Articles on Success, Significance and the Evolving Role of Work

An Introduction to the “Because Effect” (and Why You Should Leverage It)

The Magazine Mindset

Blogging went mainstream around 2004. That’s when it became the “it” thing to do.

And when something becomes THE thing to do, people start trying to make money with it.

In the case of blogging, people started experimenting with advertising on their blogs. That’s because the story people told themselves about online content was heavily influenced by a magazine mindset — collect eyeballs, then charge for access to them.

The Book Author Mindset

Back in a 2002 column in the New York Times, Joseph Epstein cited a survey reporting that 81 percent of Americans thought they had a book in them. That’s more than 200 million people!

To this day, many aspiring authors want to write books as their full-time income source. That’s the book author mindset. And I continue to meet consultants, technicians, teachers, ministers, you name it, who dream of being authors.

However, statistics on book sales tell a different story. For example, the average U.S. nonfiction book sells 250 copies per year. And less than 3,000 copies over its lifetime.

At an average royalty of $2 per book, that’s a whopping $6,000 for about two and half years of hard work.

The Because Effect

Back in 2004, Doc Searls coined what he called the “because effect.”

While folks were scrambling to find ways to make money with their blogs, the most successful bloggers were making money because of their blogs. In other words, the influence and attention they earned through blogging attracted numerous other opportunities and offers that came with pay.

Without their blogs, they would never have gotten these opportunities.

The same effect applies to book publishing. Many successful authors — especially nonfiction authors — make the vast majority of their income because of their books, not through book sales. They keynote events. Take on corporate consulting gigs. Lead paid seminars and workshops.

Without their book(s), they would never get these opportunities.

So let’s bring this back to you…

You can make money from your digital properties. Or you can make money because of your digital properties.

I encourage you to leverage the “because effect.” Choose to build assets that open doors to new opportunities and offers.

(Image by Geof Wilson on Flickr)

“What Happened to that Guy’s Leg?” (Stories Without Telling)

It was their first meeting.

About three handfuls of men gathered and found their spots in chairs arranged in an oval around the middle of the room.

This group meeting was designed to give these men — men diagnosed with diabetes — an avenue for sharing their successes and failures in managing their disease.

But it was clear that one guy wasn’t happy to be there. And he let everyone in the room know it. Through his attitude. His body language. Let’s call him Scott. And Scott didn’t need anyone’s “support” with a “disease” that wasn’t that big of deal.

“It’s just diabetes,” he barked. “It ain’t like it’s cancer.”

About 15 minutes into the group session, another man entered the room. He apologized for being late and made his way to an empty chair.

Scott was engrossed. His posture changed.

He couldn’t take his eyes off this man. “What happened to his leg?” he wondered.

It didn’t take long for Scott and the others to learn that this man had recently had his leg amputated, because he hadn’t managed his diabetes.

By the end of the support group meeting, Scott had transformed into an advocate for diabetes management. He made others commit to complying with their management plans along with himself.

The Stories We Tell

Coming into the support group, Scott told himself a story about diabetes. No fact, feature or airtight logic could change his story. No authority could change his story. No fear tactic could change his story.

The only thing that could change Scott’s story was another story. But not a story told to Scott. It took a story Scott told himself — one from personal experience. Seeing that diabetic amputee gave Scott a new story to tell himself.

Storytelling isn’t limited to TELLING people stories. Storytelling means creating experiences that become the stories others tell themselves.

When you sell or market something, you’re touching prospects in some way. You are physically or digitally entering their story.

And you’re either reinforcing the story they tell themselves about people like you. Or you’re creating an experience that changes that story.

Think deeply about that before your next email, phone call, presentation or meeting. And choose to create experiences that touch people in unexpected ways.

Ways that will one day prompt them to thank you as they tell about the role you played in their story.

(Image by Thomas Lieser on Flickr)

An Invitation into the Connective Mindset

Something shifts in people’s personalities as the weather warms with Spring. Have you noticed it?

Elevator and hall talk become more aspirational. More hopeful. I observe more jokes and smiles among folks. (At least among those without allergies!)

This season represents rebirth and renewal. A time to progress toward maturity.

As I’ve studied organizations over the years — the ways they try to build their brands and cultures — I’ve noticed shifts in people’s personalities as they embrace storytelling as an enterprise discipline.

Their word choices and tone become more aspirational and hopeful. Their communications sound more human and inviting.

I would like to briefly outline the three types of mindsets I’ve observed among professionals. These mindsets impact the way they market, sell, recruit and fundraise (inside and outside the organization).

The Projective Mindset

Just as the word captures, projecting describes throwing or casting something onto an object. Which is exactly what traditional sales and marketing techniques try to do.

A projective mindset sees customers as objects to be interrupted and persuaded to buy stuff. It relies on f-words (facts, figures and features) to appeal to one’s logic and reasoning.

Projective selling and marketing focuses exclusively on the thing being sold.

I recently read this on a sales training website:

Your customer or prospect needs your products or services. Explain this to him and make the decision for him.”

That’s projective thinking. I think we’re on this earth for a higher purpose than that, don’t you?

The Expressive Mindset

This is a welcome shift away from the projective mindset. However, this mindset is still self-oriented.

An expressive mindset seeks to use personal narrative to share feeling and meaning. The thinking is that if prospects like and trust you, they’ll do business with you. Which is a nice idea, but extremely unreliable in the white noise of markets.

Expressive selling and marketing typically focuses on the mission of the organization. But this approach tends not to connect the organization’s purpose with the story prospects tell themselves.

Hospitals are notorious expressive marketers. Here are some typical hospital messages:

“We care more about what matters most.”
“And you thought we couldn’t get any closer to our patients.”
“Our patients gave us a thorough check-up. Here are the results.”

See how they’re all about the organization? That’s the expressive mindset.

The Connective Mindset

I believe the connective mindset is the Promised Land of organizational brands and cultures. It’s what I will practice and preach the rest of my career. Unless an even bigger idea comes along!

A connective mindset is an others-oriented perspective that finds and creates experiences that give value to others through a shared purpose. It treats people as human beings. It invites participation. It looks for ways to help others get functional, emotional and relational jobs done in their lives.

Rather than focusing on the organization or thing being sold, this mindset uses connective storytelling to propel people toward participation.

The Grateful Dead were connective agents. And they empowered fans to be connective agents too.

Acumen is a connective agent, bringing together investors and emerging world entrepreneurs through patient capital.

Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, was a connective agent. She blended business and activism in a way never before seen.

Which Mindset Are You?

You can identify connectives through their stories, because they aren’t about them. They’re about the people they serve and those like them.

The connective mindset is like an extension cord. It sees wall sockets and electronic devices and appliances, and seeks to carry power from one to the other.

The connective mindset is like a poet who sees similarities among dissimilar people or things and connects them through creative use of language.

The connective mindset is like the artist who says the unsaid and hears the unheard.

In a world full of noise coming from the projections and expressions of others, connecting people with themselves, others and resources is a powerful gift.

I invite you to practice the connective mindset.

It continues to breathe new life into me and my professional work. And I hope it will do the same for you.

(Image above by Wei Chen on Flickr.)

The Job of Every Web Page

Every person I’ve worked with on a website or landing page tells their self a story — a story about what they think the page or site is supposed to be.

Typically, that story is about what their organization ought to communicate. But the organization’s website isn’t intended for the organization, right?

Start with these questions:

What job should our home page do for the right visitor?

Answer that question. Then make sure the home page does that job.

What job should our about page do for the right visitor?

Answer that question. Then make sure your about page does that job.

What job should this landing page do for the right prospect?

Answer that question. Then make sure it does that job.

What job should this email do for the right lead?

Answer that question. Then make sure it does that job.

What job should this social media update do for the right person?

Answer that question. Then make sure it does that job.

Everything you communicate should do a job — a job that connects you and your organization with the people you’re hoping to serve.

Your job is to figure out what that job should be.

An Introduction to Connective Storytelling

“Connective storytelling” is a phrase I use to describe stories that are designed to connect people (and organizations) through a shared purpose.

Most organizations don’t leverage connective storytelling. They use what I call “projective selling.”

Projective selling describes the traditional approach of hard-selling features and benefits. It presents logical arguments that compare and contrast one solution over another.

The problem with this approach is simple: We don’t make logical decisions. We first make decisions emotionally, then use logic and reason to justify the decision we’ve made.

With projective selling, an organization’s sales and marketing messages are all about the company and its solution. Even customer testimonials are all about how great the organization is.

Projective Selling Gone Wrong

Dalton Whitfield Georgia — This is a screenshot of the home page for the convention & visitors’ bureau in my hometown. Ready to book your trip?

A great place to observe projective selling at its worst is through small town convention and visitor bureaus, as well as their chambers of commerce. You can literally sense the locals pouring their hometown pride into the web copy.

But, as is the case in my childhood hometown, do you really want to visit a town still fighting the Civil War on an outdated website?

I don’t care what locals think about the town. I care what people like me think about the town. I care about the quality of schools (whose rankings I can Google), healthcare (whose safety and outcomes I can Google) and access to activities (which I can also Google).

Tell me something I can’t discover online. Tell me a story that captures the people and spirit of the town. One like this one on Huntsville, Alabama.

With connective storytelling, an organization’s content is all about the buyer’s experience. All about the job they need done, including the functional, emotional and relational reasons for getting that job done.

This approach shares real stories about real people — including their triumphs AND struggles.

“So What Do You Do?”

No matter who you meet, or where, one of the first things people ask you about is what you do, right?

Imagine you’ve just asked me that question. Here’s what you’d expect me to say:

I head marketing and content strategy for one of the nation’s largest healthcare staffing companies.”

But there are two big problems with this approach. First, it is forgettable. Plus, it puts me in a box in your mind. “Oh, you’re a marketer,” you might think. You tell yourself a story about marketing types. And it allows you to project your feelings and beliefs onto me — good, bad or indifferent.

This approach also has me projecting my identity onto you — my facts-only response assumes you know what my title and industry mean and you actually care. When, in reality, you don’t.

Here’s how I would answer that question in a connective way:

Many organizations struggle to get the word out about what they do. But the problem isn’t their marketing or sales. It goes much deeper inside their organization and markets. I help organizations transform the way they connect with those they serve — starting with the story they tell and live.”

See the difference? The projective approach is oriented around me — my title and organization. The connective approach is oriented around a shared purpose — the need to get the word out.

It invites you into my story. And offers me a gateway into yours.

Would You Like Me Tell You All About Me? Or About Someone Like You?

As you prepare your next sales or marketing email, phone call, presentation, RFP, landing page or whatever, ask yourself this question: Are we projecting what WE want onto this prospect in an attempt to sell them? Or are we trying to establish a connection through a shared purpose that leads us toward a relationship?

Which do you prefer? “Let me tell you about me?” Or “Let me tell you about someone like you?”

Let me know how I can help you with this. I think it’s a big idea. And I look forward to unpacking this in the months and years to come.

(Image by Bowen Chin on Flickr)