Before groups of people are fully bought in members of the communities we build, we think of them as audiences. Our job is to get to know them by better understanding their needs, desires and what they value the most. We paint what we call portraits of these groups, developing a story that helps us live and think as part of their world. This enables us to connect more deeply with them and begin the process of inviting and hopefully initiating them as part of one of our communities.
Communities thrive when there is a shared language and ideology. Our content strategy and design practice is centered around shaping and supporting the development of that language and truths embedded in our communities. This makes it possible to bring diverse perspectives to the table for examination to enrich and inspire communities without compromising on the focus or value that community offers its members in the long term.
But communities also rely on trust. And trust isn’t built in a day. It requires consistency in the value and support offered over time. That’s why as community builders our job is never done. We design the programs for our communities that provide numerous resources for value and support, but we also implement and operationalize these offerings, working as a strategic partner to the companies we work with to help them execute and scale these offerings consistently over time.
There’s a lot of infrastructure required to manage and support the many offerings that bring value and facilitate connection within communities. From platforms to education and facilitation modules, a lot of this infrastructure and the tools built on it never sees its true value fully realized because community members lack the knowledge or incentive to use it. We tie all of our work together to successfully embed and activate these resources to ensure greater value realization all around.
The moments we bring our communities together are incredibly important. Which is why we take a holistic approach to developing and executing them on behalf of our clients and communities. And we never focus solely on one moment. We look at how each moment is just one of many tied together as part of an overall community journey. It’s not just what happens in the moment that matters, it’s knowing what happened before and will next that makes each moment even better.
