Evergreen

makes that purchase twice a year.

Then I asked the magic question: “In two months you’ve spent $3,000 to generate $50,000 in additional revenue. What exactly isn’t working?” The CEO just smiled.

2004, the Harvard Business Review suggested that marketing myopia was the most influential idea in marketing in the past fifty years. That doesn’t mean that everybody has gotten the memo, though—or, perhaps more appropriately

reason I’ve positioned content as the third of the Three Cs. It represents both what you do and how you do it.

The key takeaway: More important than the core products or services that you offer is knowing what business you’re actually in. Since you are reading this book, chances are good that

automobile. Levitt suggests that the decline of railroads was caused by the fact that industry executives assumed they were in the railroad business—that is, their business was focused solely on the content they offered. Levitt argues that they missed the fact that they were really in the transportation business.

tasting food to make a terrific meal. It takes an awesome location and eating with fun, interesting people. Unfortunately we can’t make your friends any more interesting or fun. What we can do is carefully design each of our restaurants to create a unique dining experience fundamentally different than you would get with traditional fast foo

Remember when I said that the best communities are insular and present an “us vs. them” mentality while also being open and welcoming to those who are new? Communities are

The problem, though, is that this logic confuses community building with customer feedback.

mirror doing bicep curls than they do actually getting into shape. Brand communities derive power from being exclusionary. It’s important to be insular. But real power comes from also remaining open and welcoming to

important to keep in mind that the language shared by a community often isn’t created by the company, but rather by customers interacting with the brand. That said, if your customers create the language,

During its community-building endeavors, CrossFit embraced certain aspects of a tribe mentality. For instance, tribes often use very specific language, which simultaneously generates a sense of connection and exclusion. Only members “in the club” truly understand what the language means and how to use it. CrossFit has done this exceptionally well. Examples of CrossFit’s language include: