Start with questions, not answers
Our eagerness to solve a problem should not overshadow our commitment to fully comprehend the problem at hand.
As humans, our brains make these leaps between a problem and a solution.
Often, this is incredibly helpful when problem-solving. However, it usually causes us to have blind spots.
Our eagerness to solve a problem should not overshadow our commitment to fully comprehend the problem at hand.
It's easy to jump between marketing websites for the latest and greatest technology, looking for a mixture of design, price and features that will... solve all of our problems.
The thing is, technology isn't the answer to creating a community that delivers results.
There's a fantastic quote in Good To Great by Jim Collins:
Technology is an accelerator of momentum, not the creator of it.
All communities need to create value for both their members and owners.
For a community to create value, it needs to find and keep momentum.
Momentum can only be achieved when the three c's of the community have been thoroughly considered: Clarity, communication, and cultivation.
We've got five questions that we ask when trying to help solve a problem for a client.
These questions are designed to uncover the core values of your community, understand the challenges your members are facing, determine their preferred communication methods, identify their motivations for being part of the community, and define what success looks like for them.
1 - What are your community's core values
We've written about this before, but having the North Star of your mission and manifesto is vital to bringing clarity to your decision-making.
2 - What challenges are your members facing?
You think your members need help with content creation You believe they are struggling to understand your upsells. You're sure they are not getting your emails.
There's a lot of assuming happening here.
Let's stop assuming we know what our members want and ask them.
3 - How do our members want to be communicated to
Everyone is different, and not all people want to be communicated with in the same way. Some love watching a 30-minute video, while others want bullet points in an email.
Review your data, ask your members and offer more than one choice.
4 - What motivates your community?
Why would your customers have any interest in becoming members of your community?
Support community - looking for answers
Interest community - meet like-minded folk and learn more
Charity - Mutual action and support
And so on.
We know there won't be one reason all your customers jump into becoming members, but there will be trends. Let's find them.
5 - What does success look like?
Every community's success metrics will be unique. We urge community leaders, marketing managers, and other key personnel to ensure that these metrics are in line with the overarching business goals.
Creating a community is magic, but it'll be short-lived if it doesn't deliver the value your founders or C-suite are looking for.
Most budget holders have a single metric they care about net profit, MRR, conversion, support queue, etc. Find out that metric and align it with this.
Start with questions, and you'll find momentum.