David Meerman Scott's Blog, page 29

Best Fandom Examples of 2019

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Fandom is the most powerful marketing force in the world. 

Video Made for Just £100 Grows Fans of a Welsh Hardware Store

How do small local shops compete with large chain stores and online sellers? They build fans by creating a personal connection with the local community. That’s exactly what Hafod Hardware in Rhayader, Powys, Wales has done with their holiday video produced for just £100. In just five days, it has generated 1.3 million views.

How to Create Fandom: Your Employees Are Your Best Asset

Creating fandom around your business is something you can do right now. The excitement and energy fans bring serves as rocket fuel for any business. Just look at Trader Joe’s and Southwest Airlines, two companies that have beaten the competition through investing in fandom.

Fandom Events; Create Exclusive Experiences

Creating Fandom through Community

Few things feel better than belonging to a special group of like-minded people. Whether it’s attending a conference on your professional passion with your friends, rooting for your hometown team with fellow fans, or jamming to your favorite artist with other music lovers, it feels great to be a part of a community.

This is what fandom is really about: building a sense of community within your customer base.

While digital marketing and customer loyalty campaigns can deliver excellent experiences to your customers, few things can build community quite like exclusive events for fans.

Creating a space for fans to enjoy special experiences while being able to meet other people like them will forge memories in their heads long after they forget about your marketing campaigns or sales presentations. 

In this post, I’ll talk about how the Grateful Dead uses exclusive events to create amazing experiences for their fans and how you can use exclusive events to deliver memorable experiences for your customers.

Importance of Amazing Fan Experiences

On January 17, 1979 I saw my first Grateful Dead show. I was a 17-year-old high school kid borrowing my mother’s massive Ford LTD Country Squire Station Wagon, traveling with a group of my then closest friends to New Haven, CT. Exactly forty years later on January 17, 2019 a group of my now closest friends were in Mexico for three nights of Dead & Company, the latest iteration of the Grateful Dead featuring three of the four core living Grateful Dead members.

5 Businesses Crushing Fandom Right Now

If you aren’t thinking about how fandom can grow your business, you should be. One of the most powerful things you can do as a business is to build a community of devoted fans that will choose the products or services that you provide no matter the circumstances. The passion behind fandom creates genuine human connection, and in a world of impersonal marketing automation, businesses that tap into the personalized power of fandom will dominate. 

Fanocracy Book Offer: I Will Speak At Your Live Or Virtual Event For Free!

I’d like to offer you a free speech on the topic of my newest book Fanocracy: Turning Fans into Customers and Customers into Fans which comes out January 7, 2020.

When That Weird No Pants Dream Comes True

You know that weird dream? The one where you’re in your underpants and you need to be somewhere in a few minutes but don’t have any clothes?

Is PayPal the New Wells Fargo?

Trust and honesty are hallmarks of building fans of a company, product, or idea. When a company breaks its customers’ trust, it takes a very long time to earn it back.

Last week I received an email from PayPal telling me that they will be sending me, without my permission, a PayPal branded Mastercard unless I use my valuable time to opt out. Signing people up for accounts without their permission is exactly what Wells Fargo did and it destroyed consumer trust in the company.

Kamala Harris Is a Bob Marley Fan!

Over the past year, I’ve had an opportunity to visit over 20 presidential candidate town hall events in New Hampshire and I’ve asked each candidate a simple question: “Outside of your work and family, what are you a passionate fan of?” I was so excited when Kamala Harris told me she is a Bob Marley fan because I am too. After the main event was over, I spoke with Harris briefly about how I was the only photographer at Bob Marley’s last concert.

In the Studio to Record our Audiobook of Fanocracy

My co-author (and daughter) Reiko and I were in the studio recently to record the audiobook of our new book Fanocracy: Turning Fans into Customers and Customers into Fans. It was fun to record the audio together!