What is Tribal Marketing?
The concept of Tribes and Tribal Marketing is fascinating. I first learned about it from Seth Godin in one of his books. Applied to the internet marketing arena it can be VERY powerful.
It makes you think a bit deeper about the power of Social Marketing, or Attraction Marketing and it gives a whole new meaning to the old term, Network Marketing – You can see how it can really become a “change agent” more powerful that anything you’ve used in the past.
In a nutshell, a tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, and a leader or leaders, and an idea… a vision.
It’s our human nature to want to be in a tribe. For millions of years, humans have joined tribes…
Religious tribes
Ethnic tribes
Political tribes, even
Musical tribes (think of the Greatful Dead and their Deadheads.)
Now the internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and even time. All those blogs and social networking sites are helping existing tribes get bigger and enabling new tribes to be born – groups of ten or ten million who care about their business opportunity, or their iPhone aps, or a political campaign, or a new training community.
Who’s going to lead all these tribes?
The web can do amazing things, but it can’t provide leadership. That still has to come from people. People just like you who have passion about something. Anyone who wants to make a difference now has the tools at her fingertips.
If you ignore this opportunity to lead, you risk turning into a “sheepwalker” – someone who fights to protect the status quo at all costs, never asking if obedience is doing you any good.” Sheepwalkers don’t do very well at anything these days.
Learning about Tribes and Tribal Marketing indeed, helps you to think (really think) about the opportunity for leading your fellow marketers, teams, customers, employees, believers, readers… It’s not overnight, or get-rich-quick, or easy… but it’s easier and more powerful that you probably imagine. It’s a way to use social marketing in a focused and powerful way to make a difference, add significance and create movements.
Tribes are more powerful than they ever have been. Before the internet, building and leading tribes was difficult. It was expensive and hard to get the word out and share a simple message. It’s was difficult to grow and motivate and manage action. Today, with the internet, communication is instant, free and global. In today’s world, politicians can raise $50 Million in twenty-eight days. In the fluid tribal world of today, Twitter and blogs and online videos and a whole variety of other tools combine to add whole new dimmensions of what it means to be a part of a movement – a tribe.
All that is needed to turn a mob, or unorganized and unfocused crowd into a movement… a tribe that can effect change fast is:
1. A shared interest – a vision – a story – and a purpose
2. A way to communicate
The actual communication can be on of four kinds:
1. Leader to tribe
2. Tribe to leader
3. Tribe member to tribe member
4. Tribe member to outsider
A leader of a tribe can help the tribe be more effective and truly effect change and progress by:
1. Transforming the shared interest into a passionate goal and desire for change
2. Providing tools to allow member to focus their communications and share the message
3. Leveraging the tribe to allow it to grow and gain new members, effecting more change and gaining momentum
Implementing social marketing in the form of Tribal Marketing and understanding how all the tools or pieces of the puzzle come together to advance your movement is the critical key to implementing focused, lasting change and being significant. The world is truly your oyster. All you need is the courage to make the decision to be the leader your tribe eagerly needs and wants.
