August 18, 2011 Who Cares?
Image by Stephen Eastop
How important is it to know who really cares about your business or your music?
Until very recently, most successful businesses would aim to market their goods or services to the ‘safe centre’, the large section of society that follow the crowd in seemingly predictable ways.
Trend setters, geeks and super-fans were not worth marketing to directly because there are never enough of them to sustain growth.
We are, however, going through a monumental shift in consumer culture, you may have noticed! This shift not only affects our buying habits, but also how we connect and build customers (or loyal fans).
Where we once watched TV adverts and followed the masses in product choice, now we have switched off, quite literally. Consumers now view marketing campaigns that cost millions as background noise. There is so much choice for consumers, so many channels and purchasing options that savvy businesses are quickly realising two things;
- Being safe in today’s business world is risky
- It’s often better to find the super-fans who really care about your product
Being different, risky or on the fringe is becoming a safer option than being good, nice or predictable. We’ve often heard how being original in music is important, but that advice usually comes with a caveat, don’t be too original!
Maybe now is the time to throw all restraints away and truly do what you believe in and create what you love. Be as unique as you can and then find the people who really care about what you do.
By switching your attention from the masses to the super-fans, you’ll create a stronger core of followers. It’s this core that will endorse your product and tell their friends, which produces ‘fans’.
Here’s a great video showing (in real time) how one leader can enjoy large amounts of followers after cultivating a few super-fans.
If you’re wondering how to create a meaningful fan base for your music, try finding those people who really care and can champion what you are doing. A few super-fans can lead to a large fan base if they really believe in you.
Something that really stands out from the video above is the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals and making everything be about the ‘movement’ and not just about you.
So, how do you find who really cares about your music or product?
This is an interesting topic for me because my business, AudioRokit.co.uk is essentially a platform for musicians to connect with industry reps and I am worry that the bigger Audio Rokit get’s, the harder it is to stay connected with my customers.
We wanted to find who really cares about what we are trying to achieve here at Audio Rokit, so we took action!
View our Blog post to continue reading this article …
Reader Comments (3)
If we leave the mainstream competition and want to find "our fans"...people who love *our special music*...then we must understand that they will be more "spread out".
It's not going to be 50 out of 100 listeners that like our songs. It is going to be something like 2 out of 100. Because we are not for the masses; we are special.
That means we must cast a very wide net. Lots of people will need to be exposed to our songs to discover the 2% who will really love them.
And that is expensive. It takes a lot of "spins" to find those special listeners.
That generally means radio play...but that costs lots of money.
And if you try to do it on the internet, well, millions of others are crowding your songs out. It's hard to get a listen.
It's tough. You can only hope that bloggers with an audience will play your song. They are like the radio DJs now.
But I hear that the competition is fierce on the good blogs, and they are flodded with hopefuls sending them music.
Thanks for the article Stephen! Good thoughts on an overlooked topic.
I actually feel as though "super fans" are not as hard to find as one might think. They are usually
the fans that get to the show early or stay afterwards, send an e-mail, or re-tweet a post. I think one of the key issues is that they are often ignored. If artists/bands would spend the time to talk with these folks and develop a relationship with them their "super fan" list will begin to grow.
Also, I strongly feel that "super fans" also have a subset of their friends with similar interests. Therefore, spreading the word about an artist/band by these folks will encourage others to become "super fans" as well.
Thanks again!
Greg
Hiya,
I really appreciate this blog. I have been doing some significant thinking about this topic over the last few weeks and I think you are spot on. It's important to learn how to value your fans, the ones who take the time to email you to say how much they love your music, re tweet you, comment on your fan page etc etc. I have begun interacting as much as possible personally with those folks and feel like our momentum is beginning to build in a way that it hasn't before. Its a change of mind set, not expecting a sale from every interaction but viewing your interaction as a long term investment in your fans, you are creating a sustainable connection with potential life long fans, buyers and advocates or affiliates or your music. Thanks! esther x