The Power of a Tribe
While bringing in affiliate sales through a link in a blog, a video suggestion, or a Pin on Pinterest, nothing brings in the money quite like a tribe.
A tribe is a trusted following. A tribe is an audience that you build, most often through leadership, story telling, or by building a trusted brand that people can relate to.
Let me give you some examples of a couple of tribes that I built.
Building a Tribe through Trainings
I started my Las Vegas Real Estate Business in 2007. I was failing forward. I knew nothing about real estate. What I did know, was marketing. I took the camera and began making trainings about all things internet marketing for real estate.
As other agents began to discover me, they started as an "audience". These are subscribers, followers and so forth. They are, the curious. They are not yet "a tribe".
Generating traffic to our social media channels, website, video and so forth can be done with paid and organic methods.
These types of visitors rarely turn into an immediate purchase. They may click an affiliate link or register for your free download, but few want to make a decision the first time they land.
You must first build, the tribe.
As I began proving my lead generation methods online, again and again, in the world of real estate, the tribe began to grow.
They only began to be "a tribe" when they trusted me. When they began to look at me as an expert in that niche, and when they began to relate to me, they began to trust me.
A tribe will yell your name from the mountain tops. When anyone asks "who does _____" on social media, and you fit the bill, your tribe will be there shouting your name and fighting off anyone else who doesn't. This is your tribe.
A tribe will also trust you and make much more rapid decisions where it comes to spending money. If I post my link to a training in my blog, it's going to have very few sign ups from cold leads that find that post on Google or through another call to action.
Yet if I post my training to my tribe, the sign up is going to have a much higher conversion. They already trust me. They know what I do, how I teach, and that they will find value in the training.
Building a Tribe through Story Telling
Here's an example of building a tribe through story telling.
In January of 2018, following a divorce (after 25 years of marriage), I decided that I no longer was OK with being overweight. I weighed in at 198 pounds on January 1st, 2018 and chose the keto diet to shed the weight. I shed 40 pounds in 4 months and eventually hit my 50 pound weight loss goal.
I didn't really get as small as I originally thought I would go for and settled in at about the 150's (I'm 5' 7 and 1/2 and 47 years old). I could probably go 20 pounds more, but decided I like life about here, at least for now.
I posted my entire journey on Facebook. Thousands of people watched me shrink. They read my stories of pain, failures, success, and victories. This same group had watched my divorce on Facebook and now were watching me rise from the ashes.
This group was able to relate to me as many go through divorce, failures, and want to look and feel better.
I was already guiding a lot of people just by sharing my recipes and what was working. Before I knew it, my FB messages were full of people begging for help.
On May 1st, I launched a Keto For Weight Loss coaching Company. I took in $10,000 worth of clients that first week and the program has been monthly rolling since then.
This would have been near impossible to do from cold leads alone. It would have been challenging to push a $99 per month program to an audience full of strangers. A tribe, however, JUMPED to enroll.
They trusted me. They knew me, or felt like they knew me. And they wanted help, from me, specifically.
I had built a tribe.
How To Build A Tribe
Seth Godin is one of my favorite Authors. He has a book on tribes and I adore his "Talks" on tribes. [Watch the video here]. Here's an affiliate link [I profit if you make a purchase] to the book if you are interested in reading it: https://amzn.to/2AZ2atd.
- Choose something you are an expert in or are passionate about, or can tell a story around. This could be a story line around your dog or cat [Animal products], health, dating, marriage, getting married, buying a house, parenting, your business, your spirituality, a hobby etc.
- Choose at least one platform where you will tell stories. Choose a podcast, video, blog or social channel to start. If you have the time and energy for omni channel marketing - great. Choose more than one. Otherwise stick to one or two and do them at a high level before you take on another. Each medium really does have it's own culture and language.
- Set a goal. "I want my tribe to learn X and then buy Y". Or "I want my tribe to be entertained by X, and then buy Y".
- Be authentic in everything you do. If you are "acting", they will know it. They need to relate to you. Don't be "salesy", be a story teller.
- Become obsessed with VALUE for your audience. They won't care til they know you care. Give it away. Offer value at every turn and ask for the sale only once you given first. In Gary Vee's book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How To Tell Your Story In a Noisy World [Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/2RMdHXf], he breaks down this exact content. Give, Give, Give, then ask.
- Love on your tribe. Know who they are. Connect with them. Create separate lists on social so you know who they are. I keep a spreadsheet with a scoring system so that I always know who my top spenders and referrers are. Then I can do a little extra at the holidays, or when a special event happens in their life. A rewarded tribe will stay loyal and return more than you could spend on them.
A Tribe Follows
I think in closing, an important thing to note is that a tribe not only trusts you, they follow you. they will go where you go. Once you build a tribe that believes in you, the person, they will spend money in more areas than you originally planned for.
My real estate "tribe" became my marketing company "tribe" which then became my "keto coaching clients" which then begain buying shampoo from my anti-aging hair care business and so forth.
Build the audience first and then find their needs and fill them. It's not product first and then audience.
It's create an audience, build a tribe, offer services/products/affiliate.
Lori Ballen
I hope you enjoyed this blog. My name is Lori Ballen and I'm a digital marketing strategist and teacher. A marketer by nature, I care about sharing everything I do with an audience that wants to grow. I specialize in content marketing and lead generation through the web including blogging, video, social media, and search engine optimization.
I'm a mother of a brilliant teenager and 26 year old daughter who works with me in my companies. My two brothers are leaders in my marketing company, Ballen Brands. I love the family aspect of business although I employ non family as well.
After my divorce, I decided to get real with my finances and began launching other streams of income. And late 2018, I created, The 7th Stream.
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