Getting retail buyers to join your online community is a hard sell.
They’re pushed for time, they’re hard to reach and they don’t especially want to talk to each other. Worse, you could be competing against every other company they buy from.
This isn’t to say that a community for retail buyers is a bad idea. I’m sure it isn’t. It’s to say that a community solely about your brand for retail buyers is a bad idea.
What can you do? You can be a bit player in a larger online community. Think carefully, if you were a retail buyer what would a dream online community look like?
You can create a community for retail buyers, at your own expense.You can create a community, that isn’t about you, but would give you permission to speak to every retail buyer you want to reach. Imagine hundreds of retail buyers are in a community you control.
It’s still a hard sell, but it’s a far more realistic sell.
