How Much is Enough?
What you are about to read is counter-intuitive.
You may even fight the idea all the way.
But if you get it, and I know you will, the rewards will follow.
Kevin Kelly wrote a landmark essay way back in 2008, 1,000 True Fans.
He said that to be successful, you don’t need millions, you only need thousands.
This idea has been responsible for thousands of successful businesses and artists worldwide.
We’ve built Cricket Fanatics Magazine based on this idea.
It enabled us to become a well-known respected brand in the South African cricket space.
Before you think that 1,000 is not enough (even though he shows the maths behind it), you need to realise that 1,000 is not an absolute number. It’s a concept.
Seth Godin, in his book, “This is Marketing”, expressed the concept best.
He said that, in the beginning, focus on the Smallest Viable Audience.
Then focus on delighting them.
When you do this, two things will happen:
1. You will find that the group is bigger than you first thought
2. They will tell others
It’s a stepping stone, not a compromise.
It’s how you grow effectively and affordably.
Even Facebook started like this.
It started with friends in a dorm room for Harvard students only, before spreading to other campuses and finally, the world.
Despite its humble origins, Facebook rapidly evolved into a global phenomenon, transcending campuses to become the world’s largest social media platform, reshaping communication and social interaction worldwide with three billion monthly users.
How we applied this
We focused on a cricket audience.
This includes players, officials, coaches, umpires and, of course, fans who watch the game.
This group of people is big enough to sustain all the cricket-related businesses in South Africa.
We will never be able to reach all of them. And that’s okay.
But we can reach enough of them to make us thrive.
We just need to focus on delighting them, starting with engaging content.
This is what we did.
We focused on creating relevant content to inform, educate and entertain a cricket audience.
We published daily on multiple platforms.
We created a Digital Magazine delivered directly to subscriber inboxes.
We covered and analysed games.
We gave our opinions and insights on current factors influencing South African cricket.
And we gave the fans a platform to engage with us and each other.
In short, we focused purely on delighting our audience as Seth Godin suggests.
Today we are a well-known and influential brand in the South African cricket space, even though we are still small.
What’s Next?
It’s time to pause and think.
How many people do you need for your business to thrive?
How many can you serve based on your current size?
How many customers or clients do you currently have?
Is there a gap between the number of customers you have and your full capacity to serve?
Current Customers –> Gap –> Full Capacity
The gap represents your growth potential.
What would it be worth in Rands, if you were to close the gap?
You now have something to aim for.
It’s time to get some people who need what you have to sell.