Sales. That’s what many people think about when they bring in somebody for marketing. It’s your job to get more people in the door, isn’t it? The struggle with the job of marketing is you can bring people in, but the quality of what they find is what get them to stay…or leave. And many potential customers value different things, so the RIGHT people have to wander towards you in the first place. Only half of it is up to you, then, right?

Maybe. Certainly, you won’t be able to influence everybody, but as Seth Godin speaks about often, marketing is as much about culture building as much as it is about selling the current state of things. In your strategy, imagine a desired community to work towards and make sure a large portion of your marketing is building around that. What you are aiming for as an organization may not be the majority in this moment, but in making it overt, you are calling the people who are attracted to that kind of culture in towards you. Those are the people who will help shift the group mindset into a force that can help make your organization’s aspirations a reality.