The Fan Economy
Dennis Ross
Specialty Ghostwriter to Family Offices | Preeminent Storyteller | Creator of "The Ross Story Path" Credited with Generating over $300M in Revenue | NY Times Bestselling Books |
Do you want a fan or a customer? Here's a hint; fans always become customers; however, customers are not always fans.
I was speaking on the campus of Microsoft in Silicon Valley when I coined the phrase, The Fan Economy. This to mean, we have entered a vastly different global economic structure where buying and selling are based largely on emotive admiration, not research, data, or functionality. "Not me," you say. "I make decisions based on the facts (smile)." It's ok, all of us think we do.
Fanhood.
Business now occupies the space where movies, books, and songs previously occupied. Businesses have fans. Better said, the most successful, innovative businesses have fans. Do not confuse loyal customers with fanhood. Tide and Lysol have loyal customers. Apple and Nike have fans. What is the difference?
Fans have a nearly unbreakable, emotional connection to a product or service. This bond creates price apathy.
If you are still seeking customers and clients, reconsider your approach. The old brick-and-mortar economy is gone. Never to return. Building a book of business has been replaced with building a collective of fans.
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Social Media has done many things, but something we should pay close attention to is the movement from Hollywood Entertainment to Wall Street Entertainment. No longer must a singer, actor, or model have fans, so must your product and your service. Singers have hit songs, your company must have a hit story.
I am a customer of Verizon. If Sprint calls me with a better deal, I'll leave Verizon in a flash and sign up with Sprint. However, I am a fan of Stevie Wonder. If he comes to Atlanta tonight and the tickets are $500, I won't go looking for a cheaper concert. Fans don't allow price to separate themselves from the person they admire.
Does your business have fans or customers?
Fans have an emotive connection; customers have an intellectual one. In your marketing materials, in your videos, in all your digital content, aim for creating fans and your business will live forever.
Remember, Apple has no customers, only millions of fans.