We’ve been thinking long and hard about community lately, working with the MECLABS SuperFunnel Cohorts (https://meclabs.com/MEC200-RSVP). I’m sure many of you are as well. It is certainly a popular topic right now for marketers.

And here’s one way I could know our community was working – when we could step back and not solve a community member’s problem. When members were helping each other, collaborating, solving each other’s problems. Making those valuable connections. That is a key inflection point to me.

So when I read this lesson in a recent podcast guest application, it really stuck out to me – “You don’t ‘build’ community, you ‘facilitate’ community.”

It’s not all about us, right? It’s not all about the brand. It’s all about them. 

Joining me for a dynamic discussion to share the lesson behind that story, along with many more lesson-filled stories, is  Dr. Marcus Collins, Head of Strategy, Wieden+Kennedy New York (WKNY) (https://www.wk.com/), and Clinical Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business (https://michiganross.umich.edu/).

Wieden + Kennedy had $413.5 million in 2021 revenue, according to Campaign.

Collins is in charge of the strategy department and leads a team of 70 at WKNY.

Listen to our conversation using this embedded player or click through to your preferred audio streaming service using the links below it.

Stories (with lessons) about what he made in marketing

Some lessons from Collins that emerged in our discussion:

• Identity is more important than value propositions
• You don’t “build" community, you “facilitate” community
• When people feel seen, they also feel heard.
• If you have an idea and it’s logical but people don’t get it, then you’re probably on to something even if people make you feel like you’re wrong
• The most powerful skill you can have is the ability to communicate—clearly and evocatively
• Execution without good theory is a practice of luck, not strategy

Related content mentioned in this episode

Value Proposition Definition: Optimize your conversion rate with this powerful question (https://meclabs.com/course/sessions/value-proposition-definition/)

PR, Writing, and Marketing Agency Corporate Culture: Think big (podcast episode #49) (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/PR)

Customer-First Marketing: A conversation with Wharton, MarketingSherpa, and MECLABS Institute (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/consumer-marketing/wharton-interview-customer-first-marketing/)

Evidence-based Marketing: How to overcome the overconfidence bias (https://marketingexperiments.com/conversion-marketing/evidence-based-overconfidence)

About this podcast

This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages (https://meclabs.com/course/) free marketing course.

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application