Let's Paint the Town (or Map) Orange

Have you ever stopped and thought about why you respond the way you do to the messages around you? As a Gold Card member and avid star collector, Starbucks is my go-to for a great cup of coffee. Always has been since I can remember enjoying the brew. But why are we loyal to our favorite brands, places, or products?

Hi there, I am Amanda Young, and I would like to ask you to join my journey here over the next eight weeks as I attempt to take what might be considered complicated communication theories and explain them in a way you can apply in your daily life. 

I am currently a Troy University graduate student embarking on her very first class in Strategic Communications. Almost a decade ago, I received my B.F.A. in Graphic Design from Auburn University. I spent three years after graduation working in the publications unit for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System at Auburn. In 2013, I moved closer to the beautiful Gulf Coast and landed a job working for Feeding the Gulf Coast, a hunger-relief organization serving 24-counties throughout Alabama, Mississippi, and the Florida Panhandle. I was hired for my graphic design skills since the company was in the first stages of a rebrand. Back then, we were known as the Bay Area Food Bank. Outside of the Mobile (Bay Area), the name fell flat often; however, I will save our rebrand story for another post. 

Over the last six years, I have come to the understanding that design alone will not make a message successful. While I came into the job with the skills needed to make the company look great, I quickly learned (mostly through the rebranding process) that you must understand your market and know how to communicate with them if you want your message to be consumed. Thus, enters my quest for knowledge on how to fully understand communication and the processes needed to spread ideas, sell products, or engage advocates with our mission. 

Last week I met with our Direct Mail Marketing vendor to discuss our 2020 plan. In her package, she included the above map showing our service area and our market penetration. There is a lot of green. My first assumption, "wow, WE ARE KILLING IT, look at all that green!" 

~crickets

Yeah, look closely. Green is actually <1%. Ouch. 

So ego bruised and my pride deflated, I quickly realized we have a lot of work to do. And honestly, all that green means there is A LOT OF POTENTIAL, which brings me to my first theory of discussion on this blog—Diffusion of Innovation.

For those unfamiliar with this theory, the Diffusion of Innovation by Everett M. Rodgers, explains the process in which an idea (innovation) is spread (diffused) throughout a social network. In the process of persuading a group of people to adopt your idea, one must begin with recruiting leaders (innovators) to lead the charge. This group of risk-takers is always at the forefront of a thought revolution. These are your Steve Jobs of the world. They see the positive in the innovation and understand how it has the potential to change the world entirely. Only a handful (2.5%) of individuals will make up this group. Your second group, while still small (13.5%), are your opinion leaders. They have watched the innovators, done their fair share of Google research, and possibly even given the idea a trial run before fully adopting the innovation. After the opinion leaders are on board, this is the point in an idea where it spreads like fire. Think of the bandwagon pulling into town with a bull horn asking everyone to jump on or get left behind. At this point in the game, an idea has been accepted as positive, cool, necessary, a must-do, and will have two groups join in on the fun—early majority (34%) and late majority (34%). Once the bandwagon pulls out of town, those left behind who were either asleep, hiding under a rock, or a subscribed hipster would be considered the laggards (16%). 

As I was studying more about the theory this week, the Keto Diet came to mind. 

Working in the food bank, my coworkers and I struggle with a constant reminder of one thing—FOOD. We warn newcomers of the "Food Bank Forty." You know the increase in weight gain that plagues incoming first-year college students. It makes its return professionally. About a year ago my coworker decided she was going to try Keto (I will label her has an early adopter in this story), she was inspired by her husband who had recently lost several pounds (we will call him the innovator). The next few weeks, one by one, several coworkers joined the Keto diet train. I even dabbled it in for a week tempted by the thought of all the bacon and eggs I was allowed to enjoy. 

Then as the year progressed, more and more I saw Keto recipes, Keto suggestions on menus, Keto ingredients in special aisle-ends dedicated to making the diet more manageable. It was everywhere. I would say at this point you have at least heard of the diet and had the opportunity to decide whether or not it is right for you. One could argue that we are experiencing the early/late majority period of this trend. Undoubtedly, a new fad diet will come to market, and you will begin the process over again, aside from a few dedicated individuals or those just joining the no-carb party for the first time (laggards). 

Let us refer back to my market penetration map above. I am faced with a problem that ultimately has a solution concreted in a host of applied communication theories. For now, my thought will focus on how to engage mission advocates (my innovators) to carry the torch back into their communities and let people know that there is a way to end hunger and help people live a better, more nourished life. We cannot solve the problem alone and need active community partners to help us in our mission. 

I hope that as this journey continues, you will eventually see a map painted orange (if not red). I will share my findings along the way for now on a weekly basis. Be sure to find your way back to this blog by bookmarking: https://amanda-c-young.blogspot.com. Next week we will unpack the magic of Word of Mouth Marketing—with a fun example involving dancing fruit.