Start a community, then find brands to pay you. Jeremiah Owyang thinks this is the future of PR Agencies. It’s really the future for community professionals.
It’s easier to build your own community than one for a client. Clients need objectives, restrictions and expectations. If the client doesn’t feel it’s working, the community project gets canned. Working solo, you can focus your entire efforts on making your community fantastic.
Follow in Martin’s footsteps and begin creating your own communities. Become a serial community builder. Refine your process for building communities. Fail quickly, succeed steadily. Pick profitable markets and monetize your communities.
Charge brands for access. Better, charge for tailor-made products, books/ebooks, group discounts, events, premium memberships and any more services or products your community would find useful. It’s far easier to find products for your audience, than an audience for your products (h/t Seth).
Treat your community like it’s your country, make it as great as it can be and remember any member can walk away at any time.
If you can refine your process for building online communities, and build 4 successful communities a year, you will become Jeremiah’s next generation agency.