Sometime there’s a need to communicate with an audience other than customers and persuade them to take action. It’s not Marketing in the traditional sense, but it looks like a marketing challenge in disguise. We’ve dealt with many situations like this, and the marketing solution generally works.

One time we had to persuade certain employees in a large company to accept an early-retirement package. Another time we were called on to persuade UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) to recognize our not-for-profit client as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). (We were successful in both of these cases.)

What we learned in each of these cases (and several others) is that the core principles of good marketing apply quite broadly – whenever there’s a decision to be made or a point-of-view to be accepted. The key is to understand the real objective – and the needs, values, habits, practices, attitudes and awareness of the target audience. (Sounds like marketing, doesn’t it?)

We’ve worked with multi-national organizations with decentralized management, franchisors and franchisees, chapters and parent-organizations, union members and their unions, and a few others that would normally not be thought of as traditional marketing situations. And we’ve been able to successfully address thorny situations by applying proven marketing principles.

Do you have a non-traditional challenge that could use these skills? Let’s talk about a path forward that will address your needs.