Uplift Instead Of Undermine - Embrace A New Marketing Mindset
It takes courage to lift others up.
Traditional marketing mindsets condition us to believe the most powerful sales techniques discover pain and offer solutions to bandage that pain.
If the pain is eliminated, how will businesses survive?
There's fear that they won't survive, so pain is exploited and supporters diminished in an effort to gain ongoing engagement/revenue.
You're fat. The opposite sex doesn't like you. Take this and everyone will like you, but they'll only like you if you have this. You're depressed. You're sad. You're imperfect in some way. You're imperfect in every way. Your waist isn't in proportion. All the cool kids do THIS. You don't do THIS. Buy THIS so you can do THAT.
Now... keep buying and buying and buying and...
This technique increases as our disposable society grows. We're all consumers, and we're all getting a little dense from overstimulation. As business professionals, we like to think we're ahead of the game. We help build the structure, so we understand it better.
But... we build it AND we buy into it. That's slightly split personality of us.
It's time to stop supporting such things.
It's time to stop buying unhealthy things marketed to us in unhealthy ways.
It's time to stop contributing our creativity to destructive campaigns.
It's time to withdraw our support of such practices.
In an effort to heal our planet, our country, our communities, and ourselves, we, as business professionals, must take steps away from traditional fear-based supporter attraction and exploitation.
If we stop supporting the notion, start shifting our energy toward entities that enrich, and work toward empowering instead of undercutting others, the paradigm WILL eventually shift.
When was the last time you were built up, encouraged, or asked to shine your light? Who boosted you? A mentor? A co-worker? Family member? Friend?
How did it make you feel about yourself? How did it make you feel about the person that offered you a hand up instead of a hold down?
Awesome? Loyal? Ready to spread stellar sunshine throughout the land?
Yeah. Being built up in an authentic way will do that to people.
Marketing that reduces people instead of expands them and the perpetuation of a disconnected, disposable society is destroying the entire planet. Sometimes it feels as if our souls are repetitively sucked from us every day. We're becoming slaves to consumption - creating it and buying into it.
There are better ways to buy, sell, and build healthy economies.
Let's stop with the soul sucking. Let's take steps away from campaigns that reduce the masses - our friends, family, neighbors... ourselves. Let's offer genuinely helpful messages to our supporters. Let's give our time, money, and energy to conscious organizations.
Let's heal people and commit to not opening/re-opening their wounds. Let's be part of building a better standard in the marketplace. Let's recognize ourselves in others and know that being built up produces far more loyal awesomeness than playing on insecurity, depression, and unhealthy tendencies.
We're responsible for our actions.
It's time to reshape the dialogue of how we work, buy, sell, and live.
If you'd like to hop on the small business positive impact train, throw your email into the box over there in the right hand margin. Get tools to build awesome.
