Leaders generally have a vision that drives them, but selling people on it is not always straightforward. What one person can see clearly is not usually shared by the next person.
When you are marketing your vision, you need to be mindful of your communications and adjust, be it to for staff, clients, a board, financial supporters or just family and friends. What you share and how you share it will need to be different for each audience and indeed you may have subsets of each of those audiences.
Successful leaders don’t just have a vision, they lead you there. Sometimes that can mean getting your hands dirty and opening the door for people. Other times it can mean recognising your own limitations so power can be transferred to those who have the ability to deliver.
The point is you need to take people on a journey and not plant yourself too far in front of them. On a practical level I see this regularly with brands who see themselves as ‘innovative’ and wonder why some or all of their audiences are not as excited as them.
Let me explain…
The AI marketing dilemma
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer something of science fiction, it is real. The fact is it scares a lot of people. They think they will lose their jobs, their independence and thanks to a number of movies, fear the robots will take over the world.
I am working with an organisation right now who have the ability to deliver AI and are grappling with the way to market it. There is so much potential, but it will need to be a slow realisation for people to buy into it. Small uses, small wins by marketing to select groups will start the process.
AI has the ability to save us time and money. It will never replace the human element and our ability to interpret, adapt and respond with emotion. Easy to say – but it needs a long-term marketing plan to sell it. Switching AI on to its full potential right now will never work. It is a vision that is too far ahead of the audience. Baby steps are needed.
The upside is to the bottom line
When you look at Australia, we have long been one of the fastest nations to take up new technology. We love to have the latest and greatest. This is great for business.
Instead of giving everybody everything all at once, you stage over a longer period. You tempt people slowly with each update. You sell each new version, feeding on our emotional need to upgrade.
Mobile phones are the perfect example…the camera is always getting better, and extra features are always improving. The screen is always changing. They never make a massive leap, there is always just another slightly improved version. Ultimately it is still doing what it has done for some time, but every two years on average we join the ‘upgrade train’.
Don’t oversell your vision – take it slow, because it is not just better marketing, it is better business.
Better Biz Feature – Andrew Fox
Featuring one of our amazing Better Biz guests, Andrew Fox as he talked about how to deal with the pressure of a $10,000,000 fine if he failed to deliver a particular project.
