Are You Authentic Enough to Attract Customers?
Anita Campbell has a new expert contributor, Clate Mask, who has hit the nail on the head on his most recent post: Your On-Again, Off-Again Relationship with Marketing.
Clate brings home the point that we are all in the marketing business, so there shouldn’t be this on-again, off-again series of activities that we do to open the floodgates of new customers. Marketing is an always on activity.
As soon as I read that, my mind asked the question, "Why?" If our marketing activities are supposed to be always on, why are we all guilty of setting them aside when we are busy or times get tough?
Because we look at a marketing as an activity – a series of tasks. In fact, we look at marketing the way we sometimes look at our own relationships – they are just supposed to happen, then if things get tough, we turn on the love light and start working. Sometimes that work is hard and takes effort, and that’s not fun, especially when the pressure is on.
So, here is my theory. If marketing is supposed to be "always on" the best way to make sure that this is the case is to be doing the following:
- Do what you love and what you are good at. Focus your business on your strengths and what you love to do.
- Do the thing you love for the people you love. Work with customers that you love that love you back.
I don’t mean to sound simplistic, but the work of building, growing and sustaining a relationship is absolutely work — but if we love the person and enjoy the activity, then it’s work that we love to do.
If it’s work you love to do — then it should be easy enough to do it all the time.
Voila! Focus on these things and you will achieve "Always on Marketing"
Life is too short to work with people you don’t like or don’t respect.
Marketing can be so much fun. You always make it that way. That’s what I like about you.
Thanks Anita. I think in today’s marketplace, authenticity is everything. Instead of people struggling with marketing activities – they could be having fun making money.
I think, it is not that much complex to understand. People would like to stick to that marketing policy which would pay them back in cash and ensure a sustainable financial success. It is very simple. However, I believe, in order to achieve a sustainable success, it is better to go for a long term and effective marketing plan. Moreover, I also think that marketing is not everything in order to win the belief of the customers which is one of the pre-conditions of sustainable success. The values companies are providing through the products to the customers are similarly important for achieving the ultimate goal of making sustainable profit from the business.
Thanks for your interesting article.
Very nice article.
You are so right, marketing itself is not the only thing — especially if all companies are doing is marketing activities such as advertising. No amount of marketing (activity or otherwise) can make up for a poor product or a promise un-delivered. That’s why I think it is so important to be honest and realistic about what you do well and who your ideal customer is.
Yes–marketing is not something you turn on whenever the pipeline is starting to look empty. It’s a big part of the process. You do have to have a good product to offer, but once you do…it’s all getting the word out consistently. Too many people have equated marketing to an activity to try to change the minds of potential customers. I think of it as letting people know that you have something of value to them.