Solidarity Sunday: Who is Your Competition?
Like millions of other kids in our respective jurisdictions, my son starts school tomorrow. He's a rising High School senior, so every time he turns around someone is asking him the daunting question of "What are you going to do after graduation?"
It's a question that causes him a great deal of stress. Because, like 90% of kids, he really has no idea what he ultimately wants to do. I know I didn't at his age.
I could hope he makes the right decision for himself, or I could lean in, roll up my sleeves, and help him sort it all out. So he and I have embarked on an strategy to explore his options…all of them…with an open mind. We began by talking with each branch of the U.S. Military, followed by touring the apprenticeship training centers in the union trades, followed by the college options that he has available to him.
The deeper we got into this exercise, the more we both realized just how many options he does have. With every conversation we've had, something profound occurred to me during this process….
At his stage of engagement, we as trades unions are not in competition with non-union, we are in competition with every possibility he is considering.
We are competing with what parents, grandparents, friends, and family are telling them about what he "could' or "should" do. We are competing against their own constant feed of FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and X.
Even at the level of occupation choices, we are competing with the military, with becoming an EMT, a fire-fighter, policeman, becoming an X-ray technician, an auto-mechanic, etc. We're competing with tech schools, and colleges, and training programs of all sorts. Almost all of whom have a profound web presence. All of whom are trying to attract their attention. All of whom have a strategy.
- The goal of any communication strategy (recruiting, organizing, or marketing or otherwise) is to cause another person to see in their own mind what you see in yours.
For most young people the currency we're dealing in has little to do with the features and benefits of our local union, and everything to do with getting their attention. We could talk to them about the careers we offer, the wages, the training, brotherhood, the labor movement, but these details will fall on deaf ears unless we can first get their attention with the goal of getting them to see themselves in our story.
For a local union to be considered, we must first become an option they would consider. If we do not have a strategy of telling compelling stories in places where they naturally spend lots of time, before they ever need us or consider what we do, then we are not competing. We are hoping. And Hope is not a strategy.
Speaking of strategy and story-telling
Here is a sneak peak of a campaign we're about to launch later this month for one of our local union clients. Notice that the story has nothing to do with pay or benefits or job specifics.
Let us help your local union develop a messaging strategy that speaks to the felt needs of those you're trying to attract.
