Promise More Happiness

One of my favorite projects recently was a brand messaging guide for an urban development organization in a midwestern capital city.

In their part of town, there's an avenue that has become a racial and economic dividing line. Some has been gentrified beyond recognition, and the rest has fallen into disrepair.

This organization works with community members and donors to buy up underutilized properties and transform them into businesses that benefit everyone - like mixed-use affordable housing and restaurants and parks.

But they're facing a problem that many of my clients face: only the people closest to their work really “get” it.

They have a core group of supporters, but can't connect with new audiences.

This is really really common with mission-driven businesses and organizations:

You see a problem that needs solving, a better way of doing things, and a hopeful vision for the future.

But the deeper you get, you forget all the little things that led you to care about it in the first place.

So you struggle to explain your mission and connect with people who don't necessarily see things the way you do.

That’s because you can't get attention based on mission alone: you have to promise more happiness than the alternative.

That principle came to me from Happy City: the book that sparked my passion for urban development and has a lot to say about getting everyday people onboard with social change.

The author says:

"People don't respond to campaigns based on guilt and fear. They have a hard time linking their actions to costs far in the future. Not even a world-class guilt trip will move us.

The result: a perfect calm of inaction. How can we change course when faced with such psychological barriers to action?

The solution lies in appealing to pure self-interest. Your solution has got to promise more happiness than the status quo.

It has got to be healthier, higher in status, and more fun than the alternative. It has got to lure us closer together rather than pushing us apart. It has got to reward people for making better choices.

The world-saving solution must ensure that the good choice and the happy choice can be the same."

The problem you’re working to solve might matter a lot.

But if you want to fold new people into your mission, you can’t lead with the problem.

You have to sell the transformation.

You’ll find your customers and supporters in people who want to solve the problem that you solve.

But you’ll also find advocates among people who can get behind that version of the future you offer.

And if you’re not clear on what that transformation is (or how to talk about it)...

Then ask me how I can help.