I was having a conversation with a friend who owns a tea shop. As we chatted, we made a very important distinction.

 

In typical business understanding, marketing is something that is added in after you have your product. In his case, it meant he thought he should use marketing to find people to buy his teas.

 

But to really succeed in the Connection Economy, smart business owners need to stop viewing themselves as selling tea, sports drinks, consulting services, or event space.

 

They instead need to see themselves as leading a community. The guy who sells sports drinks realizes that his primary job is to excite hardcore workout fiends with new tools for getting the most out of their workout. The consultant realizes that her main job is to educate mid-sized business owners on how to implement performance management systems. The man with the beautiful venue realizes that his role is to give premium companies a sense of exclusive access to the best places for sharing ideas.

 

For my friend, he doesn’t just sell tea to anyone who will buy it. He leads a community of people who want to live better lives and be more knowledgable about tea. When you realize that you’re not just peddling a product, marketing takes on a very different meaning. It is not simply a means to find more people to buy your products – it’s a way to build trust with your Ideal Audience. It is a way to develop new products that your Audience is already asking for. It is a way to connect your Audience to each other in ways they didn’t realize were possible.

 

As a business owner, your primary identity should be that of a leader of a community. Marketing is not just a way to find people to buy your stuff; it’s a way to connect with your community.

 

So, what do you do?