Brand Community as a Growth Strategy

'Community is the most lasting investment you can make.' Those are the words of Barbara den Bak, creative entrepreneur and well-being strategist who has built multiple successful businesses. In her talk at the 'Sprints & Sneakers Festival', recently held in Amsterdam, it became clear that 'brand communities' act as growth accelerators for her ventures. I see it on many consumer brands' 'wish lists', but really following through on this – only a few actually do. What's going on?

Community - Not For Me

Actually, I've always had a bit of an aversion to the word 'community'. It conjures up associations of a closed group, those fanatics who've started deriving their identity from it, or a good old hobby Facebook group with housewives over sixty. And as for 'brand communities'? Well, I'm also a 'member' of ICI Paris, Etos, Hunkemöller and have an Albert Heijn loyalty card. Does that make me part of their community? No.

A brand community is really something different from collecting your customers' email addresses who receive a weekly newsletter from you, get notified about offers, or receive a card for their birthday. And your social media followers? Same thing. That's not to say that 'members' and 'followers' aren't great for marketing and sales initiatives, but a real brand community isn't merely a marketing tool. It's a growth strategy. And that requires a different approach.

Intentional, Curated and Layered

To be able to use a brand community as a growth strategy, there are three important criteria:

1. It's intentional. This means you as an organization, consciously choose the long term, because everyone within the company recognizes its value. It's not a marketing campaign you're trying out this quarter, but a strategic investment that the CEO, Sales, Marketing, Product, Innovation and Customer Care teams fully support.

2. It's curated. You as a brand carefully determine who belongs. It's about strategic selection: you invite people who are valuable for gathering insights and who are willing to actively contribute.

3. It's layered. A brand community doesn't consist of a homogeneous group. Ideally, the community is structured like a pyramid with three layers, each with their own value for growing your brand:

A 'base layer' of customers: these are loyal buyers from your CRM, they're valuable for sharing experiences with your existing products and provide insights from their daily use. You want to nurture this group.

An aspirational layer: a group of conceptual/creative/high-value potential customers. They function as a think tank and potential early adopters of your new propositions. They give candid feedback and are willing to create authentic content. This group provides inspiration and direction for new marketing and innovation initiatives.

The expert layer: these are professionals and thought leaders who bring credibility. For a sports brand these are athletes and trainers, for a beauty brand, makeup artists and dermatologists. They provide your brand with knowledge and authority.

Brand Community - Mastered

As an insights professional, I can only think: a brand community is a dream scenario for gathering insights. I mean: isn't it ideal to have a group of people at the ready who genuinely and extensively want to share their opinions from different 'value layers'? Market research panels offer great solutions in many cases, but a brand community of - let's say - 250 members you can survey at any time - that sounds ultimate. Fast, cost-efficient, high quality.

But companies often know this too: building and activating a brand community isn't a hobby you can just do on the side. Recruiting, motivating and keeping members engaged takes time and money. And as a long-term strategy, the members' 'willingness to stay' must always remain on the radar.

The brand community experts at House of Treats know this better than anyone: 'We know all our members and carefully assemble a brand community based on fit with the brand and strategic needs. Attention and the right appreciation leads to intrinsically motivated communities that deliver great value organization-wide.'

For brands that understand this, therein lies the biggest growth opportunity of our time.

Marjolein van Ballegooij [Source: https://www.marketingtribune.nl/algemeen/weblog/2025/09/column-brand-community-als-groeistrategie/index.xml]