Making Marketing Matter

Every day I get dozens of  messages from LinkedIn Influencers and other marketers who offer to help me make $20-30K per month by bringing in new clients; to guide me through the book writing process to help me “be seen as an expert”; and to help me set up courses, webinars, YouTube channels, and other video-rich formats to further my brand. Oh, and that reminds me, I also get e-mails and LinkedIn messages from marketers telling me they can help me create my brand. 
Some of these messages make me laugh. Others make me cringe. And occasionally, a message will cause me to say, “Did you even look at my profile before you spammed me?” 
The mass market marketing and influencer approach used by so many so-called marketing experts consists of 1) State the problems, 2) Give the solution(s), and 3) Try to provide a unique solution (though let’s be honest, many of these solutions are the same or are mishmashes of other people’s solutions). In this three-step process lies inherent problems. First are the assumptions: I’m not making enough money on my own; I need more clients; I want to, need to, or haven’t yet written a book; I am not an expert; I have no courses, webinars, etc.; I have no brand or brands. All of these assumptions are based on a lack mindset or are trying to create feelings of lack within the recipient of the message. Second, the underlying message in marketing blasts is two-fold: what you are doing on your own isn’t enough (lack again) nor what you are doing isn’t correct (negativity). All of it screams, “I am the expert” even though these kinds of experts seem as abundant as mosquitos near a swamp. (And some of them are just as pesky, messaging their lists daily trying to increase the feelings of lack and negativity with the hopes you’ll think they and only they can provide solutions.)  
Another problem with modern marketing that messages masses of people, hoping for just a small percentage return on that spamming, is that it is a generic, nonpersonal approach that is easy to ignore. It wastes a few seconds of my day to delete the messages or to see and disregard the message without reading it, but it is still easy to do so. And this makes the marketing ineffective. 
Effective marketing, just like effective business partnerships and effective coaching programs, cannot be a one-size fits all system. It seems to me that marketing could stand a disruption, and that a higher yield would result if marketing focused more on positives and abundance, and getting to know what a specific person or company wanted and them helping them reach that goal. 
Back when I was in higher education, I expressed dismay to my institution’s president after we attended an annual conference run by our accreditors. The keynote speaker spent his allotted 40-minute speech extolling the problems of higher ed. I suggested the problems the speaker highlighted might go away if professors and administrators focused instead of what people were doing great and replicating that greatness across departments, schools, and institutions. Years later, this became the approach and was known as the “Best Practices” model. 
 Danielle Brooks, Founder and CEO of Gooddecisions.com and FinallyFreeWorkshops.com, and founder of Lake Washington Wellness Center (though no longer its owner) explains how she ignored the “mass marketing” approach and encouraged her massage therapists and nutritional therapists to practice relationship marketing instead, since in her experience, this was a better practice. “It takes longer to build strong relationships and the results are slower than the fast-push, mass marketing approach, but the results are much longer lasting,” she said. For Brooks, that meant establishing relationships with her clients’ doctors and keeping them updated on what she was doing with their patients. Then when the clients and their doctors saw results, that’s when the referrals started pouring in. 
 I do the same with my coaching clients and my writing clients. The action I do most often is listen and ask clarifying questions. My goal is to really understand the client, the needs and desires, and to establish a relationship. This takes time. It takes much more energy than creating a campaign and pushing a button. But it is so much more rewarding because my clients are happy. They feel heard. They feel respected. And at some point, during our journeys together, they feel like the rock stars that they are (but in many cases needed someone to show them the mirror or provide them the right language). 
These clients then pay the gratitude forward by writing stellar reviews, telling their friends and colleagues, and returning to work with me again and again. And that, keeps the coffers full, makes mass marketing unnecessary, creates fabulous partnerships, and allows for soul-fulfilling work.  #relationalmarketing #marketing #happyclients #customerservice #networking #referrals #growyourbusiness