Rich Litvin says “Create a Community instead of Marketing” 

But what does that mean?

Are we talking about creating a Facebook group? 

Is this about a Membership?

NO.

It’s about Leading.

 “ A Leader isn’t someone that declares himself a leader, it’s someone that says ‘See that place over there? That’s where I’m headed. This is why I want to go there, and you can come along if you want.‘ ” -Seth Godin (paraphrased)

Martin Luther King Day was this past Monday.

You may be familiar with his speech:

 “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

And you know what happened after that speech? 

• Some people said “That’s terrible, I disagree, this guy is a moron” 
• And others said “Yeah, I feel that way too, I agree with that” and they began to follow him, quite literally in fact.

He didn’t say “I need to get some followers for this movement, what content can I create? Maybe a live speech?” 

NO.

He said (and I do not quote) 

“I’ve got something inside me, I think life can be different, I think things can be done differently, I have some ideas and I have to share them”

And when he shared that, others said “Heck yeah!”, and a community was born.

Marketing is building a community.

A community of people that agree with what you’re saying and desire to go where you say you’re headed.

What we call “marketing” is really just doing something that you believe in passionately, sharing that passion with others, and collecting people along the way that agree with you.

The first step is to ask yourself:

• Where am I headed? 
• What does it look like over there? 
• Why do I want to go there? 
• Why do I like it there? 
• Who also belongs there? 
• How do we get there?

Answering these will help you identify what community you are building and who it’s for.

Once you know that, you’ll be ready for the next step, which is creating content that leads and serves. (I’ll cover that next week)

LEARNING IN ACTION 

Do this quick exercise to get clarity on the community you’re creating.

Whether you use this statement externally by sharing it with your audience or internally as your own guiding light, creating this statement will give some insight to your content focus.

COMMUNITY STATEMENT

Fill in the blanks below.

Don’t overthink this, just play with it and see what you come up with, and share in the comments below.