The Nurturing Pathway

Will Rogers

Mar 14, 2022

So what is a nurturing pathway? I define a Nurturing Pathway as the journey you are guiding someone through to help nurture them around your vision. When you think of nurturing, you think of caring and stewarding someone as they become a better person. You think of a mother with a newborn. You think of a father caring for a child who was hurt. You think of a teacher training and equipping their students.

In a digital environment, a Nurturing Pathway is similar in its feel but different in how it’s executed. You are looking for ways that you are guiding people to their next step and helping to see them grow. A Nurturing Pathway is an internal strategy to meet people where they are and help guide them to what’s next.

I have unpacked the concept of a Member Pathway in other areas… this is different. A Member Pathway is how you are guiding someone through the stages of becoming a member and the various membership maturity stages. A Nurturing Pathway sits right on top of the Member Pathway but this specifically looks at how you are caring for them at each stage… or nurturing them. Another way to look at this is a Member Pathway is how you are moving someone to deeper engagement and through your various tiers. A Nurturing Pathway is about the development of the person and who they are becoming.

Let’s spend some time unpacking what this looks like.

Think Coffee Shop - I believe one of the best ways to get your mind around what true nurturing looks like is to put yourself at a coffee shop across the table from a person at this stage and think about what you would talk about with them. Map that out and then explore how to leverage technology to help bring that to life.
Drip Campaigns - You are going to have key triggers of activity that can launch specific communication series. Drip campaigns are excellent ways to nurture someone who has just made a decision. Remember that every decision has some level of doubt in it so you’re working to help remove someone’s doubt while helping them know exactly what comes next.
Picture of Success - Build a picture of success… not about your success but their success. This is a time to paint a picture of exactly what you hope success looks like in their life and on their journey. This helps you build a baseline and goal as you consider how you are nurturing this person.
Put Yourself in Their Shoes - Take time to put yourself in their shoes and think about how you would want to be nurtured, guided, spoken to, resourced, and encouraged. Think about frequency, tone, collateral, personalization, and quality. You’re not doing something to someone… you’re doing something for them.

You don’t have to spend a ton of time building your Nurturing Pathway, but it’s still very important… especially to help frame our strategies around the betterment of our people. Take time to map out with your team a simple Nurturing Pathway and continue to build on it.

Cause Machine Solutions

Cause Machine is designed to help guide people to greater engagement within a private community. The platform helps you implement your Nurturing Pathway and helps automate a number of ways for people to be cared for well in a community. Schedule a demo today!