Phantom CTO

Sam Decker wrote a great post on how contribution is greater than communities.

I agree that you can’t build a community just because technology makes it easy to do so, that it is actually useful to your market and to your business. I wanted to point out to small business owners and start ups that a better hook into getting a loyalty within your market is by fostering contributions.

It’s like asking do you have many friends that you can see on the weekends. Then asking how many people would you call at 3 am to help you through a crisis? It’s about the quality of the relationship.

You want your business to cultivate the 3am kind of friends.

The three reasons Decker listed as weighing contribution greater are:

Contribution creates volume.

Lower the barriers to getting into your space –web or offline. Let people interact without having to commit to your projects. Let people do something and be involved in whatever you’re talking about. Don’t make them log in to contribute. Don’t make them go through hoops just to write or voice their opinion on what your work.

Contribution means a commitment to your business

The value of a contribution is in the time and attention someone gave you. That time is valuable. It’s one step closer to building a relationship. It’s one step closer to having a sense of belonging.  Even a small action takes a commitment to move out of an observer to a higher level of interaction. Your business will grow to the extent that people in your market commit to you.

Contribution means authentic marketing assets.

This is something that I’ve seen work directly. One of the fundamental principles of marketing is building credibility not from yourself but from others. A contribution is someone publicly saying something about your company, product or service that you can take and put into your marketing campaigns as a credibility booster. A conversation doesn’t turn into a sale automatically but each contribution can increase the likelihood of others to believe in you.

A great visual explanation of the difference is from Marty Neumeier, author of Zag.

Let your market take ownership of part of your message, let them contribute. Its a long term growth strategy for your business not a new shiny technology that will help your business.

I’ve been listening to Seth Godin’s audiobook Tribes and was struck by a thought that I wanted to share.  

When it comes to leading your business and serving your market, are you more like a thermostat or a thermometer?

Are You Noticing the Temperature or Setting It?

Seth talks about the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer. It was a great analogy that got my wheels spinning as I thought of someone who was kicking it up in her market. When I think of the many companies and business owners I’ve been around that are reactive to what market conditions are saying. There are others setting the temperature in those same markets.

The difference between the reactive leaders and the proactive leaders is easy to spot in the current economic conditions. Business leaders are coming forward with the ways to make it through the downturn, to make it through and grow. Meanwhile their status quo peers are not sure how to make a difference in their market they just now its not turning in their favor. What to do?

In the real estate market, many realtors are struggling to succeed in the real estate market. But that’s not the only story playing out for realtors.

In Portland Oregon there is a realtor who is listening to her market and she’s changing the temperature. Kirsten Kaufman knows that cyclists and people interested in being greener have different needs than an average home buyer. They are a growing segment of home buyers in Portland and Kaufman is pedaling on their level by combining  home tours with cycling.

Check out her Tour de Homes on YouTube

She’s not making everyone happy by offering a sweat inducing tour but she is speaking directly to the needs and wants of home buyers who are looking for a different kind of commute and having a home that meets their lifestyle.

Your small business doesn’t have to show the neighborhood on bike, but your business can change the temperature in your market.

How will your business make a difference no matter what the market looks like?

Rohit Bhargava made some compelling illustrations of what the Obama campaign did with their main Obama brand and how it was modified to include special interest groups, many special interest groups. They go one level deeper to serve the interest and give a sense of belonging that matches the main Obama Change brand.

He also compiled Obama’s branded call to action that visually tied together his Change brand and the action needed on a grassroots or one to one level.

While I’m not interested in politics, I am interested in well executed campaigns that I can learn from.

Takeaways I’d ask my clients and small business owners are these.

First, the givens: I’m giving that your business has meaning. I’m giving that your business serves not the mass market but one or many sub-niches in a market.

• How are you combining your message with the interests of your market?
• How easy are you making it for your current clients to take you up on your call to actions?
• How well does a prospective new client in your market feel about your ability to serve their needs?
• How well can your market describe what your business stands for?
• How well does your branding carry your company mission?

Here’s a good video clip and some takeaways from Andrew Warner on Mashable who got some time with Robert Scoble to talk about how to build momentum and visibility through the web.

I’m not big on the title of the video clip: How to be internet famous. What I am into is the advice that Scoble gave out here.

He listed out some great advice that while answers the question how to be famous also relates to core questions and issues that every small business and start up faces.

Passion and Starring on Your Own Stage

You have to be passionate about what you’re doing and you have to be serving a unique audience. Scoble gave the example of Gary Vaynerchuck, who came in with his passion for wine and used internet tools to build visibility and grow his business. Before  winelibrary.tv  there was no person online working their passion for wine.  Don’t try and copy what he does instead you should step into your own space that motivates and pushes you.

This also reminds me of something I’ve read on Jack Welch’s management style for GE. He had said that he wanted to be number one in a market and if he couldn’t be the best, he’d cut that business center off. There’s no room to be number two in someone elses show. Don’t try and be the same guy that’s doing well. There’s no chance for copy cats to succeed. The tools that the internet gives small business owners are meant to support greatness — your business’ unique strengths. Create your own stage and limelight.

Reward and Respect Your Loyal Clients

Scoble then mentions to always keep in mind the 15 readers. As a small business, that metaphor can extend out to your best and most loyal customers who bring you in new business. They are the people who read your work, who sign up early for new services and the people who talk up your company to their friends. They are not the majority of your clients. Instead these handful are the motivation to keep trucking through hard times. Reward and respect their sense of belonging to you and your mission.

Bring on the Avalanche. It’s Your Snowflake.

Lastly, this has to be my favorite thing Scoble said.

All avalanches start with one snowflake.

This idea has so much merit. An avalanche of success, an avalanche of business growth both start out as one snowflake. Build up your momentum, put more content out there and be more accessible to your market. The interactions and engagement you have with your market are the winds of force. Your brand, your content and your business values are the snowflakes.

How to be internet famous from Andrew Warner on Vimeo.

I’ll end this post with a question about your snowflake, I mean, small business.

Are you building an avalanche?