How To Extend Your Community with Pride
Jun 15th, 2011 by David Svet
We’ve all heard the old saying, “Home is where the heart is.” We often love our homes. Some of us swell with hometown pride. I think it’s part of our tribal notion of identity - a coping mechanism that lets us say, “I’m alright.” Underneath it all is our ego. Yes, in reality, home is where the ego lurks.
But that’s OK. The ego is a powerful motivator. It works for team sports from the pro ranks down the food chain to college sports, high school sports and little leagues. We love OUR team. It’s a symbol of OUR town, school or neighborhood.
It works for micro-brewing - we love OUR hometown beer. It works for any independent producer of food, music, art or any other social expression. We adopt local brands as an extension of hometown pride. It’s a way of saying, “this is who I am.” It’s a behavior that shows we belong.
In marketing terms, it’s a behavior that is being supported through the visual channel of branded merchandise. The channel supports the behavior. We rally together to support the emotional bond by wearing our team colors. So, how do you take advantage of this as a marketer? If your brand is geographically limited, that is to say you’re a local brand, you can use channels that support group social expression, such as branded merchandise and social media.
Branded merchandise enables your followers to identify with one another in public. Social media enables them to extend their friendship when the crowd has gone home. Online communities are a behavioral extension of real life communities - the behavior is the same, but the channel is different. One supports the other and the bond is extended. So the question to you as an entrepreneur is, can I be the hometown brand for my category? If the answer is, yes, then start building your community.
