Principles of Mission - Based Marketing

For every mission-based marketing plan there are some overarching principles that all leadership teams, marketing professionals, and staff should adhere to. These are the general, operating tenets that lead a solid marketing strategy for any proactive organizations.

• Slow down and developing a strategic plan - Setting a plan allows a team to participate in mission based leadership. Decisions are based on a long-term goal verses a “plugging a dam” response to perceived emergencies. By having a clear defined strategy, organizations are less likely to be constantly reacting to emergencies and are more likely to stay the course.  Work smarter, not harder.

  

• Everybody is on the marketing team; everybody is on the planning team - in a small, privately-owned behavioral health program, every staff has a responsibility to market the company. Having an organization with a strong shared ethos allows all staff to have ownership of the success of the organization. By including staff in the planning of growth strategies, they are more likely to support change efforts.

  

Utilizing the Lippet-Knoster Model of Change, all agents need to be supplied with: vision, skills, incentives, resources, and an action plan in order to get behind a change effort. If any one piece of this process is neglected, the change effort is less likely to be successful.  By including all staff in the strategic process they walk into the change effort fully committed to the final change result.

Each member on the org chart should have specific responsibilities in the Marketing Plan. (i.e. Therapists enter “collateral contacts” into CRM; Owner calls referring professional when clients graduate, program staff shares photos, program directors manage Alumni Group) All working towards the goal of expanding the reach and impact of the organization.

• Activities need to be SMART - Every single goal or strategy in a program needs to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable. Relevant, and Time-Based. Although this tool is often used in a therapeutic model, SMART goals actually come from the world of strategic planning and were then integrated into therapeutic relationships. By utilizing this technique, each activity has an intentional trajectory with a measurable outcome.

• It takes a long time to turn an elephant - Every strategic change takes at least 6 months to gain traction. Utilizing data helps a team see incremental change while waiting for the big pivot to happen.

• Success is the best marketing - offering the BEST services and the BEST communication is the easiest way to market what you do. Ask staff and supporters to celebrate your success and spread the word. Do not change your “why” in order to attract clients. Change your “how”, but be steadfast in doing what you do best.

• Data informs marketing strategies - Utilize analytics, customer tracking systems and quantitative data to drive marketing strategies. Track what works and what doesn’t work. Utilize e-mail blasts, social posts, networking events to hone in on and harvest unique audiences and figure out “what’s working.” 

• Net Fishing vs. Bait Fishing - When you net fish, you throw out a huge net, but have to weed through the catch to get what you’re looking for. When you bait fish, you set one hook, but you catch exactly what you’re looking for. One is labor intensive on the back end, the other is labor intensive on the front end. Outreach should mirror this strategy. Pipeline should be filled in thirds: web-based leads (net fishing), trusted programs, professional referrers (bait fishing). This forms a funnel towards conversion,  from broad reach to focused networking. Each population needs its own strategy for outreach from tools for sorting through web leads to targeted networking of trusted educational consultants. In order to simplify broad outreach, utilize your tools (web leads, Facebook forms, mail chimp) to automate the front end of the  outreach so that you can spend more time focusing on “qualified” leads.

  

• Show up with a plan - To network, you need to hit the pavement in an intentional way. You need to actively attend activities with an eye on ROI (rate on investment). If an activity is costly in either money or time, it must have a high potential for reward. There needs to be an intentionality to where you are at the table. You need to be present and impactful in all the things you do out in the world.

• Build easy to pull levers - There will always be times when you have to build your pipeline quickly (an unexpected program transition, seasonal slow times, etc) A strategic organization should build systems during the good times so that they can easily pull those levers during bad times.  Well organized outreach lists, properly sorted e-mail blasts, low-cost Facebook ads are all systems that can be well maintained so that it’s easy to utilize them in emergent situations.