Category: Social Ties

The “Ramsey effect” and the next wave of tribes

Sarat PratapchandranLeave a comment

Twelve years ago, Seth Godin in his book “Tribes,” taught us how groups of people create movements and lead change. Godin showed that “assembling a tribe and leading it” is the new marketing.

America’s debt free guru, Dave Ramsey has proved this well. The “Ramsey Tribe” has transformed shared interests of a group to a passionate goal.

Every day, tribe members visit Ramsey in his studio to give out their visceral “debt free scream,” a testimonial that keeps the cult stronger together. Over $50 million worth of “debt free screams” happen annually through in-person visits or through his talk shows.

This led Ciorstan Smark, faculty at the University of Wollongong to analyze the “Ramsey Tribe” and the criteria used by Godin in “Tribes” to find out their relationship. Smark’s article “Tribes in personal finance? The Dave Ramsey Phenomenon,” in Social & Behavioral Research in Business (2012), found that “Ramsey’s Tribe” relies on his rigid, no-nonsense process urging people to first be debt free and to stay focused on building wealth through self discipline.

While screams make money for Ramsey, from her kitchen in upstate New York, Indian homemaker, Mia has created a different tribe. “Mia’s Tribe” are addicted to her spicy cooking shows and simple renderings of her daily life. They are so attached to her that they can’t miss seeing her for a day.

Marketing built on empathy and trust will help you lead tribes. You will create movements and here are my predictions for the next wave of tribes:

  1. Greater connections and loose leadership structures- Newly formed tribes will have greater communications among members and the outside world. Marketing will build stronger connections among tribe members despite loose leadership structures. Promote self discipline among members if you are leading a tribe.
  2. Trust – Marketing shared interests among tribal members is key but trust will play an important role. Grow your tribe with empathy.
  3. Tips and clues: Your days as a leader offering tips and clues are numbered. Meaningful, valuable content is necessary to keep your tribe together.
  4. Shorter attention spans and longevity: Shorter attention spans will dominate tribes of the future. Market content that energizes the group, builds togetherness and sustains engagement.
  5. Meaningful social cohesion : Greater social cohesion will build your tribe faster than just subject matter expertise. “Ramsey’s Tribe” meets regularly at churches with their Financial Planning University and shares stories of why they got broke and why they have to live on rice and beans.
  6. Lack of transparency equals harsher punishments: Tribes are global movements that can take on powerful corporations like Boeing. When you fail, admit mistakes quicker and be transparent. The Boeing saga and the Iranian fiasco show why it’s difficult to build tribes that will stand by you during a crisis.
  7. Idea sharing is the norm: Tribes are sharing ideas of resistance across a dozen capitals from New Delhi to Hong Kong every day. This is creating headaches for governments trying to find solutions.
  8. The death of monarchies and huge corporations: Marketing will help the growth of internal tribes that will bring the downfall of monarchies and huge corporations around the world. Tyrants and greedy corporate leaders will fall to tribes who want to create a better future for their people.

Writing for page views: Tips from Steve Rubel

Sarat PratapchandranLeave a comment

As a young copy editor working for New Delhi-based Patriot two decades ago, I never imagined a day when machines would take over the unique powers of a copy editor. We ruled over reporters, decided content and our headlines woke readers up every morning.

Fast forward twenty years- journalists write for machines that give overrides to word choices and remind them that some words get better page views. These translate into  greater job security and a better bottomline.  Machines select  headlines, insert slugs and feed searches that attract readers. Writers are told to use the word fashion instead of style as search engines rank fashion higher.

Amid this changing media landscape, hearing  Steve Rubel last week was refreshing. Rubel is EVP, Global Strategy for Edelman, the world’s largest independent PR company. He was speaking at my alma mater, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communications.

According to Rubel, thankfully, three things still exist:

  1. Our time and attention are finite
  2. We love good stories- stories bind us as a culture
  3. Content is king

Rubel introduced Edelman’s new concept named “Transmedia Storytelling: The Media Cloverleaf” that will help PR practitioners keep stories alive for a longer time.  This is an inter-connected model that involves traditional media, hybrid, social media and company-owned media. According to Rubel, it is now an Anglo model being used in the U.S. and some parts of Europe. However,  some of its concepts are applicable in other geographies too. 

Rubel asks practitioners to create content that is visual and worth sharing and video, infographics and slideshows are very important. Writing needs a lot of advanced planning these days. So, before crafting a story, find out how, where and when the story should be told. Here’s a PowerPoint that describes key points from Rubel’s talk.