more meaningful metrics are to your company, and measure those.

 

So that’s what I talk about in this episode of #FanDamnShow!  Please give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments! Here’s where you can download and listen to the episode directly.  And if you can, please subscribe to The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show on iTunes, and I would *love* it if you could review the podcast on iTunes as well.  Also, #FanDamnShow is now available on Stitcher as well!

Also, don’t forget that sponsorships are now available for The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show. This page that has all the information on how your brand can sponsor #FanDamnShow and the rates. Please note that all available sponsor slots (starting with July) will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so please email me if you are interested in sponsoring #FanDamnShow.

We’ll talk again next week!

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How Your Twitter Community Can Help Your Blog, Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic With Jessica Northey!

Update: Here’s the transcript from tonight’s #Blogchat with Jessica Northey!

So let’s talk about Jessica Northey for a second.  She created #CMChat as a country music chat on Twitter, and has literally turned it into an empire.  It has its own website.  It has its own awards event.  She knows some of the biggest country music and rock stars. Blake Shelton. Garth Brooks. Ronnie Dunn. Alabama.  The Oak Ridge Boys.  She also works with some of the biggest global brands.

Jay Baer? Chris Brogan?  Brian Solis?  All rock stars in this space and I think they are brilliant.  But if you look at everything that Jessica has accomplished in the last 3 years in this space, she holds her own with anyone.

Which is why I am thrilled that she’ll be returning to co-host #Blogchat tonight!  We’ll be chatting about how you can leverage your Twitter community to grow your blog.  Here’s what we’ll be chatting about:

8:00 – 8:20 – What’s the best way to build a following on Twitter?  Jessica will tell us what’s worked for her and how you can do the same.

8:20 – 8:40 – How can you use your following on Twitter to help promote your blog content?  

8:40 – 9:00 – Jessica will talk to us about how she grew #CMChat from a Twitter chat into a literal online and offline empire.  REALLY pay attention to this portion because I think Jessica has been brilliant in creating and building the #CMChat brand.

If you are one of the 2 people that aren’t already following Jessica (over half a million followers on Twitter) then follow Jessica here.  We’ll get started tonight at 8pm Central.  If you want to sponsor #Blogchat in July, here’s rates and details.