A couple years ago, I was talking with someone who was, for me, a very challenging client. I’m all about cultivating relationships that result in opportunities to sell.
This particular client seemed allergic to cultivating relationships for reasons I never really understood.
I remember one such meeting, I was trying to explain to my client the wisdom of first creating trust and credibility before trying to get a sale. And my client was blocking me at every turn with reasons why relationship development would not work for their business.
It was maddening.
Finally, I cried with exasperation, “Well, why the heck do you want to keep working with me since my approach doesn’t work for you?”
“Because you’re sincere,” the client replied.
“Who cares” I thought to myself since it didn’t seem to be to helping my client grow their business.
Since that time I’ve changed me mind about the quality of sincerity. I think it’s impossible to have sustainably effective marketing without sincerity.
===============================
The Importance of Being Sincere
===============================
The word, “sincere” is derived from the Latin word, “sincerus,” meaning whole, pure, genuine.
When you think about today’s business climate, sincerity isn’t a quality that comes to mind. But it’s a quality human beings need to perceive to be willing and able to buy.
==============================================
The Place of Sincerity in Your Marketing
==============================================
First, it’s important to remember the real role of marketing in your business.
Marketing is NOT about making a sale. Marketing is about creating a relationship based in trust and safety so that a sale can occur.
Regardless of public sentiment towards business, people and companies still have problems that need to be solved and stuff that has to get done. Your prospective customers still need to buy stuff.
They want to be able to trust you because they need to buy what you sell.
The marketing you do is all about establishing visibility and credibility so that there’s enough trust for the purchase to happen.
For example, if you regularly keep in touch with prospects via an ezine, you’re not doing it to “bug” your customers. You’re sending out that ezine because:
Once prospective customers feel accepted for where they’re at and trust you can actually help, they can then take the next step.
==============================================
It’s About Sustainable, Effective Marketing
==============================================
Now there are also some relatively good-hearted entrepreneurs out there who use hard-sell tactics in their marketing. You subscribe to their ezine and get barraged with multiple emails every day telling you about some amazing program you “just gotta check out.”
Here’s what’s important: there is no rest with this kind of marketing. You must work very, very hard to generate this level of noise.
And if you’re spending so much time and energy with your own marketing, it’s tough to put much time or effort into where–in my opinion–we should be making the difference: helping clients and customers get results.
That, to me, is why hype-centered marketing with or without a good heart fails. If you want to market your business in a way that brings in a steady stream of ideal customers without burning yourself into a crispy critter, sincere, heart-centered marketing is the way to go.
==============================================
Keys to Developing Sincere, Effective, Sustainable Marketing
==============================================
#1. Ask yourself, “what’s my highest intention for my business?”
What’s the best possible outcome for you, for your business, and for your customer?
Example: the highest intention for Highly Contagious Marketing is when we help clients create marketing that grows their client base and their bottom line.
When that happens, satisfied clients send us referrals which helps Highly Contagious Marketing succeed financially and there are more successful businesses in the world making a positive difference.
#2. Look at how your intention is reflected in your marketing?
Thinking of the many different ways you market your business, how is your intention showing up?
Example: In all the activities to promote Highly Contagious Marketing, I want to:
(1.) Provide information, a how-to, or a resource that gives the person who gets the marketing a little added value
(2.) Provide an offer and a clear call to action for anyone wanting to take the next step and get more help from us.
#3. Ask what one change can you make to your marketing to express your sincere desire to serve customers and make a difference?
Some specific actions you can take to show more sincerity in your marketing include:
(1.) Make your marketing message truly focused on your customer and their current problem. The first half of your message should be about your customer and their situation. If you’re talking about yourself–your solutions and qualifications, your marketing is not focused on the customer.
(2.) Look for ways to leave anyone who encounters your marketing a little better off than they were before the encounter. Marketing that informs, coaches, inspires, even entertains all leave recipients a little better off.
(3.) Make sure your marketing reflects your values and if not, make changes. If you loathe hype in other marketing but use hype because “that’s what everyone says I have to do,” stop using hype. Create marketing that gets results without making you feel like you sold your soul.
==============================================
Bottom Line
==============================================
Remember, marketing is all about cultivating trust-based relationships so prospects can buy. And sincerity is a critical factor which enables trust to grow.
Can you market your products and services without sincerity? Sure. But you will have to work a lot harder to sustain sales because you won’t be creating the quality relationships that give your marketing real momentum.
To create marketing in which sincerity shines through, take some time to remember what your business is in service for and take action so that your marketing better reflects what matters to you.
…
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, “Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!” go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com
Read more articles written by Judy Murdoch
Related posts:
- Relationship Marketing Secret #3
This last rule requires you to be bold. It requires you to expect and accept the fact that some people are going to flat out reject you. If you can’t deal with rejection, learn to deal with it. Trust is a result of people seeing you as a real person... - Article Marketing Success Secret: Give Them What They Want
Some people find great success with article marketing, while others think its proponents are full of bull. The difference between the winners and the losers in article marketing is most frequently defined when the writer sits down and begins to write. That is right. Success and failure is most often... - Article Marketing Secret: How To Identify and Write For Your Target Market
Many people question as to what topic they should choose to write their articles… Fortunately, the short answer is simple… Write articles that appeal to your target market. But what does that mean exactly? I always pose this set of three questions, when I am talking to clients about what... - Relationship Marketing Secret #1
When people sign up to your newsletter, the first letter they get should be a personal message from you to them telling them what they can expect as a subscriber and why it’s a good idea to stay subscribed and read every single email you send them. Almost no one... - Relationship Marketing Secret Bonus
A lot of the email I get is from people who are trying way too hard to sell me something. In other words, they really want my money and it shows. I can almost smell the desperation in their email and being desperate to get something from people is a... - Business Advertising and Branding: What Online Tools Are Effective?
Marketing has always been an essential element of business – both back in the day when brick and mortar stores and mail order businesses were the only options and now that the internet has become so central to so many people’s lives. Business advertising – along with many businesses as... - My Super-Effective Article Writing Formula
Here’s the formula that I use to quickly write informative articles that get results. For many of the articles that I write my goal is to get visitors to a website where they take some action related to the topic of the article. Often the action that they take is... - Four Tips For Creating An Effective Authors’ Resource Box
In article marketing, there are many factors that will affect your articles’ ability to promote your website in the most effective manner. In this article, we will briefly discuss a couple those factors, before we dive into how to create an effective Authors’ Resource Box, also known as the About... - Effective Business Writing Tips for Professionals
Effective business writing skills can help you win that million dollar contract, earn a promotion, resolve a dispute, or generate a significant increase in new business leads. Poor business writing, on the other hand, can never be undone; it can cause you to lose business to your competition and even... - The Secret To Making Successful Business Connections
If you have a hard time making successful business connections, don’t despair. Anyone can be good at meeting people-if they use the right technique. The whole secret to making a positive connection is knowing how to attract people and inspire them to want to give you a chance. Here are... - Dealing with Uncertainty in Marketing
So often a business owner will say to me that they “hate” marketing. If you are a small business owner who “hates” marketing or even feels a sense of uneasiness when you contemplate marketing for your business, this article is dedicated to you. ====================================== Why Business Owners H8 Marketing ======================================... - How Numbers Matter in Marketing
(Note: Actually I was going to title this article, “How to use numbers in marketing without turning into the Robot from Planet X” but that was way too long for an email subject line.) I typically write a lot more about the “human side of marketing,” because I think topics... - Beware the Rise of Marketing Immunity
As the owner of a small business, you are, in many ways living in what Charles Dickens called, in his book, A Tale of Two Cities, “the best of times” and “the worst of times.” It’s the best of times because information technology, and the Internet in particular, has in... - Effective Use Of Colors In Web Designing
Effectively Using Colors on the Web As with any printed work or structural design, the primary purpose of (virtually) all web pages is to convey some kind of information or feeling to others. It is not surprising, then, that color should play an important role in how well this is... - Social Marketing: Not Nearly As Awful As I Feared
I have to admit I’ve been slow to jump on board with the whole social marketing trend. After so many years spent in marketing and frequently hearing about the “next big thing”, I’ve come to the decision that all these technologies are simply communication tools for building trusting relationships with...