Honest Marketing :: The Key to Connect, Resonate & Convert

My client N. came to me feeling “at the end of the rope” with her biz.
After just ONE session, she had her second best day in sales and opportunities popping up left, right and center.
What could have changed in just one session? We haven’t even gotten to the “strategies and tactics” piece yet.
It’s how she SHOWS UP when executing her strategies and tactics that made all the difference in the world.
It’s not only what comes out of her mouth, but HOW it comes out.
It’s the energy, conviction and enthusiasm behind her communications that drew customers and partners to her.
We changed the way she talks about her products from “what marketing is supposed to sound like” to “how I want to BE in my communication.”

HONEST MARKETING
First, what it’s NOT:
It’s not some overused “authenticity” that has lost its meaning. So many people blurt out “authentic” as a “value,” then draw a blank when you ask them WTF that means to them.
It’s not some random “heart-centered” business that’s all regurgitated love and light with no POV.
It’s not fake “vulnerability” you can bottle up and sell for $297.
Honest Marketing goes beyond “not sales-y” and “not pushy.” It can’t be communicated via some enrollment conversation scripts that pull a few NLP tricks to “build rapport” and call it a day. It’s not piecemeal tactics duct taped together and hoping you’d hit jackpot.
Honest Marketing is an UNDILUTED and coherent expression of your vision, values and convictions through every single touch point.
It is about CONNECTION and RESONANCE, before CONVERSION happens as a logical conclusion of the interaction. rnIt’s not some run-of-the-mill client attraction fluff stuff either.
Yes, of course you’ve to make connection and create communication that resonate with your market. That’s 101.
Too often, when we follow the scripts and rehash the templates, we lose the connection and resonance that exist between our message and ourSELVES.
When we get disconnected from our deeper message, when we lose sight of the conviction that DRIVES us and we disregard the golden thread that ties our actions to our beliefs, then our communication loses its meaning – its meaning to us and to those we most want to communicate with.
This disconnect cuts you off from your community of clients. Instead of belonging, instead of being one of them, you isolate yourself and create a you vs. them relationship.
HONEST MARKETING starts with creating connection and resonance between our message and ourselves.
This is the foundation of communication that’s convincing and not in a strong-arm-y contrived kind of way.
You’ve to be honest to yourself, before you can connect with your clients in a way that positions YOU as unique, rendering “competition” a non-issue and you no longer a commodity.
Having this clarity is the first step.
Then you need to translate this connection with your message into marketing communication without diluting it. Without fears nor compromise.
This is where most people fall short by watering down their message or mincing their words to sound a certain way, to fit into a preconceived notion of what “marketing” should be like.
They may think their own words are not good enough. They may fear that if they don’t say things a certain way they’d look unprofessional in the eyes of their ideal clients. They may be afraid of being criticized for being different. They could be suffering from FOMO so they dump everything and the kitchen sink into their communication.
Bottom line: the energy behind the communication gets murky and they can’t even recognize themselves when they say it out loud.
Watering down your communication is a betrayal to your values and convictions. If you keep forcing yourself to “get out there” with this kind of marketing, the disconnect and misalignment will ultimately sabotage your effort.
Our life’s work doesn’t develop out of a vacuum. When you’re honest with yourself and connect with what truly resonates with YOU – you’d realize that this whole “niching” thing takes care of itself.
That means, the “how” of creating connection and resonance with your niche will REVEAL itself.
Yep, none of those pulling teeth thing those programs and trainings make you feel. And none of those being stuffed into a niche only to find out 6 months down the rabbit hole it’s not what you’re about.
When we get to the bottom of YOU and your niche, we can talk business.
Business means you’ve something to sell. And this something is often another piece of the puzzle that trips people up.
This something you sell needs to be the expression of your values, convictions and superpowers. It’s the connecting tissue between your message and your business.
If you’re wishy washy about your offering, you will falter when you’re challenged. So you babble and fumble in your communication.
If your offer is not in alignment with this connection and resonance you’ve with yourself and your niche, you won’t be able to put 110% conviction in your communication (unless you’re some snake-oil salesperson… and I’m guessing you’re not.)
If you can’t stand behind your own words with 110% conviction, how can you expect your potential clients to be convinced?
For marketing communication to work – aka, generate income – you need to have something MEANINGFUL to sell.
There needs to be a coherent narrative that ties together your Truth, your niche and your offer.
Your offer is the ultimate expression of your message and how it’s anchored in the community of your peeps.
When your offer CONNECTS and RESONATES with your peeps and yourself, then your marketing communication doesn’t have to be anything but true to what it, as a vehicle of that larger expression, is.