Nurturing the characteristics of a charismatic company to inspire devoted, loyal advocates to provide social proof.

Social proof is huge in SaaS marketing. What people think and say about your SaaS has a lot to do with its momentum and market fit. But how they feel about your solution has wider implications. Real advocacy comes from having a devoted tribe. That’s the difference between marketing coming from just you, or having thousands of authentic voices spreading the word on your behalf. The latter is incredibly powerful. And it comes from creating a charismatic brand.

Inspiring devotion from visitors, followers, and customers.

I saw this play out at ion interactive before we were acquired. Devotion wasn’t limited to customers. It started with people who were familiar with us. And then it extended to those who actively followed us. And yes, it culminated in passionate customers. The customer piece was great, but the wider social proof that came from people on the outskirts had massive value as well. Just last week I interviewed someone who was clearly a devoted, passionate, ion advocate. She was never a customer. And only used the platform for a short time. But she loved the company. More accurately, she loved what we stood for. Our point of view deeply resonated with her.

6 ways to nurture the characteristics of a charismatic SaaS company and inspire social proof.

My inspiration for this post came from a breakfast meeting I had yesterday with an old friend. One of the topics we discussed was what made some SaaS companies spread like wildfire while others have to work so hard for traction. There are a lot of factors in play there, but one of the ones that came up was fan-like devotion and social proof. That led to a discussion around the idea of charisma and how that dovetailed with SaaS culture. And that led to how founders can nurture the characteristics that make a company magnetic.

Today, as I was noodling this article, I Googled charisma and did some reading. It’s interesting to me to think about these characteristics outside the context of a person, in the broader context of an entire company.

Charisma is the ability to attract, charm, and influence the people around you.Psychology Today

Being attractive, charming and influential sounds like a pretty good road toward breeding passionate advocates.

Charisma — a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure (such as a political leader)Merriam-Webster

But, what makes a company charismatic? I’m going to draft off of six elements of personal charisma courtesy of Psychology Today and reframe them in the context of a company…

1. Emotional Expressiveness

As a company, do we express our point of view spontaneously and genuinely? This cuts to the core for me, which is authenticity. An authentic voice is a unique one, and a differentiated, real perspective on a space or problem is both valuable and useful — inspiring advocacy and social proof.

2. Emotional Sensitivity

To me, as a company, do we listen, have empathy, and express our brand with a high emotional IQ? Do we make everyone who interacts with us feel valued and heard? One of the most critical things a growing SaaS company does is listen, ingest and respond to feedback in the form of evolutionary changes. When those adjustments show emotional sensitivity...