I was 13 years old when my life changed. I discovered punk rock and hip-hop. And while the brashness initially grabbed my attention, a deeper ethic soon took hold and made its mark on me.
Punk rock and hip-hop both emphasize a do-it-yourself mentality that champions the capacity and capability of anyone to get involved. Want to be in a band? Pick up a guitar, or a bass, or a pair of drumsticks and get started.
Or find some turntables and use the records around you to create something. Write your feelings down and find your voice. Want to find ways to tell other people about what you love? Start a ‘zine (old school but still going) or a blog or a music-focused social media account.
This new music wasn’t about permission - it was about participation.
You knew that people would get better at what they did by doing it, and the important thing was to get involved.
Get Moving
That call to action informs things like my CSNA workshop session title (Take Control of Your Story), as well as the call to to get started and build healthy habits (like we tell kids to do) and grow over time.
I’ve met many wonderful school nutrition professionals who express that when it comes to marketing their programs, they get paralyzed and put off taking that first step. We can get caught up with anxiety wanting our marketing to be perfect before we get started, which results in nothing getting started.
The other day I saw this poster up at my gym.
It echoes my encouragement to set yourself up to win and build capacity. But by all means, get started!
Create. Move. Refine.
We’ve got a lot of experience in marketing school nutrition. That doesn't mean that every move is perfect, but it does mean that we’ve learned an awful lot from a lot of smart, inspiring, and dedicated people. We draw on that experience and knowledge and put it to work for our clients.
Putting it to work is the key. Once we start moving we have the privilege of getting feedback, of seeing how messages are or aren’t connecting, and then adjusting to that feedback and refining the message. The process repeats and we continue to move closer to the target.
Take Control
If you’re feeling paralyzed thinking about how and when to tell people about the amazing work you and your school nutrition team are doing, just get started. You know what will happen if you do nothing. At best (and it’s not a great outcome), no one will notice anything and you’ll stay under the radar. At worst, someone else will hijack your story based on stereotypes, misinformation and irrelevant memories of “back in my day.”
Taking control of your story doesn’t mean you’ll get everything perfect from day one. But if you know your program, your product, and your people, you’re miles ahead of anyone else.
And if you want a partner in telling your story, we’d love to work with you. Schedule a 20-minute call and let’s learn more about what we’re doing and how we can work together to change the narrative on school food.
Schedule a Consultation Today
A short call is all it takes to start taking control of your story.