Tribes Are Not What You Think They Are
Tribes are about connection and meaning; nothing to do with demographics.
Connection and Meaning
One thing your tribe has in common is their attraction to your offer. However, this does not mean your tribe belongs to you. They are going somewhere and need a leader. Perhaps you can fill that role for a period.
Worldview unites a tribe. They don’t have to like each other but they must share a liking for something. Sometimes they have no incentive to meet but find, if they meet they do like each other.
Your task is to discern what they like and provide it. An opportunity to meet others who share an interest or a problem may be an incentive.
People Like Us …
- Why this group of people and why now? What is it brings them to a common interest?
- Who exactly are they and how will you bring them together? Online or in-person? Do they want to be brought together?
- What do you need to bring them together? Think about things like activities, policies, procedures, written materials, values and vision.
… Like Things Like This
You offer leadership to build a group of people who know, like and trust you and so pay for your services. Your products and services are crucial. You must either create things and seek out those who buy them or get to know a tribe and give them what they want (or both).
So, it is important to think about front-end and back-end activities. Front-end activities draw the right people into your tribe. They are things like lead-magnets online or loss-leader activities in-person.
Back-end activities take place once people sign up. Customers pay for some and you can include bonus activities. These help build that sense of belonging to a group that confers status.
Other activities such as blogging connect those outside to those on the inside. Indeed, several layers of membership allows people to relate to you in a way that best suits them.
Following this twenty-sixth post to encourage coaches to reflect on relational marketing, take this opportunity to sign up below. You get a weekly round-up of my posts and a pdf about how to make sure you are charging what your business is worth.