This Week’s Quick Win: The Fastest Way to Turn Followers Into Community
Here’s something I want you to stop chasing:
A bigger audience.
Because the brands that actually win long-term?
They don’t win because they have the most followers.
They win because their followers talk about them.
And this week’s Dear FoundHer… podcast episode with Andrea Faulkner Williams, co-founder of Tubby Todd, is a masterclass in exactly that. Tubby Todd didn’t “launch.” They built trust, and let community do what community does.
Despite having worked for years beforehand, it truly felt as if overnight they became the hottest baby brand around. And they owe that to their community.
Your Brand Needs a Community, Not Just an Audience
An audience watches. They sit back and consume. Think about when you watch a TV show, or a movie, or even listen to a podcast, you’re a part of an audience.
A community carries your brand when you’re not in the room. A community talks about you, shares about you, tells their community about you. A community engages with you, there’s back and forth. Because of that, a community provides feedback, conversation and assistance when needed.
And if your marketing feels like you’re constantly producing content just to stay visible… it’s usually because you’re stuck in one-way mode.
You’re broadcasting.
But you’re not building connection.
Why one-way marketing stalls
One-way marketing eventually hits a wall because:
attention is rented (think about it being algorithm-dependent)
engagement doesn’t equal trust
likes don’t create anything that is word-of-mouth
followers don’t automatically become customers
A community changes the equation. Because community is what creates:
engagement
repeat behavior
referrals
social proof that actually means something
momentum that isn’t dependent on you “posting more”
Both of my businesses AND this week’s podcast proves it
I loved the conversation I had on this week’s episode of Dear FoundHer… because it was focused around community, which is how I built my first business, Bump Club and Beyond, and how I’m building my second…right here at Dear FoundHer…
Community is your #1 business asset. I learned this quick with Bump Club, prioritizing my community over every other aspect of my business. Even sales initially.
Instead, I prioritized the women coming to my events: how they felt, what they needed, what they were looking to me for, and the trust we were creating with one another. Because I did this, our community was created early on, and they became our very first customers.
Similarly, Tubby Todd didn’t become “every mom’s recommendation” because of paid ads or a massive budget, you’ll hear me say this on the show today.
It happened because:
they built a product that worked
they put it in the hands of people they trusted
those people shared it because they loved the product and they wanted to tell others.
the community did the rest
That’s the difference between an audience and a community:
An audience needs to be convinced.
A community wants to be the one who tells everyone first.
And Andrea puts words to something that so many founders miss:
“Our brand tenant is to be a good friend.”
That’s not cute branding. That’s a strategy.
Because when you market like a good friend, people respond like a friend. And friends help each other out: they share, they support, and they make sure that others know about everything amazing you’re doing in the world.
This Week’s Quick Win
If you want community, you don’t need a platform. You need a moment of connection.
Pick ONE:
1) Start a conversation you can actually reply to.
Post a question that requires a real answer (not “agree?”) and respond to every comment like you’re at a table with them. You can do this on Instagram, LinkedIn, your Substack. Wherever people are consuming your content.
2) Create a “friend-forward” follow-up.
Send a short email or DM to 10 past customers/clients:
“What are you working on right now that feels harder than it should?”
3) Host something small and human.
A 20-minute Zoom “coffee chat.”
A mini Q&A.
A “bring one founder friend” virtual hang.
Next week I’ll host a Dear FoundHer.. Live networking event here in Chicago. This came from the goal of simply connecting with our community in person. It’s nothing fancy, just some structured networking. But guess what? It works, and the community that’s come from these in person meetings has been tremendous.
Andrea says it perfectly on the podcast today: you can do more with a small live experience than a piece of content that reaches thousands.
Why this matters (especially for you as you build your business… )
At this stage, you don’t need to be louder.
You need to be closer.
Community is what makes your business feel less like “content creation” and more like relationship building, which is exactly how most women over 40 actually buy.
Listen to this week’s episode
If you’re building something right now and you feel pressure to grow fast, flashy, or forced — this conversation will reset your brain.
🎧 This week on Dear FoundHer: Andrea Faulkner Williams (Tubby Todd)
You’ll hear how they built trust first, stayed consistent, and let word-of-mouth compound.
Community doesn’t require another platform. It requires a plan. In this week’s premium edition on Thursday, I’m breaking down the connection layers that turn followers into repeat customers (and referrers), plus the Community Ladder so you know exactly what to do next.
Let me know what you think about todays episode, I can’t wait to hear what you think.
Have a great week,
Lindsay Pinchuk, Founder of Dear FoundHer…
TODAY ON THE PODCAST….
In this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with female founder, Andrea Faulkner Williams, of Tubby Todd, about what it really took to build a brand parents trust.
Andrea shares how Tubby Todd began with a personal family need and a hard reset most founders would avoid. After spending years developing their first product, they chose to start over when it did not work for their own child. That decision shaped everything that followed, including how they focused on quality, earned trust, and started growing an audience through real word of mouth instead of shortcuts or paid hype. Community, consistency, and listening closely to customers became the backbone of the business.
That foundation made the next stage possible. Andrea walks through how Tubby Todd expanded beyond direct-to-consumer, first onto Amazon and eventually into Target, without losing what made the brand work. Instead of relying on retail to create demand, they brought an already loyal audience with them. If you are a woman business owner, wrestling with scaling challenges or trying to grow an audience before taking a bigger leap, this episode gives a refreshingly honest look at what steady growth really takes.