1,000 True Fans
Kevin Kelly at Technium has a great brilliant post that every creator, artist and marketer should read. His general thesis is this: Rather than try and create that one mega-popular hit that millions of people will love, you should try and grow a club of “1,000 true fans”. A “true fan” is someone that loves what you create so much that they buy everything you sell, follow your blog, travel to see your shows, subscribe to your mailing list and buy the super hi-def remixed re-released box set. Kevin’s theory is that any singular creator can make a great living with just 1,000 true fans.
Seth Goodin has been pushing a similar marketing plan for years: focus on creating amazing products and fostering radically dedicated fans (through a pursuit of excellence, customer service, feedback and communication). The Internet, of course, now makes this all possible.
The great news for the marketer is that the “1,000 True Fans” marketing plan is very do-able (and measurable). Its very intimidating to stare at a product and wonder how you are going to get 5 million people to buy it. But 1,000 people? That’s doable. And measurable in a few dozen a week. You just need to put the right tools in place to be able to track who is a true fan and to keep them happy.