Big-Vision Enterprise & Inspired Leadership Essentials
How to Market Your Group Authentically and Effectively

The Issue

Internal and external marketing efforts have much in common, starting with the need for an audience to understand what you do, how you do it, and why it matters to them. The key challenge is not so much found in crafting your marketing materials, but in honing a distinct, authentic message that clearly communicates your group’s unique personality and value.

Vague, inauthentic, and ineffective marketing efforts can confuse or alienate current and prospects customers alike. Murky marketing can also be a waste of time, energy, funds, and employee productivity; and can dilute your group’s understanding of its vision and shared purpose. This is true whether your group is an entrepreneurial small business or existing within a large enterprise.

The Request

A department executive recognized that internal customers were not tapping her team for meaningful, skill-appropriate projects, but instead for quick-hit administrative support that didn't fall into her team’s scope of offerings. After a deep, sincere look at the team’s talents, testimonials from internal clients, and feedback from all, the executive learned that her internal clients simply weren't aware of the team's actual purpose and offerings, and didn't know how or when to approach the team for support needs that matched the group's strongest competencies.

In another organization, the business owner wanted to attract clients and employee candidates that suited his company’s distinctive, entrepreneurial vision and culture. His challenge was how to authentically and powerfully communicate the vision that resided in his head, and the culture as his employees and clients experienced it, in a way that magnetized the clients and employees that were the best fit for his enterprise.

How can these leaders market their services accurately and authentically to their respective audiences?

The Action Taken

Over the years, Ivy Sea has worked closely with leaders such as these to unearth their respective visions, learn more about group capabilities (both historical and as optimally envisioned), identify how the groups met the primary needs of their clients, articulate core messages, and discover how to authentically and effectively communicate to the groups' ideal customers who might be very well-served by the group's offerings.

Through mindful questioning, deep listening, and a pointed decision not to rush into implementation prematurely, these leaders were able to focus, refine, and gain clarity about their groups’ highest value, and how that’s could optimally benefit their respective customers.

The implementation included consultation and coaching sessions and check-ins, as well as mindfully aligned and created marketing-communication collateral such as their web (or intranet) site, print materials, and personal communication, marketing, and sales approaches.

The Benefits

When you're clear on what your group's strengths and vision are, and your customers know what you do, you’re better able to attract and retain the clients and projects that are most optimal, and for which you are most suited. This reduces the number of misdirected requests that you have to manage, and can increase the number of potential customers that become happy, satisfied clients. The same applies to recruitment marketing for ideal employees that are a good match to your organizational culture.

With clear, effective, authentic marketing materials, you’re also in a better position to enhance your group members’ level of skill and focus on what’s most important (instead of spreading the group thin on many different energy-draining tasks and priorities). And when you focus on competencies, you're more able to refine those skills into mastery, which is not the case if your approach is, "Well, we take whatever comes our way."

Bottom-line benefits include a more efficient work process, an increase in qualified leads and requests; satisfied customers whose needs are well-matched with your expertise; and the creation of effective, authentic, truthful and efficient marketing approaches and tools (thus saving you time and financial resources).

A clear vision and aligned marketing direction can also help improve employee morale by helping to coalesce team members with a common, shared goal, and helping to reduce confusion around the group’s purpose.

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