What do Starbucks, CrossFit, Southwest Airlines as well as Taylor Swift have in common? Cult followings – followings which are so strong that people look for excuses in order to bring them up in conversation or chant their praises on social media. There are a number of reasons why you’ll probably never see anyone Instagram their coffee cup from McDonald’s.
Deciding on how to approach your branding strategy successfully is one of the most important aspects of building a cult following. Strategically making use of themes and motifs can give you the ability to sculpt your branding around your fan’s favourite content matter.
Despite the negative connotation of the term, the majority of brand “cult followers” are just regular consumers who are looking for a group to fit in with. Even though some particularly could use these lessons in order to manipulate people, the objective is actually to create a marketing message and brand which resonates so deeply with people they fall in love with it.
10 Simple Steps For Successful “Culting” Of Your Brand
Here is a simple ten-step formula for elevating a brand to cult status built on the shared strategies found in all cults, religions as well as cult-like brands.
Here is the step-by-step strategy:
- Difference – Separate your cult from the establishment or – alternatively – norm. Form your own niche. People love to rebel against the norm.
- Connectors – Recruit successful, attractive as well as sociable souls in order to spread the word and also drive growth. These are your influencers.
- Exclusivity – Restrict entry to your group. Not anyone is able to join, or the members wouldn’t feel as special or enticed by it.
- Solidarity – A crystal-clear sense of belonging to the group establishes loyalty as well as word-of-mouth.
- Ideology – A clear belief system defines the values that the group is expected to uphold.
- Lovebomb – Engulf your customers with love to let them know how appreciated – as well as welcome – they are in the group.
- Paradox – Make joiners feel like they become more individual, in spite of the fact that they are joining a group. Make them feel as if they are uncovering a new sense of self or discovering a new way in order to express their individuality.
- An Enemy – Identify what you are and are not to unite your group against the competition. (Think PC vs Mac.)
- Contact – Splash your ideas onto the correct people.
- Let go – Don’t be a wide-read, psychopathic, control-obsessive cult leader or you risk losing everything that you’ve built. Allow the vision you built to grow and evolve on its own.
