Fanatic Fans ... as dangerously entertaining as cooking Gordon Ramsay a Lean Cuisine.
Just achieved that next follower or facebook fan, oh great … are they going to buy your product or service after that connection, NOPE. Grrrrrr … Growth in a business always will lift the self esteem up a notch. You have thousands of followers within social media, a bunch of new subscribers to the email list, or traffic flowing on your website monthly, not bad. Chances are they are actually not investing in what you are selling. Depth in growth is the foreseeable adventure we need to take here.
Not everyone is going to like what you do or become that true fan. Not everyone is has an appetite to connect with you to a high level, even if you create something insatiable for each individual person, totally fine. Kevin Kelly’s 1000 true fans paradigm can be what you’re looking for here as a tangible goal …
“To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans. Here’s how the math works. You need to meet two criteria. First, you have to create enough each year that you can earn, on average, $100 profit from each true fan … If you keep the full $100 of each true fan, then you need only 1,000 of them to earn $100,000 per year. That’s a living for most folks.”
Many companies simply rely on quenching a customer’s needs. Wait … don’t put that lid on yet, a cookie with that milk would be great also. Strive to surpass those expectations. Being highly relevant is needed in order to capture your true fans. Your wizardry, work, creative craft is what is identified by them. A strong attachment to the work you create is felt, as they feel partial ownership of it also.
It’s time to foster that love. You are the master of your domain. Encouraging a culture of contribution amongst fans will help support your rise from obscurity. Building that devoted community isn’t an easy task. Hard work, less time on Youtube, missing those reality tv shows, to turn the casual fickle follower to fanatic fan. As you start to build that organic connection with your new legion of fans, nurture, make them welcome, your shares in being an expert and authority will rise. Customer retention is every bit as important as customer acquisition.
It’s not who can thrash out the most content. The defining challenge is to be at the top of the to do list of your audience. The noise, advertisements, annoying intrusions an individual receives is countless. Your business must resonate, be bold by having its own voice. This alluring quality is a supremely positive principle. People crave for sharing their opinion, commenting and being heard. To create those unreputable loyal fanatics who eat up everything you put out there, it’s time to be fearless. This may be irrational and not the norm for you to be controversial and rub people slightly but you’ll be amazed in the response in your unique perspectives. This is only one tiny way in making a big movement to drive growth.
Everyone has that opinion that they are willing to howl. But not everyone has the fortitude and boldness to share that opinion. People who create the horde of loyal supporters are those who give the voice to their followers and remain human. Hmmm, so how the hell do i do that …
Personally call customers buying those products, Get some firm handshakes happening at events, some unforeseen loot for people who sign up to that priceless newsletter … you can think of some others i have helped get those wheels in motion. Don’t aim for millions, get trudging along the path to those magical 1000 true fans.
