Brand marketing innovation theory!

How to create such a Tribe "new community"?

Before discussing the specific methods, we need to pause for a moment because there is another question: Is there any logic or model that the "new community" needs to follow?

If your answer is no, then just go for it, and you will most likely lose time in constant attempts. After all, it took Lego and lululemon 20 years to build their own new community system. Xiaomi, Aranya, and NIO also took nearly 10 years to redefine the new community.

If you think there needs to be a logical system, let's explore it together.

1. The world-building model of the “new community”: put down the funnel and pick up the ladder

The shadow of "Maslow's hierarchy of human needs model" can be seen in the analysis of the commonalities of the communities of "religion" and "European private clubs" in the previous article.

• Empower members to survive and grow (physically, emotionally, spiritually, connected, relationally, beneficially, etc.) – sense of security!
• Consistent and clear values, find similar people - a sense of belonging!
• Share power, build community, grow together—and gain respect!
• Do something meaningful - realize yourself!

A person is willing to join a community because of some need, psychologically or physically, spiritually or materially, or because the community helps him grow and thus gain a sense of security .

But the reason why he was willing to stay was because he found people of the same kind here and had a sense of belonging ;

When they act together to do something great, they define themselves, realize themselves, and truly coexist with the community.

This logic also reflects the philosophical thinking of "finite and infinite games".

The purpose of a finite game is to win and benefit oneself, but an infinite game is completely different. It is to continue the game and allow every participant to play forever. It is to promote a cause greater than ourselves or our organization. In other words, it is to meet the ever-evolving needs of users.

• Religious "great sentiment";
• European private club "a noble cause";
• Maslow's model of needs: "Self-actualization";
• Infinite games require "continuation of the game";
• Peter Drucker: "The only purpose of any business activity is to create customers"
• Christensen’s “Focus on User Progress”;
• Microsoft's "Empowering Every Person and Every Organization in the World"
• …….

All these great ideas are telling the same story - the business model of the "new community" should be like a ladder extending upward, and building a "new community" is to help members climb up step by step.

Prior to this, consumer business models were almost always “funnel-shaped” .

From the purchase funnel (attention → interest → desire → memory → action purchase → repeat purchase), to the traffic funnel (customer acquisition → activation → retention → monetization → self-propagation), and then to the stock funnel (potential → ordinary → key → member → core), etc.

It seems like constant innovation, but the same logic is reflected behind it: as time goes by, you will feel at ease that at each stage a certain proportion of people will successfully enter the next stage, and the most important thing is that only a small proportion of people will complete the purchase or become loyal users.

As we enter a new era of exponential technology integration, facing the evolution of digital natives and life sovereignty, and the new consumption concept of "consumption is not just about products, but also about finding an identity and a sense of belonging", the funnel model presents an irreparable loss.

• All funnel models are based on the assumptions that short-term revenue takes precedence over long-term forecasting, current revenue is stronger than user retention, and customer acquisition is far better than customer retention (traffic thinking), and these assumptions are becoming increasingly unimportant in the new consumer market.
• From a branding perspective, funnel thinking is also not in line with today’s era. Imagine a company stuffing a person into a funnel to squeeze their profits instead of empowering customers and building a brand together with users. What a terrible idea.
• For the new consumer users who account for one-fifth of China's current users, there is no funnel at all. From perception to purchase, from liking to passion, it is infinitely fragmented: created, wild, marketed, cost-effective, hybrid, breaking the wall, social, responsibility-driven...

Therefore, every new consumer brand, whether it is creating an innovative brand or breaking through with a "new community", should first put down the "funnel" and climb the "ladder" to integrate with users.

Only when your brand and users continue to merge and become one, can you go further; when you focus on building long-term relationships rather than short-term income, more people will support you to form extremely deep and stable relationships; when you take altruism as the core value, the future will be brighter.

Just as Amazon's Bezos advocates "long-termism", Tsutaya Bookstore's Masuda Muneaki's "proposals for life".

Based on the "brand and user relationship integration level" created in the previous article, Brand Ape proposed the "new community" ladder model.

2. “New Community” Climbs Up the Steps to the Top

The "New Community" ladder model is a basic tool for building new communities. This model redefines two core elements in "brand and user belonging" - empowerment and relationship : from creating new value for users to helping users realize themselves, from attracting users to join the community to integrating with the brand.

The “New Community” ladder model provides clear indicators of performance at each level of the new community in order to help as many users as possible reach the top of the ladder.

Specifically, they are as follows:

1. First stage: Excellent products and services – winning satisfaction and trust

The bottom layer of the ladder represents satisfaction with products and services, which is also the starting point of user trust and user willingness to join a new brand community.

There is no need to explain this level. If your products and services do not satisfy users, or after using them, users find that they are inconsistent with the description and do not meet their expectations, not to mention allowing them to join the community, you are likely to receive negative publicity.

2. The second stage: creating “new value” for users – helping them grow and empowering them

Excellent products win the trust of users and bring more emotions. If they can also gain "new value", joining the community is a natural thing to do.

This "new value" has a clear direction: physical health and beauty, emotional and spiritual anxiety relief and loneliness avoidance, career learning and progress, new friends and new resources, new experiences and new pleasures in life... Anything that inspires growth and positively embraces uncertainty can be called a new value.

These "new values" have only one purpose - to help users grow or empower them , rather than products and services that meet pain points and needs, let alone transaction prices and activities.

LEGO allows everyone to showcase their creativity; Lululemon allows participants to enjoy a healthy and sunny lifestyle; NIO allows car owners to enjoy life beyond cars; Aranya makes the lives of residents more colorful; at Chaos University, what is important is deliberate practice, not just learning innovation.

The "new value" is not only practiced by super brands, but also by writing growth communities such as "007 If You Don't Write, You're Out", which are still active from 2016 to now.

This community requires each member to write one article every seven days; then, members will supervise and comment on each other; red envelopes will be given out if there are no works, and even if there are no comments.

Just like their slogans, "If you practice, you will be invincible. If you don't get eliminated, you will shine" and "You are responsible for your own growth. Your comrades are responsible for your companionship", they jointly create a growth and practice environment of "self-discipline + external discipline".

In the second stage, members gain new value and are naturally willing to share and recommend it to their friends; in the process of growth, they become better, stronger and more confident, and a sense of security arises naturally.

To create a "new community", the first thing you need to think about is - what new value can you provide to community members to help users grow?

3. The third stage: "Find similar people" - get belonging

Go up the stairs and you will reach the third level of belonging, "finding your kind".

1. Strength of belonging I: Common interests - staying in the community. When a member is with people who have common hobbies and similar interests, they inspire each other to have more passion, and he will be willing to stay in this community.
2. Belonging Strength II: Similar lifestyles and attitudes—like community. Furthermore, the community’s life philosophy and values ​​make people feel empathetic and comfortable, and members’ sense of belonging to the community will be consolidated and strengthened.
3. Belonging Strength III: Common beliefs—love for the community. Going further, when a group of people with common beliefs empower each other, or work together to create lives or change the world, the strongest sense of belonging will inevitably be created.

Any ideal community must be a group of right people living life together.

Take the example of forming a weekend cycling community.

What ideas do members of such communities have about cycling?

They may join community cycling because cycling is good for health and they enjoy the fun of cycling with friends, or because cycling is a brave and adventurous sport, or because cycling is an outdoor activity that is beneficial to the environment.

If it is just a hobby, then anyone can participate. Maybe it is a weekend activity group that can be invited and disbanded at any time.

What if we inject new lifestyles or values ​​into the community, such as a love of urban exploration, stress relief, or sweaty exercise, and accurately match the crowd, then it is likely that weekly cycling will become the expectation of every member;

If the core members reset their lifestyle to a common belief: "on the road", "free exploration", "never abandon or give up", a "new community" with a strong sense of belonging and love will surely emerge.

Therefore, if you want to cultivate a close-knit, strong-belonging “new community”, clear values ​​and common beliefs are very important.

Looking back at Anaya, in addition to the 8 large owner groups that discuss community affairs together, there are nearly 100 communities, including drama groups, running groups, equestrian groups, family history groups, reading groups, music groups, photography groups, dance groups, poetry groups, kite surfing groups and many other interest groups.

If it is just various interest groups, various car clubs and real estate companies can be found everywhere, but only Aranya is going further and further and getting better and better, because they have a common value - "life can be more beautiful" - this attitude is established at the door of Aranya.

Because of this common philosophy, neighbors can discuss matters freely in the community, share and build the community together;

Find people with common interests in the community and participate in various activities you love;

In the community, new topics, new stories, new emotions and new inspirations trigger a new life;

Rebuild a new way of life in the community and declare your own utopian splendor.

Obviously, consolidated values ​​and beliefs will have a completely different impact on the lives of members, which is the core driving force for truly empowering users.

4. The fourth stage: participation + sharing power + building a community together - identity and respect!

Everyone wants to find their own tribe and enjoy the feeling of being part of a group;

But what they desire even more is to find new ways to participate in the collective and make contributions, which requires a sense of participation; they also expect to gain power and respect and demonstrate their own strength, which requires sharing power.

“The power of this desire and expectation is so strong that it is difficult for us to be satisfied with the circle we are in now.”

For business, when users feel safe because of the "new value", they are willing to join a community;

When he "finds his own kind" and feels a sense of belonging, he is willing to stay in this community. Although this relationship is close, it is difficult to last because the contribution is one-way.

Only when members participate in community building, or share and spread, or create content, or co-create products, and spontaneously and proactively contribute to the community they care about, and put their own efforts into it, and truly integrate with the brand, will a sense of identity emerge and the brand can grow healthily.

This is Xiaomi's "sense of participation" and Lego's "co-creation platform".

Only members can share the power of the community, or the right to make suggestions, or the right to operate and manage, or even become the controllers of the community.

Because of respect and power, members and brands are no longer in opposition. They will actively stand with the brands and even use their own resources to seek common development with the brands. This is how NIO’s “Fan Club” and “EP Club” came into being.

Finally, the flywheel effect of the "new community" emerged.

The starting point is participation. In the process of continuously strengthening user participation, traffic will naturally increase driven by word of mouth, thereby attracting more people to experience products and services and join the community.

More community members means more similar people, stronger sense of belonging, more participation, and more new value being created, which is becoming more and more a "daily routine", and the community and brand are growing healthily.

As this cycle continues to repeat, the target population is "sustainably" attracted, integrated, and folded, and the number of similar people increases in a saturation manner, allowing the community to continuously supply the brand with a high concentration of loyal members with lower investment.

This sense of participation + sharing of power + building of community is particularly important in the rebirth of LEGO.

• "LEGO Ambassadors" directly feed back community issues and requests to LEGO, while LEGO designers also collect ideas through ambassadors; "LEGO Professional Certified Masters" attract super users to directly participate in brand building and product innovation.
• "LEGO Certified Player Community", a player group officially certified by LEGO, can apply for prize sponsorship based on the scale of the community activities organized, provide a certain amount of half-price sets, purchase parts at a discount, etc. .
• The "LEGO Ideas" platform brings together players and creators from all over the world. Users create and design products and decide what products to release and produce. The "LEGO World Builder" encourages users to collaborate to create new concepts, new stories, and new products for LEGO.

Another phenomenal case is NIO.

• User Advisory Group. NIO provides a platform for super users to form groups and participate in some projects, creating content, gameplay, programs, activities, and even NIO Day, a conference with tens of millions of people. "Co-creation and comrades-in-arms" has become the strongest connector for these super users.
• Industry community for user trust certification. Users spontaneously organize communities based on their own industry attributes and professional capabilities, but they also rely on the certification and support of the NIO Trust Fund Council. As of September 2021, a total of more than 3,000 NIO owners have joined twelve industry communities.
• New communities (car clubs) completely dominated by users , whether it is Galanpai, MonclerCLUB, or branch stations in various cities, they all use the NIO IP to create their own dream social circles.

While participation varies in form and complexity, these values ​​quickly become apparent as new communities mature and gain status:

• Sharing power is the most direct way to express respect for community members
• Building a community together is the most effective way to accelerate community members’ integration into the brand

At this time, you cannot use "new community" as your marketing goal. What you can do is support it, help it grow, and become its partner.

At this time, you will find that the "new community" will generate many new things from the original thing, many of which you can't imagine but may become the second curve.

5. Stage 5: Do something meaningful – self-actualization, let’s move forward together!

The highest level in the "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" is "Self-Actualization" - everyone hopes that their work and life are meaningful, and we all hope to participate in a cause greater than ourselves. This is the essence of being human.

The same is true for today's new consumer groups.

"They are good at judgment, imaginative, willing to express personal opinions, and willing to write their own life stories. They are proactive, suspicious, thoughtful, and creative. They have reached the top of Maslow's pyramid of needs, where the goals are autonomy, growth, and self-realization." - Brand Flip

How to help community members achieve self-realization?

The great “new community” should be like an invitation to others to join us in advancing something or a cause greater than ourselves.

This noble cause can outline a positive and concrete future in the minds of participants and provide steps and specific actions - something meaningful. Such a "new community" will touch the heart and make people want to actively join and fight together with like-minded people.

When a group of people move forward for a common dream and realize it in the process, even if it is just to reflect their self-worth and redefine their self-scale, they will be positive and enthusiastic and spare no effort to move forward with the community and the brand.

There is a saying that this kind of construction is too idealistic and difficult to implement; but there is also a saying that it is the farthest distance from the market, but it is the closest distance to people's hearts.

I have three additional points to add to " doing something meaningful ".

• "Meaningful things" include "noble cause" and "valuable things".
• The Noble Cause is about the future, about the direction in which we are headed, about the world we want to live in and build.
  Also, not everyone has a noble cause. We can start our own, or we can choose to join someone else's and make it our own. We can persevere in building it the way we like, and we can make corrections as we go along.
• "Valuable things" are actions, not activities. The actions here refer to specific, low-threshold, high-achievement "small things" for a noble cause. For example, the "little things" under the environmental responsibility and declaration: refusing plastic, running to pick up trash, riding a bike, sorting garbage, etc., instead of participating in some activities for show.

"To live is to do meaningful things; the meaningful thing is to live well." This may be the reason why Xu Sanduo in "Soldier Assault" can touch the hearts of so many audiences.

Social responsibility has penetrated into the minds of this generation. If you want to become a more "responsible" user, is your community capable of matching the new consumer groups of this era?

At this point, our "new community" ladder model has been completed.

• Stage 1: Excellent products and services—satisfaction and trust!
• The second stage: Create "new value" for users - help them grow and empower them!
• Stage 3: “Find people like you” – Feel a sense of belonging!
• Stage 4: Sense of participation + sharing power + building a community together - identity and respect!
• Stage 5: Do something meaningful - self-realization, move forward together!

Think about it, when the "new community" you created helps users climb the ladder and ultimately realize themselves, they will never switch to another brand. They will be convinced and attract other people to join your community like a magnet, and they will do their best to ensure your success.

I can’t help but think of what Liu Xiaolu, the founder of Neiwai Underwear, said: “A truly good consumer brand is defined together with a group of like-minded users”!

3. The future of the “new community”: from methods to tactics, from thinking to strategy, from behavior to art

From the perspective of industry competition and positioning, “new communities” manifest themselves as a new tactical approach to market segmentation and population segmentation;

From the perspective of brand innovation, "new community" is an upgrade and evolution of cognitive thinking;

From the perspective of new business development trends, “new community” is an innovative business model;

Looking at the future of the enterprise from the current perspective, "new community" is a strategy.

Therefore, the "new community" should not be a methodology different from that of competitors, nor should it be a posture or embodiment of membership marketing.

The "new community" needs to rise from tactical methods to a change in user thinking, which is the guarantee for the implementation of community marketing.

If we go a step further and embed the brand's business model and strategy to form a long-term, stable, simple ecosystem with sustainable expansion capabilities, we will be able to cope with an uncertain future with ease.

On the other hand, there are no fixed rules for “new communities”, and what works for other brands may not be suitable for you and your “new community”.

Those successful “new communities” reflect the dreams of their founders, their values, their priorities and actions.

Just like art, there are forms and skills that can be built upon and developed.

However, copying others will not create works that truly touch people's hearts. You must integrate your own thoughts and bring your body and mind to the work.

The best community building is an art. ——The Art of Community Operation

Author: Brand Ape

Source: Brand Yuanchuang (ID: brand-yuan)