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In my last post, I outlined why you have to market your program.
Marketing is a critical component of any successful business. Because your program must compete in the open market, you need to embrace many aspects of a successful marketing program as a Culture Coordinator. Like it or not, marketing is a part of what we must do to succeed.
A great marketing system has many components, and all of those components work toward one goal: casting a vision of how the product will make your life better. The most successful marketing campaigns do not focus on the features and specifications of the product. Instead, they focus on how the product will make your life better.
My favorite example is a wireless Beats headphones ad featuring AJ Green.
I was sitting with my wife when I first saw that ad, and I immediately said, “That’s what keeps happening to me in the morning when I am working out listening to podcasts.” The ad, part of a larger marketing plan, cast a compelling vision of wireless workouts that let me move freely while listening to my favorite podcasts. Do you think I bought a pair of those headphones? Of course, I did because I’m just like AJ Green.
Here’s the question: Does your program cast a compelling vision in the same way? I am a huge fan of the company StoryBrand and its story-style marketing framework. In their framework, they offer three questions your athletes must know the answer to:
- What does your program offer your athletes?
- How will your program make their lives better?
- What do they need to do to be a part of your program?
I will be the first to acknowledge that too many coaches have taken this approach too far and essentially created programs that worship their athletes. One of the key ingredients you must bring to this marketing recipe is your wisdom and expertise on what is truly best for your athletes.
Far too many coaches have turned recruiting new athletes and retaining old athletes into a marketing chameleon dance where they change who they are for each athlete.
Your program needs to have a particular marketing pitch. That pitch needs to be specific enough that some folks won’t like it, and that’s ok. The key is casting a vision that will compel the right athletes at the correct times.
The reason we’ve fallen into the trap of chameleon marketing for our programs is that we don’t take the time to shape a genuinely compelling vision.
Your program needs a specific ambition that leads to an ambition story. People connect with stories, and as the Culture Coordinator, you have to open a story loop in the minds of your athletes that they want to close with a successful, happy ending. Your program needs an ambition statement and an ambition story that become your compelling vision that you will cast to anyone who will listen.
Learning how to write your program’s ambition statement and ambition story is the topic for this month’s members-only coaching session.