Towards the end of last year I wrote a few posts about needs assessments. My assessment questionnaire, reviewed in those posts, was helpful. I’ve found a better approach that can take someone who has a cause, product or service into a deeper understanding of making their work better known.
Third sector organisations often do not appreciate the Internet is essentially a marketing platform. That is what it is and objections to marketing on ethical grounds somewhat miss the point. If you really don’t want to market, then don’t use the Internet.
The problem is many people associate marketing with buying and selling. In fact it is more accurately about exchange and exchange does not have to include money. A word some people may be happier with is campaigning. Here the exchange is information for support. I might stand on the streets and hand out leaflets and my hope is those who read the leaflet will support my cause. They might sign a petition, join my organisation, vote for me or my candidate. They might donate to the cause and so campaigning can involve financial transactions and so resemble conventional marketing.
Marketing and Campaigning
Sometimes we talk of a marketing campaign because campaigning and marketing are practically the same activity:
- Both are about building a trusting relationship. All sales involve some element of trust, granted sometimes misplaced. But fundamentally exchanging things of value is community building. People repeat exchanges where there is genuine trust.
- Building relationships of trust requires communication and communication needs to be persuasive. The study of persuasive communication is traditionally known as rhetoric, which is not restricted to politician’s speeches. Rhetoric applies equally to politicians and religious leaders; to the market stall barker and the campaigner; the sales brochure and party manifesto.
- Causes, products and services are commonly combined in marketing campaigns. Most marketing experts ignore causes because they don’t see them as sources of income. In practice, many charities, for example, offer products and services for purchase, in exchange for donations or free to their beneficiaries (sometimes they ask you to purchase products or services for a third-party). But commercial companies often market a cause, building connections with many potential customers, where only a percentage will ever make a purchase. For some the cause may be central, whilst for others it is a lucrative side activity.
Marketing Causes
I’m interested in the overlap between third and private sectors, helping third sector organisations market their cause and possibly generate income too and helping local businesses market their offer as a cause.
Whatever they are doing, they must understand their marketing / campaigning activities holistically. No-one can be effective if they place their online and real life marketing in different boxes. It is the same message and activity carried out in different modes.
Yes, this is complex! The good news is the technical side of the work is far simpler than it used to be. Many people do not know what is possible online (or off for that matter!) or how easy it is. The problem is choosing the best approach to meet your desired outcomes and then building capacity to carry it out. The technical side may be simpler but maintenance of an online programme within an organisation, where you plan to reach people and build relationships with them, can be very demanding. It can have massive implications for the way you do things.
Most organisations and businesses, especially those who are working or plan to work online, need to think in-depth about their approach to all this complexity. They need an in-depth needs assessment.
Circuit Questionnaire
Ben Hunt and his team over at Open Source Marketing (OSM) have devised the Circuit Questionnaire. (OSM is an online resource of marketing techniques and it is free. If you are familiar with marketing, then you may find the site helpful.) I’ve contributed to developing the Circuit Questionnaire and in this sequence will show how it can be used to market a cause.
The Circuit Questionnaire is a long and detailed series of questions that takes several hours to complete. My plan is to work through the Circuit Questionnaire, explaining the thinking behind it, showing how it can help market causes and use my business as a worked example.
This way I can illustrate how the approach can be used for causes as well as products and services. I will be using the Circuit Questionnaire in all my consultancy packages and this series of posts will help you understand something of the scope of what is possible.
I offer a free trial consultancy session and the details are below:
