How to move people off the status quo
1. Put your target audience first.
2. Simplify and highlight what really matters.
3. Tell a story.
To illustrate this process, let me tell you a short story. Earlier today (Apr 24 2011), I watched a quick interview with Mavis Staples, a remarkable rhythm and blues and gospel singer, on the CBS Sunday Morning Show. During the interview, among other things, Mavis told an interesting story about her father Roebuck “Pops” Staples.
Pops formed the group The Staple Singers with his children Cleotha, Pervis, Yvonne, and Mavis, which first began appearing in Chicago-area churches. Their songs combined an empowering, gospel-like message with a secular beat, and they quickly became popular. It was not long before the group started to perform in local clubs.
But the powers that be, if you will, in church were not impressed by this development. Some, said Mavis, went as far as to accuse the group of playing the Devil’s music. Here’s what, according to Mavis, Pops said to those people in an effort to move them off their status quo: “Let me tell you something. We have to sing in the club. See, the people in the clubs, they won’t go to church. So we have to take the church to them.”
My 2¢: To move people off their status quo:
1. Put your target audience first.
2. Simplify and highlight what really matters.
3. Tell a story.