Honest Marketing: The Key to Connect, Resonate & Convert
N., my client, came to me feeling at the end of her rope with her business.
She had her second-best day ever in sales after just one session. There were many opportunities right in front of her.
What could have been achieved in one session? We are still not at the “strategies & tactics” part.
It was her ability to SHOW UP when she executed her strategies and tactics that made the most significant difference.
It’s not just what she says; it’s also how it comes out.
Customers and partners were drawn to her because of her enthusiasm, conviction, and energy behind her communications.
We changed her way of talking about her products, from “what marketing should sound like” to “how she wants to be in my communication”.
HONEST MARKETING
Let’s start with what it is NOT.
It is not an overused term “authenticity”, which has lost its meaning. Many people will say “authentic” and then go blank when you ask what that actually means.
It is not a random, heart-centred business that regurgitates love and light without any POV.
You can’t fake vulnerability and bottle it up for $297.
Honest Marketing is more than “not sales-y” or “not pushy.” It cannot be communicated through enrollment conversation scripts that use NLP tricks to “build a relationship” and then call it a night. This is not a collection of pieces that are duct-taped together in the hope you will hit the jackpot.
Direct marketing is a coherent and uninhibited expression of your vision, values, and convictions through every touchpoint.
It’s about CONNECTION, RESONANCE, and CONVERSION as the logical conclusion to an interaction.
This is not your average client attraction tactic.
Yes, you must make connections and communicate with your market. That’s 101.
Too often, we follow the scripts and repeat the templates and lose the connection and resonance between our message and ourselves.
If we become disconnected from our more profound message and lose sight of what drives us, and we ignore the golden thread that ties all our actions to our beliefs and our convictions, our communication becomes meaningless – for us and those with whom we want to communicate the most.
This disconnect can cut you off from your clients. Instead of belonging to your clients, you create a relationship between you and them.
HONEST MARKETING begins with creating resonance and connection between our message and ourselves.
This is the foundation for communication that is convincing and not strong-army contrived.
Before you can establish a rapport with clients that makes you unique, “competition” is no longer an issue, and you are no longer a commodity; you have to be truthful to yourself.
This clarity is the first step.
This connection must be translated into marketing communication. Fears and compromises are not acceptable.
Most people make this mistake by trying to reduce their message or to fit in with a preconceived idea of what marketing should look like.
They might feel that their words are too sloppy. They might fear that they won’t sound professional if they say things in a particular manner to their ideal clients. They might be afraid of being criticised for being different. They may be experiencing FOMO, which is when they throw everything in their communication.
The bottom line is that the energy behind communication becomes murky, and the speaker can’t recognize himself when they speak it out loud.
Your convictions and values will be violated if you reduce the frequency of your communication. You will eventually fail to achieve your goals if you continue to force yourself to do this type of marketing.
It is not possible to make our life work in a vacuum. You’ll find that the whole “niching” thing is easy to do if you are honest with yourself.
This means that the “how” to create resonance and connection with your niche will be revealed.
You won’t feel the same way that those training and programs make you think. None of these being forced into a niche and then discovered six months later that it isn’t what you care about.
We can start to talk business when we get to the root of YOU and your niche.
You have to sell something in order to be a businessperson. This is often another piece in the puzzle that can trip people up.
The product you sell must reflect your beliefs, values, and superpowers. It is the link between your message, your business and it.
You will be hesitant to offer a solution if you aren’t clear about it. You mumble and stumble in your communication.
Your offer must be in line with the connection and resonance that you have with yourself and your niche. If it isn’t, you won’t be able to communicate with 110% conviction (unless you are a snake-oil salesperson… which I suspect you are not).
How can you expect potential clients to believe you if you don’t stand by your words with 110% conviction?
Marketing communication must be meaningful to generate income.
You need to have a cohesive narrative that connects your Truth, your niche, and your offer.
Your offer is the ultimate expression and anchoring of your message in the community.
Your offer should CONNECT and RESONATE with you and your peers. Then your marketing communication can be proper to its purpose as a vehicle for that more extensive-expression.
Ling is an intuitive brainiac. Her unique combination of Business + Marketing coaching and a Mindset + Psychic Twist helps multi-talented, multi-passionate solo-entrepreneurs distil their big ideas into one cohesive message, nail the WORDS to sell, and design a plan that will cut down on the hustle work. This is thanks to her intuitive but rigorous iterative process that she has developed from her Harvard Design School training, as well as ten years of experience in online marketing.
