What do Lady Gaga, the Pumpkin Plan, and The Wardrobe Code all have in common?
They are focused on taking care of their community, particularly their top clients.
I got an email from Melissa Cassera about the wild success and the power of Lady Gaga’s community. Her email said:
Lady Gaga has about the same number of Twitter followers … as President Obama.
Sure, her music is fun + catchy, her outfits are wild + crazy, and she’s got a great message: be yourself without apology.
Even so, there are plenty of other pop starlets with similar talents + beliefs.
So how did SHE create such a raving, ferocious fan base?
One reason? She gave her fans a name — and with that name, an identity.
They’re not just “Lady Gaga Fans.”
They’re her “Little Monsters.”
I agree – It’s important to make your community feel like they are important and a part of something. They band together for you – your brand – stand up for you when others don’t, and find courage amongst other “Little Monsters” to do things different.
It didn’t start with a name – There’s a bigger piece of Lady Gaga’s strategy at play here.
All of those Little Monsters are not following her because she’s named them or because of her talent alone. In addition to being a part of a community, these Little Monsters have something else in common.
The Little Monsters are Lady Gaga’s top 1% customer base.
Lady Gaga and her marketing team spend most of their effort taking care of just the top 1% of her customer base and that base will talk her up and bring new fans into the community.
They identified the top 1% of their clients and build a community around them, their passions, their interests, and Lady Gaga and her team give them special treatment with private chats and their own littlemonsters.com email address.
Focusing on the top 1% is not something all business do. It’s something the better businesses (here’s looking at you) do.
In The Pumpkin Plan, Mike Michalowicz calls out the people pleasers of the world:
One of the biggest problems in small businesses – owners trying to please everyone. For accelerated, long term success, focus instead on the intersection of your top clients, your unique offering, and your ability to systemize it.
Did you know it is 5 times cheaper to keep an existing client than it is to get a new one?
Most marketing professionals (more than 59%) are focused on getting new clients and less than 30% are focused on retention… The poor customers that are ALREADY paying you money!! Not too mention your poor bottom line that is focused on marketing efforts instead of revenue growth and profitability.
In fact, 80% of your revenue likely comes from 20% of your clients.
Are you ready to build a strategy to take care of your 1% Club?
- First, who is in your 1% club?
- What have you done to give them extra TLC lately? Love ‘em up on the regular.
- How can you give your 1% Club a chance to connect with each other and rally around you? Create a shared purpose within your community!
- What do you call the loyal clients in your 1% club? Little Monsters? Ambassadors? Love Agents?
- How can you support and be a part of the fan club of your biggest fans? What goes around comes around!
- What have you done lately to help your 1% Club talk about you and share your genius lately? Fuel the flame and let it spread like wildfire!
We want to hear all about YOUR 1% GAME PLAN in the comments. Bring it on!!!
We’d also like to call out that The Wardrobe Code is well on her way when it comes to getting her community to rally around her.
When we called for Nice Approved nominations in January and February, nominations for The Wardrobe Code came flooding in from Nicole’s community. Here’s what they had to say about her:
- Nicole does an exceptional job with outreach online. She excels at creating community and making it more than just about her brand.
- All of the above. Nicole has one of the most unique takes on branding. Everything she produces makes me sit up and say “I've never thought of that”. Working with her was one of my highlights last year. She's always responsive, whip-smart, and is a joy to listen to and speak with.
- Nicole offers so many great ideas on fashion. Her newsletters are chock full of stylish ideas. All are easy and within reach. She has a great attitude, is super helpful and always finds the positive of all situations.
- The Wardrobe Code is truly different and the owner, Nicole is the bomb. Seriously, a stylist who tells you that everyone can wear skinny jeans, or that we need to rise up and shop from our closets.Nicole is personally invested in her clients and an all round lovely person. Her unique approach to style, and doing it on a budget set her apart. Plus she's from the OC and shops at Goodwill, so cool points for that.
That’s some seriously Nice Talk from Nicole’s community.
Naturally, I had to know more about The Wardrobe Code after reading all of this feedback. Check out her styling skills! Not only does she put the images of outfit options together, like so many sites and images on Pinterest already do, but she makes an easy peasy shopping list in each post too. Thank the heavens!!! I can’t stand spending time searching on the internet for the pieces to go with the outfit I saw pinned!!
After doing a little research of our own, checking in with people from her community, and reading all of the feedback that poured in on Nicole’s services we are excited to announce….
The Wardrobe Code is Nice Approved!!!
As I mentioned, we have some amazing nominations we are actively reviewing and may soon bump to Nice Approved so stay tuned!!! In the meantime, we wanted to let you know who’s nominated because referrals are a great place to start when you are looking for a solution and the Nice Community who’s nominated this crowd won't steer you down the wrong path.
The Uncaged Life UberConference WaveApps Sidekick PM
Hearts & Laserbeams Word Love Human Measures Nikki Elledge Brown
Back to you!!!
Don’t forget to tell us about your 1% GAME PLAN in the comments!
We can brainstorm and build off of the ideas of each other for an even better game plan.
See you there!
Amber
P.S. If you want to learn more about the Nice Approved process check it out in the February, January, or 2013 edition.
P.P.S. If you want to nominate someone as Nice Approved, you can do that right here. We love reading your referrals!
