Written by: Vickie Sullivan | November 26, 2019
The Power of Advocacy
I’ve said for years that being an advocate is an effective path for differentiating your thought leadership. This Fast Company article about the media company Uninterrupted is a great example of how to use advocacy for one group to expand into a broader market.
Strip away the celebrity sports players and retail focus. Let’s explore how advocacy for a specific niche (professional athletes) translated into advocacy for the entire free world. The key tactic here: using a universal desire (to be understood) as a bridge from a specific yet well-known group (athletes) to a retail line that embodies the bigger idea. The former was an aspirational attention-getter, then a springboard to attach meaning to everyday products.
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Keep in mind that this wasn’t a do-over. In other words, Uninterrupted used empowerment to expand an athlete’s voice and role, then broadened that aspiration for everyone. This is a much smoother approach than helping athletes in a general sense, then helping everyone else. See the difference? The desire is the same; the audience is different.
We thought leaders have a perspective, something we feel passionate about. We can use that passion to expand into new markets if we create a focus that can take us to those new places.
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