Meaningful Marketing Is Not Manipulation or Gimmicks

In Meaningful Marketing, author Doug Hall makes a clear distinction between “meaningful” and “mindless” marketing.

Meaningful Marketing is about honestly communicating to customers exactly how your offering will make a genuine difference in their lives. Alternatively, Mindless Marketing is about using sales trickery, the brute force of massive advertising campaigns or endless price manipulations to persuade customers to purchase.

Both Meaningful and Mindless Marketing can be successful in the short term. The difference between the two lies in the longer-term success rates and profitability.

Many small businesses focus on short term success at the expense of long term profits. Maybe that’s why the success rate of small businesses is so low. According to the United States Small Business Administration, over 50% of small businesses fail in the first year and 95% fail within the first five years.

One of the worst things you can do is lie to your prospects and clients. This holds true for both product and service firms, but particularly for service firms where a signature on the dotted line signifies the start of work rather than the closing of a purchase.

I always shudder when I read sales books that focus on “getting your foot in the door” or worse “getting the bird in the cage” because it implies that you must do whatever it takes to manipulate people into doing business with you. And once they sign, they’re contracted and must go to significant lengths to break contract.

I once had such an experience with a national chain of gyms. They were having a promotional special and I wanted to join a local gym, so I went in for the tour. The salesperson I spoke with was a very pushy guy and wouldn’t let me leave until I signed. I have never again stepped inside that gym, and immediately went to one of the other gyms I had toured and signed up. And I now warn everyone I can about my horrible experience with that place.

As Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba state in their opening pages of Creating Customer Evangelists,

You are an evangelist.

You tell others what movie to see, which computer to purchase, what restaurant to visit, which dentist you prefer, which cell phone to buy, which books to read, which clubs to join. Your recommendations are sincere. Passionate, perhaps.

Perhaps you didn’t realize that you are an evangelist – a bringer of glad tidings – but your sphere of influence, made up of friends, family, colleagues, and professional communities, realizes it.

And just as you are an evangelist for the things you like (or hate), so are every one of your clients and prospects. If they have a bad experience with you, you can believe they will tell anyone who will listen. The good news is, if they have a great experience with you, they’ll let others know that too!

Random Posts