How can the community be a garden for business growth?

Building a strong community around your business can be one of the most powerful drivers of growth. When you have a passionate and engaged community of customers, partners, and supporters, you can tap into their collective knowledge, expertise, and influence to reach new audiences, generate leads, and drive sales.

In light of the pandemic, we have become more aware of the concept of community spread, which refers to the transmission of a virus from one person to another within a community. This awareness can also be applied to the realm of business, where building a strong community around your brand can have numerous benefits.

In today's digital world, it's easier than ever to build and maintain a thriving community. With social media platforms, online forums, and other digital tools, you can connect with people from all over the world who share your interests. And the more you invest in building your community, the more it will pay off in terms of business growth.

Creating a community around your business can have a significant impact on your brand's influence. This is because a community offers a platform for customers to share their experiences and opinions about your products or services. This, in turn, can lead to increased word-of-mouth marketing and can attract new customers to your business.

Furthermore, building a community can also help to decrease the cost of acquiring new customers. When customers feel a sense of connection to your brand, they are more likely to remain loyal and continue to make purchases. This can save you money on costly marketing campaigns aimed at acquiring new customers.

In addition, building a community can also help to reduce your overall marketing expenses. When you have a strong community, you can rely on your customers to do some of the marketing for you. This means that you can spend less on advertising and marketing campaigns and instead focus on building relationships with your customers.

Moreover, having a community can also increase your marketing efforts. By connecting with your customers on a more personal level, you can gain insights into their needs and preferences. This, in turn, can help you to create more targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with your audience.

Eventually, building a community can also boost trust in your brand. When customers feel a sense of connection and belonging to your brand, they are more likely to trust your products or services. This increased trust can ultimately lead to increased sales and revenue for your business.

How to spread seeds of hope and change in your community

If you're looking to spread awareness about your product or service within a particular community, it's important to have a carefully thought-out strategy in place. Take PayU Money, for example. When the company's CEO, Mr. XXX, first joined the team, one of his biggest challenges was figuring out how to reach their target audience - various communities throughout India - despite their efforts in digital and paid marketing. To tackle this issue, Mr. XXX came up with a framework to better understand the type of community he wanted to target. After conducting extensive research, he identified web developers, software writers, and those working with ERP software as his ideal audience, as they could help him reach millions of potential customers.

Once you've determined who your target community is, the next step is to figure out how to effectively reach them. For PayU Money, this meant launching an online campaign called 'HallaBol', which involved organizing a tweetathon on August 15th and inviting startups from all over India to participate. The three-hour Twitter campaign asked participants to pitch themselves in a five-second video or message, including the hashtags #hallabol and #payumoney in every tweet. The response was overwhelming, with numerous startups, investors, incubators, accelerators, and media personnel from all over India joining in and extending the tweetathon to six hours. The campaign also created a trending topic and resulted in more than $10,000 worth of mentions on Twitter - all at no cost to the company.

Following the success of their online campaign, PayU Money decided to take things offline by launching 'The Startup Growth Masterclass.' Mr. XXX traveled to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in India every weekend to conduct three-hour master classes, teaching the audience how to take their startups to the next level. This offline and online interaction with the community helped the company grow exponentially.

It's worth noting that when dealing with a community, it's important to approach things with care and respect. A strong community can be a tremendous asset to your business, but they can also quickly bring you down if you don't treat them well. That's why it's crucial to create value for the community, whether that's through monetary or knowledge-based offerings. By understanding your target community and utilizing a combination of online and offline tactics, you can successfully spread awareness about your product or service and grow your business in the process.

Marg ERP, a leading company in the software industry, has taken a significant step towards establishing a customer community for pharmacies. This community is aimed at providing a platform for chemists across India to connect, share ideas and receive support. The company's chairman or managing director believes that a majority of chemists in India use their software, and they aim to further enhance its features to promote growth. Marg ERP recognizes that their greatest impact is on the pharmaceutical industry, and they prioritize creating value for this sector. This strategic move is expected to bring about significant transformation in the pharmaceutical industry and further cement Marg ERP's position as a pioneer in the software industry.

Taxmantra, a distinguished chartered accountancy firm located in Kolkata, was established by Mr. Alok Patnia. Their primary focus is on catering to the needs of startup founders, company owners, and managing directors. To enhance their engagement with the community, they introduced a strategy known as Taxmantra Advantage Dialogue (TAD). TAD involves organizing both online and offline community events. One such event was held in Bangalore, where Mr. XXX was in attendance. This event was hosted at NASCOM and was facilitated by the community, with the participation of several renowned speakers. This event proved to be a turning point for Taxmantra, as it enabled them to gain much-needed recognition. Encouraged by the success of this event, they started hosting webinars and began a video series online. At present, Taxmantra is conducting TAD events in Singapore and the US as well. Regardless of the type of business you run, community engagement is crucial. By creating something unique or intriguing that resonates with your community, your product or service can go viral. The key lies in comprehending the needs of the community you are serving and delivering value accordingly.

To achieve business growth, community is a crucial element. When companies establish strong communities around their products or services, they gain valuable feedback, insights and support from their customers. This helps them create a loyal customer base that is more likely to promote their business and make repeat purchases.

There are several ways businesses can build communities, including creating online forums, hosting events, or being active on social media. They can also offer rewards and incentives to encourage customer participation. Although it takes time and effort to build a community, the benefits are worth it in the long run.

Building a community offers several benefits for businesses, such as increased brand loyalty and awareness, improved customer satisfaction, valuable feedback and insights, new product and service ideas, increased sales and revenue, and a competitive advantage.

If you haven't started building a community around your business yet, I highly recommend doing so today. It is one of the best investments you can make for your future growth.