Building a movement is a lot of work, but it also offers huge pay offs.  In addition to our article on whether a movement is right for your organization, we thought we would give you a quick list of the top ten benefits that come from building a powerful, long-lasting movement.

Top Ten Benefits of a Movement

  1. Achieves your organizational goals. A movement is not something you do in addition to running your organization.  If properly structured, building a movement will achieve your programmatic and sales goals, increase and engage your audience, and build your brand identity simultaneously.
  2. Ensures you are guided by a Big Idea. In building a movement you are forced to have a Big Idea that people can quickly and easily convey to others.  Though this may require some pain at first, being guided by a Big Idea will ultimately be a great investment because it will allow your message to cut through the clutter of today’s crowded media marketplace.
  3. Takes advantage of today’s communication. With nearly ubiquitous access to the internet, a cell phone in everyone’s pocket, and the growing importance of individuals such as bloggers as an information source, communication is very different than a decade ago.  Movements — with their exciting Big Ideas that people enjoy talking about — are perfectly structured to take advantage of today’s communication system.
  4. Earns media attention. What do you get when you combine a Big Idea, lots of discussion, and a growing group action?  A great news story.  And if it is properly managed through careful messaging and conscientious follow-up, media attention will be one of the best free gifts you could hope for this year.
  5. Avoids audience’s filter. Faced with an overwhelming barrage of advertisements, people have become very adept at ignoring interruptions such as TV commercials, banner ads, or telemarketers.  But a movement, with its word of mouth discussion, its online buzz in blogs and Youtube, and its news stories, is perfectly geared to avoid your audience’s filters.
  6. Automatic perspective shift. If you were instructed to build a movement vs. market a brand, chances are that you would approach the tasks differently.  Similarly, when your organization begins to think of itself as building a movement, it will being to approach its daily tasks differently.  This simple perspective shift will lead to healthy changes in your strategic planning, your marketing, your media outreach, and nearly all realms of your efforts.
  7. Better customer service. This perspective shift doesn’t require better customer service, it makes it natural.  As an individual stops being a customer and begins to be a partner in creating your movement, the way you (and your staff) treat them naturally changes.
  8. Builds an army of evangelists. Movement Evangelists are people who are so excited about your Big Idea and the positive change you offer that they voluntarily tell others about your services or products.  Powerful movements cultivate loud Evangelists, and these Evangelists recruit more and more people to the movement.
  9. Reaches WAY more people. Shouting from your soapbox is no competition for an Army of Evangelists talking to their friends, family, and coworkers.  A movement with its multiple lines of communication and ability to cut through your audience’s filter will reach more people and make more conversions than traditional marketing, hands down.
  10. Prepares you for the future. Building a movement establishes a network of people who are interested in your organization, what it offers, and what it does.  Most importantly, they have told others about you already and they will do it again.  It is this powerful network will both enable you to grow and will continue to grow with you into the future.

That is our list of the top ten benefits to building a movement for your organization, but there are many more.  Please let us know what else should be included in the comments below.