Guest Post: Marketing to Your Tribe


Stephanie Holmes-Winton
Stephanie Holmes-Winton, The Money Finder, is a crusader for financial freedom. She doesn't wear a cape (but that would be kind of cute). She does have an important message for you and me and every small business owner...

This just in: some people don’t like what I have to say. They might unsubscribe from my newsletter, or they might make a snide comment on social media... or they might just ignore me. And after I have a good cry over people who don’t care about my cause, my message, or me and wouldn’t care if I was on fire, I get completely over it. Do you know why? I wasn’t talking to them anyway! 
While my message may come across the eyes or ears of many, only some will be my tribe. Only some are already marching to a similar drum, or looking for a new beat to march to. I’m only talking to them.
When you market your business, it can be so easy to default to the win-the-popularity-contest-at-all-cost mode but that will get you no one - no one fiercely loyal, no brand ambassadors. People do not stand passionately behind vanilla. There are no parades for the completely neutral, those who never had an opinion. 
So if you are building your brand to fit in, or your blog posts are not ruffling anyone’s feathers, you may succeed at doing a great impression of vanilla pudding, but you will never build a fiercely loyal, people-who-change-your-life-as-much-as-you-change-theirs kind of tribe. 
If you think I’m obnoxious, or silly, or a waste of time, that’s ok. Please tune me out; I wasn’t talking to you anyway. 
For those who do me the kindness of commenting on my posts, reading my newsletters, buying my books, attending my FREE Webinars or trainings, any genuine heartfelt interaction, on any level, it’s for you I create my art. You are my tribe. I am marketing to you. When one of you says something to me I listen.

Stephanie Holmes-Winton is a Halifax-based advisor, author, speaker, radio columnist and CEO of The Money Finder. She is on self-appointed mission to see that Canadians get the kind of financial advice they need to get what they truly want from their money. This article originally published http://themoneyfinder.ca/marketing-to-your-tribe/ .

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