Nobody Knows You Exist. Now What? (get 100 true followers)

Most scaling companies in a VC portfolio will have an apparent tension. That tension is that they want to grow fast with investment, but their brand is developing and needs more awareness. Compound this with short-term thinking, i.e., you must focus on demand generation, and the challenge becomes more significant. It's hard to tell your CEO to build a brand when they're worried about hitting next month's revenue milestone. 

You may hire a new CMO for the business, and they'll feel that same pressure, if not more than the CEO. You can't just worry about your monthly pipeline as a strategy to start getting people to know you exist as a brand. The first suggestion a CMO might make (and you might hear about board level) is, "We want to build a community." It sounds easy on paper. 

In short, everyone wants to build a community. Executing this strategy fails nine out of ten times. 

Why community? Well, a community is a fanbase built around the love of your product/service. This group of peers sharing will make a massive difference to the trajectory of your product or solution. But as I said, building a community is so complicated mainly because most don't think about what value you want to create, how people stay engaged and sustain it moving forwards (believe me, most marketers talk about community but hardly execute well). Be careful. Instead of "building a community," I'd recommend building an audience of 100 true fans. 

Community Vs Audience?

Building an audience is different from building a community. A community is self-sufficient with support, but it takes a lot of heavy lifting to make it work (believe me, I have tried multiple times). Building an audience is more about elevating your brand deeply into a narrow set of peers, i.e., Starting with a small, hungry market. 

Building an audience (let's say instead of the community) is vital because, in my opinion, the brand side of marketing is now more critical than ever. Yawn, I don't think brand marketing is fluffy; it's not. A brand is about trust, reputation, and resonance – these are why people buy. Do not forget this point. Your brand is increasingly critical to growth and monopolization across SaaS market sectors. 

If you're trying to build a business, your lens should be on creating 100 true fans; this, in market terms, is, at the same time, your Total Relevant Market (don't think a million fans is similar to having an over-inflated TAM). You do this through content education, experience interacting with sales pre-sales, and post-sales experience to drive advocacy. Without it, your business won't develop leverage. 

The book SaaS Sales as a Science published many years ago, is another resource that adds weight to this debate. The new revenue funnel has two sides. The brand does not just drive a net new pipeline. It will be a central pillar of customer and product marketing and community engagement to execute improvements in up-sell and cross-sell. 

What is the 100 true fans idea, and how can this strategy be implemented? 

I came across the Kevin Kelly article back in 2016. This is when I thought of scrapping community building and focusing on building a fan base. His original article advocated 1,000 true fans. A well-known branding philosophy argues that a successful organization only needs 1,000 fans. 1,000 raving fans. 

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‍However, too often, our approach should be narrower when building a brand. 

Instead, adopt a narrow message. Find a small pool of evangelists for your solution.

The argument goes that 1,000 raving fans will deliver far more results from loyalty and referrals than other approaches. Because these fans are obsessed with your brand, they become a sustainable and scalable community you can live off for a long time. 

"To raise your sales out of the flatline of the long tail, you need to connect with your True Fans directly.  Another way to state this is that you need to convert a thousand Lesser Fans into a thousand True Fans." Tim Ferriss, Tools of Titans

The model was developed further with the 100 fan model led by Andreessen Horowitz. This concept confirms that, as a business, you need to consider becoming more niche. Design your marketing. Your approach should focus on a narrow set of personas who cement the foundations of your revenue base. 

A narrow message is preferable to a broad approach. Try to appeal to everyone, and you'll struggle. Remember, you can do anything you want. But not everything. You'll struggle particularly in the second part of the funnel (cross and upsell). Instead, adopt the ideology of a niche fanbase and apply that to your business. 

Excerpt: 

As the tech analyst and blogger Ben Thompson once said, "The internet enables niche in a massively powerful way." For creators who earn the trust of a niche audience and deliver what those users crave—whether self-improvement, connection, recognition, or belonging—100 True Fans provides an updated monetization model for the fast-growing Passion Economy. Albeit this is related to the creator economy, the same principles apply if building a B2B brand to scale. 

Action: How can you develop your existing audience into the 1,000 'raving' (or even 100) fans you'll need for long-term success?

Here is your thinking model.

Define the audience

What is the exact type of person you're targeting?

• Look at your strongest current customer advocates. Interview them and find out why they love your product or service.
• Understand why they love your product/service. Build out your plan with these insights. 
• Identify who would be a "raving" customer. Don't think about the broad and mass market from the start. It might be the end goal, but it's not the starting point. 
• Define your Ideal Audience Profiles (I have mentioned these before, but it means being very clear about who you serve and what they want). Here is the model: 

You get to the details on these headings: 

• Who do I Need To Reach To Accomplish the Goal (Broad Audience)
• What are 3 Ideal Audience Traits 
• Pick an Ideal Audience Statement
• Pick 3 Broad Wants of your audience 
• Pick 9 Specific Wants of your audience 

These form the backbone of your narrow strategy for engaging your potential 100 true fans. When thinking top-of-funnel, you need a plan that nurtures your niche audience. The goal is that this audience converts into customers. 

Customers create the true fans' fly-wheel 

When chasing growth and scaling, it's all about your customers. However, many need to remember customers as they chase new logos. If this happens, it will be impossible to create 100 true fans. They become 100 true fans because they experience your brand, your people, and the outcomes that matter to them. As soon as you create ten customers or more, you can make 100 true fans IF you provide them with a great experience and value. So, the plan is that through niche targeting, great content, and pre-sales experience, you get an initial cohort of customers (or fledgling fans), and then turning these people into fans is your pathway to 100. 

If you get the niche right, combine it with a tremendous post-sale experience. You will build brand equity and your initial fans, which will help you scale the business. Remember, your Total Relevant Market now (your 100 true fans) will help you scale faster and build your brand. Don't get spread too thin and narrow your thinking to 100 true fans. 

In essence, pay attention to your customers. They are the fuel for creating 100 true fans. 

Almost guaranteed, the biggest problem with your brand and marketing today is why no one knows you exist because you are…

Trying to do everything.

Be everything.

To everyone. 

Narrow your focus. Find 100 true fans. It's the best route to scaling your brand awareness and revenue.