Why marketing feels icky
The below is from my weekly newsletter. The goal of each and every email is to deliver thought-provoking and actionable prompts that help you market to your audience in a way that feels true to your creative self. Learn more and sign up here.
Hi friend,
I haven’t been shy with you about how I’ve always had a bit of trouble with the idea of marketing… even though I literally work in marketing.
There’s something about it that just never sat right with me, and probably doesn’t with you either.
But until last week I haven’t really been able to put my finger on it.
I thought maybe it was because of some mindset shift I needed to make… that I didn’t believe in myself enough, or I was afraid of being seen.
And I do think all that has something to do with it. But there’s something deeper, right?
Something that just feels… icky. I don’t know a better way to describe it.
Then, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts (Joyful Marketing by Simone Seol) and she shared an idea that I just can't stop thinking about.
Simone’s platform focuses mostly on coaches, but I think this idea applies to anyone in a creative business… or anyone that is really passionate about their business and has always had trouble marketing it. And that idea is this...
The language of marketing is inherently colonizing.
Think about it.
We “capture” and “convert” leads.
We “get” sales.
We have “expansion” revenue and customers have a “lifetime value.”
I mean… right?
Honestly, this isn’t a topic that I can fully explore in just one email, but I think it’s important realize why you might feel so icky about marketing — and how that’s not necessarily a bad response.
And yet… marketing is powerful and necessary to grow your business.
So what do we do?
✨ My marketing prompt for you this week is an important one. ✨
I want you to try a different way of thinking about marketing than the current language allows. Don’t think about “capturing” leads. Instead, think about how amazing your offering is, and how it can much better it can make your client or customer’s life.
Really think… how will their lives be improved? Just from encountering you.
In copywriting, this is what we call the “deep benefit.” It’s the emotions that your customer gets to feel, the lives they get to live, because they found you.
Journal on this and keep it somewhere... a sticky note, a calendar app, a document on your computer that you look at every day.
Knowing this deep benefit is the first step to really great marketing.
And hopefully feeling a little less icky about it.
Until next week,
Nicole
