3 Tips on Marketing For Change

So I’m sitting here wondering if you know what a mind meld is. For those of you into “Star Trek” you’ll already know it’s a technique used by Vulcans (that’s an alien life form) to join minds with another person. I apologise to all non Star Trek fans. Bear with me though – this article isn’t about Star Trek!


What I’m talking about is joining the creative, ideas part of your brain with the logical, structured part. I’ve been melding the left and right side of my brain recently and all without the help of a Vulcan!

“How did you do it?”

By learning more about Marketing. More specifically, marketing on the internet

“How is Marketing Relevant To Organisational Change?” You might ask.

That’s a very good question. Let me explain.

Making changes can be daunting whether you are the one leading the change or affected by the change. Some of the basic principles of Marketing can be applied both to making changes and understanding how people can become more comfortable with change.

So here are my 3 Tips on Marketing for Change
1) Know who you’re marketing to

Who do you want to attract? Not as easy as it sounds because this means there will be people who you don’t want to attract. Does your organisation know who it wants to attract. And, do you know who you don’t want to attract? Do you know which people you want to work in your organisation?

The ideal Customer or Client
Visualise your ideal client or customer. Do you know what they'll be wearing? How old they are? What are they talking about? How they sound? What interests them?

You do! That’s great. If you don’t then it seems like you might have some work to do!

Do you know what they want?

Imagine having a conversation them. Is there anyone you have in mind? what have they told you? What are there issues? Where is there pain? What keeps them up at night? What do they want instead?

Do you know what your people are looking for? One of the key principles of understanding change is to put yourself in the shoes of those affected by the change.

Can you solve your client’s or customer’s problems!

Put simply, do you have the expertise and experience that can help solve your client’s problems? If you’ve got this right your expertise is what clients are looking for. You can help them.

2) Understand that It’s a Bit Like Online dating!
This is when the mind meld gets surreal. The relationship you create with your market starts when they land on your website. They’re looking for someone to develop a relationship with. Now stay with me here. How many times have you not bought something because you weren’t sure about the person selling to you? You maybe didn’t like them or didn’t feel able to trust them or even just couldn't put your finger on the reason but they just weren’t right?

When someone goes to your website they make a 3 second decision about whether or not to stay longer and find out more. It’s your first opportunity to develop a relationship!

“But, how does this fit with organisational change?” I hear you say.

Well the one key thing about Marketing is that it uses all the same approaches needed to create fantastic change and helps you through transition. If you don’t know who the people are in your business then you’ll find it hard to deliver a focused message which addresses their specific issues and concerns.

Change and Transformation
When you embark on change – do you encourage your people to stay with your message? Do you have a relationship with them? You do. Great!

If you don’t then how confident are you that they’ll go the extra mile? Will they be motivated to do what it takes to get things done?

Creating great relationships will make your road to change much easier. So start by getting people to ‘click’ on your ‘website’ and stay long enough because you’ve got a greater chance of developing a relationship with them.

3) K.I.S – Keep It Simple

Great copy starts with a great headline. Does it grab your attention and is it relevant to you? Is it easy to read and is it directed to your needs and explains how you will benefit? Great copy also gets you to take action.

It’s exactly the same with organisational change. The headline for change has to be attention grabbing. Why are you changing? What’s the reason for the change?

Tell Them A Story

Do you have a simple story that explains in more detail the need for change and how this benefits your people? For example, the benefits might be that the changes secure jobs, or they create customer growth which presents opportunities for your people. If there aren’t any benefits then why would your people want to change? Would you? If there are different benefits for different groups of people have you developed separate copy for each group?

Does your copy tell them specifically what is going to happen in words that they understand? How many times have you been on the receiving end of ‘Management Speak’? You know what I mean – “Let’s run it up the flag pole and see if it flies” type thing! Get someone to read your copy before it goes live; preferably someone who has a healthy cynicism for ‘Management Speak’. Get them to ask you questions and practice your answers on them first. You’ll soon find out what works and what doesn’t!

And finally, does your copy have a call to action? What do you want people to do?

Ideas + action = results
So there you have it – 3 Tips on Marketing for Change. My brain is well and truly melded and you’ll hear more about my excursions into the world of Marketing in my next newsletter.

And finally, because you’ll probably be expecting this, I have been updating my Ascent2Change website. Go and have a look

http://www.ascent2change.co.uk

and you’ll notice some subtle changes already.

Let me know what you think the changes are. And watch this space for more changes