Identifying your true fans
It was about 15 years ago that Wired Magazine's founding editor Kevin Kelly published an essay called "1000 True Fans". The idea has since gained a lot of traction with small-scale artists, musicians, and writers.
But it's not just for them.
Kelly's idea was simple: An individual creator can escape the starving-artist lifestyle and actually make a decent living to fund their art by having only 1,000 true fans — the people who love their work so much and are so deeply affected by it that, as Kelly says:
[They will] purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. ... They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work.
But Kelly alluded to something more, which is this:
Although the 1000 true fans will indeed make up a large part of the artist's income, they also have an incredible compounding effect on increasing the number of regular fans.
That's because they talk, and share, and wear the t-shirt, and get the tattoo. And they know people.
If you're trying to spread a message, if you have a mission in the world, your true fans are the ones who will help you spread it.
Do you know who they are? The people who click every link in your newsletter? The people who select the VIP package at your events? The people who donate for every appeal? The people who share your content on social media?
Could you find out? And if they don't exist, could you cultivate such a fan base?
Here's the thing:
Your CRM is a great source of information on all of your members, potential members, donors, and casual contacts.
But among that mass of 5,000 or 300,000 collective individuals, there are the people who will take your message to the world — or at least to their world — if you can get them excited about the value that you're providing.
All the best,
A.