You want to develop a cult-like following?

It's like convincing people that pineapple on pizza is the only way to go. It's controversial, but once they're in, they're devotees.

Develop Cult-Like Following

• Why Read:

  • This article provides a compelling framework for founders to build a cult-like brand that fosters deep user engagement and loyalty.

• Featuring:

  • Michael Houck (@callmehouck), Founder at Megaphone and Houck’s Newsletter

• Link:

  • “Would your employee get your logo tattooed on them?”

Key Concepts and Tactics:

• The Strongest Brands Have Cult-Like Following:

  • “The strongest brands look like cults from the outside. Your customers do your marketing for you and never leave for competitors.”

  • “It starts with the founder, trickles down to the employees and then eventually to customers.”

  • “Think about the brands you love the most. Why do you love them? Most likely it’s some combination of the following 6 things:”

• Fostering a Sense of Belonging:

  • Point: Create opportunities for users to feel part of something special and connect with each other.

  • "Make your users feel like they're part of something special. Belonging is a core human need that most brands don't think to nurture. ... Give your users opportunities to connect with one another and, most importantly, make yourself extremely accessible to them in the early days. Blur the line between customer and friend, as much as you're comfortable doing so."

• Building Brand Mythology:

  • Point: Develop and share compelling stories about your startup's origins and impact.

  • "Societies have always been tied together by stories. ... Sharing the stories behind a startup in an engaging way builds similar cultural bonds. ... Often these are about the backstory of the founder, how the company was founded, or experiences of specific users or team members that reinforce the values of the startup."

• Establishing Rituals and Shared Behaviors:

  • Point: Create unique experiences and behaviors that build trust and devotion among your community.

  • "Shared experiences and behaviors build trust among people. ... To do this effectively look for rituals that resonate with your early team members naturally or, ideally, emerge entirely organically. You shouldn't have to sell them on any of this. It should be natural and you should lead by example."

• Aligning with a Purpose:

  • Point: Connect your brand to a meaningful cause or create a new one that resonates with your target audience.

  • "Regardless of whether they already have it in their lives or not, many people crave a deeper purpose. ... Can you identify something that many people feel deeply but don't have a brand associated with it already? Then, can you come up with unique designs, slogans, and other branding elements to stand out?"

• Promising Transformation:

  • Point: Demonstrate how your product can help users achieve a better version of themselves.

  • "We all want a better life. Startups reach cult-like status when they promise a type of better life that resonates with people deeply. It has to matter to them. It has to be tapping into something they want on a deep, deep level. You have to be able to convince people that, by using your product, they will transform into an otherwise unachievable and materially better version of themselves."

• Creating a Shared Identity:

  • Point: Develop a brand that signals something unique about its users, fostering a sense of exclusivity and community.

  • "If associating with your brand communicates or signals something to others, people who do associate with it will feel like they're part of the "in crowd" or in some secret club that only they understand fully."

Craft as a Strategic Advantage

Why Read:

• This article provides a compelling argument for why founders should relentlessly focus on craft and beauty in product design, as it can directly drive improved usability, engagement, and business outcomes

Featuring:

• Karri Saarinen (@karrisaarinen), Co-Founder, CEO at Linear, Yuhki Yamashita (@yuhkiyam) , Chief Product Officer at Figma, Katie Dill (@lil_dill), Head of Design at Stripe

• Link:

  • “Craft and beauty: The ROI of marrying form and function“

Key Concepts and Tactics:

• The ROI of Craft and Beauty in Product Design:

  • Point: Investing in craft and beauty in product design can directly contribute to improved usability, engagement, and conversion.

  • "When something is more attractive, compelling, and clear, people tend to gravitate towards it, understand it better, and have greater success with it."

  • "We saw this firsthand with our email redesign. This attention to craft and beauty increased product conversion from that email series by 20%. The improved language and aesthetics increased the usability of the email."

• Defining Craft vs. Beauty:

  • Point: Craft refers to the mindset and quality of execution, while beauty is the output and user experience.

  • "I like to separate the concepts of craft and beauty. I think the craft is more the mindset and the quality or beauty is the output. The mindset is how you approach what you're doing. Do you care about the quality of the output or not?"

  • "Beauty is one of the things you experience, but it's also quality. For example, in a house, you'd ask: Does the window open well? Is it quiet? I like to talk more about quality than beauty on its own."

• Establishing a Culture of Craft:

  • Point: Craft must be a cultural priority, not just a metric, driven by teams who inherently care about quality.

  • "If you need an OKR to convince someone to care about quality, you probably have the wrong team. You want to find people who just care inherently."

  • "The multidimensional character of building for craft and beauty means that it's not just one team's job to get it right; the whole company contributes. It's a cultural thing."

• Measuring and Demonstrating the Impact of Craft:

  • Point: Quantifying the impact of craft is challenging, but focusing on user love and rave reviews can validate its importance.

  • "How you measure quality or a great experience is an existential problem in itself. Despite it being fuzzy, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't goal on it. We have to accept that this kind of measurement can be more approximate."

  • "If people are not raving about your product, then you probably don't have a good product. Great products create fans and champions, and those people will talk about it. Product quality is the ultimate moat for a business."

• Craft as a Strategic Advantage:

  • Point: Investing in craft and beauty can differentiate a product in a crowded market and drive business growth.

  • "The quality and details become the differentiation...We're eager to prioritize craft and beauty not simply because we think the world is better when it's more beautiful, but also because quality is important for growth."

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