I was in Starbucks earlier and noticed (not for the first time) their rack of handouts…right by where you find the napkins, stirers, sweeteners, cream, etc. In other words…right where people come and stand for a few moments while they prepare their drink.
The handouts covered the gamut about the things Starbucks cares about. These pamphlets are "tribal documents" talking to those both in the tribe and out of the tribe about the stuff they care about. It's stuff like this that fills in the blanks between the billboards and the actual coffee they serve. The branding, the staff training, the store appearance, the actual quality of the beverage…they're all very important.
But the handouts, the little quotes printed on the cups, the art on the walls, the community bulletin board, they all serve to fill in the blanks. They bring the corporate image to the neighborhood. These handles give me ways to identify with the company. They give me more reasons to affirm my choice of Starbucks as the place I choose to buy coffee.
What kind of handles are you providing your tribe? I'm not talking about your summer camp brochure or your flyer about the fall men's retreat or the mother/daughter weekend. Do you publish your mission statement or your statement of faith so people can read it? Not the corporate version. I'm talking about a simple pamphlet that would answer the question, "What do you guys believe? What are you all about?"
Do you have a policy about recycling and stewardship of the environment? Do you have a strong feeling about nutrition and the quality of the food you serve? How about your staff or the construction of your grounds? How about your committment to the community? What is the actual thinking and philosophy behind all those things? Do you raise money to supplement your budget? If so, why? If not, why not? These are all interesting topics that would be appropriate to publish in a simple flyer and placed in a public place. And…they'd each make great content for another page on your website.
You may live with this stuff all the time. It might be part of your DNA. But that's not the end goal. The end goal is to translate these things for your tribe so they can better understand you and identify with you. Give the tribe more handles and they'll return the complement by giving you more members.
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