Book Review: TRIBAL MARKETING, TRIBAL BRANDING
An expert guide to the brand co-creation process
Genres:
- Marketing
- Public Relations
Review posted on:
13.12.2017
The number of pages:
195 pages
Book rating:
3/5
Year the book was published:
First edition published 2013
Who should read this book:
- Marketers, Start-up founders, Entrepreneurs, People in sales, and Analyst.
Why did I pick up this book and what did I expect to get out of it:
Brands that make people feel like they belong are the most successful ones. But how do they do it? What is the science behind it? Those questions were going through my mind when I saw this book in a library and I wanted to know more. Based on the table of content I expect to read how customers are transformed into tribe-like members, what and what steps brands need to take to achieve tribal status.
A short summary of the book:
Tribal marketing takes you on a journey of co-creation and nurturing of a brand’s tribe. Most marketing books talk about why you should create a brand and its tribe, and how the companies are the ones making events for its consumers based on the message the companies want to convey. However as the author points out in the book companies are not always successful at creating a real tribe, or moving the existing tribe to think and act as the companies want them to. So why are some successful and others are not? Is the tribe the one who has to do what the company says or should the company adjust its marketing actions to its tribe?
In the book, you will get to read where and when the companies set “game rules” and from which point on the tribe is in charge. It is very important for companies to understand why and how their tribe was formed and what are their accepted traditions and customs. It’s commonly accepted to think about customer loyalty, but what about the loyalty of the company/brand to its tribe/advocates? Soon companies that accept this mindset will build a huge advantage over the ones that do not. So the question is how are you building trust with your tribe?
There is a big difference between a consumer and a tribe member. So the strategies a company takes to nurture each one of them is very different. There is a conflict of interest between a company and its tribe members. Tribe members have certain rules and customs of what it takes for others to be accepted to the brand name, while the company welcomes each consumer. In short, many times tribe members don’t accept regular consumers and they even look down on them. Because of that, a company could be losing its market share, but you should also keep in mind that consumers come and go, while a true tribe member will not only be a consumer but also an advocate for your brand. It is not that easy to say what will work and what will not. In this book you will not read about fast and cheap tricks on how to get people to like your brand, instead, you will get to read about the process of researching, understanding, and co-creating with your followers/tribe members, learning why they use your brand and “where to go” in the future.
My notes from the book:
- Tribes affiliate together first and foremost due to a sense of shared values and emotions. They are not held together by some sort of need to remain in a community purely for the sense of social connection. Instead, the social connection stems from the shared emotion, the shared belief, that a particular object or practice really matters.
- Tribal branding is an ongoing process whereby a relationship with the tribe is built up and maintained over time.
- Tribal marketing seeks to establish what it is that holds meaning for consumers, and it seeks to support those things. It is about relationships, not coercion. It is about allowing people to post about your product or service on social media because they feel like it, not because they were solicited into it.
- Members of brand tribes strongly affect each other’s perception of brand quality. Things that otherwise might be perceived as problematic can instead turn into ways in which members of the tribe reinforce one another loyalty to the brand (for example Harley-Davidson: Members strengthened their bond when helping each other solve mechanical problems).
- Very often, people can be drawn to brand tribes because they sense that by doing so they can experience a fulfilling sense of community.
- Each tribe tends to have its own specific sense (linking value) of what makes its identity meaningful. Tribal marketers need to support this sense of distinction, while at the same time exploring ways of making the tribe accessible.
- Members of brand tribes are advocates for the brand. Messages from them will be perceived as authentic, unbiased, non-commercial sources.
- Keep in mind that the tribe does not exist to generate benefits for you the marketer. They exist as a collective to generate mutual benefit for one another.
- Give your tribe an opportunity to share/upload their own content. The presence of novel content that the tribe provides on its own gives other members something new to talk about and that lures members of the tribe back to the website.
- Tribal marketing involves learning how to support product and consumption meaning as created by tribes, rather than carrying out market research deciding on a brand personality and messages, and aiming that message at a target audience.
- Consumers initiate brand tribes for their own reasons, not for marketing–related reasons. They do so because brands allow them to form social links and engage emotionally with one another.
- Marketers can facilitate special experiences for their consumers, and because of the special experience, the consumer experienced they are likely to interpret them via the prism of not only the brand but also the community of people with whom they have shared this special experience.
- The principle of tribal rules is welcomed because it allows you to express your chosen self in the company of your chosen tribe.
- Tribal marketers should first seek to understand the tribe’s view of the world before they begin to try to cater to it and support it via brand festivals, social media, or any other formal means of promotional activity.
- Authentic tribal marketing is predicated on the need for co-participation. Brand offerings from a non-participant are, ultimately, outsider offerings.
- As a tribal marketer, it is important to remember that the topic of mutual interest is not your job, but rather it is whatever shared passion has brought the community together in the first place.
- Any marketer who tries to sell products and services to the tribe without sharing in tribal performance will not attain credibility or status within the tribe. The whole point is to share an authentic experience.
- In terms of research, anything that has the potential to “obscure”/reduce the capacity to attain a feeling of empathy with your tribe should not be used at all.
- Taking an active, fully immersed part in community discussion forums will give you much higher credibility with the community. Full participation can improve your status in the community, give you access to richer levels of cultural understanding, and open up more data collection opportunities.
- When interviewing people use phrases like “What I hear you saying is…” or “I hear anger in your voice”. Responding like this helps “playback” to them not only what they have said, but the emotion with which they have said it.
- When interviewing people assure them that it is their answer, their perspectives, and their feelings that are important and that there is no wrong answer.
- Remember that it takes time to access insight and the best insights are usually not acquired through direct questioning.
- It is important to note what you think you are looking for in advance, as well as noting why you think it will prove to be important.
- The point of observation is not to continue to view the world through your own eyes, but to begin to learn to view it from the point of view of the tribal participants.
- You should assume that every pattern is of potential importance in unlocking or breaking the overall tribal code. So instead of prematurely zoning in on those things that seem to be of obvious commercial relevance, be patient. Try to assume that each pattern, each relationship, can potentially shed light on the underlying, uniting themes that, when developed, will reveal to you what makes the tribe tick.
- When researching try to expose yourself to contrasting phenomena, thus giving yourself the chance to notice things you haven’t noticed before.
- You as an aspiring tribal marketer must bring yourself down to the level of the individual participant and experience the activity and the brand through their eyes.
- In a tribal event, mementos matter a lot, because they are symbols of something each individual accomplished personally. The key for the marketer is to do enough to facilitate the marking of these accomplishments, without trying to over-prescribe for their marking.
- The right things will happen if you create a climate that allows people to retain their passion for what all this is about.
- Let the tribe build the brand for one another while you quietly continue to support them in this. You do this by allowing members of the tribe to share their stories with one another.
- In some cases, tribes want to refrain completely from any form of relationship with the company and this is something the company has to respect.
- Tribes will have their own ethical standards and norms and sometimes seek to enforce them in ways that individual customers may find offensive.
- When people engage in online conversation with each other on your social media pages, then you’re implementing tribal branding.
- From a tribal marketing perspective, social media needs to be used not to primarily promote products, but to serve as a community hub whereby both aspiring and experienced members of the tribe are encouraged to contribute and interact.
- Tribal branding is not about pushing messages in the hope that these messages will be relayed. It’s about encouraging and supporting the tribe to compose, relay, and re-negotiate their own messages and practices. Channels must be created to facilitate genuine interactivity not just between consumers and marketers but between consumers.
- Ideally, your brand’s website and/or social media pages should be a space where people share their preference, their experiences, and so on without anyone trying to coerce them into buying things.
- Tribal branding means that the marketer seeks to contribute to the tribe’s agenda, and not take over responsibility for it.
- It is essential to allow consumers to develop their own sense of what is different, unique, special, and important about the tribe. You don’t seek to impose your sense of these things on each member of the tribe.
