Well, I'll tell you this - it's not just because they see a group and decide they want to join. The motivation typically runs deeper than that. Tribes are generally made up of people who bond under a united cause, idea, or banner of identity.
Seth Godin defines a tribe as "a group of people who are connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea" (remember this).
- Shared experiences
- Shared interests
- Shared values
For the remainder of the week, we're going to look at each of these reasons. And, we're also going to examine how to use these reasons to encourage our students to join our tribe.
Starting today with...
How Shared Experiences Build Tribes
As a martial art school owner, you already have an inside track to building your tribe. That's because it's your job to create shared experiences for groups of people... your students.
However, the mistake many school owners make in creating shared experiences is they do it haphazardly (because they don't know about or understand tribal marketing). Or they force experiences on their clients that those clients don't want.
A good example of this would be competition. If you run a school in which the culture is primarily based on competition, you are creating an environment where most of your clients are feeling pressured into participating in experiences they may not enjoy.
Only a small segment of the population is interested in competitive sports. And while many kids will participate in competitive sports during their childhood, most will gravitate away from it after finding they are not naturally inclined toward competition.
So, while a small percentage of your clients are thrilled that they can participate and excel in competition because your school emphasizes it, the remainder are probably feeling uncomfortable and left out.*
And those people will likely never become raving fans of you and your school.
Creating Universal Shared Experiences That Count
I know that the buzzword of the day is "inclusiveness", and for the most part it's a load of politically correct bullshit. However, when it comes to building tribes you do need to consider that the culture of your school is created around experiences that can be universally enjoyed by your students.
And while most people don't enjoy the pressures and thrills of competition, there are other opportunities to bring your students together. Examples might include:
- A shared community project where everyone pitches in -
- A yearly training gathering with your instructors as special guests -
- Special events for younger students like Nerf Wars and Jedi Nights -
The main thing to shoot for when you run any event is making it a positive experience for everyone. You want your students leaving your event happy and looking forward to the next one.
And, it goes without saying that your tribal events must always be exclusive to your students. That means if you bring in your instructors and you want to offer some of the training to the public, then you must also have a closed-door session that is only available to your students.
Encourage Them To Identify With Your Tribe
One thing to remember when creating these experiences is that it's incredibly important to create a shared identity when building your tribe. That means you need to create ways for your students to identify under a single banner.
So, always be sure to provide your students with identifiers. This can include school t-shirts, patches, and other items of clothing that they can only get by attending specific events.
Not only does this provide them with something physical that is tied to the memories of that event; it also allows them to tell the world that they belong to your tribe.
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That wraps up today's email. Tomorrow I'm going to talk about shared interests, and how you can build a tribal following around an interest that is shared among your students.
