Does your business revolve around a niche interest? Does your typical customer share a common pursuit, hobby or passion? Expanding your business from solely transnational existence to a community hub of like-minded people can increase loyalty, longevity and success.
A great example of a business taking advantage of this concept is Berry Mountain Cycles who in episode 5 of the podcast spoke of expanding on their love of cycling by holding riding days, overseas trips, community groups and more. By building a community of like-minded people, they built loyalty and return business. In addition to that, they became a hub for education as well as a recreational/social place that the local cycling community can congregate around.
It all sounds cool, but how do you do it?
How do we find these people and hold onto them? Consider holding a social event such as a friday evening or weekend drinks with finger foods and a local speaker who can do a small presentation. Maybe you can present something? A story perhaps?
Other ideas could be small workshops, documentary/film nights, market stalls, a space within your store/website for your audience to express themselves/display their stories or work, a local tour, games night, live music performance, guest speakers and more.
Whatever you do, keep it simple and small. This is an organic process and growth comes with time and consistency.
There are no boundaries and in some cases they don’t even have to directly relate to your business. Simple community building can have significant impact on your business success, especially if you are running an operation that caters for a larger demographic rather than a niche group.
Have you got any examples of building groups of people within/alongside your business? Have you got a wider community buy in who share the same passions that your business provides? Let me know in the comments!