Value Communications – Helping You Win
What do Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair have in common with Unilever, BMW and Greenpeace? They have all used value communications to win people (or customers) over to their side.
It will not come as a surprise that different people look at things in different ways. Indeed, what may interest some, will be of little interest to others. Sometimes what you say or do can actually have the opposite impact you intended it to have and leave the person you have spoken to an opponent.
Now, for a long time in politics and in marketing, the different value groups in the UK, US, and countries throughout the world have been well known. Parties and corporations update their polling to make sure they know.
Who Are The Groups
Broadly put, there are three main groups in Society:
- Settlers are: socially conservative, concerned with the local, known, identity, belonging, and prefer trusted channels and known behaviours. They are wary of change and espouse discipline, are acquiescent, keeping to the rules and wanting a lead from authority.
- Propsectors want to acquire and display the symbols of success in everything they do. They want to make their lives better and be seen to succeed. They are a higher energy more fun seeking group. They are early adopters but not innovators, which involves social risk that they avoid.
- Pioneers are society’s scouts, testing and innovating, and always questioning. They are attracted not so much to signs of success but what is ‘interesting’ including ‘issues’. Some of them are strongly ethical believing that to make the world a better place they must be better people. Others are more relaxed and holistic and some are into ‘doing their own thing’. They are most at ease with change and most global in outlook of all the groups.
If you want to find out what group you belong to you can find out here ( http://cultdyn.co.uk//Process/indexAdagio.php)
Uses
Now, it has two immediate practical uses.
First, it helps you get a better understanding of what will drive your target audiences, and let you amend your language and argumentation accordingly.
Second, it helps you design your outreach with a view to the audiences; whether they be settlers, prospectors or pioneers. You’ll find out that different political groups fall into certain value groups. Also, it won’t be a surprise that many civil servants in Brussels are likely to fall into the pioneers group.
There is a good study from the IPPR (http://cultdyn.co.uk//ART067736u/IPPR_consumer_power.pdf) on how the language of NGOs on climate change in the UK did not work and was in fact counterproductive.
If you are interested in value communication, you should read the excellent work of Chris Rose
http://threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org
Whose Using This
Now, there are some masters of this field. Frank Lutz (http://www.luntzglobal.com) has been influential Republican pollsters and adviser. He’s been at the forefront of reframing public debate in the US.
Another, is Lord Rennard, the former UK Liberal Democrat Campaign Director who became known as a svenegali for winning by-elections in the UK. He told me his secret was to use value communication to win a raft of by election victories. It enabled candidates to appeal to each of the three value groups by speaking to them in their language and talking about their audiences values.
At the end of the day, as with a recent client, it is about putting your case with the language and values that the person you are trying to persuade thinks. Your job is easy. Find out what group they belong to, stay on value message for that meeting, and be ready to switch into the other two value sets for your next meeting. Three briefing notes, rather than one, is not a high price for winning.