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What if Starbucks Marketed like a Rural Community
November 14th, 2008 by Mike Knutson
I’ve been interested in how rural communities welcome new residents and visitors for a long time now, and I recently found a video that can teach us something on the subject.
Before you watch it, let me admit that when I first viewed it, I was uncomfortable with its message that churches do a poor job of marketing themselves to new members. If you’re like me, you want your church to be more about faith than marketing strategies. But the more I watched the video, the more it spoke to me about how rural communities welcome new residents. I hope you’ll keep an open mind to that idea while you watch, and think about how the video might relate to your community.
I’m sure many viewers have opinions about the relationship between marketing and the church. If interests you, I’d encourage you to go to the site where I found the video and post your comments there. If, however, you are interested in how the video relates to new residents in rural communities, I hope you’ll read further, and then share your comments at the bottom.
How we welcome new residents
Does your rural community have a “welcome wagon” committee? That concept has been around for eons, but has tired as a means of engaging new members. Sometimes it’s the members of the welcoming committee who tire and don’t connect well with newcomers. Let me provide two examples.
- I once heard of a welcoming committee whose policy was to wait 6 months before greeting and distributing coupons to new residents. The reason stated was “we want to make sure these people are going to stick around first.” Hopefully, you recognize the futility of that argument.
- In another community, a twenty-something was welcomed into a community by a seventy-something widow. The initial pleasantries went well (i.e. — “Welcome, we’re so glad to have you.”); but turned disappointing when the twenty-something started asking questions. “Where do I go to meet other young people?” he asked. “What social events do young people attend?” These questions were answered with “I don’t really know” and “Well, there’s really not much here for young people.” While maybe true, the meeting might have gone better if the welcome committee was prepared to interact with a younger person.
Do people in your community create a sense of separateness with new residents by unintentionally staring at them? If you’ve gone into a small town café, you’ve probably experienced this. Everybody at the tables turns their heads to see who’s just walked in. If it’s someone they know, greetings usually follow; but if it’s someone who is new, everybody turns back to their meals without further interruption. Although not intended to ostracize, newcomers often feel that they are being singled out in these situations. Making matters worse is that this experience plays out in numerous other setting around town, multiplying its effect.
Does your community create situations like the “tip jar” scene where newcomers are being asked to donate (time, talents, or money) on their first day? This may apply more to new businesses than to residents, but both can create a sense of uneasiness with newcomers. Building a relationship should be the first priority, then the ask doesn’t feel so obligatory.
These are just a few of the examples provided by the video, and I’m sure readers have countless others. Whether you’re the “welcomed” or the “welcomer”, I hope you’ll share your thoughts. It’s the only way we’re going to see these actions in our lives.
Conclusion
So what’s the bottom line? In today’s world, people - especially young people - need to feel the authenticity of “the welcome”, regardless of what form it takes. It doesn’t matter what form the welcome comes in, the individuals need to connect and feel the sincerity of the welcome. In short, a friendly smile just isn’t enough anymore.
Tags: branding, marketing, new residents, social capital, welcome wagon
Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Rural, Rural Life | Comments (
2 )
November 19th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Whether we want to admit it or not, this post rings true for many of us. It immediately brought to mind a past recruitment meeting for a local youth group. At their very first meeting, we let them know that we would be starting our local fundraising and they would each need to raise XX amount of dollars. We also let the parents of these recruits know that we would need one of them to take leadership of these new recruits. You could see the parents immediately glaze over. It was no surprise when none of these individuals returned to the next meeting.
The unfortunate part was that we had been well intended. We just rolled on with our regular meeting without thinking of how it would be perceived by the “newcomers”. If we remember to make take a few steps back and try to see things for the perception of someone new to the community/organization, it is easy to make a few changes to make these individuals feel more welcome. Needless to say, we no longer combine our recruitment and fundraising meeting.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:46 am
Great point. And whether you like it or not, your group reflects on the community as a whole as well.
What I appreciated from your comments is that you recognized your mistake and attempted to change your behavior! Good job. Mike