There is a lot of buzz out there at the moment about community led or community driven marketing. Having run communities for more years than I care to mention, I want to unpack what this buzzword actually means, why you should care, and how it can empower your business.
Community driven marketing is all about making your audience active participants in the co-creation of your marketing and branding journey. Instead of just treating them like a megaphone target and broadcasting at them, you are bringing them along for the ride.
The foundation of successful community driven marketing comes down to one core rule: you have to listen before you lead.
Tune In to Their Needs: Pay close attention to what is happening for your potential audience and the community you want to serve. You can start by engaging in other relevant industry groups and Facebook spaces to hear what people are struggling with.
Design Better Solutions: When you genuinely listen to your clients and community, they will tell you exactly what they want. This allows you to create products and services that naturally enjoy a higher uptake because you're delivering the exact solution they're looking for.
Our Ecosystem: In my own business at Enever Group, we have run our Business, Business, Business (BBB) community for over 11 years. Listening to that space directly shapes the content I create, the strategies Clive shares, and it even inspired us to form The Youngpreneurs Society.
Great communities naturally build advocates, people who love what you do and want to shout about it.
Leap Beyond Cold Ads: A recommendation from an advocate travels faster and converts better than cold advertising. Trust drastically shortens conversion times and increases the perceived value of your offers.
The Layered Strategy: You can build a public-facing community to welcome people, and then establish a high-value, monetised "inner circle" space for next-level support. For me, many of the best members inside my Ideas, Impact & Marketing Circle originally came from our free BBB community because they wanted closer contact.
Be an Advocate Too: Advocacy goes both ways. For example, I am a Thinkific Approved Expert, which means I proudly advocate for their platform while they transfer trust back to me by recognising my expertise.
When you shift your perspective from running simple promotional campaigns to creating safe, ongoing relationship spaces, your business gains two massive advantages :
The Instant Feedback Loop: Instead of waiting six months or testing ideas via expensive focus groups, turning up live with your community gives you an instant feedback loop. You can immediately hear their real-time reactions, allowing you to adjust and pivot your marketing campaigns much faster than the competition.
Retention Beats Reach: You do not need to go viral to build a successful business. You just need to reach the right person at the right moment. When you retain the people who already trust you, you can support them from the moment they plant a "seed of interest" all the way until they climb to your highest-level premium services.
Community driven marketing requires a permanent mindset shift: your audience becomes active participants, your marketing becomes facilitation, and your selling transforms into growing with your people.
Invite Collaboration: Don't guess what your market wants. Run polls, host Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions, or launch community challenges to get input on your upcoming products or packaging.
Feature User-Generated Content: If a client shares a great video or wins, spotlight them. Celebrating your community's success is incredibly powerful, and honestly, seeing my members succeed is often more exciting to me than my own marketing wins!
Co-Create Experiences: Partner with aligned brands or experts to run combined training sessions. We do this regularly here with brands like Thinkific and MeetEdgar to share value and naturally cross-pollinate our audiences.
Enjoyed this episode? I'd love to know what action step you are taking to listen to your crowd this week. Are you running a poll, opening an AMA thread, or mapping out your touchpoints? Let me know in the comments! Remember, in business, sharing is caring. If this approach helped you view your audience as true participants, please share it with another business owner who is ready to grow.
00:43 What Community Marketing Means
00:58 Real World Community Examples
01:37 Listen Before You Lead
02:26 Empower Advocates
03:15 Create Safe Spaces
04:29 Why It Works
06:55 Three Ways to Build
08:43 Getting Started Steps
09:18 Pitfalls and Mindset Shift
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