John Bohan argues brands should build ambassador clubs from their own customers instead of chasing high-profile influencers. He calls this shift from the attention economy to the connection economy, where deeper relationships matter more than fleeting focus. Apple and Patagonia show how purpose-driven identity creates authentic big ideas that customers want to amplify.
What I really love today, and it's been around for a few years, but it's just starting to catch wind, right? And, you know, as we end 2018 and go into 2019, is building ambassador clubs of your own customers. It's not about, oh gosh, that person has, you know, 250,000 in following, I'm gonna develop a relationship with that person. Yes, you should, but right in our clients' backyard are the CRM lists. Right in our clients' backyard or customers that are visiting their website that are fans of Instagram or their Facebook page. Those are people who already said, "Hey, I'm a customer. I want to interact with you." And lo and behold, a lot of those people have influence among their friends and they want to feel like VIPs. And brands should want to make them feel like VIPs instead of kind of— it's like chasing the boyfriend or future girlfriend down at the other end of the bar when the cool people that you should be hanging with are right there. I think as Mark marketers were always looking at the grass is greener. One of the technology platforms that is really cool is being able to harness your own customers, create ambassadors out of them, and then let them spread your message in social and gain points to gain whatever you want to give them that's on brand. You know, so much of advertising used to just be about impressions, and then it's gone to attention, but I don't think it stops at attention. I hear a lot of people say, "We're in the attention economy now. We're in the attention economy." You got to take it to the next step because I can capture your attention for sure. Short period of time. Attention is the first step, connection is the next step. We're in the connection economy. We need to connect with our customers so that when they see something that comes out from our brand, they're like, "Ah, they get me, they know me, that's cool." And that's where there's a difference between great marketers and good marketers. It really starts from the fundamentals of the brand and the brand understanding who they are as a company. Steve Jobs knew that Apple is about advancing humankind. He referred to their products as boxes, the computers as boxes. It was really about something greater than that, and that was their North Star. You take a look at Yvon Chouinard, who is the CEO and founder of Patagonia. He basically started Patagonia because he wanted to build better climbing devices. And those climbing devices not only were better in terms of helping him climb, but they also didn't impair the very rock that he was climbing that he enjoyed so much. So his mission is really a very environmental one. It's to protect the environment, and that's how they make products. And consumers know that. They know that if they have a Patagonia product, so much thought has gone into the development of that so it doesn't hurt the environment nearly as much as, say, other products. So when a brand knows itself very well, it's very simple to come up with those big ideas because they're already living in that space, and customers recognize that about them. I think the problem with big ideas now is they're a little bit flighty. A lot of executives are thinking about, you know, big ideas in a traditional sense in terms of that big Super Bowl commercial, that great creative that's pushed out to consumers. And there's so much more today because of all the vehicles we have to communicate with customers. I do think about influencer marketing and actually people marketing, let's just say, and how do you harness consumers' social channels in order to market your own products and services. Right now we're at a point where brands are testing things out. They're testing out celebrities, mid-tier, micro, even just certain case ambassador networks. I think in the end it's about creating that solid database of customers to stick with you. You know, there's what, 7 billion people in this world? Let's find the 50,000. That are gonna be great ambassadors. And I say 50 because I think it potentially gets there. It's the folks that you can really align with and get your brand and you bring into a VIP-type club at scale. It's mid-tier, it's micro, it's ambassadors all collectively pulled together, and then it's a strong relationship that grows over time. You know, we look at social as the tip of the spear in marketing. 'Cause a lot of the answers are right there, you know, in terms of what's trending among your audience, what they're talking about. You know, if you look at their Instagram, the Instagram following, what's the psychographics, demographics of that Instagram following, or across many different of your social platforms, who are they, what are they talking about, and how do you get into that conversation and make it a bigger conversation? And that analysis I just kind of top-line You know, takes a few hours, really. And then it starts the creative minds really going from there.
