The Big Picture: Building Strong Customer, Client, & Fan Bases
Founders, or you - reading this 😊, want to make money. That’s not new.
What’s new: consumer spending growth just dropped from 5.7% to 3.7% - and it’s heading lower. (Morgan Stanley)
And guess what’s getting cut first?
Discretionary budgets.
People are still spending. But they’re spending carefully. Very carefully.
Which means you have to earn every dollar harder than you did last year.
From new and existing customers, clients, and fans.
For 15 years, the answer was social. Post more. Build the funnel. Hope something converts.
That’s not the move anymore.
On A Personal Note (I don’t want to read this today, take me Being Besties With My Audience)
Remember, you’re not alone.
The weight you’re carrying right now? Your team is carrying it too. So are your customers, fans, and audience. We’re all moving through the same economic anxiety, the same uncertainty, the same “is this working?” or “what am I doing?” spiral at 2am.
Remember, shared struggle is the fastest path to real connection. The people around you want to know that you’re in it with them, not that you have all the answers.
So don’t be afraid to open space for that. A “how are you actually doing?” in a team meeting. A moment of honesty in your content. A meme that breaks your polished character.
Leaders who win in hard times are the ones who can acknowledge and hold space that “this is hard” - and keep building anyway.
Now, let’s talk about how to build.
Be Besties With Your Audience
That sounds like advice from a 22-year-old influencer giving marketing tips on Tik Tok.
But the data says the 22-year-old is right.
Brand communities deliver 2.7x higher lifetime value than traditional marketing approaches.(Single Grain) Community-driven word of mouth increases conversions by 22% (Marketing LTB)
Treating followers like friends is outperforming treating them like a metric.
You should get to a point where at least 80% of your followers feel like they’re seeing your “Close Friends” green circle - not just being updated on what you have coming next.
The Shift: What’s Actually Working Right Now
Community Over Followers
Engaged communities drive revenue. This isn’t new - I’ve heard “brand community” for eight years.
So why bring it up now? Because most still don’t get it right.
Community building is less a strategy than it is a posture.
Stop asking “how do I build community?” The real question is “how do I become the kind of brand people want to be in community with?”
One is a tactic. The other is a transformation.
Think about your closest friendships. You didn’t build them by optimizing touchpoints. You built them by being genuinely interested. By remembering the small things. By giving without keeping score.
Most brands do the opposite. They’re present but not available. Consistent but not in progress. Listening, but only to respond - not to understand.
And people can feel it.
Community isn’t a funnel. It’s not something you “leverage.”
Community is what happens when people feel seen by you - and you actually meant to see them.
Build In Public
Ok, what does this even mean? Is it process content? Behind-the-scenes footage?
Fundamentally, it’s about showing your community you’re listening and applying feedback.
And it works because it proves responsiveness. Not just presence.
Remember, it’s about being besties.
Besties are listeners, responders, supporters.
People trust what they can see built, and they emotionally attach to the connection.
Building in public is a window to that two-way connection.
Here’s the hard part for founders: showing unfinished work feels vulnerable. You’ve spent years building credibility. Showing the messy middle can feel like giving that up.
It’s not. (See more about emotionally navigating being real and raw vs. looking perfect - while still upholding your standards in this week’s playbook)
The Gut Check
Ok, before you post again or invest in more content:
Are you broadcasting or conversing?
When’s the last time you showed something unfinished?
Would your followers refer to your brand name (your name if you’re a creator or solopreneur) as a friend?
If you can’t answer these, that’s your starting point.
The Strategic Playbook: 3 Moves To Build A Stronger Customer Base With A Community Mindset
3 tactics, ideas, and the emotional framework for sharing unfinished work - all to use Monday morning.
Ground Zero: Tackling the emotion.
The brands (people and companies) winning right now aren’t the ones that look perfect.
They’re the ones who look real. And real means in-progress.
Real means “we’re figuring this out.” Real means trusting your audience enough to let them see behind the curtain.
Most founders and creators trip up here because they equate looking perfect with not being judged - with keeping all the chaos living in their head or inside of their organization hidden.
There will always be chaos. If it helps, know that customers today actually want to understand that.
If you want to keep a certain quality standard, establish a minimum viable quality standard.
Here’s what I’ve learned: the fear of being seen as “not ready” is really the fear of being seen at all. And that fear doesn’t shrink by waiting until you’re more polished.
It shrinks by being seen anyway - and realizing you survived. That people didn’t leave (Or that you can survive a few leaving). That they actually leaned in.
The truth is: people don’t connect with your wins. They connect with your becoming. They’re not looking for someone who has it all figured out - they’re looking for someone honest enough to say “I’m building this and I’m not sure yet.”
Step 1: Audit your engagement.
The move: REFY Beauty flew actual customers, not influencers, to Mallorca for their product launch.
Brands that treat their community like collaborators, not consumers, build the kind of loyalty that sustains through tumultuous times.
Your version:
Reply to comments yourself, not through a team (or hire someone who has the voice to reply without multiple rounds of approval)
Feature customer or fan content with the same prominence as influencer content
From time to time, DM new followers a genuine thank you (not an automated one)
Ask for feedback publicly - then show what you did with it. Remember to remind your community that they gave you feedback. If you show updates with no reminder it won’t register as a response to their feedback.
Share something unfinished and let people react before it’s “ready.”
Talk about it with your team or ask yourself:
What would change if we added our top 100 followers to close friends?
Where have we automated something that should stay personal?
What’s one thing we’re hiding until it’s “ready” that we could show right now?
Where can you create proximity instead of distance?
Step 2: Take it off social.
Social is an introduction to your brand world. It’s not the whole thing. The relationship has to deepen and develop elsewhere.
Think about your actual best friends. You don’t just comment on their posts. You text them. You voice memo them, random thoughts, and memes. You send them things that made you think of them.
Your audience should feel the same way.
Your version:
Start a private group for your most engaged customers (Slack, Discord, WhatsApp)
Send voice notes instead of typed DMs
Text your top 10 customers when you launch something - well before you post
Handwrite a note in first-time orders or 3rd time orders - appreciate the loyalty
Email like you’re writing to one person, not a list
Talk about it with your team or ask yourself:
If Instagram disappeared tomorrow, how would we reach our best customers?
What feels hard about this that’s actually very easy?
Who are 10 customers we could reach out to this week - off social?
Step 3: Make them insiders.
Besties don’t find out when everyone else does. They get the text first.
Your most engaged customers should feel like they’re in the room - not watching from outside. Early access. Sneak peeks. The decisions you’re weighing before you’ve made them.
This isn’t about creating a “VIP tier” for marketing purposes. It’s about actually treating people like they matter before you need something from them.
Your version:
Send new products or whitepapers to your top customers or clients before you announce publicly
Share what you’re working on before it’s finished - and ask what they think
Give them first dibs on launches, drops, or limited inventory
Let them vote on decisions (colors, names, features) and show the results
Tell them things you haven’t told “everyone” yet
Talk about it with your team or ask yourself:
Do we know the 2-20 people who would care most about what we’re building next? If not, find this out first.
What do we know that we’re not sharing yet - that would make people feel closer to us?
Where are we treating loyal customers the same as we treat brand-new ones?
Your move this week: Pick one. Audit how you’re showing up. Take one relationship off social. Or make someone an insider before you need to.
Do it before next Friday. See what happens.
Strategically yours,
Amanda