Why Marketing Can Feel Icky (And What to Do About It).

We’ve all had that feeling when we’ve seen some marketing. The one where we feel like we’re being sold to. Or talked at. Or manipulated into something that isn’t right for us.

The type of marketing that doesn’t add value to our experience of a brand.

The type of marketing that feels “icky”.

Because we all know what that feels like to experience icky marketing, as business owners, it’s the last sort of marketing we want to be doing for our customers and clients.

But what is it that makes our marketing come across as icky? And how do we start creating marketing that brings our tribe into our story?

Here’s three reasons your marketing might be feeling icky, and what you can do about it.

Using Interruption instead of Connection

The way we do marketing has changed significantly over the past 20 years.

We used to live in an economy of interruption. The big brands that had the most money to shout the loudest won the customers.

It was perfectly normal to interrupt what people were doing to bombard them with well crafted, expensively engineered messages about a brand, service or product. We lived in a world where only those with enormous advertising budgets could compete.

Enter the digital age and the emergence of the connection economy.

Technology has broken down the barriers to entry for brands everywhere and it’s possible to connect with your ideal customer in ways that were never possible before. It’s given us the opportunity to connect with others in our tribe; those people who think like us.

It’s given us all the opportunity to build a brand.

The challenge with this, is that we became so accustomed to interruption marketing techniques, that we now try and use them in the connection economy. We even use interruption marketing on connection mediums like social media (where I see many big brands struggle to connect in a meaningful way).

And this is where marketing falls down.

Every piece of marketing you make should be seeking to create connection.

It should inspire, inform or create interaction for your tribe.

Your customers expect you to connect with them. They want you to.

And if you’re choosing to interrupt and shout at them instead, this will definitely make your marketing feel icky.

You’re trying to market to everyone

We’ve all made this mistake at some point in our business. Where we think that what we sell is for “everyone”.

But when you aren’t being targeted with your audience, you can’t be targeted with your marketing – and this makes your message sound less authentic – a.k.a “icky”.

Marketing is a conversation.

If you don’t know the person you’re talking to, then your conversation can’t happen in an authentic way.

The answer to this problem is to know your customer.

The more you know about them, the more you can create marketing stories that align with how they view the world, the more they’ll feel connected to you, and the less icky your marketing will feel, because you’ll create it from the place of talking to someone you know really, really, well.

Marketing that speaks directly to the person you want to help will actually sound helpful. When you know who you’re talking to, you can create connection.

If you’ve got a knowledge gap when it comes to your customer, the best thing you can do for your marketing is to close it.

And the best way to do that, is to ask your customer about themselves and how they see your brand.

To get you started, download the 15 Questions You Must Answer to Understand Your Tribe.

Your Brand Story Strategy is not in alignment

When you don’t know how your purpose connects to your customer’s purpose, it’s impossible to create messaging that resonates with them.

The biggest reason that your marketing feels icky, is because your Brand Story Strategy isn’t in alignment.

Brand Story Strategy is like the DNA of your brand. It’s the way we help our customers to tell the right stories about our brand. When it’s executed effectively, it helps your ideal customer to buy from you because they feel a connection, but also to become an advocate for your brand.

When you lay the right foundations within brand story strategy, it’s easier to know who your customer is, get clear on your message, meet your customer where they are, create a connection with them and then get them to tell the story of your brand to other people who are just like them.

But when we start a business, we tend to just start. And the important work of making sure that the story we’re telling is in alignment with our customer can get left behind.

It’s not always a question of alignment. It’s often that we don’t do this work at all. Having your vision, mission, values, points of difference, tribe and brand personality clearly documented makes it much easier to get your marketing right.

When you get Brand Story Strategy right, you make brand communication easier. You’ll know exactly what message to communicate, what stories to tell and where and how to tell them.

And your marketing will feel a lot less icky because your story will be in alignment with your customer.

Great marketing makes people feel seen

Marketing is a necessary part of running a successful business, because marketing makes your business visible.

If you aren’t visible, you can’t sell. And if you don’t sell what you have to offer, then you don’t have a business at all.

But when you focus on connection, get to know your customer and do the work to build brand story strategy, you’ll find that authentic marketing comes easily. Because marketing that’s designed to connect and help your customer, won’t really feel like marketing at all.

You’ll know what to say and when to say it and who you’re saying it to.

You’ll help your customer to make the right choice about which products and services to use. You’ll them to choose you so they can change their life in the way they want to change it and feel how they want to feel.

Great marketing should feel like you’re giving your tribe a gift.

And that’s the best marketing of all.