“I hate marketing,” she said, “And I’m not any good at it.”
I was at a conference in Miami with over 300 entrepreneurs. The woman sitting next to me, a beautiful, dark-skinned woman with deep brown eyes and a wide smile, was sharing with me one of the beliefs that keeps her from expanding her business. She hates marketing. And, she believes she’s not good at it.
I wasn’t all that surprised by her declaration. I’d heard it before. Mostly from entrepreneurs in some kind of service business, like healers, coaches and therapists, and from artists and musicians as well.
So, I asked her, “What is it about marketing that you hate?” And she, like so many others, responded by looking away, hunching her shoulders and saying, “Oh, I don’t know. It’s just…” and then she shuddered, as if to shake off some kind of evil demon.
I looked her in the eye and said, “I don’t think you hate marketing. Nor do I think you’re not any good at it. I think you simply don’t know what marketing really is.”
Often, when entrepreneurs have an aversion to marketing, it’s almost always because their perception and definition of marketing is completely wacked. They equate it with being pushy, arrogant and manipulative. And entirely self-serving. They’ve formed a prejudice built on a lie, the lie being that marketing is the work of slimy con-men, deceptive snake-oil salesmen and evangelistic swindlers. They hate it because they can’t relate to it. It has nothing to do with who they are, what they love, value or consider honorable.
Now, I’m not saying ALL entrepreneurs feel that way. But either way, I feel compelled to set the record straight so entrepreneurs can stop resisting and resenting marketing (and stop shuddering when they speak of it) and start enjoying it instead!
Marketing is the means by which we, as entrepreneurs, can communicate the value we offer to those who can benefit from our offering. What is there to hate?
Marketing is how we communicate and share our gifts, talents and services to those who can benefit from those gifts, talents and services. Whether we write an email, make a video, submit an article or put up a billboard, all we are doing is communicating our message with the intention that someone will receive that message… and respond. Marketing can be a call to “come ‘n get it” but it can also be an invitation to consider what’s possible.
Let me take this one step further and say that marketing, when done well and with integrity, offers us, as entrepreneurs, the means by which to make a heart-to-heart, gut-to-gut connection with someone (or many someones) we’ve never even met before.
It’s happened to me. Has it happened to you? A commercial that made you cry. A blog post that made you laugh out loud? A YouTube video that inspired you to do more, be more, have more?
Marketing allows us to meet and build relationships with those we were meant to serve. At its most elevated form, marketing is service work.
“What???? What the heck is she talking about????”
I know. This is pretty out there, but hang in here with me.
I’m not saying ALL marketing is service work. I’m saying it can be. And your marketing, all of it, can be yet another way for you to serve those who need what you have to offer.
This is one of the reasons I fell in love with Internet marketing and social media. Pre-Internet, the only way we could serve our clients or potential clients was to get them in the door. Our marketing was confined to brochures, advertisements, direct sales letters, postcards and billboards… a lot of “come and get it” communication. The only time we got to engage and offer value was if we did public speaking or talked to people at networking meetings.
But now, with Internet marketing and social media, every bit of the marketing you do can be of service. Your website can be a resource, a hub of valuable information and, if you have a blog, a forum of discussion. Same with your Facebook posts and tweets on Twitter. Article marketing, again, offers people something they can use now to enrich their lives, solve problems, and find solutions. Your e-newsletter should do the same! Offer value, provide solutions, be of service!
Have you ever attended a free teleclass where, at the end, you were invited to sign up for a program or teleclass series? Well, that teleclass IS marketing, but it’s also (if done right) full of great information. And have you checked out YouTube lately? There are so many extraordinarily helpful videos being produced by entrepreneurs who have businesses, just like yours.
And it’s all marketing.
I recently talked to an old friend and client who was getting ready to create her first website to promote her coaching practice. She was talking about what she did and didn’t like about certain websites she’d seen, how she hated those that made the coach sound like a miracle worker and how she didn’t like those that read like a dissertation. And at one point, she confessed, “I just hate tooting my own horn. I just don’t like it.”
By this she meant that she didn’t like telling people how great she is at what she does.
And I told her what I’m telling you now. Marketing is not about you. It’s about those people you were meant to serve. Your website isn’t about you. It’s about those people out there who are looking for something to help them, to make their lives better. Your website, your marketing, all of it, is simply a way for you to extend your hand, to lift them up and let them know they’re not alone and there is help available.
And as for tooting your own horn, you better toot your own horn. You better blow the bejeebers out of it, loudly, clearly and every day. You know why?
There are people who are waiting to hear that call! They’ve been asking for it, listening for it. They could be in pain or in trouble. Or they feel stuck, held back, or just plain grumpy. They need what you, and only you, can give them. Why, why, why would you stay silent, in the shadows, hiding, when there are people who need you now?
“Well, wait a minute!
All I do is make colorful socks and put them up on my Etsy site.
I’m not helping people who are in pain.”
Well, I could argue that that’s simply not true, but all I will say is this: you have gifts, talents, skills and great stuff to share, and there are people who want and need what you have. So share it, damn it! Let people know you exist so their lives can benefit from it. Realize, today, right now, that marketing, in all of its creative and multiple variations, is a way for you to reach out and connect with someone who wants what you have to give.
In other words, get over yourself. Because it’s not about you.
Let your marketing be another way to serve, to express yourself and offer your gifts to the world. And there are so many fun, creative and generous ways to do that, ways that suit who you are and what you value.
So… toot your own horn! I invite you to do it right here, right now by leaving a comment below. Tell me who you serve and how you serve them. Be sure to leave your website url so those who need you can find you!