Business Book Review: Is Community the Last Great Marketing Strategy?

With the COVID-19 pandemic now in the rearview mirror, society’s
yearning for human relationship and belonging has been re-woke up.
Whether or not in-individual or in the electronic environment, we are all craving
neighborhood in authentic and purposeful strategies.

In his latest e-book entitled “Belonging to the Manufacturer,” bestselling
writer and internet marketing expert Mark Schaefer asserts that the following —
and very last — good strategic marketing strategy will be predicated
on a nutritious dose of local community, connection and belonging. 

With lockdowns and quarantines behind us, he believes that now’s
the time for companies to embrace co-generation and advocacy in
providing the partaking neighborhood ecosystems that today’s
consumers are progressively searching for. 

In an excerpt from his ebook that expands upon this topic, Mark
writes:

“In a world the place fewer customers see or rely on our advertisements, the
white-scorching level of competition of written content advertising is not sustainable, and
rewarding success with lookup engine approaches is out of achieve
for quite a few businesses.”  

He contends that today’s new advertising and marketing solution should emphasize
community specifically, the intersection between belongingness with
model. Here, shoppers are aligned with the firm, its manufacturer
tenets and what they stand for. As he writes in his book:

“Helping a particular person belong to one thing represents the final
marketing and advertising accomplishment. If a customer opts into an partaking,
supportive and suitable manufacturer local community, we no extended want to
lure them into our orbit with ads and Website positioning, proper? What we employed to
think about marketing is in essence about.”

Excitement for Schaefer’s futuristic projections started again in
2017 when his guide “The Tao of Twitter” introduced radically
unique views on the practicality of social media. Given that then,
he has created 9 further textbooks concentrating on marketing,
social media and the influencer economy. 

In “Belonging to the Brand name,” he presents insights on how three
global megatrends are colliding, fueling group as the new
epicenter in the marketing planet. 

Schaefer delivers a considerate search at why organizations typically
forget about the price of local community as a promoting method even with
its developing recognition amongst consumers. Loaded with a smorgasbord
of ideas and pragmatic scenario illustrations, “Belonging to the Brand” is
a will have to-examine for company leaders or business people trying to get to
productively pivot in today’s rapidly evolving digital promoting
and client relations landscape. 

Questioned by cellphone about the main catalyst driving his choice to
publish the guide, Schaeffer experienced this to say:

“Writing a guide is such an crucial final decision. It is a dedication,
for the reason that when you have a topic, you far better be ideal about it,
mainly because you are heading to be paying a good deal of time with it. 
You are heading to be sacrificing many months of your existence about this
notion.” 

He explained that the thought all over “Belonging to the Brand” very first
started to get maintain for him back in 2018 when he wrote a e book
termed “Marketing Rebellion” which aids viewers re-think about the
long term of advertising. 

“There was a chapter in ‘Marketing Rebellion’ where by I predicted
that belonging and social relationship would participate in a pivotal part in
the future of local community,” he suggests. “Then, increase, a short time
later, we’re in the midst of a pandemic where by we’re locked in and
we’re locked down and we’re lonely and we’re isolated. People
sought out on-line communities in droves and organizations began to
get it additional very seriously. Folks started telling me, ‘Mark, all
these tips you experienced are coming legitimate proper now.’”

In his guide, Schaefer cites illustrations of a number of providers
that are fostering belongingness via watchful attention to
their community and brand name. One these company is the multinational
athletic apparel retailer Lululemon, launched in 1998. He points
to how the brand’s buyers are called “The Sweat Collective,”
as a way of unifying and inspiring people with an lively
way of life. 

In this article, Lululemon fosters what Schaefer phone calls “unique, inclusive
group-led experiences in its merchants, its neighborhoods and
online.” Incorporated in this article are belonging encounters like in-store
yoga courses, a 10K local community race, and places for gatherings and
gatherings. He notes that a 12 months before a keep opens in a new
location, Lululemon scouts the community landscape to establish and
connect with well known yoga, exercising and other types of wellness
instructors who may possibly have an interest in turning out to be community
ambassadors. 

“At the conclude of the working day, men and women want neighborhood,” Schaefer states.
“And in my look at, it is the only type of marketing folks really
want amid this planet of ads, marketing pitches and other types of
in-your-face advertising and marketing approaches we are usually subjected to.
Whether or not digital or in-man or woman, when there is a motivation to
constructing group, you in a natural way catch the attention of people today who appreciate you and
assistance you and will buy what ever you have for them.”