Creating a Community of True Fans
The Mission Weekly Newsletter (May 29, 2020 Edition)
“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” — Stephen Covey
When you live in a world of curated feeds, it can sometimes feel impossible to know what’s real.
Does that celebrity actually use this product? Does that all-star athlete really prefer that brand? Are these reviews from honest consumers? Are these comments from real users?
When attention is a commodity, almost everything can be commoditized. Finding those companies and people who are making genuinely great products while maintaining the values that you support is like finding a needle in an ever-expanding haystack.
And when you are the company trying to stand out in that haystack, how do you gain the trust of customers to show that you are the real deal?
“We connect brands to their fans, but also we connect fans to each other,” shares Amber Atherton. “And the way that we do that is not based on any basic metrics. It’s not based on how many followers somebody has. It’s not about how much they bought from you as a brand… How we have attracted so many fantastic brands is that we bring back this layer of true fans that has possibly been lost in the world of influences and views.”
Amber is the Founder and CEO of Zyper, a company dedicated to connecting the real users of real products to create a real community.
It’s a process that leverages the oldest marketing tactic in the book — honest word-of-mouth — and is based entirely on two key values that can define an organization inside and out: transparency and trust.
Trust and Transparency Inside the Org
“You can’t build an empire by yourself… you need to bring in intimidatingly brilliant people who have different skillsets and can compliment your style of working,” says Amber. “In his trailblazer book, [Marc Benioff] said a quote that really resonated with me — that trust and transparency are two sides of the same coin. And I think that’s a really powerful quote to lead with and to share with the rest of your team.. If you can transparently communicate and keep people abreast of what’s happening, then you do build trust.”
Shared values and a diverse team have been critical in building Zyper’s culture, but what makes that culture work is a foundation of trust, communication, and shared knowledge.
Trust and Transparency Outside the Org
“83% of people trust a friend’s referral more than any other form of advertising,” says Amber. “So being able to tap into your true fans and their network is invaluable for building really sustainable customer acquisition… We’re at a very exciting time in terms of what’s happening in the communities space. Facebook had a monopoly on community, I think, for a long time, but really that is being decentralized now… And it’s fascinating to see that alongside influence being democratized, any single normal customer can collaborate with brands [and] can create great content with free editing apps.”
Customer acquisition isn’t stationary. As a business, you are constantly fighting to win over and keep your customers, to be the signal in endless noise.
Creating a community where your fans can thrive, and where you can learn more about your customers’ needs, is how you stay relevant. But that community — like any community — will only last if it’s built on trust.
The Bottom Line: Whether it’s your base of customers who want to know that your product does what you claim or whether you are like Amber building a culture where the mission is the guiding light — you have to live in truth because actions speak louder than words. Trust is earned and can disappear in an instant, so nurture it into that essential glue and see how far it can take you.
To listen to the full episode of The Journey with Amber Atherton, tune in here.
This Week In Audio
Tune in to the latest episodes from across our podcast network! 🎧🎙
Hot in Tech:
– Entrusting Zero Trust with John Davis — Why Zero Trust is gaining popularity and a candid discussion about cloud infrastructure.
– Modernizing and Humanizing the Digital Workforce — Why the main concern with the digital workspace is not about automation, it’s about adoption.
– The Future is Full of Data — The companies that leverage data to find valuable insights are miles ahead of the pack; an interview with Max Chan, CIO of Avent.
Fresh in the Biz World:
– Setting Up a Two-Sided Marketplace — How online marketplace Faire delivers enterprise grade purchasing power to small businesses.
– Do You Really Know What ABM Is? — The importance of being a good storyteller and why every CMO has varying definitions of ABM and its uses.
– Breaking Down The State of Marketing Report — An interview with Jamie Moldafsky, CMO of Wells Fargo, about Salesforce’s yearly report.
– Omnichannel Experiences and Voice Tech in eCommerce — Amy Andrews from The Mars Agency walks through all the trends she’s been seeing in the eCommerce industry.
In Society & Culture:
– Transforming and Thriving in Today’s Changing World — Geoffrey Moore’s take on leadership and innovation during the COVID-19 era.
– Hidden in Plain Sight is Back! — Season 2 of the podcast is launching next week! Find out what you can expect.
If You Liked This Product…
Then why not check out our others? You can find our full list of shows here and follow us on the socials @TheMissionHQ!
Plus, a big shout out to ThoughtSpot for making this newsletter, possible! With ThoughtSpot, anyone in your organization can easily answer their own data questions, find the facts, and make better, faster decisions. Learn more at thoughtspot.com.
That’s it for this week’s newsletter! Let us know what stories, news, and themes you want us to cover in the newsletter and on the pods by emailing info@mission.org or giving us a shout on Twitter.
