Yes, I have a marketing degree.
And
Yes, I own a marketing company.
and
Yes, I’ve stopped marketing.
and
Yes, from now on I will call myself a connection company.
Many of my clients cringe at the words sales and marketing. They rather eat moldy chicken for dinner than do marketing. They do marketing because they have to, not because they like to. They don’t want to have to convince people that they are great at what they do. People should just know this.
Unfortunately our hyper-competitive business world doesn’t work that way. We need to show people how valuable we are. Notice I said show instead of tell.
We need to focus on building relationships instead of hunting for sales. (Click here to tweet)
When we focus on “marketing” we are focused on grabbing a megaphone and telling people how great we are. We lose sight of the most important part of building a business.
You need to stop marketing and focus on how people feel.
Improving People’s Lives
Whether that means you are making their life easier because of a wonderful time saving app or you’ve helped them cover their windows with high quality blinds you are making an impact in people’s lives. I believe that comes from a company that lives it’s core values.
When you think of connecting instead of marketing you focus on going the extra mile instead of trying to squeeze out an extra dollar from your customers.
We lose site on the main goal, which I’ve been guilty of too.
Good marketing is not standing on a stage, yelling at people, and hoping they pay attention.
Good marketing is finding ways to connect from a place of fun and with your strengths. When you start a conversation, ask good questions, shake hands, hug, share stories, etc.
Basically being helpful, useful and engaging.
People Buy From People who Care
You do this by telling great stories that show people how you help, finding unique ways to be helpful and deepening connections with people that like you.
I’ve stopped marketing because it’s a term that supports bad habits. People want and need an emotional connection from you.
I recently hired a tree service that got my business, but won’t be getting any future business. I had to work too hard to get my trees trimmed the way I wanted them trimmed. They didn’t ask me what I thought. They just wanted to get in and out as fast as they could without thinking about how I felt about their work.
They had a chance to create a connection that would have lasted years if they would have done a better job of listening.
Think about the last time you’ve gone back to a company and bought from them.
Why was this? (Share a short story in the comment section please.)
Building Relationships
By understanding the importance of connecting instead of marketing you’ll switch your mindset from pushing out your message and you’ll focus on creating campaigns that build relationships.
Yes, I know it’s really semantics. There are many great companies that use marketing to build strong connections with their customers, which is great. They have the connection mindset.
And yes you still need to be smart (strategic and well planned out) about how you connect with people. I’m a big advocate of measuring results.
I will still use the word marketing when appropriate, but only in context of getting my point across.
All that I’m asking is that for your next connection (marketing) campaign think about how you can help people and build a relationship with them, instead of focusing on getting them to open their wallets. Believe me when they see that you actually care they will have no problem handing over their money.
* If you know anyone who owns a business and can’t stand marketing please send them this post, so they know to focus on connecting not pushing their products on to people.