Article - October 15, 2006 - National Institute for Advanced Conflict ResolutionR

Marketing as Dialogue: Building on What a Mediator Already Knows
from "Mediator Tech" by Tammy Lenski

If mediators understand and value dialogue, and know how to help create dialogue out of difficult conversations, then mediators, more than most, are well suited to Dialogue Marketing.

While I’m using the term Dialogue Marketing as a way to speak directly to what mediators understand so well, the concept itself owes a nod to the blogosphere (the world of bloggers) and to some leading edge marketing thinkers. Dialogue Marketing, as I’m using it in this book, has its roots in the concepts of conversational marketing and relationship marketing.

Coined and popularized by technology innovator and consultant Shel Israel, conversational marketing is an approach that embraces the notion that, in Israel’s words,

"…people respond better to lowered voices spoken in credible tones than they do to the aggressive in-your-face marketing speak as is evidenced in everything from TV ads to the pap-lingo of so many websites. If common sense prevailed, marketers would understand that simply conversing with customers, prospects, partners, investors and employees is more effective. People listen better and longer when you just talk to them and listen back. All too often professional marketers lose their credibility by hyperbole, hubris and amplification. It seems to me self evident that just talking with people is more effective than shouting and repeating yourself as if your audience was comprised of deaf idiots."

Relationship marketing is based on the premise that building longer-term relationships with potential customers yields better results than attempting to attract a customer for a single transaction. As consumers grow more sophisticated about marketing and wary of traditional marketing approaches, marketers have come to understand the benefits of attracting, maintaining and strengthening relationships with prospective clients. Relationship marketing is particularly relevant for mediators, since single-mediation transactions mean rebuilding your client base from scratch again and again—a tiring and costly approach.

Dialogue Marketing, the approach we’ll explore for the remaining parts of this chapter and into the next, combines the best of what we know about dialogue—creating effective conversation and building relationships—into one integrated approach. Consider this:

If you understand as a mediator that entering a conversation primarily to persuade, manipulate or strong-arm will only get you so far, then you intuitively already understand that marketing conversations would do well to avoid such ineffective approaches. If you already know how to enter a mediation with a curious mindset and a desire to uncover problematic assumptions, then it’s a short leap to use the same tools in new ways as a marketer.

If you know how to listen like a mediator, engage with empathy, and use artful inquiry to ask important questions at the right time, then you already know some of the most basic and effective tools of conversation marketing.

And if you know how to frame a conversation as an opportunity for dialogue, then you already understand a fundamental idea behind conversational and relationship marketing.

The essence of Dialogue Marketing for Mediators is this: If you already know how to create dialogue as a mediator, then you know a great deal about how to build dialogue to market your ADR practice.

Tammy Lenski, Ed.D., mediates, coaches and educates through her Dublin, New Hampshire firm, Lenski Strategic LLC. In full-time private practice for almost 10 years, Tammy also helps other mediators build thriving practices by strategically positioning their businesses and taking the "ugh" out of marketing. Tammy invites you to visit "Mediator Tech" ----------------------- http://mediatortech.com, her website for ADR professionals, to make use of the resources and sign up to receive future articles free to your email inbox.