What is a community based marketing strategy?
Key takeaways:
People naturally want to strengthen their community through shared connections.
Community based marketing is less expensive than other types of marketing.
Getting started is easy but takes time to maintain.
Community Based Marketing (CBM) is gaining popularity in the b2b world as a cost-effective strategy that builds long-term business success. This flashy marketing term has varying definitions.
Three CBM definitions
According to Guild
"Community Based Marketing (CBM) is bringing people together around a shared practice, purpose, place, product or set of circumstances to create insights and closer, more valuable relationships with prospects, customers and other stakeholders to deliver organisational value.”
According to Marketing Profs
“Community-based marketing makes use of the shared connections you find in a professional community. The people in those communities are drawn together by a collective practice or area of expertise, and CBM uses those connections to create closer, more valuable relationships with prospects and customers.”
According to Hummingbirds
We like to think of CBM in a place-based context where community is the literal community that you call home. Residents, businesses, government, tourists and other stakeholders come together to form relationships, support each other and therefore strengthen their community as a whole.
Why community based marketing works
Community is supportive
When you hear ‘Springfield city’ and ‘Springfield community,’ which feels more welcoming? Community is all about shared interests and goals, and they’re often willing to go above and beyond to help others in their community.
CBM builds community
Even in thriving areas, community can always be strengthened. A single CBM push can bring together multiple businesses that can work as one to help each other thrive.
Share resources
Small businesses notoriously have limited resources. When businesses come together, they can pool their resources together and grow.
Creative b2b strategy
Paid search, cold emails, social media ads… it can be hard to get your brand in front of new people. CBM cuts through the noise of ad channels and exposes your brand to new audiences in a way they will actually pay attention to.
Lower cost
Modern day marketing is expensive. According to LinkedIn, the cost of a B2B lead is as follows:
Content marketing: $5 to $30
Email marketing: $20 to $100+
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: $50-$200+
Social Media advertising: $20 to $100
Trade Shows and Events: $100-$500+
CBM is often done with little to no money exchanged because the community wants to support the other businesses who call it home.
Examples of local community based marketing
Coffee shop example
A coffee shop with a hefty email list works with a boutique that pays for a platform to run giveaways. The coffee shop sends an email advertising a giveaway through the boutique where each entry gets a discount or coupon to both places! Now their customers know about each other and are more likely to visit = new customers and sales!
Grocery store example
A large grocery store features a local company in the front of their store every week. The local company gets massive reach, awareness, and sales, and the grocery store gets a reputation bump from the locals.
How does community based marketing fit with social media marketing?
These days, brands must post on social media in order to stay relevant and top-of-mind with customers. Whenever a CBM campaign is launched, it should undoubtedly include social media so the entire community can be included.
get started with Community Based Marketing
Getting started is as simple as making connections with people in your community. Have you ever heard the saying, ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know?’ This could not be truer for CBM! Reach out to other business owners and managers purely with the intention of making a connection. Arranging a meetup can be a fun way of meeting multiple new people at one time, too. Once these connections are established, a partnership will soon follow.
Looking for help getting started? Learn about how the Hummingbirds platform can help you start your own community based marketing campaign.
