| Persuasion, seduction, negotiation, and fear have | | | | companies have written mission statements, few |
| lost their effectiveness to clinch the deal, close | | | | live them. Many mission statements boast noble |
| the sale, and make cash registers ring. Whiter, | | | | virtues, principles, and intentions, but it's really |
| brighter, faster, and better -- while intriguing -- no | | | | profits that steer the corporate ship, and |
| longer motivate consumers to act. Today's savvy | | | | constituents know it. Smart companies realize that |
| marketers are shifting strategies to more | | | | when they put employees, customers, and |
| strongly connect with customers; they are | | | | society first, profits follow. By creating excellent |
| harnessing the power of the four Ps of high | | | | work environments, they attract the best |
| voltage communications™ -- personhood, | | | | employees, and consumers will choose them over |
| purpose, persona, and presence -- to promote | | | | competitors if they offer hiqh-quality products and |
| their products, services, issues, and organizations. | | | | excellent service at a good price, and if they are |
| Sick of the impersonal quality of much of their | | | | socially responsible. The last few years have seen |
| daily lives, Americans are seeking to reconnect | | | | an explosion in the field of corporate social |
| and build stronger relationships. "In all walks of life, | | | | responsibility. Today, almost all big companies have |
| we see a trend toward wanting to convert | | | | specific guidelines on social responsibility and are |
| impersonal transactions into personal relations," | | | | consciously engaged in efforts to give back to |
| reports famed futurist Daniel Yankelovich. | | | | society. |
| Connection, or the feeling of belonging, is one of | | | | Some call marketing with purpose "cause |
| the top three human needs, according to | | | | branding," and one of the country's leading |
| psychologist Abraham Maslow, after physical | | | | experts on cause branding is Carol Cone, |
| needs. In our well-fed society, almost all of our | | | | president of Boston-based Cone, Inc. |
| physiological and safety needs are being met, but | | | | "As cause branding continues to evolve, so too |
| for many the need for connection is not, and | | | | will the public's expectations about the role |
| smart businesses are responding. | | | | companies play in addressing societal needs. In the |
| The image of business today is being altered, | | | | new reality, companies must implement |
| says futurist Faith Popcorn in her bestselling book | | | | meaningful, substantive programs around social |
| Clicking. "(Business will be) no longer seen as a war | | | | issues to bring their values to life, articulate their |
| to be won by trouncing the competition, but | | | | ‘soul', and answer the question, ‘What do |
| viewed as a complicated mosaic to be developed, | | | | you stand for?" Cone says. |
| one relationship at a time." Sharp marketers forge | | | | Those that do put their money where their |
| stronger connections with their constituents by | | | | mission is -- such as the BodyShop, Ben & Jerry's, |
| building deeper relationships that result in trust, and | | | | and Patogonia - are richly rewarded by |
| this trust is built on the four Ps of high voltage | | | | consumers. |
| communications™. | | | | Persona: Persona describes the masks we wear, |
| Personhood: Personhood requires companies to be | | | | or the image we assume, in order to facilitate |
| self-aware, self-accepting, and self-disclosing. In | | | | communication. In business, we call persona |
| order to be self-aware and accepting, many | | | | "branding." |
| marketers use a tool called "gap analysis." During a | | | | "Branding is merely establishing a relationship," |
| gap analysis, research is conducted to determine | | | | says Charlotte Beers, former head of two of |
| if a company's current reputation matches its | | | | advertising's most prestigous brands, Ogilvy & |
| desired one: if it doesn't, further research is | | | | Mather and J. Walter Thompson. Much has been |
| required to find out why. If it's because of | | | | written on branding and for good reason. Without |
| consumers' perceptions, marketers know they | | | | it, a product, service, issue, or organization is no |
| must do a better job of promoting, and if it's a | | | | different than its competition and will die. But |
| real problem, they understand changes must be | | | | futurist Melinda Davis predicts that the power of |
| made. | | | | the brand is waning. In its place, she says |
| Personhood also requires being authentic and after | | | | consumers will come to depend on new |
| too many recent corporate scandals, being | | | | meta-brands that are idenified with a creed, or |
| authentic has never been so important. | | | | marketplace manifesto, and not tied into one |
| "In the current environment, it's time for brands | | | | product category. Davis sites Oprah Winfrey as |
| to rethink their basic brand foundation and | | | | an example of this emerging trend. Women |
| consider adding a pillar around trust. They must | | | | interested in bettering themselves turn to Oprah |
| clarify their company's values and synchronize | | | | for advice on a wide variety of issues from what |
| them with their customers' values," says Ed Keller, | | | | recipe to cook to the right books to read. The |
| CEO of RoperASW, one the world's most | | | | Oprah meta-brand is also an excellent example of |
| respected market research firms. | | | | high voltage marketing™ because it possesses |
| Smart marketers earn consumers' trust when | | | | all four Ps: personhood, purpose, persona, and |
| they are self-disclosing and/or willing to make fun | | | | presence. |
| of themselves. A good example is when Jaguar | | | | Presence: Presence refers to the way a company |
| confronted its reputation for mechanical problems | | | | operates in the world including how it |
| and turned its business around by promoting, "We | | | | communicates with constituents. In the past, |
| kept what you loved. The rest is history." By | | | | marketers depended primarily on one-way |
| putting a face on a product, issue, or organization, | | | | communication vehicles such as advertising and |
| high voltage marketers™ use personhood to | | | | publicity. No longer. |
| personalize their products. But a pretty face is not | | | | Consumers want a say. "(They) are hoping to |
| enough; they are also using storytelling. "The | | | | connect, to be heard, to be found - at least, to |
| power of the story is upstaging the power of the | | | | be seen - in a world that makes us feel |
| sound bite in advertising," writes Melinda Davis in | | | | increasingly invisible," writes Davis. |
| her book The New Culture of Desire: Five Radical | | | | Experts suggest using two-way communications |
| New Strategies That Will Change Your Business | | | | vehicles such as word-of-mouth marketing, the |
| and Your Life. A good story is more personal and | | | | Internet, and stronger consumer relations |
| credible than a contrived advertising slogan, and | | | | programs to dialog with consumers and build |
| we will remember a story long after a catchy | | | | critical relationships. |
| tagline has faded from our memory. | | | | Personhood, purpose, persona, and presence are |
| Dave Thomas of Wendy's, Scottie Mayfield of | | | | not linear, but interrelated. Each depends on the |
| Mayfield Dairies, and Chrysler's Lee Ioccoa are | | | | other. Personhood, purpose, persona, and |
| good examples of how marketers have used | | | | presence can be pictured as the four points of a |
| personhood to promote products. These CEOs | | | | cross that is contained within a circle. Personhood |
| are comfortable talking about themselves and are | | | | is at the bottom of the cross where it grounds it; |
| able to connect their stories to customers' needs. | | | | purpose is at the top. On the far left, resides |
| Personalizing and storytelling work because they | | | | persona, and on the opposite axis is presence. |
| help people form emotional bonds with the | | | | Where the four points join in the middle, high |
| company and its products. | | | | voltage communications™ take place, and it is |
| Purpose: Most companies express purpose in the | | | | here that we are at our most powerful as |
| form of a mission statement, and while many | | | | marketers. |