Relevance and fear
June 24th, 2008
Okay, so I’m thinking out loud here, and I want your reactions.
Not only is relevance a losing argument for associations, but in our zeal to heighten our members’ experience of relevance (or tap into their pre-existing feelings of personal irrelevance), we often engage in marketing conversations that employ fear-based language and scare tactics, and it is these very approaches that damage our capacity to create the inspiration and meaning we need to make our organizations attractive and sustainable.
In other words, it often feels as if the only way we can make the relevance case for our associations is to make our members feel inadequate, or at least less capable than they are. Our relevance comes at their expense, creating an artificial and unrealistic sense of their need for what we have to offer. It becomes a zero sum game. We win only when our members lose something, but we still see it as a gain.
Have you ever seen this dynamic play out in your organization? Please share your experiences and perspectives.
Entry Filed under: Principled Innovation Blog, What's New?, Social Media, Innovation, Associations, Extreme Makeover, The Association Innovator, Simplicity, We Have Always Done It That Way, Garage Memes
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