The “Spark Plug Theory” of Volunteer Recruitment

It’s always fun to apply theories from one field to a completely different one.  In an online Bloomberg Businessweek article, “The Spark Plug Theory of Marketing,”  author Steve McKee notes that many business ads fail because “companies cram too much into them trying to make their case, or expect that they can open and close the sale in one fell swoop. But nobody wants to be told what to think. The best advertising is like a spark plug that leaves a small gap for the audience to fill in for themselves.”   He illustrates the point with this story:

Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to tell an entire story in a mere six words. His solution, “For sale: baby shoes, never used,” is a sublime example of the spark plug principle. Hemingway leaves it to the reader to fill in the gaps—the tragedy, the sadness, the grief—of his short but compelling tale.

No two readers imagine what happened in exactly the same way, making each story, by definition, personally theirs. Since they own it, they’re likely never to forget it—and they just might share it with someone else.

How might this relate to recruiting volunteers? 

For one thing, it confirms that it’s important to grab attention and intrigue people.  Not with a useless heading of “Volunteers Wanted,” but with a teaser line such as “You Can Still Play in the Dirt” (a community garden?), “Volunteer in Your Pajamas” (often used for virtual volunteering), “Don’t Watch Soap Operas Alone” (daytime friendly visitors?), or “Spend a Day in the 18^th Century” (museum tour guide?).  

A few years ago I wrote a Hot Topic on “Encouraging Entrepreneurial Volunteering,” in which I noted that some people (especially Boomers and Millennials) do not want to do volunteering that looks like a “job.”  Instead, they want to be challenged to solve problems in new ways.   This is another application of “spark plug” marketing – put the problem on the table and invite prospective volunteers to own it and work at it.

What can spark plugs teach you?  Maybe they will rev up your recruiting for 2012!  Happy new year, everyone!