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Why Core Members Are Your Best Brand Ambassadors
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When my older brother Michael started our martial arts Dojo in 2006, I thought I understood how to build and manage community organizations. In fact, it was marketing communications that I knew, which clearly was not the same thing as running a business. Still, I founded Writers’ Dojo to provide solace and community for serious writers. Among lessons learned, there is one powerful discovery that has kept our memberships active.
Simply: find the core folks, the super fans, the brand ambassadors. They will promote and proselytize for new core members. Get on a daily mission to find the converted, the peeps who will march alongside you on the next quest.
I was lucky when Michael and some partners were able to arrange financing to purchase our bricks and mortar property. Two buildings now renovated with a gated garden. While communities are surely about the people, a beautiful, safe venue has helped us attract and retain members. What keeps driving new folks through the gate to see us, and what keeps them actively involved?
Often I can spot a new, core member by how he or she walks through the gate, eyes wide with awe and delight, as if to acknowledge our vision for the space and to enjoy its subtle artistry. More often, though, the core member emerges after many months of focused work. Sometimes it happens with the ones I don’t expect. Everyone can progress in the work, but when the core folks speak of the work, whether martial training or writing, they speak of it how a preacher speaks of the bible. It is life changing for them. “Jiu jitsu saved my life” I’ve heard more than once. Not in reference to martial application, but in the thirst for self-development. Soon emerges our core member who thinks of himself or herself as a lifetime member. Unfortunately, the percentage of members who will remain at milestones beyond three years amounts to a tiny fraction, as is the bane of all martial arts, yoga schools and gyms. So, too, for all communities I imagine.
For the Writers’ Dojo, we had a revolving door of month-to-month folks. The initial attraction was a Zen-like atmosphere to find solace among other literary-minded, serious writers. I had attracted a few well-known authors’ support. When it was known that these writers were part of our core membership, the creative class took notice and came to welcome us among a short A-list of Portland’s literary organizations.
In many ways I would be correct to write that it was expert coaching that attracted and retained our members. This is indeed the case for Mike’s budo school. But expert coaching takes numerous forms. The martial arts school membership was slowly cultivated, growing to just a few dozen members over its initial three years.
The power I now know is not in the volume of general memberships, but in the number of core members.
Of the 50 or so members at School of Budo, half of these folks are here to stay. They are lifers and will count my brother among their teachers forever. So it may not surprise you to read that Michael knows each of his members well. I mean Michael will spend time to learn a student’s personal health goals, their history and situations, their kids and spouse. As an expert coach, Michael learns many other things only revealed to his eyes on the training mat about a student’s style and behaviors. He tries to use this information to help members achieve their goals.
Helping manage these organizations and witnessing their evolution over the decade has been extraordinary. My investment has paid dividends in the form of amazing relationships and a far improved understanding of my work in brand marketing. If you have the opportunity to be a founder or partner of a community around your favorite activities, be it motorcycles or kickball, I can promise the experience is worthy of your effort. For brand marketers, it’s a rare educational opportunity to experience firsthand the power of direct, personal conversation with core members. Listening and responsiveness can have such an impact on the lives of members, they will surely share your story and this love with their communities.