How to Leverage Emotion in Your Content Marketing Strategy

I have been working in the marketing field for the past 11 years. In all these years, I have come to realize, one thing is that you have to go the extra mile to boost your sales.

Marketers follow various methods to drive their sales. But every marketing strategy is carefully based on what your customers think.

To be a successful marketer and boost your sales, you need to first understand the psychology of your buyers.

What I mean is the behavior of the buyers are influenced by certain emotional triggers. I am sure you understand how emotions affect humans.

Marketers leverage the power of emotions to lure buyers to their website and make sales.

Every decision made by the consumer is backed by emotions. This is why it is important to understand psychology and human behavior. That’s the key to success in any business.

Every human being, including you and me, have the same emotional triggers. Once we figure out these psychological triggers, we can craft powerful digital marketing strategies to boost sales.

Speaking of emotional triggers, I am not asking you to get your customers angry. Driving them emotionally means doing it positively and not the other way round.

To help you out, I am going to show you how different emotions work with customers. We will make marketing strategies based on these emotions to get the most out of it.

Here’s what you have to know about emotionally driving your customers to increase sales.

What is emotion?

Before getting into the details, let me first explain what emotion is. This is just to give you a better understanding of the topic that we are going to discuss in the next section.

As human beings, we are driven by different types of emotions. These emotions have a strong influence on our daily lives. It influences the way we live and interact with others.

To put it in the right way, we are ruled by these emotions. Every decision we take and the choices we make are influenced by our emotions. This applies to every single soul in this world.

Emotional triggers can be words, people, opinions, situations, or anything else that can provoke an intense emotional reaction within us.

The most common emotional triggers that we all experience include:

  • Happiness
  • Anger
  • Sadness
  • Fear

As a marketer, we need to leverage these emotions to get more customers to buy from us. Understanding your customers is important.

Why use emotions in content marketing?

Now coming to the main question, why use emotions in content marketing.

Since the beginning of marketing, marketers have been leveraging emotions to sell their products and services.

Why shouldn’t they?

After all, it’s the most effective way of getting customers. Once you learn the art of leveraging emotions, you can get as many customers as you want.

However, that doesn’t mean you will use it negatively or exploit your customers.

In the marketing world, that’s a big no, no.

You see human beings are emotional creatures. Our decision-making ability is based on emotions.

So, if you try to reach your content to your audience through a rational approach, chances are that it will fall flat.

This is why expert marketers leverage the power of emotions for generations. They use it to leave a strong impact on the customers.

Even if content marketing is not used directly to sell products, it helps you to generate sales.

There are many marketers including me, who use content marketing to educate the audience about the products and services we offer. This is one of the very important aspects of content marketing.

However, people won’t come and purchase things from you just because you are educating them about your product and services. You need to do something more than that.

If you think product features and specs will make it happen, then you are wrong.

They will make a move only when you can convince them that your product will help them solve a problem or guide them to reach their goals.

This is where you need to pull the strings of emotions. Emotions play a role greater than you can imagine when it comes to buying decisions.

People are very much emotional about their problems and they will continue to look for a solution for them.

As a marketer, you must convince that your product and service is the solution they are looking for. You can optimize your digital marketing campaign by using emotions.

After all, the emotional connection with your customers helps you to sell better.

Six Marketing Strategies To Leverage Emotions To Drive Sales

In this section, I am going to give you six marketing techniques to leverage emotions to boost your sales.

Take note of these pointers to benefit your business.

1. Fear 

Fear is considered to be one of the most powerful emotions. You can leverage the power of fear in your sale in different ways.

The best way to do it is to create the fear of missing out on something or FOMO.

In this digital world, people feel FOMO more than ever. Here are some statistics to prove my point.

Majority of social media users believe that they need to monitor their social accounts regularly because they are constantly living in fear of missing out on something.

They are so much affected by it that it’s affecting their buying behaviors.

Now the question is how to use this emotion in your marketing strategy?

I would suggest you create ads, video and email campaigns for your website and social profiles that are time-sensitive.

For example, you must have seen many of the marketers running a flash sale for the next five hours. This type of marketing strategy causes buyers to act fast so that they don’t miss out on the sale.

A good example is Zulily.

They target busy moms, offering items like baby clothes and baby accessories at significantly reduced prices for a limited period of time.

The fear of missing the sale will make busy mums purchase immediately from the Zulily website. This will fulfill their business goals.

You can also try other ways to create fear based on the type of products and services you offer.

For example, you sell home video security systems. In this case, you can create an ad showing how your products can save their house from a home invasion.

Below is a good example from Ring.com

This will help you create fear in the minds of the customers. They may come to believe that their current home security system is not enough to prevent a burglary. As a result, they will come and purchase your product.

So that’s how you can use fear to draw customers to your website. First, consider the product and services you are selling and then think of the best way to use fear.

2. Greed

We are all greedy by nature, wouldn’t you agree? So why not make the customers greedier to buy your products and services?

Think of the times when you saw the offer Buy One, Get One and made the purchase. Why did you do so? Out of greed.

Here’s a great example from the Amazon website:

Just because a person is driven by his/her greed, doesn’t mean the person is bad. It’s just that they want more of something and unless they get it, they will not be satisfied.

It’s not only the buyers but even we marketers are greedy. Don’t we want more customers all the time?

You see the more, the merrier.

As a marketer, you should take advantage of this to make more sales.

Here are some ideas using which you can tap this emotion.

  • You should offer items at discounted rates. No person doesn’t love to buy discounted products while shopping.
  • You can also try the BOGO (buy one, get one) technique to lure more customers to your website.
  • You should try to come up with more such ideas to use the power of greed in your buyers.

3. Belonging

We all have a strong desire to belong to something. It can be anything, a group, community, social network, etc.

No matter what you call it sometimes customers buy a particular product or service because they want to show a sense of belonging.

The need to belong is very powerful and you can make good use of it in your marketing strategies.

What I am trying to say is that you should use your brand to establish a community among your buyers.

Every customer buying from you has something in common. Your work is to figure out these commonalities to create a community.

This will help you to create a sense of belonging to drive sales.

For example, your company sells bodybuilding products. Your customers are buying from you because they have something in common.

They know the things that are important for bodybuilding, the enhancing supplement they need and so on. You can create a forum where your customers can share their personal stories. This will build a sense of community in them.

Below is a good example of this concept from bodybuilding industry:

The website hosts a community of people who all share the common goal of online fitness.

4. Build trust

If you want to play in the long run then earning the trust of your customers is very much important.

People buy from you because they trust your products and services. If trust is not there, they will simply move on to some other brand.

The best way to earn trust is by using a customer loyalty program.

Loyal customers are likely to make more purchases from you. But you need to be completely transparent with them.

Things like hidden costs and extra fees destroy the trust of your buyers.

When your customers buy from you, they trust you with their details like the card number. Unless you are successful in convincing them that your company is trustworthy, they will not make a move from their end.

You need to take appropriate steps to keep your customer’s information protected. You should arrange for a secure checkout process, easy access to customer service and also provide free returns.

Once you earn their trust, it will be much easier for you to boost your sales.

Starbucks is a perfect example of this program in action. In order to earn loyalty points, you must order or pay with the Starbucks app.

5. Guilt

Guilt is yet another very powerful emotion you can use to drive your sales.

You need to create marketing messages that will make the customers feel guilty.

For example, charities use this technique in their ads to make you guilty over an evening meal or glass of beer.

Not only charities but even other brands in the industry can use guilt to get more sales.

Below is a good example of a guilt ad that was used by Scoro to advertise their productivity hacks.

The ad makes you think if you’re really contributing enough.

6. Remove frustration

Frustration is not the emotion that you want to associate your brand with.

You need to make sure that your customers have a smooth experience with your brand.

For example, if they are trying to buy a product from your site, they should be able to do it without any hassle.

Similarly, you should also provide them with dedicated customer service so that they can complain about their grievances.

A brand that fails to provide all of this to the customers, fails as a brand. That’s because this leads to frustration and you end up losing customers.

All successful brands out there take necessary steps to give their customers wonderful shopping experience with them. You should do it too, to get more customers to your site.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, we know that emotion plays a big role in driving sales. As a marketer, you need to leverage emotional triggers in your marketing strategies.

The marketing strategies or techniques you make should be based on the type of product and services you are selling.

Using emotions to sell your products is not wrong unless you are influencing your customers in a negative way or exploiting them.

If you can use emotions the right way, you can do wonder for your brands. It will not only get you more customers but will also increase your sales.

If you are new in the marketing world, you should learn the art of leveraging emotions in your marketing strategies. Now that you know the common emotions to trigger, it should be easier for you to create your marketing campaigns.

You can even take ideas from other brands, how they are doing it.

If you found this article useful, then do let me know in the comments.

If you want to boost your sales then you should try out these strategies.

Share the article, so that others can benefit from it as well.

JV Crum III: What it Takes to Scale a 7-Figure Meaningful Podcast

Listen to our interview with JV Crum III!

Subscribe to this show on Spotify  |  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  Soundcloud

If you want to make a difference in the world with a podcast, how do you make it profitable? We asked serial entrepreneur and podcasting expert, JV Crum, who reaches over 12 million listeners.

He became a self-made millionaire in his twenties and has been an entrepreneur since the age of 4 when he set up his pup tent to sell “hand-squeezed tangerine juice” to high-school students when they got off the bus. At the age of 5, he decided the answer to his family’s often rocky and uncertain financial life, was to grow up to become a millionaire. Like many kids who grew up with a lot of financial certainty, he dreamed of a different life.

By the age of twenty-five, he had realized that dream and celebrated by purchasing a new luxury home on the water and his first Mercedes. He had the “American Dream”.

Life was great, except for one thing. J V quickly realized that his childhood dream had not included the truly important parts of life, such as feeling a deep sense of purpose and fulfilment. Although he had all the trappings of wealth and success on the outside, he felt empty inside.

This awareness led him to two decades of searching, which included reading extensively in the areas of both human potential and spirituality, attending programs such as Tony Robbins, and participating in spiritual retreats. J V wanted more and was determined to discover the answer to what was missing in his life.

Fast-forward time and now, he devotes himself to helping others find their dream by growing a business that combines making profits with creating an important difference for their customers and our world. His goal is to help you to create a business that affords you true financial freedom and a life that provides you the deep fulfillment you seek. All Conscious Millionaire trainings, programs, and coaching are designed to guide you forward on your millionaire path.

Named by Inc Magazine as one of the Top 13 Business Shows, JV Crum III hosts the Conscious Millionaire Podcast and Radio Network with over 12 Million Listeners and over 2,000 episodes heard in 190 countries.

JV is a #1 best-selling author, speaker, mindset and strategy coach, and serial-entrepreneur who made his First Million at age 25.

You can learn more about JV and his show at:

Conscious Millionaire Podcast/Show:

http://ConsciousMillionaireShow.com/

Conscious Millionaire Website:

http://ConsciousMillionaire.com/

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Transcription of Interview (Transcribed by Otter.ca; there may be errors.)

Adam G. Force 0:11
Hey, what’s going on everybody? Welcome back to the Change Creator podcast show. excited to have you here. hope everybody is doing well. If you missed last, the last episode, it was with Jennifer priest. She’s a rock star in the Pinterest space. So we spoke a lot about a lot of good stuff in there. And I think you’ll get a lot of good insights, not just about Pinterest, but marketing in general, too. I think you’ll get some good golden nuggets. So swing back through if you haven’t heard it yet. And check that out and you have some time. Today we’re gonna be talking with Jay v Crum. He is the host of the conscious millionaire show with over 12 million monthly listeners in 190 countries. Season Six of his network has a total of over 2000 episodes, which is really impressive. And he’s been on top 100 many, many times. He’s a serial entrepreneur, speaker, coach, all that good stuff. Also, he’s authored book, which was a number one bestseller on Amazon when it launched called conscious millionaire grow your business by making a difference. So we’re going to learn a lot from jv crom will tap into his experience in podcasting and speaking and just in general his business expertise on scaling up to that seven figure space. Alright guys, so don’t forget to stop by Change Creator calm we have a lot of fresh content flowing out there and you could still get on the waitlist for the captivate method, our community of incredible entrepreneurs, this just might be the perfect tribe for you to get involved with community is just so powerful and growing our businesses, you really just you can’t see that value until you get in there and you start getting all the insights, feedback, networking, we’ve literally had people start new products and companies together once they’ve met, which is really exciting to see. And they’re just scaling up their businesses through the power of their marketing which is grounded in really great storytelling. So if you’re ready to supercharge your marketing with stories Telling so you could build trust and get more of those buyers. Stop by and sign up on that waitlist. Alright guys, we’re gonna dive into this conversation with JV. But don’t forget to stop by iTunes, leave us a review. We really appreciate your support and your feedback. Hey,

Adam G. Force 2:18
JV Welcome to the Change Creator podcast show how you doing today?

JV Crumm III 2:23
Yeah, well, I’m excited to be here, Adam. You know, we were talking chatting before we started that I recently was in Aspen, I live in Denver and I had a really not good fall on black ice and I have torn and my left tricep and it seems impossible but actually pulled some of the bone out from my left elbow. And so the only thing I can say is however that sounds to you, that’s how it feels

Adam G. Force 2:52
terrible.

JV Crumm III 2:53
And I’m in a six week brace to keep my arm, left arm straight. So You know, little things like cooking. Like all of a sudden, I have really sharp shears because I can’t hold a fork and then cut the meat. And I don’t I’m just saying, I want to assure you if you’ve never tried to do that it’s really hard to dry yourself when you get out of the shower with one arm. Yeah, I’m like, yeah, it’s like all these things that we take for granted. Now, what’s really interesting is that, you know, within about a half hour almost fainted. Somebody helped me to a chair, you know, got me into a restaurant, and, you know, from the impact of that, but then as soon as I started processing it, I was immediately grateful, even amid all of this, because I would gosh, you had really very little control over what happened. You know, it’s like all of a sudden, I was on an ice skating rink that was slightly wet and in, you know, I could have broken my hip, I could have broken, you know, an ankle or wrist or dislocated my shoulder or worse hit my head and god knows what would have happened from that. You Some going not pleasant. I’m not you know, I’m not saying it’s not it’s pleasant, but I’m actually grateful that it’s not other things you know, because and and of course now we’re having snowstorms and I’m like paranoid to walk on the snow. Yeah, you know out in the parking lot cuz I’m going to Oh, that’s how it all happened to begin with I’m going every step is very carefully placed right now

Adam G. Force 4:26
I don’t blame you gotta be careful and I I’ve had my fair share of broken bones and issues so I know the struggle of dealing with it and your everyday habits in life change.

JV Crumm III 4:38
Yeah, we really don’t even think about how how much life is how easy life actually is until all of a sudden, you know, half of your capacity to pick up things and everything. Yeah, just bringing the groceries in this week. It wasn’t that I bought the whole whole foods. It was just that you can only pick up one bag in the right arm, bring it in, go. packet and Heather bag. So, you know, it’s been it’s been an interesting thing. But you know, this is part of being an entrepreneur because all this stuff happens in your business as well. And I think the most important thing to remember about being an entrepreneur is that we’re human beings. We’re people going through this experience people with families or children or, you know, spouses and, and all these different things, and then something happens like this. And you go, Wow, this was, believe me this week was, you know, I think we might put it at 30% productive for the whole week. You know, but it is what it is, it is what it is. And I said, You’re sleeping 12 hours a night because my body just needs to rest. But this is part of being an entrepreneur because all of this has to be integrated in you still have sales cycles, you still have, you know, in my case, six days a week of podcasts and God we’re four months ahead, you know, but you know, clients to meet with meet next week. I’ve got a meet up to go to You still have to figure all that out? Yeah, absolutely.

Adam G. Force 6:04
Hey, let me I want to just give everybody a quick rundown. You know, just to add on to the intro and stuff and get a little more of a sense, just, you know why you got into podcasting, and how you scaled it to such a significant size. So I just maybe just give a little background of where that all started.

JV Crumm III 6:25
Yeah, so I actually started on the other side of the microphone. I was at a conference in 2013. I met Jamie masters who has Eventual Millionaire and this was June and she says, Oh, I’d like to interview you. And I, you know, barely knew what a podcast was. And I said, Yep, sounds great. And then she interviewed me and it came out in September, and within three days, I had phone calls. I must have given out my phone number something at rate and had $23,000 with a coaching business and I said to myself, well, shall we Like I need to be home more podcasts. Yeah. And so I reached out and found podcasts and got on podcasts. And then there’s a summit that no longer exists called New Media summit. And it was really great. It was always the first weekend of January in Las Vegas. And I went to that, and I had my book that was coming out in the fall of 2014. So I had prepared what are called pre EPUB samples, and it’s ones that are sent to publishers, and reviewers and the back of it is the back is different for the rest of the books the same. So I took a case of them and my whole outcome for numerous new media summit was to get on as many podcasts as I could. Yeah. However, by the end of the first night in the pre party and talking to a lot of people who had podcasts, and I’d already registered, so I saw that every one of the breakout sessions had one breakout session on podcasting, and I just had this intuitive. Oh wow. I doing a podcast. So I went to all of those. And I told my team when I got back, I’m going to do a podcast. Now, just because of life. I didn’t start recording into July, July 8 of 2014. And I told my team, I said, I don’t know why, but I’m really supposed to do this. And it’s just gonna be huge. And I don’t even know how that happens. But I was right. I started recording where we’re going to launch in a month. It’s interesting. I’ve done seven podcasts now, and none of them have launched on the date. I predicted. They always launched about a month later, but they were all successful. So folks, I coined a realization that don’t launch until you’re ready. So I didn’t launch until September 16. But by that time, I there must be some record. I mean, there’s some people who do like two minute podcasts so they can say they have a lot of podcasts, but I mean, these were all real interviews and I had 662 interviews in the can I plan to launch two days a week. But when I sat down, I said, Gosh, I’m gonna have a lot of really unhappy people that are coming out nine months from now. They probably aren’t going to like that. And so I launched five days and very quickly got to seven. And the second month, I had 150,000 downloads, and which most people if they had that in a year, they’d be ecstatic. Yeah. And, and so it then it grew. Now we have between our radio show, our podcast, downloads, streams, 190 countries, we have 12 million listeners a month. And it just it grew exponentially. And I really think it was because it was a message that the world was ready to hear that let’s build high profit businesses that make a positive impact. Let’s make a difference in what we’re doing. It’s not just about transactions and how many boxes we can sell or how many units we can sell. It’s about really transforming other people’s lives and being fulfilled and happy. And getting freedom that we’re wanting in the process and, and it just seemed like that was a magic formula that people were ready to move beyond. Let’s just make money, which is, you know, kind of vapid actually. And let’s let’s make money and a lot of it. But let’s make money by doing something that is going to help other people, transform them, fulfill us, and we’re going to become happy and get the freedom we wanted in the process. To me, that’s the best of all worlds.

Adam G. Force 10:28
Yeah. When and when did they? When did you start that podcast? I mean, you’re doing what he said. I think it’s 12 million people a month or something like that.

JV Crumm III 10:36
Yeah. So it launched September 16 2014. So we’re in our sixth season now. And this season, we’re doing six days a week. So my joke is I become a slacker. I don’t do Sunday. But if it could come back, I just seen it. You know, it’s just like, oh, we’re in a good rhythm. This works. And one day a week is solo and that’s my Saturday show, which is Monday. To set show and it’s about 10 minutes. And I think people like it because you can, you know, go to the gym, run your errands, you can listen to it in a short period of time, and it’s just designed to help you get that mindset that makes the difference in really growing and scaling your business.

Adam G. Force 11:17
Yeah, yeah. So and I’m curious, you know, over over time, like what were some of the steps that you took because you know, I mean, I we run a podcast for for social impact and stuff like that, but I share a sack don’t see 12 million people a month. So there must be some secret sauce behind it. That may be a couple of tips you can share with people.

JV Crumm III 11:39
Yeah, so I’m a numbers geek. My background, you know, includes three graduate degrees, a master’s in clinical psych tax law, and, and an MBA so the tax law is is pretty unique in that most lawyers don’t like numbers at all. And and I love numbers. So The first year alone, I would wake up during the night, I checked my numbers 12 to 15 times a day. And so I knew the patterns. And I knew that if something wasn’t hitting the pattern that something was off, and I would go in, and I would just look at my tweets, I’d look at what was going on. We’d make adjustments, I would try marketing ideas. And within a week, I would make new changes. So I spent a year figuring out how to even write my tweets. So I think because I looked at it as an experimental lab, and I was just driven by the numbers like what will make the numbers increase, and I just kept trying and trying and trying things. And now, this last year, I, I made more changes in the show that I’ve made. Like maybe in the prior five years. So I think part of it is that I look at this as a craft. And every literally my typical recording day is I do six shows, and we have an hour block for each show. And the recording time for each shows 37 minutes. So I do really well with that. But every show literally every show, I asked myself, how can I make this show this episode? Better than anything I’ve ever recorded? So rather than just saying, Hey, we’re doing well, I’m like in a mode of constant improvement and always wanting to upper level and asking how can I get more value? You know, I email my people I I’m this last six months, most of my clients have come from me doing ads, experimenting, one of the new things that I’ve been doing that’s worked really well as I do a call to action and I give people my cell phone and I say text me. You know right now I’ve got three people That I’ve got to set up appointments with that have texted me in the last two days. And I’ll say, you know, if you want to get to your first million text your name and first knowing and then I’ll, you know, write back and ask for their URL and, and it’s actually me and I actually had somebody this last week who says, I think this is a scam and I wrote him back and I said, What are the odds? It’s a scam? When you heard me say it on my own show. Right? And they wrote back and they said, Well, that’s a good point. Here’s your fine. But I’ve had people that have just picked up the phone and called Nick Oh, my God, I can’t believe it to you. And I said, Yeah, I said it was my cell phone. You know that. That’s, that’s exactly what it is. So I’m just trying out different things, to engage. I think that I have so many people ask me, where’s the money in podcasting, and most people think the money’s in a different place. So we more than cover our costs. And I have two full time people, from our advertisements from our sponsors. But that’s not The real money that’s covering the cost of making a little money, the real money is in your relationships. And it’s two kinds of relationships. And you and I’ve talked about this, yeah, one relationship is with the guests. And the other relationship is with the listeners. So the only reason someone would text me is that I’ve built a relationship with them. Right? So throughout my show, I will talk to the audience, I’ll go, you may be wondering, you know, you may be, you know, feeling like maybe this is a bit too much too quickly. So let’s break it down. And so I’m having a dialogue with them, not just with my guests, and building building relationship, which I genuinely want to do, because I happen to like building relationships. And then with the guests, as you know, we’re already talking about maybe we could do an affiliate operation. every stage I get on comes from the guests. Every you know, I have a joint venture I’ve put together with another guests that we’re launching in a month. The affiliate relationships, guests Become clients. Right? So it’s all in the relationships, that’s where the money is. And that’s where I think the money generally is if you really want to scale something.

Adam G. Force 16:12
Yeah, I think that’s great feedback. And, you know, I hear and I’d like to hear your input. I know you’ve had a lot of success with it. But I hear a lot of entrepreneurs in early stages who do not have any revenue streams established yet. You know, everyone’s excited, they’re inspired. They see people doing podcasts, they see people blogging and doing you know, put, it’s so easy now I can put up my own website and all this stuff. And they’re like, Alright, I’m gonna start a podcast, I gotta write, I’m gonna do guest posting. And I mean, would you recommend starting the podcast as part like, what’s the is the sequence of operations based on your job? Wait,

JV Crumm III 16:47
yeah, that’s such a fantastic question. Well, I actually have a nine part nine step process for building a podcast, and I call it a growth engine podcast. So first let’s talk about why I chose that as the title is that from a business perspective, if you have a business, the reason to create a podcast is it’s going to be one of your growth engines. And where most people fail at that is they haven’t yet refined their business model. And as a result, their podcast isn’t refined. So the Step two is to integrate it into your business model. But if you haven’t done the business model, precisely, it’s very hard to know what your podcast is or why you would want to choose one topic or problem over another. So let’s talk about the business model. And the business model. What I’ve learned is, most people, especially if they’re stuck in the five figures, or they’re in their six and they can’t get to the seven figure, I mean, at a conscious moving our focus mainly on six figure entrepreneurs who want to get that seven and seven that want to Another million that’s who I tend to work with. But the whether you’re in five or six, usually, you can’t answer these three questions in one sentence. And so it’s really boiling it down to the essence, what is your one market? What is your one problem? And what is your one solution? And when you can get that down to one, you know, if you really want to be, have a big answer to sentences, so something really short and precise, you don’t yet know your business model. And what I find is that people who are who are floundering who are really frustrated in getting ahead, when I look at their business model, they’re trying to do too many things. They’re trying to work with three or four different markets. They’re trying to solve multiple problems, and they have a slew of solutions for them. And so I want you to think about these are two Companies that I do business with as a customer. Beyond that, I don’t have any relationship with them, so I have no reason to promote them. But it’s lead pages and Click Funnels. Yeah, both lead pages and Click Funnels, both of which I think do a great job at what they do. Got to eight figures very, very quickly. So $10 million in revenue by doing only one thing. Now, it’s interesting to me just as a comment, that lead pages has started doing more and Click Funnels has started doing even more and frankly, I think it’s a mistake. I think that they know what they’re in the business to do. And I think Jada just do that. But my point is, they got to, you know, 10 million in revenue, lead pages just created more and more lead pages where you go in, you plug in your words, and and then people, you send people there and it tags, tags them or puts them into your CRM. That’s all they do Click Funnels. It’s a series of pages that are that you build that take people through a sales process. That’s what they do, right? And so what is really important is to figure out, well, what is that hot button problem that you want to solve? And then what’s the solution? now want to add a piece because there’s a little different approach at conscious millionaire than traditional business, traditional business. What I learned in my MBA is you go out and you look at the marketplace first and find out a problem that hasn’t been solved or solved as well as you could. But I don’t really think that’s the way to start. If you want to build a purpose driven business that’s going to fulfill you and you see that this is part of your vision for being on the planet. You need to figure out what difference you want to be making and the easy way to fit that into the formula if you’re just starting at a different place because that’s really the solution. So the difference you want to make in the world is the solution you’re providing. And then you go out and find out, look at Okay, well, there are multiple markets who have a problem that that’s the solution for. And then you look at the markets and you go, Well, which one of these markets there’s three criteria that I like to use one, which one of them has the problem and showing up in a way that excites you? I mean, some markets, you know, types of,

JV Crumm III 21:31
you know, people, or professions or businesses just don’t excite you. Write well don’t choose that as the market you’re going to work with, because you’re not going to be excited to get up in the morning. Second, do they really have a burning desire to solve this problem? Now, this is a very important point, people can have a huge problem that they actually aren’t motivated to solve. And the easy way to understand that is we’ve already had a friend or family member, because we’re kind of stuck with some of those people, right? I’m just saying, who complain endlessly about an obvious problem. But they’re really identified with the problem, and they just want to complain about it. They really don’t want to solve it. Those make lousy customers, because they actually have no motivation to change. And then the third thing is they either have to right now have the financial capabilities or right now have access access could be a credit card access could be somebody who could loan them money, but they either have the money or access right now. So that they can comfortably buy what it is that you have to sell at the price point that you’ve determined, you want to sell it and that price point should be some fraction of the return on the investment you’re going to get from buying it for you. So that’s a whole formula. And how to come up with that price. I have a six part formula. It’s a little more than we can cover today. But But the point is, is the problem showing up in that market in a way that excites you? Are they motivated? So it’s a real hot button emotionally to move forward? And do they have the money to pay you? And are there then you know, plenty of those people because here’s the secret. You want to choose where you want to be financially three years from now. And you want to choose one market that can take you there, because people go, Oh, well, in six months, I’ll add another market. No, that’s the fallacy of thinking I need all these markets, you need one market. And you need to be able to stay with them for three years and imagine if you are selling them more and more to that same market, how much you’re going to learn about that market. You’re going to become a world class expert in that market. And as and as a result, you’re going to learn how to message exactly what they need to hear Do they need to hear the word happy? Because that’s really important to them, that they need to hear the word freedom because that’s really important to them. Do they need to hear the phrase pain free because you’re doing something to get pain away from? What do they need to hear, the best way to learn that is that you spend a lot of time with them, spend a lot of time surveying them, spend a lot of time in conversations with them, meet them at events. But that’s the beauty of having one focused market is that you’re really going to drill down and now your landing pages, your website, your emails are all messaged to that one market.

Adam G. Force 24:39
Yeah, I mean, that’s exactly it. And getting that clarity is key. And I think I want to add something to that market discovery, which is, you know, you talked about going out there and saying what, what market shows the problem in a way that excites you? And I think that there’s part of this process is also understanding yourself, right? Just kind of like where do you want know, what kind of person do you want to be? What kind of life do you want to live and then you start, you start really becoming more original to because now you’re leaning into something that is unique to yourself your story and who you are. And you put that into that business. And it’s so saturated out here today that it just becomes helpful to make you original. And then you wake up every day feeling good about what you’re doing. Right.

JV Crumm III 25:26
Exactly. And I really think what you’re talking about Adam is authenticity. Pretty much. Yeah, I was talking to someone this week, I’ve done over 2000 episodes, and we were talking about authenticity. And he has a podcast as well. And and I said you know I’ve never had to even worry about anything I said because I just always say the truth about who I am and for the most part conscious millionaire as a brand is really just a statement about JB Crum, the third and who I am and what my values are and what my message is and what the difference is I want to make in the world So after 2000 episodes, I’m not worried if somebody listened to all of them that they’d hear me saying inconsistent things, because they wouldn’t or saying something that, you know, I had to worry about how I was framing it because I’m never even thinking about that. I just go, you know, this is what I’m thinking. These are my thoughts on it’s like what we’re doing today. It evolves over time, but it’s always the same theme. It’s always the same values. And I think that’s important for you that if you’re having if you feel like you’re having to make up a brand that’s not authentic, exactly. crafting the brand, finding the right words and the right phrases that’s just about messaging. That’s not taking away from authenticity that’s about connecting. But it got to start with something that’s core to who you are. And I would say that what’s really core to conscious millionaire and you think about even the brand conscious millionaires and I’m all about personal growth. I’m all about evolving my company. Just inside lived in a Buddhist monastery to learn how to meditate. I, you know that right now I’m following Dr. Joe dispenza and doing some of his work, you know, but but I’m always about how do I uplift my consciousness, uplift the consciousness of other people how can and to me that’s about respect as well. It’s respecting each other for who we are as human beings right now on our journey. And then I discovered for me as much as I love personal development, if it is somehow connected to money, it doesn’t excite me as much. So for itself, we’re just going to do personal development for the sake of personal development. It isn’t quite as exciting to me as if we’re going to do personal development, and now we’re going to be able to build our business better. And now we’re going to put more money in the bank and make a bigger difference with our business. So I had to discover that that’s my unique personality. And then there are other people who just do personal growth and it’s only for the sake of personal growth, but that’s their personality. That’s their natural value system.

Adam G. Force 28:04
Yeah, well, and you know, I was going just back to like, you know, the idea of everyone being busy started is starting a podcast, a good idea for a startup and all that kind of stuff, especially just, you know, depending on when you do it. And I think that to your point, bringing the money factor, just real quick is, you know, I think that people forget that they have to have a clear path towards establishing a revenue channel, they get excited about just content production.

JV Crumm III 28:30
Well, they do and and I want to circle back to that. I just want to make one quick comment. Because I work in this conscious space. I mean, I never pick up the phone or get on a zoom call with anybody who isn’t interested in making this a better world. So I don’t attract people who just go Hey, give me the formula to put more money in the bank and three months, but that’s it. They don’t really care about the people. They’re helping others and hey, I just want more money. Those people never even contact me which is which is good. It means my market is working because I actually want them to go away, because it’s not the people that are my market. Right. But when we come back to the podcast once you have clarification of your one market one problem, one solution once you’re clear about that, because the podcast must mirror that, and that’s where a lot of people, that’s what I want to be clear about. That’s where a lot of people go awry. You say come up with some cool name. I do not think the name of the podcast is the place to start. I think designing the podcast is the place to start. And then you come up with a name. But they come up with some cool name, hey, I’m going to do it on this and go Yeah, but how does that relate to your market? How does it relate to your business? So the podcast to be a growth engine must be able to fit inside your business model? And then my answer is when should you start a podcast today? And that doesn’t mean Put out your first episode. I think it’s gonna take you a couple of a couple of months to really get it all put together right about the fact You can do that as a month. And then you’ve got to ask some people, you’ve got to get clarification of who your guests are. It’s not just anybody. It’s very specific. But putting a podcast out, I think I have a book. And I’m proud to say, because I’m a numbers geek, it was the number one book on Amazon number one in 34 categories with 50,000 downloads in three days when I launched it, but that was a, that was a coordinated marketing effort. I wish I could say that just the name of the book attracted all these people. But no, we marketed and it was a very carefully constructed marketing plan. But the point is, my book came out and that gave me credibility. The biggest thing I got out of my book so far is that I met Arianna Huffington. And, and it was at an event and I orchestrated meeting her and I’d already signed the book to her and she looked at it for three to four seconds and it does have a fantastic cover. I mean, trust me, I paid for that. I had three different coverages. designers’ before we got what I wanted, and she looked at me and she says, Would you like to be a writer for me? As I like to say, I may not be the smartest kid in the in the room, but I’m not the dumbest. I said, Yes. Right. And in two weeks, I had my own column on the Huffington Post for three and a half years, purely off of my book. And I wouldn’t have gotten it without the book. So the book really gives you credibility. But I don’t think there’s anything that will give you traction as quickly as having a podcast. It gives you access. I have so many A Levels celebrity people in our in our world, you know, who have been on my podcast that I’ve built friendships with, that I otherwise at most might have known them as a quote unquote student, not the same status, right as a podcast that’s successful. All of a sudden you’re an equal status. Your your In one world, they’re in another world. But the but you’re acknowledging each other on the same level. And, and a lot of them have become good friends, I never would have had access to those people without the podcast.

Adam G. Force 32:14
Yeah, I mean, that is one major benefit is building those relationships, also brand equity and things like that. I just I get nervous because there is a decent amount of planning and work behind a power test.

UnJV Crumm III 32:26
I have two full time people, there is a lot of work if you’re going to pull off what I pull off.

Adam G. Force 32:31
And that’s that’s the challenge though JV is that people, especially when you’re in your first couple years, they’re like, I’m gonna do all this. Well,

JV Crumm III 32:38
you know, Adam, that’s a great point. And in fact, a reference that I said I just put together a deal with someone who was on my show a joint venture deal. It’s actually we’ve already named it podcast gold. It’s where people can come have their podcast, literally done for them all the editing, all the uploading and it’s designed to monitor ties so that rather than focusing on doing what I did where you have 12 million listeners, because the likelihood you’re going to duplicate that is not high. But that’s not really what you want. What you really want is a podcast that gets out there and makes you money. Yes. And so we designed a whole program where, where the target is to get your podcast to six figure revenues from the podcast. And so if you want to know more about that, or any, any of my programs, I’m going to give you my cell phone. If you’re at six figures, you want to get the first million just just send me a text, I’m gonna give you the phone number, first million and your name. And if you want to start a podcast and you want to do it in a way that you don’t have to do most of the work, and we’re going to help you design it so you actually make money from it. That’s podcast gold. So either send first million podcast gold, whichever you’re interested in both if you want both, here’s my cell phone 303 6410401 so that’s in Denver. It’s the Mountain Time Zone. It’s 3036 for 10401 just text me, I’d love to hear from you. And yes, as you already know, from this call, I actually am the person who gets back with you. It’s not an assessor. It’s me and we’ll be on the phone talking.

Adam G. Force 34:25
Yeah, you know, it’s funny that that happened to you. I sometimes we have that that program drift on our site, or we did and people can chat with you. And I would get I have it on my phone. So something important came up, I would respond and be Hey, you know, and, and nobody would ever believe that. It was actually me. I guess it’s Yeah,

JV Crumm III 34:44
I think we’ve got so many bots in the world. Yeah. That the natural the natural responses. This is just a bot. Yeah, it’s like no, I don’t do that because I value it. value the personal relationship. It’s all about me helping people, you know, build their businesses and build their lives. And, And that, to me is personal. So, I mean, when I send out a broadcast email, everybody knows it’s a broadcast email. You know, it’s got stuff at the bottom that says that you can unsubscribe and all that. But I really put a lot of time into personal contact with people. And I think it makes a lot of difference.

Adam G. Force 35:24
Yeah, I think it’s important to it’s a powerful, powerful and important part of any business. Well, listen, JV, I want to be respectful of your time. So I know you gave a shout out for your podcasting program. Where else can people just find your website and stuff? I want to make sure you get a chance to shout that out.

JV Crumm III Speaker 35:40
Yeah, just go to conscious millionaire com. In fact, it’s very easy to find me because I go by my name JV Chrome, and I was fortunate to get that so whether it’s instagram or facebook, or, you know, LinkedIn or Twitter, it’s at JV chrome and that’s where you can find me or you can just go The website conscious millionaire comm you’ll see the podcast tab you can join on iTunes or Stitcher. I think at the present time we’re in 37 directories 38 actually directories. And so there’s lots of ways to discover that way. But that’s the direct way. And again, if you want, you’re at six figures, and you want to get the first million texts me and if you want to build a podcast gold, that’s why we named it that way. So you’re making money from it. just text me at 3030 sorry, 3036 for 10401. I’d love to hear from you.

Adam G. Force 36:38
Awesome. Thank you so much, JV. Appreciate your time today and all your fabulous expertise. Keep up the amazing work.

Unknown Speaker 36:44
Well, Adam, it’s my honor. I listen, just a big shout out. You’re listening. You’re listening to a great podcast you need to stay and keep listening to this podcast. And I just want to challenge you today to take one thing we discussed today. Put it into action in the next 24 hours. I love that I

Adam G. Force 37:04
love that takeaway. Appreciate it. Thank you so much JV.

Outro
That’s all for this episode. Your next step is to join the Change Creator revolution by downloading our interactive digital magazine app for premium content, exclusive interviews, and more ways to stay on top of your game available now on iTunes and Google Play or visit Change Creator mag. com. We’ll see you next time where money and meaning intersect right here at the Change Creator podcast.

3 Reasons Dr Seuss Was a Genius Storyteller (and How You Can Be Too)

There’s a passage from the childhood classic One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish that I personally consider to be the best story ever told:

My hat is old, my teeth are gold.

I have a bird I like to hold.

My shoe is off, my foot is cold.

My shoe is off, my foot is cold.

I have a bird I like to hold.

My hat is old, my teeth are gold.

And now my story is all told.

Good storytelling is a powerful thing. People don’t engage with products or data; they engage with stories. In the world of business, one of the best skills you can cultivate is how to tell a story well.

Here are 3 things that made Dr. Seuss such a captivating storyteller that you can add to your toolbox tomorrow:

1. Be brief

“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”
 – Dr. Seuss

Make your message brief and pointed. You want to give your audience enough, but not too much, to process at one time. If there are a lot of things you want to say, pick the 5 points that are the most important. Think of them as the pillars that hold up the building, organize your story around them.

There’s a lot you can convey with just 5 points. Think about all we can infer and imagine about the narrator of the passage above by knowing that he’s got an old hat, gold teeth, and a beloved bird, and that one of his shoe’s has come off, leaving his foot cold. The selection of what you consider important is, in many ways, the real story.

Being brief is not easy. As a brand strategist, I am often called upon to create a 10-page deck that captures everything there is to say about a brand. It should be thorough and clear, but easy to digest. It should get everyone excited. This is hard. Most of the time, I start by writing a 50-page deck work backward from there.

Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham on a dare. The challenge was to write an early-reader book that kids would enjoy using a vocabulary of 50 words. When asked if it was easy to do, he replied, “A paragraph in a children’s book is like a chapter in an adult book. [I have] as much responsibility to take as much time and work just as hard as [adult writers] do.”

Being brief is hard, because there are lots of important things to say. Different people have different perspectives that must be captured, and different audiences have different needs that must be addressed. And words are so beautiful and enticing. Early in my career, when I asked a friend to give me feedback on something I’d written, his comment came back, “It must be difficult to write when you love words so much.” Ouch.

But one of the keys to good writing is to keep it lean, and this is especially important in business. Your message must be consistent, so your story must be short enough to be retold the same way every time and tight to be relevant to all the audiences you seek to reach.

2. Be honest.

Another aspect to telling great story is honesty. The whole point of storytelling is to relate to other people, to connect and engage, and you can only do that if you are genuinely being yourself. Seuss’ shabby, shoeless character is being honest about his circumstances. He’s not feeling sorry for himself, but he’s also not sugar-coating things. He’s humble, and he’s relatable.

In the world of branding, we talk a lot about authenticity–for example, when you’re writing your brand’s backstory. It’s the sense that something is real or genuine that draws people to a brand. They can feel it, smell it.

Mud Coffee, the NYC-based coffee company that originated by selling its own blend out of a van, does it well. They tell the story of how the opening of side by side outlets of the ‘generic coffee monster’ inspired Mud’s founders to double park their truck out front and serve their own coffee out of it.

Then came the orange truck, and it parked directly in the middle shining like the sun. It served everybody with a smile, and it had fair prices. It made the best cup of coffee in New York City, and it didn’t discriminate. The smokers smoked, the dogs had bones, and it played sweet soul music. And the chain was broken.

It rings true because it is true.

In a world where consumers are increasingly demanding honesty, transparency and authenticity, large corporate brands sometimes struggle to find their voice. When McDonald’sdeveloped a regional ad campaign called “From Here” intended to highlight the company’s local sourcing practices, they drew a firestorm of criticism. While the ingredients were indeed local, they hailed from large, industrialized environments, where standard chemical-heavy, hard-on-the-earth practices were likely in use – betraying the spirit of the story.

You can’t be something you’re not.

Fundamentally, being honest is an opportunity for you to connect more intimately with your customers. Transparency and integrity establish the credibility that creates brand loyalty. Your messaging should be sincere and straightforward, conveying candidly and directly how your offering will enhance the customer’s life. Anything that smacks of contrived marketer-speak will immediately be rejected and hyperanalyzed. Brand stories that try to write a new mythology will always feel wrong to customers, because authenticity is so effortlessly truthful.

If you’ve got a unique and amazing story, tell it. For everyone else, good storytelling advice is the same as good relationship advice. Listen. Respond. Show you care. Show you understand. Build trust. Be generous. These are the ways to inspire love. And with love comes loyalty, perhaps for a lifetime.

3. Be memorable

With so many messages trying to cut through the clutter, yours needs to be memorable. Brevity and authenticity help. Another thing to consider is repetition. I had a high school English teacher who advised that our essays should always have 3 parts: tell them what you’re going to say, say it, and tell them what you’ve just said. I’ve used his advice throughout my career. Dr. Seuss’s take? Tell them once, then tell them again — but backwards, to make it interesting.

Being quirky helps too – it was certainly part of Seuss’s magic. Telling your story in an unexpected way gets people’s attention. When mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot discovered a new class of mathematical shapes, he gave them a quirky name–fractals–and used their geometry to tell stories. He explained how galaxies cluster, how wheat prices change over time and how mammalian brains fold as they grow. These stories captured the popular imagination and fundamentally changed how people viewed the world.

Be brief. Be honest. Be memorable. These guidelines are as relevant for marketers as they are for children’s book authors. The presentations we make at meetings could benefit from reading a bit more like Dr. Seuss. Keep it short. Speak from the heart. Give them something to remember.

I just finished reading The Overstory, an extraordinary tale of trees and the humans that love them. Following the journeys of their lives, through the epic and the mundane, I was riveted. Author Richard Powers makes 500 pages feel brief. (That’s how you win the Pulitzer Prize.) His characters speak truth. “The best arguments in the world won’t change a person’s mind,” says one, prophetically. “The only thing that can do that is a good story.”

And that’s the power of storytelling: the power to shift minds and change worlds. Because stories lift us up and transport us, open our eyes and reveal new truths, and in the very best cases, encourage us to evolve for the better. A story may be your greatest strategic tool. Learn how to write a good one.

How Mobile Technology Boosts Workplace Productivity

Businesses are starting to see the importance of mobile technologies in the workplace. From omnichannel customer support to flexible working, every business operation requires a certain degree of mobility.

However, mobility isn’t just about letting your staff members bring their devices to work. You should build a strategy that will encourage them to use wearable technologies strategically to boost their daily performance.

Let’s learn how mobile technologies improve employee productivity.

A BYOD Policy Maximizes Employee Productivity

There is a direct relationship between BYOD workplaces and employee productivity. Your employees are more familiar with their own devices and interfaces, meaning they won’t waste time getting to know new mobile devices. Above all, research says that employees that use their own tech work about two hours more every day. Namely, 30% of them open their work email before their workday begins, as well as send 20 more emails daily.

Mobile Apps Increase Employee Performance

With tech and telecommunications companies offering flexible repayment periods ranging from 12 to 36 months, mobile phones are now more affordable than ever. Statista predicts that the number of smartphone users worldwide will reach 3.5 billion by 2020.

Moreover, smartphones have become an integral segment of our lives. No matter if you want to lose weight, pay bills, or play games, there are a bunch of apps that will meet your needs. Just like they make our personal lives easier, mobile apps will also make your employees more comfortable and satisfied.

Stats state the same. According to the 2016 research study by Apperian, 91% of employees use at least one mobile app. Furthermore, 45% of corporations provide apps to at least half of their employees, while 58% even promote business apps both internally or externally.

The same study says that the higher app adoption in the workplace increases the overall employee performance. Namely, 30% of employees say apps improve business processes, 23% believe they improve productivity, while 14% reported improved satisfaction.

Real-Time Communication Boosts Workplace Flexibility

Mobility provides greater workplace flexibility and efficiency. With sophisticated email, instant messaging, video conferencing, and collaboration apps available on their smartphones, your employees can work from anywhere, anytime.

No matter if they’re working from their homes or a local coffee shop, your workers will be able to work on complex projects, coordinate tasks, and communicate with their teams. Using public or private clouds, video conferencing software, and project management tools, they will manage tasks, share information, and communicate in real-time. For you, video conferencing technologies are the opportunity to hire international employees, host proactive meetings and conferences, as well as minimize employee absenteeism.

Apart from boosting internal communications, mobile devices can also improve customer relationships. This is especially important if you’re targeting global audiences. Your marketing and sales teams will be able to track customer statistics, create amazing customer reports, and provide real-time customer support right from their mobile devices.

Greater Flexibility Results in Higher Employee Satisfaction

The mere fact that they can choose when and how they will work will keep your employees happy. And, that’s exactly where mobile technologies shine, redefining the traditional 9-to-5 work schedules. According to the 2018 Global Talent Trends survey, 51% of employees expect their company to offer more flexible work opportunities. Another survey says that working parents value workplace flexibility more than a high salary.

Companies that provide greater flexibility are more likely to enhance employee morale and productivity. Research says that 78% of employees agree that flexible work arrangements would make them more productive. Otherwise, 36% of them would quit their jobs due to the lack of workplace flexibility.

Sophisticated Technologies Attract Top Talent

According to the Evolving Workforce Project, younger generational cohorts consider a company’s mobile and BYOD policy before applying for a job. And, that’s logical. Like I’ve mentioned above, using their own devices, they will be familiar with the interface and applications and be able to complete the tasks faster.

Apart from hiring in-house employees, mobile technologies let you access the global talent pool. Remote working can significantly improve your corporate culture, boost productivity, save on equipment and office space, and minimize workplace absenteeism. You will be able to create a more diverse company culture and find the employees that share your business’ values and missions. These are all immensely important factors that will increase your employee retention rates. Statistics say that businesses that allow remote work have 25% lower employee turnover rates.

Security Remains a Primary Concern

While using BYOD is critical for your business, it still increases online security risks. It’s enough for an employee to open a malicious link on Facebook and infect your business’ entire network. To avoid becoming the next victim of sophisticated cybercriminals, you need to take certain actionable steps to boost your data security.

  • Build a documented policy that will strictly define how mobile devices should be used. What sites should they avoid? What links and files not to open? How to create strong passwords? What apps to download and how to do so securely? What to do if they notice suspicious activities? These are just some of the numerous questions your cybersecurity policy should answer.
  • Leverage web content filtering. This type of software is used to detect and eliminate inappropriate or dangerous content, including pornographic content, malicious files, spammy online content, gambling sites, etc. This way, it will prevent dangerous files from reaching your employees’ mobile devices. Above all, it will boost workplace productivity. You can even ban social networks, entertainment sites, live-streaming sites, etc.
  • Invest in the right type of online security tools, such as malware, penetration testing tools, secure cloud options, VPN, password managers, and so forth.
  • Train your employees. They need to know what the major cybersecurity risks are, how to recognize them, and what to do if they get hacked.
  • Create a crisis management plan. It should define what a cybersecurity crisis means to your organization and what steps each employee needs to take in the event of a cyberattack.

Over to You

In today’s hyperconnected era, businesses need to invest in mobile devices, apps, and tools. By making mobility a key part of your business strategy, you will increase employees’ satisfaction, engagement, collaboration and, most importantly, productivity. These are significant factors that will boost your employee retention rates and increase your bottom line.

How to Get Your Employees to Care About Your CSR Plan

You can promote genuine interest in your company’s CSR plan by putting employees and the community first.

Unfortunately, most business leaders believe that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is someone else’s problem. That needs to change, now. You’re not alone in this kind of thinking, but CSR is definitely your problem.

Most organizations talk a good game when it comes to corporate social responsibility. In practice, however, things are quite different. Many leaders fail miserably at incorporating CSR into their company’s business model. As an example, environmental damage caused by carbon emissions is a growing global problem.

The Makings of a Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative

In the United States, only a third of the 600 largest corporations have a systematic sustainability oversight committee that operates at the executive level. Most companies fail to incorporate sustainability as a part of their business model. Yet, the companies that do enjoy phenomenal success.

The organizations that are doing it right have created conditions that enable stakeholders to produce their own sustainability. For example, ethics expert – Professor CB Bhattacharya, has developed a three-phase CSR model that demonstrates how companies can move beyond talk and embed accountability into corporate culture.

To begin with, the expert notes that psychological ownership encompasses feelings of a connection to a person, company or concept. According to Bhattacharya, research shows that feelings of psychological ownership contribute to greater engagement, job satisfaction as well as increased productivity and revenue.

Walking the Corporate Social Responsibility Walk

One way to put your money where your mouth is through sustainable, responsible, and impact investing (SRI). McKinsey & Company forecast that the financial vertical will generate over $300 billion in investment funds by 2020.

For executives who want to galvanize a company around sustainability, psychological ownership is a powerful concept. Every day, the public is faced with evidence of climate change and other issues that harm the environment, although many choose to ignore those warnings.

Many people want to do something, however, but they don’t know what. Business leaders can fulfill people’s desire to do good by transforming employee bystanders and community stakeholders into sustainability partners – including in regard to how community members and enterprise stakeholders contribute individually to social good.

Professor Bhattacharya’s construct for creating sustainability ownership includes three parts – incubate, launch and entrench.

1. Incubate

Incubation encompasses the process of initially defining the construct of your organization’s accountability domain. During this stage, reflect on your company’s mission and its role in the community and the world. Now, according to the professor, you can solidify your goals by creating an evidence-based list of issues that exist in your current value chain – for example, areas of community interest where your company’s objective’s overlap with employee and community stakeholder concerns about accountability.

2. Launch

When you launch your sustainability initiative, you must introduce it to all stakeholders enthusiastically. Your positivity and energy about your corporate social responsibility initiative must transfer feelings of ownership to vested parties. To encourage employees and stakeholders to take ownership of sustainability, for instance, showcase it as an opportunity to build a future of well-being for both your enterprise and the community.

3. Entrench

Now, you’ve planted the seed, but you’re not done yet. You must now entrench those feelings of ownership to make sustainability the status quo. When done correctly, this is an intuitive process for stakeholders.

By developing key metrics and monitoring the performance of your organization’s sustainability performance, you can demystify how employees and community members contribute to your CSR initiative and the betterment of society. Executive leaders, for instance, can incorporate sustainability goals into their direct reports. They can use this information to benchmark employees, departments, divisions and business units.

Getting the Team Down with the Program

To date, 85% of S&P 500 enterprises publish annual corporate social responsibility reports. Still, you don’t have to create an elaborate, convoluted CSR program to get employees interested in sustainability.

Start small. As an example, create opportunities for staff members to give back. Giving back may include supporting special causes or helping employees in time of need.

For instance, you can launch a sunshine fund to help employees during personal emergencies. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you communicate how easy it is for employees to participate in sustainable initiatives. Also, give employees the technological resources that they need so that they have an outlet to do good. For instance, open up a company web portal where employees can find out more information about and manage their involvement in your CSR causes.

As your CSR programs expand, think about launching an annual employee rally to highlight the accomplishments of your programs. The event will give employees something to look forward to. You can fuel employees’ passion for doing good with matching contributions, for instance.

Cone Research discovered that 79% of employees think charitable matching is important for philanthropy. It’s great when employees contribute. However, it’s even greater when your company does the same. Also, when choosing nonprofit partners, it’s smart to allow your employees to participate in the decision.

Taking Your CSR Initiative to the Next Level

Today, technology makes nearly everything easier. Employees who are informed are more likely to participate in your CSR initiative. Your employees’ level of engagement depends on regular communication about opportunities to participate in social initiatives. For instance, you can:

  • Build an email distribution list for social good
  • Mention CSR opportunities during team meetings
  • Promote charitable events in the company newsletter

Most importantly, however, always remember to recognize employees’ who participate in initiatives that help to improve the quality of life for others.

In other words, recognize your champions who volunteer and participate in your sustainability initiatives. Deep down, everyone wants to do good. People volunteer and give out of the goodness of their hearts. However, everyone craves recognition. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to deliver recognition for your employees. A thank you note from a top executive or an employee perk, such as dress down day, goes a long way to showing how much you appreciate the charitable efforts of your staff members.

It can’t be emphasized enough – change starts at the top. Before you launch any CSR initiative, make sure that top executives – from board members on down – are down with the program. Nobody wants to go against the grain or be viewed as someone who has a different opinion than their superiors. Executive support will compel all subordinates to fulfill their desire to do good.

Transparency will go a long way to showing employees that you’re serious about corporate social responsibility. Employees will take cues from company communications, for instance, that show your commitment to serving the community. In addition to matching donations, for instance, you can offer paid time off for volunteers. By doing so, you’ll reinforce the idea that employees will see rewards for their charitable acts. Eventually, your exemplary example of leadership will transform your company’s corporate culture to one of compassion, philanthropy and giving.