The platform is sophisticated. The segmentation is impressive. The automation is powerful. - CRM Can Manage Fan Data. It Can’t Explain Why Fans Care.
Then comes the revealing question: “So, what are you actually doing with it?” If the answer is eleven or twelve predominantly transactional emails each year, an extraordinary CRM can quickly become a very expensive mailing list.
Technology can distribute and scale communication. It cannot create the fan relationship - or the strategy - on its own.
YOU CAN OWN THE DATA AND STILL MISUNDERSTAND THE FAN
Owning fan data matters. But possessing the record of someone’s behaviour is not the same as understanding the person.
The fan who spends most may not be the most passionate. The supporter who attends least may be making the greatest sacrifice. And some of your most influential advocates may barely appear in your database at all.
Article 47 of The Superfan Formula asks a deceptively simple question: what do you actually understand when you ‘own’ the fan data?
AN AUDIENCE IS NOT A COMMUNITY. AND A COMMUNITY IS NOT A FAN STRATEGY.
There’s a growing consensus across music - and increasingly sport - that we need to build stronger, more direct relationships with fans. I agree completely, but we also need to be much more precise about what we mean.
An audience is not automatically a community.
A database is not automatically an owned relationship.
A group of highly engaged consumers is not automatically a fan strategy.
And calling something a community does not make it one.
Not every fan wants the same relationship. Some want access. Some want recognition. Some want to participate, create or advocate. Some simply want to listen, attend and remain quietly loyal for decades.
That does not make them less passionate. Although many of the engagement metrics we use to judge fandom would suggest otherwise.
This week’s edition of The Superfan Formula distinguishes between six things that are related - but absolutely not interchangeable.