Customer Communities

Description

Make community building your ultimate business growth strategy

In Customer Communities: Engage and Retain Customers to Build the Future of Your Business, Nick Mehta and Robin Van Lieshout deliver an actionable playbook on how to cultivate meaningful communities that fuel quantifiable business growth. In the book, you’ll learn how to capitalize on this new growth strategy to scale your company and develop excitement around your products and your firm.

The authors outline the 10 foundational Laws of Community, explaining why community development does not need to be expensive and how to integrate community in the heart of your customer journey. You’ll also find:

• Strategies for creating a cross functional customer engagement team
• Techniques for building community in places that aren’t the web or on social media
• Ways to bring your organization’s culture and values into your community with a human-first alignment

An essential roadmap to community development for customer success, marketing, support and product teams, and other entrepreneurs, founders, and executive business leaders. Customer Communities will earn a place on the bookshelves of anyone with a stake in organizational growth and resilience.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Preface: Two CEOs Growing Up Lonely xi

Acknowledgments xv

Part I Community Is the Future of Your Business 1

Chapter 1 An Introduction to the World of Communities 3Creating a Sense of Belonging

Chapter 2 Communities as a Business Growth Strategy 9The Only Sustainable Long-Term Differentiator Companies Have

Chapter 3 How the Next Generation of Communities Drives Success 29The New Company-Wide Strategy to Drive Net Revenue Retention

Chapter 4 A Community for Customer Success, Support, Marketing, and Product Teams 41How Every Department Can Benefit from a Next-Generation Community

Part II The 10 Laws of Community Building 55

Chapter 5 Law 1: You Can Start Anytime 57It Doesn’t Have to Be Expensive and Everyone in Your Organization Can Help

Chapter 6 Law 2: You Have to Own the Platform 65Engage Your Customers Beyond Borrowed Ground

Chapter 7 Law 3: Community Should Be the Heart of the Customer Journey 75Activate and Engage Your Customers at Scale

Chapter 8 Law 4: Create Content That Educates and Inspires 95Be the Best Thought Leader You Can Be

Chapter 9 Law 5: Build on Your Advocates 109Your Most Loyal Customers Are the Gateway to Success

Chapter 10 Law 6: Everybody Owns the Customer 121Community Is a Company-Wide Strategy, Not a Department

Chapter 11 Law 7: Offline Counts More Than You Think 139An Online Community Is Strengthened with Offline Events

Chapter 12 Law 8: Tie It All Together in One Customer Hub 153Prevent a Disjointed Customer Experience by Integrating Engagement and Content

Chapter 13 Law 9: Community Should Drive Real Business Outcomes 171Don’t Get Fooled by Vanity Metrics—Demand Real Business Metrics

Chapter 14 Law 10: Bring Your Culture and Values to Your Community 183Build with a Human-First Mindset

Part III How to Get Started 195

Chapter 15 Building Blocks to Successfully Starting a Community 197Putting Together a Strong Strategy in Five Steps

Chapter 16 Common Objections and How to Overcome Them 209Answers to Nine Common Objections

Epilogue 217

References 219

Index 225