The Key to Engagement is Narrative
Customer engagement, employee engagement, and supplier engagement are hot topics in quality management. We know that engagement (which is marked by rich interaction and involvement) is different than participation (just showing up). In the quality domain we don't typically distinguish between active participation and being a spectator.
Consumers can either participate or be engaged; prosumers are always engaged.
The key to achieving engagement is to develop a narrative. A hero's journey with one role specifically less defined, waiting for someone to step into its import, and in doing so - fulfill a slice of their own destiny. Companies like Storied exist specifically to help you craft a narrative - to sell a product, build a following, or start a movement.
As explained by novelist Justine Musk, engagement (from the perspective of how the concept can be used to become a better blogger) is this:
John Hagel makes the distinction between story and narrative.
1. Stories are...
The Achilles Heel of Customer Journey Mapping
Achilles was that guy in Greek mythology whose mother, when he was born, wanted to protect him soooo much that she held him by the heel and dipped him in the power-giving waters of the River Styx -- making him bullet proof (and much more; no bullets then), except at the heel, because for some reason she didn't think about just dunking him a few inches deeper. Maybe she didn't want to get her hand wet? Who knows. (In the research literature this is called perverse unintended consequences -- it happens in business too. You try to make an improvement or protect against a particular hazard and oops, you made it worse.)
Customer Journey Maps (CJM)
I've been reading a lot about the Customer Journey Maps (CJM) technique used in marketing (see Folstad & Kvale (2018) for a fantastic and comprehensive review). It formalizes the very good suggestion that when you're trying to figure out how to engage with prospects, you should put yourself in their shoes. Empathize with...