Define your niche and do your market research. As a Slightly Famous entrepreneur, you already know your marketplace. Go further and identify what your prospects want and need and provide that in the form of a niche community.
A clear and realistic set of community goals.
Absolutely paramount is knowing what your community "is," how you intend it to function, and what the overall goals are. Write yourself a candid "Mission Statement" and make careful note of the expectations you have of both the community as a whole and of individual participants.
Actively recruit new members.
Use a registration process, even for free events, which allows you to capture contact information to add to database. Use short feedback forms to solicit input about events, with “Please contact me about” with your calls to action at the bottom.
Provide more value than expected.
Your niche community will thrive if you deliver a dynamic, benefit-oriented experience for participants.
Be continuously creative and keep the community fun and interesting.
Take responsibility for the leadership and outcome.
Most communities fail due to lack of leadership. Create an organized system and plan events well ahead of time. Determine a realistic game plan for managing your community and stick to it.
Involve participants.
Niche communities prosper when participants “buy in” and feel a sense of connection and ownership over the community. Be responsive to participant issues and requests
Ask members to get involved, form committees, or volunteer to greet, host, set-up, break-down events activities as needed.
Don’t do it alone.
If your group is successful, you may find that your time in short supply. When practical, outsource administrative functions to free you to work on your business and serve your clients.
Form strategic alliances.
Your niche community is an ideal platform to pursue joint ventures and cross-promotions with related businesses. Look for ways to collaborate with other like-minded professionals and network with complementary organizations.
Actively promote your niche community.
Use a website, newsletter, schedule of future programs/events, e-mail distribution list, and conference calls to communicate with participants and prospects and keep them engaged. Alert relevant media about community events.
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