Start Your Own Cult Brand

With their fanatical fan bases and a steadfast refusal to conform to the masses, cult brands effortlessly demand consumer attention. Get it right and the product sells itself. There are hugely valuable benefits that can be reaped from building a cult following!

Cult personalities come in all types and personas. Korean rap sensation Psy racked up over 1.5 billion Youtube views with his song "Gangnam Style," resulting in millions of dollars in revenue from downloads, TV commercials, concerts and speaking appearances. Martha Stewart and Oprah each cultivated their audiences around their easy to relate to female personas, creating conversations around women's issues and interests. Resonating strongly with women, both female entrepreneurs expanded their businesses with synergy to sell countless products.

While you may not be a rock-star or a cult TV personality, you can still take notes from other successful cult leaders in building a loyal following for your business.

Here are the ingredients for building a cult following:

Focus On A Niche

Early on it is important to direct your efforts toward a particular niche in which you can find your early cult followers. This is where your tribe will grow from. For example, if you are offering services for artistic people, rather than trying to cater to all types of creative people, from knitters to oil painters, you should choose a specific group to target first, such as sculptors, or perhaps graphic designers. Narrower targeting allows you to be more successful in making your clients happy. You can always expand your business, but it's better to start small early on so you don't get too distracted and spread too thinly.

Understand and Reach Fans 

Who gets the most excited about what you're working on, and is always first in line to pay? You need to know who your top evangelists will be and figure out what makes them tick. It's crucial to know what they love and hate, and which channels are best for reaching them (blogs, events, Facebook, etc). Make sure you take time to understand whom your ideal customer is. When you figured out whom they are, ask them questions about your industry (not as much about your business), learning what they dislike and enjoy. This will be important both for designing your product or crafting your service, as well as deciding how to package and market your business.

Be Elite

There's something about what you can't have that makes you want it that much more. It's not logical, but it's a strong human response. Say that you have a limited number of slots or that people need referrals to join, and suddenly you become scarce and exclusive. Urgency can greatly drive business and sales. This doesn't work for all products and markets, and can also backfire if it doesn't seem credible, but making your brand appear elite can both increase your margins and make growth faster. There is truth that relatable products that can be sold to the masses can make a large amount of money due to sheer volume, but these operations are not easy to scale, and they have great expenses for marketing and other logistics challenges.

Stand Out in A Crowd

Today few products and services are actually new or drastically different, so your business needs to play to its uniqueness. What makes you special or unique? Are you the only personal trainer who consistently works unusual hours to meet your clients' busy schedules? Maybe you're the only coffee shop who imports those strange but delicious cookies from Brazil with the pistachios? Learn whatever it is that makes you special - determine what you do that your customers really appreciate and value above your competition and play it up.

Develop a Strong Persona or Pitch

It's critical to be able to tell a good story around your product or brand. Our brains work well with stories, especially those that evoke strong emotions such as fear, surprise, anger or desire. It is important to really understand what pain you are solving people; then you can work on developing a clear and concise message around what you're selling. The stronger the message you can create, the more evangelists you will have backing you.

Thinking about your brand like a cult personality can help guide you through the process of marketing your business. If you can successfully connect with people, they are much more likely to become and remain loyal customers since they have developed an emotional bond to your business. This is especially true when they feel a sense of belonging and ownership.

Having 1,000,000 obsessed fans won't happen overnight, but taking small steps in this direction will help you foster a strong community, which pays dividends over time.