Let’s get nuts…
You know…
Cults get a bad rap. And for good reason. All kinds of folks have had their lives destroyed by these horrible groups. That being said…
…there is one thing they have collectively been very good at over the years. What is it?
Building a following of loyal, trusting people. Now…cults aren’t really known for using that trust and rapport for anything good…
…but think about it for a second. What if YOU could use some of those tactics and skills to build your own audience? Your own following of loyal and trusting followers…
…ready to read the things you have to write, hear the things you have to say, and ultimately buy the things you want to sell. Ideally, stuff that won’t hurt them…
…but instead help them. Help them accomplish their goals. Achieve success in whatever they are trying to achieve success in.
Over the course of the next 13 articles, I want to deliver some lessons to you. Some micro-lessons. I have 44 of them to be exact. That’s right, you heard me correctly.
44 micro-lessons, delivered directly to your inbox over the next 13 articles. All about building trust, loyalty, and rapport with people, so that you can build a following of people who are highly engaged…
…ready to listen, and eager to buy from you.
So if that sounds good, then be sure to read these articles, print them out if you need to…
…because we are going down the alley of pure unadulterated VALUE! And this train has already left the station. We are rolling. So get ready because this is all getting started now.
And before I close this one out, I should probably give a quick definition for what I mean when I say “micro-lesson.”
An official definition:
Micro-Lesson (noun) – a written context, refers to a brief, focused piece of instructional content designed to be delivered in a short timeframe
These micro-lessons will be quick bursts of instructional content…
…that you can take action on immediately.
Keep in mind that each of these “micro-lessons” can and should be expounded on by you. Do not hesitate to dig a little deeper into the subjects I’m speaking on.
It’s a little like chess.
I can show you how to play chess pretty quickly, but there’s levels to the game. You can gain a far deeper level of understanding on EACH lesson than what I’ll be offering here.
But this is meant to be a start. And it’s meant to be actionable.
Set 1 of 11…
Okay, I want to give you 44 micro-lessons on how to build a cult-like following. But to do it you need to understand this core truth…
To build loyalty, rapport, and trust with your list, audience, tribe, etc. To turn them into a cult-like following…
…I believe it breaks down into 4 main categories. They are as follows:
One) Proximity – How often you are staying in contact with your following (whether that’s an email list, a podcast listenership, subscribers on a YouTube channel, etc.)
Two) Story – How to write stories that entertain, educate, and captivate your following.
Three) Engagement – How to get people to be very interested in what you are saying, to the point where they want to reply back to you, and seek out your messages because they find them interesting.
Four) Impact – How to get people to seek out your messages because they impact them in a helpful and meaningful way.
I’m going to deliver 11 sets of micro-lessons to you on this subject of cult-like audience building. Each set will contain 4 micro-lessons, one from each of the four categories I’ve just told you about (Proximity, Story, Engagement, Impact.)
With that being said, let’s get into our first set of micro-lessons:
Micro-Lesson Set 1 on Building a Cult-Like Following:
Proximity) Streaks – One very simple way to maintain good proximity with your following is to start a streak. Gamify it.
Streaks tap into our need to achieve goals and the fear of loss and disappointment when we break the streak.
Story) Picture of My Current Moment – With this one as you are putting together your message, whether recording or writing, take a look around you. What do you see in your immediate environment? What is happening at this moment in your life, outside of creating this message?
Starting your message out by talking about this and then circling around to what you want to say is a great way to position yourself as a real person, and it’s also a great way to automatically have something to start the conversation with.
Engagement) Feedback Questions – Feedback questions are a pretty straightforward way to get engagement with your following. Just ask them what they think of something you are working on, or something that you want to work on.
There will always be a percentage of people ready to give their opinion on something.
Impact) Core Messaging – If you want to be impactful with people, it starts with a core philosophy for how you believe. You need to figure out what that “core messaging” is. Is it 3 pillars of importance? Is it 5 Laws to Critical Success?
You need to figure out what they are first and foremost, because that is what will be the point of everything. The glue that holds the following together. Christians have the Bible. Muslims have the Quran. And you? You need your core messaging too, if you want to keep your following loyal.
Okay, so that is 1 of 11 sets of micro-lessons on the subject of building a cult-like following.
Set 2 of 11…
You know when I started putting this list of micro-lessons on building a cult-like following together, I initially thought I would just teach a few lessons, and run down the list and that would be that.
However, once I started thinking about how these lessons really fit into categories, and how powerful each of the four categories were…well that changed everything.
Proximity, Story, Engagement, and Impact. These are the four components of building a cult-like following for your online business. Master them, and you will win.
And with that understanding, I realized it was best to teach these in sets of 4, with each category getting its own spotlight.
But that being said, let’s get into our next set of micro-lessons…
Micro-Lesson Set 2 of 11 on Building a Cult-Like Following:
Proximity) Production Blocks – Publishing daily messages or if not daily then extremely regular, can be challenging. You always have to have something new to say. You feel like you never get a break.
A simple way to combat this is to create content in production blocks. Think about it. Let’s say you have one day a week dedicated to content and you do 7 pieces of content on that day. Now all the content for your week is done. 6 days to focus on something else.
And you can get ahead as you need to by utilizing content blocks.
Story) The weather – A simple way to start a message to your following is by talking about the weather. Everyone is experiencing some kind of weather, and everyone has an opinion about it. So there is relation there.
As I write this to you, it’s about 12:39 PM on a Monday and it’s a comfortable 70 degrees outside. Very little wind and the sun is shining. I’m telling you if this weather were a business it would be a smooth operation!
Relation and emotion easily transition to any subject you want to talk about.
Engagement) Rhetorical Questions – Asking a question to make a point and NOT to get an answer is a funny thing. Oftentimes when you do it, people want to answer you anyway. It’s their way of weighing in on the topic, regardless of whether or not the question was rhetorical or not.
Example: Email lists are awesome and extremely useful. So I don’t understand these people who don’t build lists for their businesses. I ask you…who the heck wouldn’t want to build an email list?
Impact) Repetition – It is a scientific fact that with repeated consumption of a message comes a deeper level of understanding. Just think about the Bible. Every Sunday Christians go to church. What do they talk about? The same book they always talk about. From Genesis to Revelations, they just go through the same book over and over again. And it works.
SO if you take your core messaging and you stick to it…repeating that messaging over and over in multiple stories, ways, etc. It will grow more and more impactful as you go. The trick is to not be boring.
Set 3 of 11…
Today we’re continuing our journey through micro-lessons on building a cult-like following. Speaking of cult-like followings though…
…I’ve often wondered what the difference between a cult and a religion is. I can ask AI and it will spit an answer out for me that looks a little something like:
The key difference between a cult and a religion lies in their level of openness, their structure, and their impact on members’ lives. Religions are generally more open, have established structures and hierarchies, and often integrate with broader society, while cults tend to be secretive, have authoritarian leaders, and often isolate members.
That puts a fine point on it, but I’m not sure if it’s a zero sum game to be honest. Sometimes cults aren’t even religious in nature, and I’m not even convinced if ALL cults are bad.
I mean heck, just look at politics. SOme people are fanatical about politics. Or sports fans. I’m telling you some of these NFL football fans are downright fanatical. You could argue they belong to a cult.
But mostly harmless. A way to pass one’s free time.
Probably just the ones that actually hurt people get identified as a cult. So in that way, cults might get a bad rap that they DON’T always deserve. I don’t know. It’s open to debate I suppose. But either way…
…the power is in how you gain someone’s loyalty like that. I mean, I gave the example of NFL football. Do you realize how many people buy season tickets to see their favorite NFL team play every single year?
And these season tickets aren’t cheap. I’m talking hundreds if not thousands of dollars. But how do you build that kind of devotion?
That’s the power we are talking about in these articles. So let’s get back into our micro-lessons…
Micro-Lesson Set 3 of 11 on Building a Cult-Like Following:
Proximity) Omnipresence – What do I mean by Omnipresence? I mean being in multiple places where your following would happen to exist. You aren’t just in the email inbox with your core messaging…
…but if they are on Facebook, you have a presence on Facebook. If they are on Instagram, you have a presence on Instagram. Substack, X, LinkedIn…you guessed it, if you know your following spends a lot of time at a place, you want to have a presence there.
This kind of “omnipresence” is the state of appearing widespread or being constantly encountered. And it taps deeply into proximity.
Story) Whatcha Listenin’ To? – When you are trying to start a message to your following and you are stumped about what to talk about, sometimes a great way to open up is by talking about what you’re listening to, as far as music.
You can even center the lesson of your message around something related to the song you are listening to.
Engagement) Plain Question – Want to get people replying back to you? Ask them a straight-forward question about something you are curious about. Something you genuinely don’t have an answer to.
Example: Anyone out there know how to properly use “ellipses?” I mean, it’s something that has always confused me personally, but I know I use them and abuse them (probably wrongly all the time, lol)
People are always interested in talking about something they know about and displaying their intelligence. It plays to the vanity that exists in all of us.
Impact) Angles – I’m talking about marketing angles here. When you are speaking on something you want to promote, or any subject in general…
…approaching it from multiple angles is an extremely effective way to be impactful. It keeps things from being boring, and helps people gain a deeper level of understanding surrounding the subject matter.
Example: One message might be a straight-forward email about features and benefits of the product you are promoting, while the next might focus on the bonuses you are offering, and a third might tell a cautionary tale about someone who couldn’t take advantage of the benefit that the product you are promoting provides.
Set 4 of 11…
Cults are a funny thing. I was speaking about NFL football in our last article and how the fans are downright fanatical at times. But it’s more or less harmless.
Another “sneaky cult” is this company called Mary Kay. It’s a direct-selling cosmetics company that’s been around since 1963. But the thing about it is, they have really strong core messaging.
The best way for me to explain this one is a little example. Here is a message I found on Reddit concerning this very subject:
MK almost got me before I knew what MLMs really were.
There was a weekly meeting that costs $5. That and the fact they said you had to wear closed-toe shoes and a skirt to the meetings made me realize something was not right.
Then my uplines upline tried to get me to buy like $6k worth of product and that’s when I was like nope, I’m out.
You’ll find lots of messages like this regarding Mary Kay, but for every negative message you’ll also find ardent defenders of the company. It’s a multi-level marketing company that’s been around for 60 years…
…it’s very cult-like. And a great example of a company that has built an extremely loyal following.
Let’s look at four more micro-lessons that you can use to build your own cult-like following, though…
Micro-Lesson Set 4 of 11 on Building a Cult-Like Following:
Proximity) Love of the Game – One of the best ways to maintain proximity with your following is to find something about what you are doing that you actually love, and could talk about every single day. We all have subjects like that, and it’s good if you can be in a niche where that’s easy for you.
Even if you aren’t in that kind of niche though, you should still seek to find specific things within your niche that you really enjoy, and love to either talk about or deal with everyday.
That passion and interest can sustain your attention as you maintain your proximity.
Example: I know a person who is in the Art Card niche. They don’t really have a passion for collectible cards, but a sub-niche in that space is pet lovers who collect art cards of pets.
So that is something they resonate with. They found their love of the game.
Story) Content Lesson Conveyance – A simple way to approach storytelling is something I call Content Lesson Conveyance. What I mean by this is that you take any piece of content you consumed, whether it be a movie, a television show, a podcast, or a book…it could be anything…and you pull some kind of lesson out of it that would apply to your target market.
It could be from a scene in a movie, or the plot of the whole movie itself. It could be anything surrounding this piece of content. You convey what you saw, and you pull a lesson or takeaway out of it for your followers.
This is an entertaining way to talk about what you want to talk about, because it keeps it fresh and comes from an outside the box angle.
Engagement) Multiple Choice Questions – Getting people to respond to your emails or messages, can be challenging sometimes because to put it simply, people can be lazy.
They don’t always feel like typing out a detailed response to your question. Sometimes getting the engagement that you are looking for is as simple as giving them the answers to the question and just telling them to pick one.
Impact) Unpredictability – One very overlooked way of creating impact with your following is by being unpredictable. For example, you might send emails out daily, but sometimes you send in the morning, sometimes it’s in the evening, and sometimes it’s midday. They won’t know.
Sometimes you send a long-form message, sometimes it’s mid-form, and sometimes it’s a very short message. Sometimes you tell a long story, sometimes you get very descriptive and sometimes you are very straight-forward.
This kind of unpredictability keeps people guessing. They’ll never know what they are going to get with you. It keeps it interesting and heightens curiosity. Now keep in mind, core messaging should remain intact.
Set 5 of 11…
So we’ve been talking about cult-like followings over these last few articles and I want to keep that going today. Just think about this, and I’m not trying to be negative here, but consider…
…there are an estimated 10,000 extreme cults in the United States alone. That’s a whole lot of people just latching on to something, looking for something to believe in, something to belong to, something to be a part of.
Dan Kennedy once said, “Most people are walking around with their umbilical cords in their hands, looking for someplace to plug it in.”
And I think he was more or less right. We want to belong to something. We want to fit in. We want to be seen positively in the eyes of our peers.
So in that sense, a lot of the work is done for you when it comes to building these cult-like followings. And with that let’s jump into four more micro-lessons…
Micro-Lesson Set 5 of 11 on Building a Cult-Like Following:
Proximity) Schedule – Working on a schedule will allow you to start viewing your messaging like a job. When you treat something like a job, you are going to get results like a job. Working on a schedule builds a routine and a routine builds a habit. Strong habits are powerful.
Story) Behind The Scenes – A simple way to create value in the eyes of your followers is to take them behind the scenes with something you are doing in your business or life.
It’s like the Wizard of Oz. Everybody wants to see the man behind the curtain. It could be anything. Just a glimpse of your daily process. You would be surprised at what people learn from and how they gain insight.
Often it’s not what you would think. It’s not always the obvious way.
Engagement) The Checkout What I Just Bought – One of my highest open rates of all time perineally comes from the subject line “Check Out What I Just Bought…”
It’s a window into what is going on for me, personally. It’s almost like gossip. Curiosity driven subject line, but also a major insight into what I think is actually helpful.
Another interesting thing about this subject line is that it frequently has people replying back to me about their opinions on what I bought. Sometimes they bought the same thing.
Sometimes they want to tell me what they thought of it. Sometimes they have a question for me about it.
Impact) Opinions – If you want to create impact with your followers, you have to have opinions. And that can be scary. But it is a fact. People follow opinions, they don’t follow neutral information. Now…there are a few exceptions to this, but not many. One would be the “conspiracy theory” niche. People have built amazing followings in that niche by presenting the information and remaining neutral about what they believe, respecting the audience’s beliefs. But for most niches, opinions matter.
And the best opinions are non-consensus opinions. That doesn’t mean to always try to go against the grain, but it CAN mean to make it a point to talk about subjects you have non-consensus opinions about.
Set 6 of 11…
All killer, no filler.
That was the title of an album by Sum 41. They were a Canadian rock band from the 90s…pretty cool record…but also that’s a great way to begin this next set of micro lessons.
I once knew a guy who rejected all religions. He told me that music was his religion. And I believed him too. This guy loved music. Rock music. Some of these bands have developed cult-like followings over the years too.
The Grateful Dead…they have the “Deadheads.”
Insane Clown Posse…they have the “Juggalos.”
Taylor Swift…she has her “Swifties.”
And the list goes on. But these fans are die hard, I’m telling you, following their favorite band or artist around for multiple shows on a tour, buying every record, and a ton of merchandise, writing the artists.
These musical artists have found a way to cultivate cult-followings that are extremely loyal to them. Could you not do the same thing?
Let’s get into 4 more micro-lessons…
Micro-Lesson Set 6 of 11 on Building a Cult-Like Following:
Proximity) Themed Serials – When you are writing or creating your messages, if you theme them out, it not only keeps people engaged in them because they want to finish the whole thing…it also does the same thing to you as a creator.
Example: Writing an email every day is one thing. Writing a 5 part email series on a subject and sending one email out a day is something else entirely.
You stand a way greater chance of giving up if it’s just an every day email with no end in sight. However operating in themed runs (like comic book story arcs) it’s far easier to maintain proximity with your following.
They do this in Churches all the time. They will spend weeks moving through a single part of the Bible. Serializing content keeps you moving forward.
Story) Beginning Middle End – If you are having trouble coming up with stories consistently, consider the fact that a story can be broken down into 3 simple parts. A beginning, a middle, and an end.
Those parts can be arranged in any order you like. Just look at a movie like Pulp Fiction, that starts really close to the end of the story, and then walks its way back.
A story can be told in one sentence. As long as it has a beginning, a middle and an end.
For example: The USA fought the British and won their independence in the Revolutionary War. That one simple sentence has all three components of a story.
You can take a simple one sentence story and expand upon it however much or little, as you like.
Engagement) The Rant – I’ll tell you this plainly. Nobody ever gets sick of a good rant. I mean sure people say they get sick of hearing people complain, but they always show up to see what all the fuss is about. The main thing here is to not ABUSE it.
The fact of the matter is, just because they show up, doesn’t mean they won’t start forming negative opinions about you if you start positioning yourself as a “constant whiner.” You don’t want that. Just break this one out here and there to grab attention and engagement.
Impact) Leave Out The How – If you want to create impact with your promotions, leave out “the how.” Give exposition, give background, give examples, give broad overviews…
…but the details? Step by step, one…two…three? Leave that for the product you are selling. This is going to build curiosity to a fever pitch and have them begging to buy it!
Example: I’ve got this widget that will make you $300 a day. The way it works is you basically utilize a certain free website that not a lot of people know about yet…
You’ll see people “leaving out the how” to great success all over the place if you know what to look for.
Set 7 of 11…
Micro-Lesson Set 7 of 11 on Building a Cult-Like Following:
Proximity) Cliffhangers and Open Loops – In my opinion, one of the greatest television shows of all time was LOST, largely for its use of open loops in every episode.
In each episode it would relentlessly ask a few questions, and answer a few questions. But it was always asking more than it was answering. So the mysteries kept building up in that series.
It strung you along in a maddening way. But this idea of cliffhangers and open loops is powerful. As powerful as it is for your following to consume content like this…
…it is also powerful for you as a creator because you are getting more bang for your buck. More messages out of each individual idea.
Example: I could write an email about 5 ways to build an email list. Or I could get 5 emails out of it by covering one way in each email, and teasing the next…
This can be very motivational for you to keep producing messages to maintain proximity. It can help build large production blocks of content for you.
Story) Cautionary Tale – This is one of the most powerful tools you can break out in the world of promotional storytelling. Fear is a greater motivator than gain. That is just scientifically proven.
So when you start speaking in cautionary tales about how THIS person failed to do a certain thing and something TERRIBLE happened to them, it really grabs peoples attention.
It’s the kind of thing where if you do it right, you really don’t even have to “sell” the product. It will kind of sell itself.
EXAMPLE: If I’m selling life jackets, I don’t need to talk about the features and benefits of my life jacket…I just need to tell stories about people drowning while on vacation because they weren’t wearing one.
Engagement) Polarizing Topics – Another extremely easy way to get engagement with your messages is by speaking about something polarizing. Something that most people have a strong opinion about.
With this one, you have to remember it’s polarizing. If you have a strong opinion, you might have some detractors, who feel differently than you. Either be okay with that, or talk about the subject from a neutral stance.
Most recently, it was very easy to experience this by talking about Trump.
Everytime you mentioned this guy in an email, you’d have people coming out of the woodwork to either agree with you or to curse your very existence.
It was like the easiest engagement hack known to man. But you always should be on the lookout for polarizing topics like that to kind of “hi-jack” and use for your own gain.
Not all of them will be a good fit for you, but if you can make it work, it’s a great way to get attention and engagement.
Impact) The Fictional Story – The fictional story can be a great way to create impact because it’s unexpected and you can move it in any direction you like.
For example: Now you know I make my living teaching people how to write emails that make money. It’s what I do. However, today I want to tell you a story.
It’s about a guy who could not…under no uncertain terms…make his emails profitable. He tried everything. He tried…
Now above, in that example, I’m telling a story. It;s not a true story. I’m making it up. ANd I always let people in on the joke too. I never pretend like I’m telling a “true story.” But I usually save that reveal for at the end.
The thing about it is, by the time I tell them the story isn’t a true story, it’s just an example of something…the impact has already been created. The attention has already been won.
ANd with that…we come to the end of another day of micro-lessons on building a cult-like following. I hope you’re starting to put your plans together for cult guru status…
…or at the very least getting ready to have an extremely loyal following.
Remember none of these micro-lessons matter if you don’t take action on them. If you make this entertainment only…then that is what it will be. If you make it actionable, then it will change your life.
Set 8 of 11…
When I speak to Google’s trusty AI Overview (said sarcastically) about whether or not the Disney Fanbase is a cult, I get the following snarky little reply:
While Disney is a massive and influential company, suggesting it’s a cult is an exaggeration. The term “cult” typically refers to a group with extreme, often harmful, beliefs and behaviors, which doesn’t accurately describe Disney. Disney is a large entertainment company with a wide audience, and while many people are passionate fans, their enthusiasm doesn’t equate to cult-like behavior.
However, I think all us real humans know and understand that the “cult of Disney” was alive and well up until a few years ago when they decided to go “ultra-woke” and start taking such an interest in activism and politics.
But up until that point? They had people buying every release, showing every movie to their kids, collecting them all, wallpaper, clothes, amusement parks…
…a massive empire with a whole lot of loyal subjects…until like I said…they wrecked it.
I’m still not sure why that even happened. But if you want to know how to build a cult-like following, you could learn quite a bit from the “House of Mouse.”
Moving away from Disney a bit though, let us talk about today’s set of micro-lessons…
Micro-Lesson Set 8 of 11 on Building a Cult-Like Following:
Proximity) One Interesting Thing A Day Method – You can go over to the AI LLM of your choice and ask it to tell you one interesting thing about whatever niche you like.
You can then proceed to talk about that one thing as a foundation for your message. This is a really easy way to put out a new piece of content that matters every single day, and to talk about something different than you might have thought of on your own.
LLMs like Chat GPT are going to surprise you, and if you don’t like the interesting thing it says, just ask it to give you another one.
Story) Bridge the Gap – When you are looking to tell a story that can really move the needle as far as sales…
…one way to do it is to “bridge the gap.” What do I mean by that? I’ll tell you. Basically you tell the story of where people are right now in their journey. Describe the pain they are experiencing, and demonstrate how well you understand it and know them.
Then describe the place they want to be. That place generally runs right through the benefit that whatever you are selling provides.
That’s bridging the gap. COnnecting the dots from where they are now to where they want to be is a really good way to show them you understand them, and will prove the point of why the product you are promoting matters.
Engagement) The Tea – When I say “Tea” I’m talking about gossip and secrets. Nothing get’s people more ready to reply back to you than gossip. Nothing gets them opening your messages more than the promise of hidden information.
Example: A very well known guru in the industry just told me something 2 days ago, that I absolutely have to share with you. Very few know about this, that I am aware of…
Just don’t lie. The gossip and secrets need to be real. Also don’t forget the power of speculation. You can speculate on anything you like, and that can be very interesting as well.
Impact) One of One – Finding ways to differentiate is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to creating impact. One of the easiest and most powerful ways to differentiate?
It’s something you have been taught since kindergarten. Just be yourself.
It’s hard to do. People have all these preconceived notions about how they should be acting, how they should be writing, how they should be talking, what they should be talking about…
…most of it is garbage. If you can filter every single thing that you want to say in your messages through this lens of “being yourself” then you are going to move the needle so much on the scale of originality. And you’ll barely be trying.
Set 9 of 11…
I want to take a moment in this series of articles to talk about the dark side of cults. I know that I’ve been pretty tongue and cheek when it has come to the subject over this series but…
…while it’s true what I’m saying about some groups and businesses having cult-like followings…
…it’s also true that we don’t identify a group as an actual CULT unless some pretty gnarly stuff has happened. And as I was doing research for this email series…
…I found myself staring at a photojournalists aerial photograph of a landscape of brightly clothed lifeless bodies…
It was Nov. 18, 1978 and more than 900 men, women and children died.
Of course I’m describing one of the most infamous cult mass suicides of all time, The Jim Jones led “Peoples Temple” cult.
The photograph is horrific. It’s one of those images that you wish you would have never seen, and you’ll probably never forget.
So before I move on to our next set of micro-lessons on building a cult-like following, just remember, you aren’t using these tactics to build a cult…
…only to build a loyal following. There is a big difference. That being said, let’s get into it…
Micro-Lesson Set 9 of 11 on Building a Cult-Like Following:
Proximity) One True Thing a Day Method – Yes, creating daily content can be challenging. An easy way to destroy writer’s block is to take a page out of Ernest Hemingway’s Moveable Feast.
Hemingway wrote the following when dealing with writer’s block:
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
So when it comes to a daily piece of content, the best place you could probably hope to start is to just focus on coming up with one true thing each day as it relates to your niche, and talk about that.
Story) Build Around Quotes – I’ll tell you an easy story that comes together quickly. Find an interesting quote from history or a famous person that is fairly well known, and build your story around that quote.
Take that Hemingway quote I mentioned about “one true sentence.” If I wanted to write about content block, or the challenges of not being able to come up with ideas, that would be an excellent quote to build around.
This is a cool way to come up with a story, because you are taking something that already exists and you are adding your two cents to it, essentially.
Engagement) Parrot Questions – A nice way to spark engagement is by mentioning a well known person, and a question they were asked and how they answered it.
Then you segue that into asking your following what THEY think, and how they might answer that same question. This is cool because first you grab attention by talking about a well known figure…
…and second, you are asking them what they think. So they get to be involved and show off their opinion. It’s great for engagement.
Impact) Raw Honesty – A very effective way to create impact with your following is with RAW honesty. I’m talking blunt and in your face type honesty. It’s so impactful because hardly no one does it, making it stand out.
I’ll never forget the time I bought a ticket to attend a live virtual workshop, and I reached out to ask the vendor when the workshop was scheduled for, to which he replied:
“I don’t know, because you are the only one who bought it.”
He went on to say:
“So I can give you a refund on it, I can move you over to one of my other workshops, or we can do a 1 on 1 live call.”
That level of honesty is pretty rare in the internet marketing space, and to be honest with you it stunned me. I’ll never forget it.
I immediately asked to be moved over to one of his other live workshops. Why did I do it?
A new level of respect. I didn’t want a refund because I had too much respect for this vendor now and I didn’t want to put him out with a 1 on 1 call that I knew was much more valuable.
So sometimes RAW honesty can be very impactful. You think it’s going to destroy your credibility, or in some cases make you look like a mean person, but people respect honesty. Even if they don’t like what you have to say.
The world is way too sugar coated sometimes.
Set 10 of 11…
So far I have given you 9 sets of micro-lessons on building a cult-like following. That’s 36 lessons so far…
…but we aren’t done yet.
I have a few more articles for you on this subject. SO today, let’s jump right back in where we left off with set 10 of 11…
Micro-Lesson Set 10 of 11 on Building a Cult-Like Following:
Proximity) Field Trips and Mixed Media – Several lessons ago I spoke to you about “omnipresence.” If you are taking action on that lesson, then you’ll have content in multiple places, and it will probably be in multiple forms.
That means video, audio, written…
A great way to maintain proximity with your following is to send them on regular field trips to your other forms of content.
This is going to help reinforce your “omnipresence” and it’s also going to be something different and interesting for people who are used to receiving your messages in only one way.
Story) Replies, Posts, and Comments – When someone replies back to an email that you wrote, 9 times out of 10 you can turn that reply into the foundation for another email.
Example: If they say “awesome email” in their reply, you show that as an example of how well your email marketing does with people. It’s a dramatic demonstration.
If they say they hate you because you send too many emails. You don’t bother replying to them. INstead you use their reply as a foundation for another email, in which you talk about why you send a lot of emails and how your list is for the people who resonate with you…not this guy.
Every reply can be a foundation for content. And this rule extends to comments and posts on social media. It’s all something to talk about. Use everything.
I would say, my only rule on this is don’t name drop people. I like to respect people’s privacy, even if I mock them.
Engagement) Failure Content – Another great way to get people engaging with your content is by speaking about failures. Talk about something you really messed up.
Personally, I believe the more recent the failure, the better. Why? Because it doesn’t sound like you are “guru on the mountain” talking about how you USED to mess up but now you don’t anymore.
Many people believe this destroys their authority so they steer clear of talking about their failures. I don’t agree. I believe that it’s hard to win unless you can see the whole picture, and I believe if I am transparent with my market, they will trust me more.
Impact) Do the Unthinkable – IN the realm of impact, it is always powerful to zig when others are zagging.
SO for example take something people are charging a lot of money for…and offer it for free.
They will be shocked at the deal.
Take something people are giving away for free, and charge money for it. They will be curious as to why you are doing it, and they will be drawn in.
Especially if you make it very known that most people give this kind of thing away for free.
This kind of “against the grain” way of thinking is very effective at creating impact. People are drawn to that which is different.
Set 11 of 11…
Don’t let the 11 of 11 fool you. Although we are wrapping up our set of 44 micro-lessons on building a cult-like following in this email…
…I still have one more message for you in this series, and it’s a really important one. So stay tuned for that tomorrow. But today?
Today let’s get on to our final 4 micro-lessons…
Micro-Lesson Set 11 of 11 on Building a Cult-Like Following:
Proximity) Find an example to follow – If you are having trouble maintaining good proximity (i.e. daily emails or regular messages to your following) a great thing to do is to subscribe to 1 or 2 people who do exactly that, by email.
Their consistency showing up in your email inbox every day will drive you to also do the same with your following.
Story) The Don’t Bore Us Get To The Chorus – With this style of storytelling, you start with the action and the benefit. No matter what kind of marketing angle you might be using, you don’t start at the beginning. You start at the action. Then you circle around to the beginning.
An Example: I stepped on the scale, and as expected I was a perfect 185 pounds. My ideal body weight. I had energy, and I was ready to meet my day. I took a deep breath, glanced at my beautiful wife (still sleeping) and…
…began my morning run to the little office I was renting a couple miles away.
Another perfect day was about to begin for me. But you know…it wasn’t always that way…
I can still remember…
This is an example of starting at the benefit. Then you circle back around to the beginning.
Engagement) The Choose Your Own Adventure – There are a few ways to do this “Choose Your Own Adventure” style of getting engagement. A simple one would be to set up a series of blog posts or Youtube videos covering a plethora of topics.
Then in your email sequence, you always give them 2 options with every email. Where they are having trouble, will determine which option they choose.
Now this doesn’t have to be an elaborate series of emails. It could be a simple one off, with two choices. In that case you are making three pieces of content. The message with the choices and the two pieces of content for when they select one.
It’s a great way to get engagement on your content.
Impact) Best of All Time/Worst of All Time – Now when you think about impact and what people remember, did you ever notice that often we remember the first and last of things. The best and the worst of things?
There are several theories why we tend to do this, but whatever the reason, we do.
SO when you start talking about your best THIS ever or your worst THAT ever, people tend to remember it more. It makes an impact.
If I give you a list of 10 things that have made me money online, you might remember some of them, but if I take a pause before I reveal the last one and then I make a special point to say, “But the thing that has absolutely hand down earned me more money than anything else is…”
Whatever I say after that? People are going to remember. This best and worst thing is impactful. SO remember to use it.
Alright, that’s enough for this email and that’s 44 micro-lessons in all that if you take action on will build you a tremendously loyal following.
A 45th?
Well, we’ve certainly covered quite a bit here. From parrot questions to field trips. From Fictional stories to Content Lesson Conveyance. I’ve had a lot of fun teaching you this stuff…
And I hope you’ve gotten some valuable info out of it.
I have a bonus micro-lesson for you. So here it is:
Micro-Lesson 45 on Building a Cult-Like Following
All content should start with email content. Email messages should be the core of everything you do. Why? Because it is the only kind of content you can create that actually gets sent to your followers.
Not only that, they are checking their email regularly. The habit has already been built. So all you have to do is stand out. Now some would argue that text messages are equally as good…
…and I would agree there is merit to that…
…but it is harder to get someone’s phone number, people are more prone to opt-out of promotional offers by text, and believe it or not there are less people in the world with cell phones than you think. But email is free and pretty much everybody has one.
So start with the piece of email content and build the other content from that.
Okay, I hope that is helpful. And with that…we are bringing this series on building a cult-like following to a close. Don’t forget to take action on this stuff…
