Mark W Schaefer is a globally recognized author, keynote speaker, futurist, and business consultant who blogs at {grow} — one of the top five marketing blogs in the world. He teaches graduate marketing classes at Rutgers University and has written 10 best-selling books. Mark’s new book, “Belonging to the Brand: Why Community is the Last Great Marketing Strategy” describes an essential new path to connect to customers in the modern digital world.

Mark’s many global clients include Pfizer, Cisco, Dell, Adidas, and the US Air Force. He has been a keynote speaker at prestigious events all over the world, including SXSW, Marketing Summit Tokyo, and the Institute for International and European Affairs. Mark has appeared as a guest on media channels such as CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and CBS News.

• In this book, the author explains why other selling methods such as cold outreach and inbound are failing to get us the results in an increasingly noisy and disconnected world. This is why the community has become critically important for creating a social continuum that draws in people with similar and relevant interests to engage. Engagement is the cornerstone of being able to exchange ideas that ultimately lead to sustained interest in products and services.
• Many organizations mistake an audience for a community. Social media creates an audience. The difference is, that it is mostly a one-way communication of ideas. A community is different in the sense that every participant communicates ideas. New tools and platforms such as Discord provide the ability to create communities that encourage engagement from all participants. The three distinguishing features of a community are Connection, Purpose, and Relevance.
• Most communities fail because there is a mismatch between company culture and the needs of the customer community. The book details five aspects of company culture that make a community flourish. The book has interviews and case studies and builds a community framework to help organizations go about creating their community.

Run time – 47.07 mins.