Image: Alexis Fauvet
No one wants their marketing to be seen as pushy or needy. It turns people away and hurts their brand. Why then are we constantly bombarded by that exact kind of marketing?
The answer is that it almost always happens by accident! In this post, I’ll explain why, PLUS I’ll show you how to avoid making the same mistake.
Marketing messages fall into one of the following broad groups.
- Pushy: I want you to buy my stuff. And I want you to buy it now.
- Helpful: You have a problem, and my product or service can solve it for you. This is how it works.
Here’s the challenge
Lots of great business owners who are in that second group, accidentally market their services, as if they were in the first group.
In other words, their marketing looks needy or self-serving, but that’s NOT what they are like! They’re great people. Dedicated, hard-working professionals and they genuinely want to help you.
So, why does this costly confusion happen?
Here are the 2 main reasons I have identified, plus how to avoid this from happening to you.
Misunderstood passion
When you’re eager to serve your marketplace, your passion can easily be mistaken as needy. You’re ready, willing and extremely capable. However, because you really want to help, because you really want to make a difference, your motivated message can wrongly appear to be self-serving. Maybe even desperate.
The irony in this scenario, is that the same passion that prospective clients value so much, is now actively working against you.
The way to avoid this from happening, is to be very intentional regarding your marketing messages.
Go through your marketing. But read it from the perspective of your marketplace. Think about the words you use. Make sure that everything is “them focussed”.
Tip: I give 2 examples here, which explain exactly what I mean.
Copying the wrong approach
Many, (perhaps most) small and medium-sized business owners use the wrong marketing strategy and tactics for their industry. This example from one of my readers gives you a powerful insight into how devastating it can be. It demonstrates why you need to be really careful about the tactics you use. It also shows you the specific, and common, errors that were losing her a fortune. I strongly recommend you read it.
There’s no shortage of marketing tips and advice out there. As you’d expect, the quality ranges from rock solid, to average, to toxic. And even when the advice is rock solid, it needs to be in harmony with your industry, your reputation and your business development goals.
I hope you find those ideas useful. More importantly, I hope you do something with them.