Brands Both Big and Small Can Inspire Their Community

I want to highlight a good article posted last week by one our BRITE ‘09 attendees, Abby Strunk, the Director of Marketing and Communications for BBYO, Inc., a non-profit Jewish youth organization.  (We are glad you found value in the conference, Abby).

In describing her marketing efforts at BBYO, Abby writes about the trends she heard this year while attending BRITE ’09 and other business and marketing conferences. A common message formed around the idea that a brand's success will rely, more and more, on inspiring its audience to become “evangelists” for the brand.

What is striking is the realization she came to from listening to various marketing gurus and the efforts of major brands (with their major marketing budgets).

Participating in the conferences referenced earlier is an interesting experience. I have the thrill of Interacting with experts like marketing powerhouses Seth Godin (author of The Purple Cow and Tribes) and Jeff Jarvis (author of What Would Google Do?) and big brands like McDonald’s and American Express with multi-million dollar advertising budgets. While intimidating, I couldn’t help but to feel that we were the lucky ones. We – a Jewish non-profit – had something that some of the world’s best known brands were desperately trying to obtain. We actually have a community of people who have a deep passion and affinity for our “product” – an audience that is willing to take decisive action on behalf of the brand because they want to. The evangelism is authentic.

Stories and case studies from big brands tend to dominate the media, so it is refreshing to see Abby remind us that organizations and brands of all sizes need to adapt to the changes being created by our digital culture. And that, in fact, these changes can be encouraging to smaller players since the closer connections they and their stakeholders have with each other may bring them proportionally greater benefits.

Be brave enough to relinquish control of your brand. Put control in the hands of your community. They will reward you by moving your mission forward.

Right on, Abby!