Marketing is about influencing. It's about convincing or satisfying someone that your values are aligned with theirs. You can do it through coercion, gaming and parlor tricks. Or by sharing authentic stories that resonate with the audience you are intending to affect.
Marketing is like most things, easy is rarely the correct path if you want to be noticed for something meaningful. And overselling and under delivering is actually fairly easy to pull-off. While earning trust through genuine action requires a significant investment of emotion, time and transparency. So most choose the easier, faster and seemingly safer path. The beauty then is that the harder work is reserved for the few...those that actually care about the people and how their work will make them feel.
Three questions to ask yourself when you start writing your marketing plan...
- Why are we doing this?
- Who is it for?
- How will they feel?
If you don't know or like the answers...start over.