Authentic Marketing: hold loosely to control of visible short-term results
Channel: George Kao
Date: 18/08/2017

I’ve thinking about the agenda that many marketers have--

* Grab your attention with compelling headlines
* Get you on their email list (often with an “ethical bribe”)
* Move you through their funnel toward buying
* Keep following up until you buy
* Move you, as a buyer, to buy more stuff
* Incentivize you to refer them to more buyers

None of the above are “bad”. 

What’s not as healthy, I think, is the attachment to these things, which therefore creates a forcefulness that the audience doesn’t like, and therefore trusts the marketer less. 

The motive to manipulate stems from the illusion of being able to control people.

This is perhaps the biggest mindset change I made in my marketing:

Hold loosely to trying to control one’s audience.

Hold fast to my values. 

What I *can* control is how I embody my values.

We could say that there is a dichotomy here:

Visible results vs. Invisible values.

The more that we try to control the visible results in marketing (which means, controlling what others do), the more we end up manipulating our audience.

On the other hand, the more we prioritize the embodiment of invisible values, the better our heart/conscience feels, and the more trust we build with our audience.

Clarify our values → Embody it daily in our marketing → Feels great → Our audience feels it too → Improves our brand/reputation over time → Leads organically to more clients and more word of mouth.

Trying to control things from the other end -- focusing on visible lead generation & persuasion -- tends to disconnection from one’s heart, from one’s values, and as a result the audience can often feel that disconnection, even if they can’t consciously describe why they don’t trust you.

In other words:

* Not every post needs a compelling headline
* Not every piece of content needs a CTA (call to action)
* Not every marketing action has to be about lead generation & conversion
* Not every email needs to lead to a sale
* Not every buyer should be persuaded to buy more from you
* Not every client has to refer you

Do these things occasionally, not always. Sometimes I have a call-to-action at the bottom of my posts to subscribe to my newsletter. Sometimes I don’t. The more trusting I am of my audience, the less I do calls-to-action, and the more trust my audience has of me.

When I follow up with potential clients, I'm not trying to "wear them down" so they finally say Yes. What I do in my follow-up is as a courtesy reminder in case they have been distracted with other things, and in case they have been shy about asking me questions, I give them that opportunity. It's out of courtesy and convenience for them, not out of a feeling that I "have" to get them to say yes.

If we focus daily on the invisibles, and occasionally focus on the short-term visibles, we tend to get excellent results for the long-term, and sometimes even for the short-term… but the short-term is not what we try to control.

Control your daily actions of embodying your core values, and allow the visible results to take care of themselves.

A much wiser one said this: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and the rest shall be given to you.”  I wouldn’t argue with him ;-)

Here's how I apply that principle in marketing:

Clarify my values → Embody it daily in my marketing → Feels great → My audience feels it too → Improves my brand/reputation over time → Leads organically to more clients and more word of mouth.

For me, my business values can be summarized by one word: Service.

It is so good to be able to focus on one word that inspires you and can be your guiding light as you do your marketing. Find that one word that resonates with you. You can have the same word as me, of course, or find another word that fits your business even better, e.g. Expression, Joy, Connection, Love.

Yes, also have a strategy for creating visible marketing results in your business, but *hold loosely* to it. Don’t tie your sense of success to those metrics. 

Focus instead on bringing your higher self into action today, and everyday, and allow your visible results to grow over time.