1000 True Fans

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Submitted by Matthew Needham on 12 Comments

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photo credit: fabbio

Many of us spend countless hours trying to attract new business, when in reality that new business could be staring at us in the face.

Our existing customers.

If you could get 10% more revenue out of your existing customers, what difference would that make to your bottom line?

Many site owners are aware that it is far more expensive to attract new business than to retain existing customers. Yet they spend all of their marketing spend on attracting new visitors in the hope that they will spend money with them. Most website owners are obsessed by the amount of site traffic or the number of page “hits” the website is generating and if they aren’t obsessing over those metrics, then there is always the % of new visitors and the % bounce rate for them to worry about.

That’s not to say these metrics aren’t interesting they are, they just aren’t as important as the site owners think. The most important stats are those relating to conversions. How many of the people who visit your site buy something off of you? How does that relate to your the articles you post or the placement of ads on your page. See our post on Actionable Metrics for more information.

In reality if your could sell more to your existing customers, you could spend far less on marketing and hence increase your bottom line. Doesn’t that makes sound commercial sense?

1000 True Fans

This brings us to the concept of 1000 True Fans….if you had a mailing list and that mailing list contained 1000 of your most loyal customers and these 1000 were the people that you interacted the most, the people commenting on your site, emailing you suggestions and buying your products, wouldn’t you feel like you had achieved something?

The truth is, if you have 1000 people who regularly buy products off of you then these people are pure gold.

Think about it for a minute. if you had 1000 people buying your 4 e-books a year or maybe other products or services, spending say £100/$100 per year with you, could you survive on £100,000 / $100,000 per year?

So how do you get 1000 true fans? In part 2 we’ll answer that question.

What do you think?

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12 Comments »

Jen said:

Very true! Exactly what I have been thinking recently with regards to my site … I want to build up real relationships with the people that visit rather than getting too caught up in figures.

[Reply]

Matthew Needham Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 12:54 pm

Thanks for your comment Jen. You still need to have a plan as to what you’re going to do with those people when they visit though!

[Reply]

Jen Reply:
January 27th, 2010 at 8:19 am

Yeah true, I am working that out … I am thinking of an e-book, but want it to be something different, there is a lot out there already….will keep researching!
Jen´s last blog ..Visualisation: The Art of Mental Rehearsal

[Reply]

Matthew Needham Reply:
January 27th, 2010 at 9:45 am

Jen, I think as long as you’re providing your readers with value, then there’s no reason not to do an e-book.

- 25 January 2010 at 10:11 am

Gordie said:

Yes, I think a few bloggers are writing about this lately. It’s important to get a tribe behind you who believes in what you’re doing and is willing to spend money on products or services you sell. That’s really what is needed to monetize a site. It’s not that complicated.
Gordie´s last blog ..Six Things You Should Do Daily To Succeed.

[Reply]

Matthew Needham Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 12:53 pm

Thanks for the comment Gordie, you’re absolutely right, it’s not that complicated, but it’s not that easy either. If it were, we’d all be millionaires!

[Reply]

- 25 January 2010 at 12:09 pm

Ben said:

Ah Matthew you tease! I was really getting in to that and then I read that’s there’s a part 2! Talk about a cliffhanger.

This is the problem I have with Twitter. People go chasing 100,000′s of followers but then find they have no interaction. 100 quality followers who read your stuff and then buy your products is always better than a million followers who never read your content!

I eagerly await part two…..

[Reply]

Matthew Needham Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 9:05 pm

Yes too much content to put into one post!

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- 25 January 2010 at 6:00 pm

Eleanor Edwards
Twitter: giveabrick
said:

Great intro Matthew. I agree with Ben, I can’t wait for the next bit. I’m just very glad I’ve finally understood feed readers (thanks in part to the tip off in your iPhone apps post btw;)) so I’ll get told as soon as it is available

Off to check out your metric measuring stuff. Have no idea if it will work for a charity that wants everyone to get involved. How do you target ‘everyone’ without diluting your message or going completely insane?
Eleanor Edwards´s last blog ..Probably the World’s Easiest Home Made Chocolate Cake

[Reply]

Matthew Needham Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 12:13 am

Hi Eleanor, thanks for your comment. Glad you’re finding the content useful!

Actionable metrics are good for all businesses (including charities!). You want to understand what makes people donate and what makes people act.

Thanks, Matthew

[Reply]

- 25 January 2010 at 11:44 pm

Ralph
Twitter: ralphcarlson
said:

I need to understand how you can engage 1,000 readers or more precisely continue to engage them over time.
Ralph´s last blog ..Happy Australia Day

[Reply]

Matthew Needham Reply:
January 26th, 2010 at 5:25 pm

I think the thing is Ralph that you’re not engaging each and every one each and every day on a 1:1 basis. Basically the fans that you create will have similar aims, objectives and desires which means how you communicate is as important as what.

Thanks for your comment, look out for the second post!

[Reply]

- 26 January 2010 at 5:15 pm