Here is a helpful post from our archives.
“Shmarmie“. You know what I mean, the kind of marketing that feels slippery, userous – focused on getting people to buy things they don’t want to buy. Most of us, if not all, would want to “run” from being seen like this.
And yet there may be times when we wonder about how our products and services are being represented by the marketing we have chosen.
We wonder if we have:
- Represented who we are and what we can do accurately?
- Offered an honest reflection of the value our company can provide our customers?
Recently I was discussing a number of pressing needs a client had in his business. His main need was to bring more focus to his marketing strategy.
Over the last 10 months Chip, my business partner, and I had worked together with this client on his:
- Personal engagement in the business,
- Sales pipeline,
- Expansion of his team.
He was enjoying more stability and now he was looking to ensure he had a more predictable stream of quality leads coming into his sales pipeline.
At this point, many people would dive into creating the marketing plan.
I invited him to pause and ensure that his marketing would be aligned with what was most important for him as a Christ following business owner.
Too often we approach business activities like finance, sales & marketing, leadership, hiring, etc., as separate from what is important. If we are not careful we will lead our businesses, engage in our marketing in an immature way – a way that is NOT aligned with what we would claim to be true as business men and women of faith.
Take a look at what the apostle Paul writes in Romans 12:1-2 (MSG).
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
As Christ followers we are to ensure that every part of our business is aligned with what is most important; that we are choosing to live maturely. We live in a world that craves authenticity. Many are challenged in their marketing with the temptation to over promise – or under promise!! “Unlike the culture around us”, we are called to be authentic.
Here are 3 practices to help ensure your marketing strategy remains authentic.
- Your Identity.
Be clear on who you are. Your marketing plan is a reflection of you. As a Christ follower, He is your center center and so He needs to be at the centre of your marketing plan.
- Your Personal Vision.
Your clarity of purpose and values, along with what you are dreaming for the future have a massive impact on your engagement in your business.
- Your Business Vision.
Your business purpose, values and plans for the future provide the focused energy, ideas and framework that helps ensure activities like marketing remain authentic.
Your marketing plan is a reflection of you and what is most important to you. Is yours?
Action:
Ask yourself these 4 helpful questions to help ensure authentic marketing:
- What’s your personal vision? How aligned is it with your identity in Christ?
- What’s the vision for your business? How aligned is your marketing with what is most important for you and your business?
- Are there times when you have questioned how your product and or services have been represented in your marketing? If so, what was it about it that was uncomfortable?
- Ask your team for their feedback? Does your promise match what you say is most important?
Commit to being authentic in your marketing. Ensure that it is aligned with what is most important to you. No one else can do that for you!
Pete
