Tribe….it’s one of those words that’s been bantered around in marketing circles for the last several years. Marketing guru, Seth Godin popularized the term and defines a tribe as:
” a group of people, connected to one another, connected to a leader and connected to an idea…. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate…. Tribes need leadership. Sometimes one person leads, sometimes more…. You can’t have a tribe without a leader-and you can’t be a leader without a tribe.”
Tribalism is not new. Men (and women) have formed tribes for millennia for safety, food, socializing and survival. The “tribe” instinct drives us to join cliques, clubs, sororities, fraternities,gangs, crews and teams.
So what does this have to do with you if you’re a creative entrepreneur? Damn near everything. It doesn’t matter whether your work centers on writing, art, software development, healing, performing music, personalized services, activism, plumbing, graphic design or eco-consciousness. Tribes will help you develop your entrepreneurial mindset.
The more that you know about the people who you want to lead/serve in terms of who they are, what they want and what fear, the easier it will be for you to effectively promote your work, product or service in a way that feels authentic, not aggressive or sleazy.
The success of your business is NOT in trying to sell your work, products or services to any and all people. It’s in finding, gathering and communicating to the “tribe,” who already desires what you create and sell.
Typically, a creative entrepreneur is not just selling her work, product or service. The creative entrepreneur is also selling how her life, opinions and perspectives informed the creation of the work, product or service. She is identifying herself as part of a particular tribe. If you are willing to be transparent about your insights, and your motivations for your creative work-you will be able to be a leader of your tribe. The advantage of being a leader is that you stand out in the marketplace.
1) What are the topics and issues that your tribe cares about? The point here is to understand the range of issues that resonate with your tribe, not just the one that YOU deal with in your work. (This approach also helps you to think about logical strategic partners that help your tribe and your business).
2) Which type of media is your tribe consuming? Where do they get their information? Which books, magazines, newspapers, professional journals, films and television programs?
3) Where do your tribe members hang out? Which conferences, seminars, retail stores, online forums or blogs are you likely to find your tribe members?
4) What can you do to make it easy for your tribe members to follow you? A few thoughts: write a book or ebook, create a blog, send out a newsletter, get on Twitter or Facebook.
5) What can you do to make it easy for your tribe members to connect with each other? A few thoughts: create live events (Meet-ups, Tweet-ups or a monthly gathering at the local library), create a forum on your website, allow comments on your blog posts.
The importance of Tribes to the success of your creative business is summed up in this passage from Lao-Tzu’s Tao Te Ching:
“Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people will remark
We have done it ourselves. ”