One of the biggest misconceptions we run into when talking about marketing is a client (or potential client) thinking that the process is about placing themselves at the center. For some, this feels like an exercise in self-esteem building or even self-promotion.
Others shy away from marketing their nutrition program because they don’t want to be in the spotlight or out front. That’s all well and good unless the reason we do what we do is also left out of the spotlight.
I like to posit that the real hero at the center of our efforts is a student, a parent, a family member, and yes, at times, frontline staff. But the department - the brand, the program - is not the hero; we are the guides helping heroes to grow, develop, and excel.
We Are Obi-Wan Kenobi, Not Luke Skywalker. Dumbledore, Not Harry Potter.
Acclaimed mythologist Joseph Campbell pioneered the model of The Hero’s Journey, which outlines a process familiar in almost all historic religions, mythologies, and stories.
The Hero experiences a life-altering journey, and, at some point, meets a mentor figure who helps guide and empower the hero, helping the hero to realize their strength, wisdom, and capacity. In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker meets Obi-Wan Kenobi. Harry Potter encounters Dumbledore (and Hagrid).
In our schools, the heroes (our students) encounter school nutrition professionals who guide, encourage, challenge, and champion our scholastic heroes every day.
It’s Not How Great You Are, It’s How Great The Need Is
This intersects with marketing by remembering that our job is not merely to tout how great our food and people are (though those are components).
It’s to remind parents that we feed, nourish, and encourage their children. It’s to remind students that they are capable of so much more than they may see.
It’s to remind school staff, administrators, and board members that school nutrition is vital to learning, growing, and being healthy.
Several years ago, we worked with a non-profit feeding program for the unhoused and working poor. The program had been around for close to 50 years and had a consistent base of donors, but the need was growing faster than the donor base.
We explored a more aggressive marketing and outreach campaign in order to expand fundraising and meet the need for services. Some board members were concerned that what they perceived as “marketing” was a series of messages bragging about how great the program was (and it was).
We assured the board that the approach was centered around the belief that “It’s not how great you are, it’s how great the need is.” By focusing on the need and the outcomes of meeting the need, we not only empowered those the program served, but we empowered people in the community who cared about homelessness and poverty but didn’t know how to engage directly.
We also learned that there were frontline staff and volunteers (including those who were also being served by the organization) who appreciated the recognition that came from the efforts, as they felt it validated and encouraged their work.
Standing Up For School Meals
With so much uncertainty about the state of school meals, it is more important than ever to keep (or place) school meal programs and those we serve in the spotlight. So much of the language right now is about ideology and removing the impact on people.
We must humanize school meals - the children served, the families put at ease that their kids are fed, the farmers and food producers in our communities who grow and produce the food.