Marketing Doesn't Need to be a Dirty Word: Building Business with Integrity and Honesty

This week on the Best Life Business Marketing Podcast I spent a solid 20 minutes talking about my philosophy of marketing and all the reasons I actually hate telling people that I'm in the marketing business. I also outlined the ways we can work toward building an honest marketing strategy and being part of a growing movement to create helpful, transparent brands and companies. In this post, I'll break down all the main points!

👉 Rather listen to the episode? CLICK RIGHT HERE!

Rethinking traditional marketing

Marketing doesn't need to be a dirty word. It doesn't need to be a dirty practice either.

But it is. It really is. A lot of the time it is. Even for me, it is.

When people ask me what I do, I try to find a way to word it that doesn't actually include the word "marketing," even though that's in my freaking URL. I'm literally denhammarketing.ca. I'm like, how do you get away from that? Um, you don't. It is what it is.

And it's the truth. That's what I do.

I do marketing.

But here's the thing: I do it differently. I refuse to step into that marketing mold. I don't want to work within that mold. And my best clients are going to be the ones who understand that.

Let me tell you, I have turned away a lot of work and there have been really amazing - like financially amazing - opportunities that have come along where even they have chosen to walk away. They are like, "Girl, you are not the right fit for this." And I'm like, "Nope, yep, nope. Yeah, you're totally freaking right."

I am not the right fit for this because I refuse to do what I call dirty marketing.

Some marketing is downright dirty

I do not want to manipulate anyone into making a decision that is not right for them. And that is unfortunately what marketing has been for a very long time.

For a very long time, it has been how can we trick people into buying this thing that we have to sell? We just want to sell as much of this thing as possible so we can make as many people as possible feel like they have to get this thing, use this thing. And we convince them they need this thing and that they love this thing.

And let me tell you in my education and in my other experience in this business, I have learned that the best way to make someone think they need something is to emotionally manipulate them into thinking they are not good enough. (To be clear, by "best way" I mean that it's been put forward as the easiest and most effective. I do not believe it is the right way.)

And in order to be good enough, they need this thing. This is where all of the cosmetics get sold to us. This is why people pair a celebrity endorsement with a product or a service. "Oh, I want to be just like you. And so I'm going to need to buy this thing in order to feel at least for a moment, at least for a moment, like I am more like you because I feel like I am not good enough just as who I am."

And I'm saying it, that's bullshit. That is absolute bullshit.

You are good enough. I don't care who you are. I don't even care. I don't. You're good enough.

Marketing can serve your business AND your audience

As a group of people who are creating businesses to serve our best lives, I hope that we go forward with our own marketing in a way that serves the best lives of others.

Because this isn't just about ourselves. This is about each other. This is about community.

This is about creating a place where people can feel safe to find the things they want and need without being strong-armed, without being manipulated, without being treated like they aren't smart enough to figure out for themselves if this is the right fit or not.

And this is a big thing that pulled me toward inbound marketing in my work.

When I was in university I learned about the Jedi mind tricks that marketers often use and thought, "Wow, I never wanna be in marketing."

But when I was a copywriter it became clear pretty early on that I wasn't just writing stuff, I was part of a larger marketing machine. And for a minute, I wanted to run away...

But I realized that I could be a copywriter without actually manipulating anyone. I could do it without tricking people into buying things by priming their minds or hiding things. I could simply help them find the things they already needed or wanted. I could help them self-select through inbound marketing.

I love to work in a way that builds the foundations that bring people to our businesses. Even if it means they're trickling in slowly at first.

So I'm talking about creating blog posts that people find through Pinterest or find through a Google search, creating a website experience that is absolutely phenomenal and showcases exactly what you do and showcases exactly who it is right for.

Yes, this is not as flashy as an amazing, you know, tick tock video that goes viral. Yes. This means your sales may happen slower. Yes. This means you may need to invest in advertisements that help your right fit client or customer find you and get into your mailing list in order to see what you offer; where you can build a solid relationship.

And yes, this requires you to turn away your wrong fit customers and help them find a better solution for them. And all of that flies in the face of traditional marketing. It reminds me of Miracle on 34th Street, where the Santa Claus guy is telling people to go to a different store because they have a better price or because they actually carry what they're looking for. And, the store manager is pushing back against this guy like, "Don't do it! Sell them something else instead. Don't help these people."

But why not help them?

That is the honesty - the human connection - that we have been lacking for so freakin' long and we need so badly in this world.

So if you're fired up about this, like I'm fired up about this, if you want to create marketing for your business and create a community where we are all moving forward in this direction of honesty and transparency and community join my facebook group.

Come hang out with like-minded people who want to lift your business up.