| In this week’s article, I will talk about two content creators who have greatly impacted my thinking: Seth Godin and André Chaperon. This week will be a little different as we won’t focus on any one book as it would be impossible to select just one in the case of Godin and Chaperon’s main medium is email. Minimum viable audienceSeth Godin was the first to talk about finding your niche audience. According to Seth, identifying and cultivating your base audience is the foundation for a great business. Seth builds on Kevin Kelly’s idea of 1,000 true fans (2008), where Kelly opines that 1,000 dedicated fans are better than focusing on millions. Most people don’t argue his point, they ask, “How do I get mine?” Seth’s take is that when you focus on that minimum, you find out the audience is much larger than you thought, and your reach grows as your fans become advocates. This idea brings me to our second influencer. An OG of digital marketing and the quiet king of audience building through content creation—André Chaperon. My connection with André’s work began six years ago when I started reading his blogs and emails. Now, I have bought more “courses” from him than anyone else. What sets him apart is his approach—his behind-the-paywall work isn’t slick videos and hacks. Instead, André starts with drawings and long-form content, allowing his audience to grasp basic theories and methodologies before embracing the simplicity. He is currently embarking on a new exploration of what he calls “tiny worlds.” André’s work made sense to me because of my learning style. The ability to double-click on topics and go deeper or wider at my own pace led me to develop a strong parasocial relationship with André and his content. He even came up on a recent podcast I was on with Johnny B. Truant. What to make of all of this…The mash-up of Seth and André in my brain feeds what I see as the critical element of building cumulative advantage. A massive viral outbreak of your brand is built on the slow compounding of your core audience. It’s that simple. If you grow your true fan base and get it to act, you’ll sell books.
 The acute and chronic value of true fansI believe your existing audience is the driving force behind your next launch. While a launch can leverage discovery and attract new readers to your brand, the visibility and signal to platforms are all driven by the binge consumption of your existing fans. This phenomenon is the acute behavior—a sudden boost to your sales triggered by YOU releasing a product. A new prospect may encounter you through your latest launch and decide to buy that book or, more likely, the first book in that series. The probability of turning this new prospect into a buyer is higher if, upon learning about you, they can easily access your brand and what you have to offer. The chronic value—word of mouth.While your core audience will momentarily drive your new book up in the rankings, that boost won’t be long-term, nor is it the main driver of cumulative advantage. What you want to activate is Word of Mouth—getting your fans to vouch for you is what will grow your true fan base. Let me walk you through the process of acquiring those 1,000 true fans. Imagine you have three true fans. If you already have more than this, things will scale faster. If each of those fans created one more fan, you would have 1,536 fans in nine cycles. Each cycle represents that cohort gaining just one more fan. In the case of those first three, they got eight more people to pick up your book and become fans. Determine what might be a reasonable timeframe for your true fan base to grow by 512 times. Would you agree that three to five years is a reasonable timeframe? This projection would mean your fan base doubles every 4-6 months. Could you get six fans if you already have three? If you have a system that rewards your true fans, this process will be far easier and can run on autopilot. This strategy is the kind of marketing outlined in my book Attention. Consider using its “Game of Cults Recipe” to help you design an on-brand system to drive word-of-mouth growth.
 The Game of Cults recipe
- Define a business goal: For example, set the objective to attain 1,000 true fans in three years.
- Define the player type: A true fan. Identify true fans based on factors like lifetime value and books read.
- Select the motivation: Status and Appreciation.
- Define the desired action: Word-of-mouth recommendation/recruitment of another true fan. Provide steps and language for achieving this action.
- Define the trigger: Select an on-brand way for your true fans to engage in the desired action and show their interest, such as a monthly “bring a friend to a book club” or a contest. Make sure they are self-selecting to help.
- Design the feedback mechanism: Establish a system to let players know they are on the right path towards success. Is it emails, recognition, or small rewards? Link a reward system to this elite community’s growth. If people have finished at least one of your series, reward and recognize everyone at doubling milestones for the community. For example, “Here’s a bonus short story I’ll release when we get to 96 members of our finished series club.”
- Reward players for bringing you a new fan with Status and Appreciation.
Remember that your role in this process is to have a nurturing system that delivers on what your fans have vouched you will do for their friend. You have to make sure that other systems nurture these new prospects, as your true fan risked their social capital to get this person to give you a shot. Now, do your part to welcome them and deliver the experience your fan promised you would. Read: Algorithms for Success and Transitioning From Amateur to Professional |