“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” –Margaret Mead

In 1989, more than two million people joined hands to form a nearly-continuous human chain across three Soviet republics, known today as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Baltic Chain, as it came to be known, was a simple, elegant, non-violent protest – a tangible illustration of unity in the age of perestroika. Six months later, Latvia would become the first state to declare independence from the USSR.

That protest was organized by individuals, all part of a movement. A movement, to our minds, is a passionate groundswell of support that empowers people to unite around a common love, cause or organization. While movements don’t have to have a moral compass – Dead Heads just want to have a good time – the ones that we’re interested in talking about do.

Movements usually exist whether or not there are organizations and companies behind them. As many companies have learned, it’s really hard to kick start a movement if there’s no appetite for one. It’s like trying to light a fire without fuel. 

Fortunately, non-profit organizations have been collecting the fuel for years. The fuel is “the list”, and some organizations have been very successful in turning their list into a movement. 

Plans for the Baltic Chain passed from person to person across three countries, through what marketers these days call “word of mouth”. From Mapping the Rural Problem in the Baltic Countryside: "The creators of the Baltic Chain were local people – members of different organizations that operated at a district level."

Whether we’re selling snow tires or stopping climate change, word of mouth is a critical aspect of communicating not only with your current ‘tribe’ of supporters, but also for recruiting new members to your cause. That’s essentially what movement marketing is – engaging with and expanding upon that surging wave of passionate support that is your movement.

Steer the Tugboat

As movement leaders, you can’t tell the movement what to do. At best, you can hope to steer them in the right direction, and ensure that they’ll arrive at the same time.

When we worked on the TckTckTck climate change campaign, we had an internal metaphor for the role this small organization played among our much larger coalition of partners that formed a big part of the climate change movement. We referred to the movement as a fleet of ships –some huge freighters and aircraft carriers, some smaller frigates and fishing boats. TckTckTck was the tiny tugboat that roamed among the larger vessels, and tried to keep everybody on the same course. 

This was movement marketing – a blend of traditional campaigning, online advocacy and marketing savvy aimed at delighting and inspiring existing members of your tribe, and recruiting new ones.