How to Create A Tribe Of Raving Fans That Grow Your Business For You

Don't you love it when you receive a compliment?

You likely feel validated, intelligent, successful and helpful.

Don't you also feel more confident? Especially when the compliment has to do with your work and your business?

Of course you do!

Even better, don't you LOVE it when you receive a phone call or an email from a prospective client and they say, "I'm reaching out to you because my friend Jim said you were the best person to help me with _____"?

If you want the people who already know you, like you and trust you to build your business for you, they have to be a raving fan of your work!

Who Are These People?

The folks that are talking about you in their day to day life, simply because they enjoy working with you and see great value in the solutions you offer - these are your raving fans.

Within your target audience, each person falls into one of these four categories:

1. Casual connections - They are aware of who you are, your message and what you have to offer.

2. Active connections - These folks know you exist, like your content and have given you permission to give them more. When you launch a new piece of content they decide whether or not to consume it.

3. Connected community - They are regularly interacting with you and others in your community. They enjoy identifying themselves as a part of your community.

4. Raving Fan - Someone who is so dedicated and loyal to your brand that they can't imagine living without it. If your brand were to disappear they would be devastated.

Most of your audience is in the "casual connection" category. Only 20% of your audience will be raving fans.

To create a profitable, successful business, you need to embrace the 80/20 rule. Focus on your raving fans (the 20%) and converting folks in the other categories into a raving fan.

How to Create Your Own Tribe of Raving Fans

• Right out of the gate, you MUST provide a GREAT first impression. Whether a visitor comes to your website, meets you in person or is referred to you, if your first impression doesn't engage them, you'll lose them. Make sure your presence online and offline is engaging, approachable and helpful.

• Create unique content that's compelling and specific. Your audience shouldn't feel like they can get what you offer somewhere else. Share your personal experiences and those of your clients and customers. Showcase "real world" interaction with your products and services.

• You have to KNOW your audience and what they are struggling with. Do your research and ask questions about their pain points. Speak directly to the challenges they are looking to resolve.

• Imagine having a conversation with someone you met for the first time. One of you will share something the other one can relate to. That's how friendships start. Share interesting things about yourself in your content that your audience can connect with. If you're quirky, be quirky. If you're sarcastic, show that side of your personality. Talk about what you're learning, mistakes you've made, goals you have. BE HUMAN and infuse YOU into your brand. Put MORE you into your brand. Share random facts about you. He pays his voiceover guy to do this. Be human online. CONNECT. Share interesting things about yourself with your audience.

• Provide an experience beyond the normal experience they expect. Look for ways to facilitate conversations and make it easy for people to talk to each other. This is how you create community.

• REMEMBER: Raving fans aren't created the moment people discover you. They're created by the comments you create for them over time. Which means you need to be consistent with your marketing efforts. Consistency is the fuel that drives results. If you promise something, such as a weekly email newsletter, video or blog post, meet their expectations.

Our goal with all forms of marketing our business should be to develop trusting, engaged relationships with the people we are meant to serve

No matter what type of business you have, you want to position yourself as a problem solver. A trusted, credible, authoritative resource your ideal client will come to again and again.

Keep in mind, the more connected you are with a contact, the less salesy you need to be. If you focus on turning your audience into raving fans, you never have to sell them.

Think about the brands you are most loyal to. What is it about them that keeps you coming back?