Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Making Peace with Marketing Your Business
I would find it humorous that so many people want a business of their own, but don't want to let anyone know that they're in business. At least I would find it humorous if it wasn't so sad.

We want the freedom of running our own business, but we don't want to discipline ourselves to do the tasks that go into running a business (of which communicating to others what we offer them is a key part).

We want people to pay us for what we do for them, but we also want them to stroke our egos by feeling that they, without any effort on our part, specifically searched US out until they found us.

We recoil from marketing because the examples of bad, intrusive, manipulative marketing stick in our minds. We think that that bad marketing defines what we have to do in order to get business.

In reality, though, those examples of bad marketing are examples that are as unproductive in getting others' business as they were in getting our business. We fail to recognize good marketing when we see it because it feels so natural and appealing.

How can we recognize it and model our own marketing after it? Just learn from yourself. When you find yourself really being drawn to something or someone, stop and analyze what led you to feel attracted. What did they do to put you at ease? What did they do to tap into a need you were feeling and reassure you that they could fill that need?

Focus on the things that persuade you. Model those examples rather than recoiling from what turns you off and thinking that you have to model that. If you focus on modeling the good, persuasive examples of marketing you encounter, instead of modeling the bad, manipulative ones, you'll find yourself more at ease with the idea of marketing. And you'll find yourself doing marketing that is increasingly more effective -- and even enjoyable!
Jeff

Labels: marketing, successful business