Why no one cares about your brand (and what to do about it)

Welcome to the How To Start A Cult newsletter for current and future Cult Leaders.

Ok, if you've not read the book, this may all come across as pretty sinister. But there's a very good reason why you should steal some of the secrets used by cults to grow a following for your brand. (Just make sure you leave out all the manipulation and alien sex cult stuff.)

Every week, I'll focus on a different commandment from the CultBrand process. I'll also include examples of cults in everyday life - and not just the usual suspects - so you can see how you can apply this to your organisation or brand.

In this issue, however, I won't do any of that. I'll first make you feel a bit defensive by telling you that no one cares about your brand (for good reason, mind).

And then, I'll introduce the 7 Cult Commandments so you can see how they fit into the system for starting and cultivating a cult following. Worth a read if you want to go further with this.

We also have two early notifications of events. The launch of the next Cult Builder Programme on 16 June 2022 and the one-of-a-kind event, Cult Live! 2022 in Autumn 2022. More deets below.

If you want to pick up the book on Kindle, go to www.howtostartacult.co.uk/book

So enough of the intro. Let's get into the indoctrinati... I mean, valuable advice. :)

Laters,

Jody

Why no one cares about your brand (and what to do about it)

Bloody hell, Jody. That’s one hell of an opener.

Given that you’ve worked hard to get your business where it is, or you’re slaving away marketing your brand or organisation, this may be a bit hard to hear.

But the sooner you face up to it, the better.

Your customers buy from you because of a sense of real connection with you or your brand, right? Right?

Be honest with yourself right now. All things being equal, are you confident your customers and clients would stick with you? Or would the majority abandon you quicker than the BBC would abandon a Blue Peter presenter with a coke problem?

It would take someone with a highly optimistic view of their brand to stress-test their customers’ loyalty in this way.

This begs the question: if customers don’t care about your brand, what do they care about?

Put it this way: you’re competing for attention. The best way to grab and keep someone’s attention is to reach them on an emotional level, and there is no subject they love to think more deeply about than themselves.

That’s not a judgement on people being selfish or self-centred. It’s just human. We think from our own perspective. We view the world through the lens of our own thoughts and feelings. Our internal dictates our external. What we feel translates to what we do – and, ultimately, what we choose to spend our time and money on.

To truly reach and connect with anyone in a meaningful way, you must do more than just appeal to their rational thoughts; you have to make them feel something.

People connect with how you make them feel on an emotional level. That connection will always be stronger than ‘brand loyalty’.

What we’re ultimately talking about is a force that can move people to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do, inspire them to action and, most importantly, feel good about themselves.

That force is belonging.

Instead of focusing on the transient nature of ‘brand loyalty’, those few brands that concentrate on developing a genuine sense of belonging with their audience are more resilient. They can withstand market fluctuations, recessions and even global pandemics. They stand head and shoulders above their competitors. They thrive while others collapse. And they do it because they’re not playing in the same ballpark.

In fact, they’re not even playing by the same rules.

Fostering a sense of belonging is the only insulation against the collapse of brand loyalty in an ever more competitive world. Regular brands that – like most – focus on price, service and convenience as a way to woo and win over their audiences leave themselves open to being disrupted, overtaken or undercut by the competition.

The new wave of brands that instead focus on belonging tap into something more intense and powerful – the thought that ‘I want to feel loved’.

Now, I’m not talking about cynically pulling on the heart strings like a McDonald’s ad that equates eating a Big Mac to memorialising your dead dad (remember that advertising own goal?). That’s incredibly manipulative. But if you can connect to, align with and meet your customers’ emotional needs, they’ll never look elsewhere, and you’ll never be disrupted.

Because belonging is everything. When you feel like you belong, it becomes part of your identity. And nowhere else is belonging more important than in a cult.

Want to know more? Get the book here.

Introducing the CultBrand process to start a cult and grow your following

Like any good recovery programme, it’s all about the steps. But instead of recovering from a drug addiction, this programme is going to help you recover from mediocrity, inertia and lack of momentum.

When you follow this model in the right order and with the right level of application, you will see major changes in how you lead, how your brand is perceived and how you build your rela- tionship with your followers, fans and customers.

The CultBrand process will help you:?

Introducing the Cult Commandments

OK, here are the seven steps and how they work together to build and grow your cult. I have rendered them in Old English, primarily to give them more gravitas, as befitting of a modern-day Moses.

1. Thou shalt develop a polarising cult message

Choose your central message and know how it differentiates you from everyone else vying for your audience’s attention, putting clear space between you and them.

2. Thou shalt pick an enemy

Identify the source of your followers’ woes, show them you’re on their side and join them in throwing rocks. Metaphorically, of course.

3. Thou shalt be different. And celebrate it

Take the straight line to standing out and creating contrast against others in a visceral way that stirs your followers’ emotions and hacks their brains.

4. Thou shalt bang thy drum over and over and over

Consistently show up for your cult devotees to deliver all the benefits quicker than you hoped possible – when you do it right.

5. Thou shalt target outliers and misfits

Understand who you are best placed to serve, and be the home for those who have none. Show them that you ‘get’ them.

6. Thou shalt build belonging

Deepen the relationship with your cult following so they feel compelled to go out, bang the drum for your brand and recruit other followers for you.

7. Thou shalt give thy followers plentiful oppor- tunities to demonstrate belonging

Allow your followers to demonstrate their devotion in as many ways as possible so they can broadcast their belonging to each other and the wider world.

Brought together, these seven steps will make your competition irrelevant, kick-start sales and make your brand magnetic to the right kind of people who love what you do. This process will help you break through plateaus, secure the future of your brand and make life a whole lot more fun and fulfilling.

If you don’t do the work, it is 100% guaranteed that you won’t get the results and you will remain in the same position you are right now.

Do the work. Get the results. Ignore the voice in your head tell- ing you you’re mad (that voice may actually be your partner). And keep the faith. You can do this. So do it.?

Want to know more? Get the book here.

Want support growing your cult? Join the Cult Leaders Facebook group today and benefit from support, training and getting on the 'inside' when it comes to the latest programmes and events.

Join the Cult Leader Facebook group right here.

Cult Builder Programme - starts 16 June 2022

Let us show you how to start and grow your own cult following in 2022 with the launch of the Cult Builder programme. Kicking off with a full day cult workshop on 16 June 2022 at a secret London location (a Holiday Inn it will not be...), the programme offers nine months of fully supported coaching and resources to help establish and transform your brand to enjoy a cult following. Limited to only 12 businesses.

Cult Live! Autumn 2022

Join me and a whole host of other cultists as we lead our enemies into a giant Wicker Man.. ahem, I mean gather to celebrate all things cult-building. Guest speakers, inspirational talks and the most fun you can have without feeling you've been indoctrinated and have given up any semblance of free will. You'll be there, I'm sure.

Click here to join the early notification list.

WANT TO WORK TOGETHER?

Want to know more? Buy the book, How To Start A Cult, here: www.howtostartacult.co.uk/book

Want help to grow your cult? Book at a free cult strategy call here: www.bookmystrategy.com

Want me to speak at your event or to your team? Get more information by emailing: [email protected]