TRIBES USED IN THE MARKETING FIELD

For this week, we decided to work about tribes to get to know more specifically our target and to try to help at best Sokos Winklund.

I found some books and articles about consumers’ behaviors and especially parts about tribes.

I. What is a tribe?

A tribe can be a primary group or an identification group in which the members share the same passion, interests, etc.

To understand a tribe, we study the shared experiences by the members and especially about the feelings lived together.

The integration in a tribe can be different for each member. It exists four main ways to integrate in it: 
- If a person is involved on institutional actions, it refers to a “adherent”,
- If a person joins to meetings, it refers to a “participant”,
- If a person is daily involved on rituals and activities, it refers to a “practising”.  

II. Marketing tribal

When we speak about tribes in marketing field, we talk about “marketing tribal”.

In a “tribal” perspective, the product does not bring only a functional value but also a bond value. For some researcher, the product makes it possible to link individuals together for who wants. Indeed, more a product or a service supports the creation, the development and the links maintenance between a tribe, more this product or service brings value to its members.

For a company, it is important to take on board these tribes to offer the products or services they want. Thus, two steps are very important: 
- Identify the existing tribes 
- Two approaches: the first one is to suggest products or services to integrate directly itself in rituals (for example, for a clothes shop, the store can sell clothes, accessories or objects linked to the practice of the tribe); the second one is get back the signs of the tribe in the communication field as advertising or sponsoring.

According to an article about marketing tribal, a company has to ask itself three questions to enter in the marketing tribal approach: 
- The approach is logical? 
- How the company can update continually its tribal marketing? (because tribes’ members are very mobile and tribes borders change quickly) 
- How the company can make durable its approach by getting closer to future tribes without getting away from the tribes already ‘acquired’.

 III. Market segmentation strategy

Jan already posts something about market segmentation and how a company can use different market segmentation to reach the tribes. I found another article about seven different types of market segmentation that a company can use to empower their own tribes.

1. Passions (common passions for a group): it is important to deliver a specific content to generate a bigger audience of others who are also passionate about a subject.

2. Generational dynamics: each generation has specific wants, needs and value systems that a company has to take on board to respond at better to its consumers.

3. Life events: the question here is: “are there large group within your customer base who have experienced specific life events that create synergy and passion around the subject?”

The key to selecting a life event is to discover something that becomes part of how people will define themselves as result of going through the experience.

4. Life stage: in each stage, they have unique perspectives and needs based on the life events that typically occur at each life stage.

5. Demographics: look at demographics such as gender, marital status, income and ethnicity to determine if they are unique needs that can provide value around.

6. Geography: for brands that use a local marketing strategy, use a similar strategy for social media channels.

7. Product choices: segment based on which products a customer has shown loyalty toward; product bought by a customer can tell something about the customer

IV. Consumer tribes and benefits of marketing to them

Consumer tribes: “groups of people emotionally connected by similar consumption values and usage, who use the social ‘linkage value’ of products and services to create a community and express identity.”

Benefits of marketing to tribes: 
- Social influences play a crucial role in an individual’s consumption decisions,
- In addition to sharing moral values and opinions, consumer tribes also share consumption preferences,
- This provides opportunity for marketers to access to a specific market segment and to create loyalty through establishing both an emotional connection as well as a rational reason for commitment.

 V. Seth Godin and his idea about consumer tribes and Internet

In a speech he did during a TED convention, Seth Godin, former direct marketing manager at Yahoo, explains his idea about Internet and the arrival of tribes. He supports the idea that Internet puts an end at mass marketing to give place to tribes. For him, tribes can lead and be factors of change and with Internet and mass media, tribes are everywhere and it is easy to find people like you.

Finally, he finished his speech saying that in each tribe, there is a leader who has to reign over the members of the tribe. Indeed, he has to challenge what it exists; create a culture, a secret language; and connect people one to another.

Sources:  
- http://fr.slideshare.net/mdruker/consumer-tribes-and-the-benefits-of-marketing-to-them-10975851
- http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/7-ways-to-develop-customer-tribes-for-your-business/
- http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead?language=fr

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