Why does everyone hate being marketed to? If we want to have successful campaigns that build social impact they are seen as a necessary evil. Campaigns and stakeholder engagement tend to feel repetitive and one-dimensional. We focus on people ‘buying into’ our campaigns or ‘pitches’. People feel frustrated as they can see through the narrow tactics and feel cynical. The myopic view of the world can feel like a one-way conversation. The stakeholder feels like a spectator, forced to comply or resist someone’s wishes. Compliance is not engagement. The data speaks for itself. A sales funnel conversation above 3% is considered ‘good’. Whilst “57% of projects fail due to “breakdown in communications.” There is another way, however, and that is through Multidimensional Engagement.
What is Multi-Dimensional Engagement?
The multi-dimensional engagement model builds on existing approaches to communication and marketing. The aim is to create a space that encourages conversation, debate and learning. Creating relationships between competing ideas just like a love story creates interest between the characters. It is a method that creates a natural tension that stimulates curiosity in the audience. With the aim of encouraging the development of shared knowledge and learning. It allows for nuance, subtlety and creativity in marketers’ traditional one-dimensional sales traps.
Starting Multi-Dimensional Engagement is Simple
With Multi-dimensional Engagement, you start a marketing campaign as usual. Clarity and focus are important to communicate. The idea is to build on and improve existing models. So you would start as usual by creating a content journey. This is the route to ‘Path A’ in the diagram.
The model refers to Eugene Schwarz’s ‘Journey of Consciousness‘. However, other models for creating a learning or knowledge journey could be used. The aim is to build a path of knowledge to the point where the participant reaches a shared level of understanding. A point of real engagement.
Multi-Dimensional Engagement Creates an Adaptive Space
Having established a narrative journey, from ‘path A’. We then move on to producing content on a theme where there is a trade-off with the original theme. Using the same process, but with a different focus on the content. We create a separate content journey (to path B).
For example, a campaign about mental health might start by telling people how and when to get help for their problems. (Path A). But then move on to path B: how people can best self-manage their mental health.
The two themes are in tension and are good for different things. They connect and contrast with each other. We create an opportunity for people to engage, think and discuss different perspectives. In doing so, we invite the recipient into a conversation about how to use the knowledge we provide.
What is the Story of the Multi-Dimensional Engagement Model
The Multi-dimensional Engagement model is based on concepts from Mary Uhl-Brien’s Adaptive Process. This is a theory of how to enable adaptation by creating adaptive spaces. This can be thought of as a creative space. Generating new ideas through tension. But I take the concept further by applying the model more broadly.
The multi-dimensional engagement model build on focuses on creating tensions and trade-offs through in other contexts. My model is also based on the concept of ‘negative capability’, the rare ability to tolerate uncertainty and the tension of not knowing. Coined by the poet John Keats, “which Shakespeare possessed so enormously,” to accept “uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason,”.. The point is to create a natural mystery and uncertainty which, if done well, will draw people in.
Multi-Dimensional Engagement is also a Story of Love
This idea creates a ‘love affair’ between the two contrasting subjects. This leads to an opportunity for people to engage, make sense and understand ideas for themselves. We co-produce their ‘journey of awareness’. The more people understand, the closer they come to your world view, creating a stronger bond between you and your audience.
People instinctively seek to resolve this uncertainty and unknowability. Just as a good book or film draws people in with excitement and suspense, we can draw people in to learning by creating a creative space. A space created by the mystery and uncertainty in the tension between two contrasting approaches.
Multi-Dimensional Engagement is Better than Right
To take another example, we can talk about the tension between being organised and structured, or being flexible and adapting to people’s needs. We can talk about situations within these boundaries and give an opinion ‘if this… do that’ e.g. when do we stick to the plan and when do we adapt to the situation. We can also ask the reader for their opinion on the subject. This creates an co-creative (adaptive space) where we can talk about ‘better’ rather than ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.
In practice, instead of always trying to solve problems and give ‘the solution’, write content that presents two alternative views. Show how they conflict and work together, and then share your opinion. We have created the boundaries for a conversation and debate through our content journeys. You create the opportunity for a conversation and build new understandings and a stronger connection with your audience.
People are then driven forward, not by manipulation. But by curiosity. By being asked to express themselves and share their knowledge. In this way, we create a shared path to understanding.
Building Tension into the Web of Stakeholder Engagement
This model also fits well with the web of stakeholder engagement. By creating pathways that are in tension with each other, we tighten and strengthen the web. You can create your own web and connect issues that are in tension with each other. Rather than promoting one correct way of thinking.
We can adapt the web of engagement to may more compelling funnels by creating tension between neighbouring elements in the web. If we therefore look at the content and communications we create and look not just what content aligns with it on the journey but what other content we can create or use in tension with it to generate an interesting topic. In this way we can realign existing content or create new content that will further increase the tension and curiosity in our audience.
Exploring Multiple Dimensions of Engagement
One of the reasons I called it multi-dimensional engagement. Is that you can have more than 2 topics in tension, you can have 3. For example, the project management iron triangle of cost, scope and time, all in tension with each other. Instead of focusing on one. Discuss each aspect of the triangle and the situations in which you should focus.
You can go further with the help of models. For example, the Cynefin framework has 5 core areas. All in contrast to each other. Of course, this is more complicated to communicate. Which is why diagrams and charts help if you have more than 2 dimensions. But it opens up the dialogue to completely new and interesting places. The point is, if we do this well, we create a new adaptive space for engagement. This space has the potential to be far more compelling than the traditional narrow marketing and engagement funnels.
Conclusion
Multi-dimensional Engagement is an enhanced approach to marketing and engagement. It seeks to build stronger connections with audiences. It creates opportunities for engagement, debate and understanding. By exploiting the tension between two issues, marketers can create a compelling ‘love affair’. This moves people up the funnel with curiosity, just as people are compelled to keep reading a good story. You can build a journey that brings people closer to your perspective by engaging people in this way. Which leads to a more meaningful relationship between you and your audience.
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What ideas can you put in tension to engage your stakeholders?