Customer Communities

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

While we've illustrated that the concept of community can literally extend our lives, we've also hinted that community is vital to the future of your business. Now let's explore why.

If a community is a fellowship with “common attitudes, interests, and goals,” how does that translate to your organization? The core of a business is your customers. So a community around your organization starts with them. All your customers have something in common; they all bought your product or service. This means they have an implicit interest in what you offer and likely have a specific goal to leverage it.

Your organization's community extends beyond customers—it's also your investors, employees, partners, and prospective customers. Indeed, it includes your broader stakeholders and even noncustomers (and there's a solid business reason to make them a part of your community, as we will show you later). In this book, when we talk about “Customer” Communities, we regard customers as the foundation, but this also includes the larger stakeholder group, too.

Communities Are Trending

Since 2009, the Community Roundtable has been tracking adoption of community among businesses. While business communities have been around for more than 20 years, they reported that 35% of company community initiatives have been in place for only 2 years or less, and the majority of programs do not exist for ...