We’ve become a little obsessed with a marketing strategy we’re implementing for a client: scaling intimacy.
This person is exceptional at building relationships in real life. She listens closely. She remembers things. She has a point of view. She makes introductions. She knows when to reach out and when to simply stay present. People feel seen by her.
That is a business advantage. It is also hard to scale. Too often, when companies try, they replace the person with generic marketing.
Our job is to take what makes her good at relationships in real life and adapt it to an online world, so more people can feel connected to her and the people already in her circle can feel even closer.
That is what we mean by scaling intimacy.
Start with what happens in real life
Too often, the founder who is warm and funny in person suddenly sounds formal in email. The person who knows everyone becomes the only voice on social. A thoughtful adviser who would tailor a conversation face to face sends the same newsletter to the entire database.
We are trying to close that gap.
The goal is deeper connection
One of the biggest shifts for this client has been moving from “content creator” to digital connector.
Scaling intimacy does not mean asking a business owner to spend every day filming behind-the-scenes clips or narrating their life into a phone. It doesn’t involve funny dances, trending TikToks, or the latest video editing technique.
It can mean taking a moment to share a voice note or video with your point-of-view on an current issue that interests your network.
It also means asking people questions and using what they tell you. Interviewing people in your network and giving their ideas real space. Bringing a client, referral partner, vendor, colleague, or other interesting person into the conversation because they have something worth saying.
Over time, the business is no longer starting every conversation. A community is beginning to participate around it.
The people you feature bring parts of their own communities with them. Their participation gives others a reason to join in too, whether that means answering a question, sharing an idea, making an introduction, or eventually being featured themselves.
More of the right people can experience what makes the business worth knowing, while existing relationships deepen through regular contact and new people enter through the community growing around it. Those relationships help keep you remembered between transactions, make referrals more natural, and give people more reasons to stay in your orbit.
Staying present between the big moments
Most service businesses do not have constant transactions with the same client. Months or years may pass between the times someone needs you.
Regular contact from a variety of digital channels keeps the relationship from disappearing in between.
Email can carry a point of view. Video lets people see and hear you. Audio can make a message feel more personal. Social creates room for conversation and community. Segmentation helps different groups receive information that is actually relevant to them. A reply, DM, or WhatsApp link can make it easy to turn online familiarity into a real conversation.
Are you next?
At Ideal, we want to do more of this: finding thoughtful ways to take what someone already does extraordinarily well in a room full of people and help them do some version of it in a much, much bigger room.
If this is what you want your marketing to do, reach out. We’d love to talk about what scaling intimacy could look like for your business.
