A thought on marketing being salesey. Eurgh!.

For years, and still today, I struggled with feeling aligned in my marketing business. I often thought that marketing was inherently salesey and pushy. I tried to resist the tricks of persuasion that are taught to every marketer across the industry, which is why it often felt awkward and jarring to me. This discomfort became even clearer when I returned from my travels abroad in Asia, where I had spent most of my recent years. While listening to the radio on my way home, I was suddenly blasted with advert after advert. Although these adverts had been present while I was away, the language barrier while I was away had shielded me from them. This experience highlighted just how pervasive and intrusive marketing can feel.

Marketing often feels salesey and pushy, and we all have reasons to think this. We grew up surrounded by adverts, and it's easy to associate marketing with manipulative techniques and ill intentions, especially in the wellbeing space where we are more alert to shady corporate motivations. 

Despite these challenges, I've come to terms with marketing through understanding that it serves a higher good and avoids manipulative techniques. When done right, marketing can be a beautiful thing—a powerful tool to get the word out about wonderful projects and reach the people who need them. The best space holders I've seen do this with real precision and deftness. It's about presenting information in a way that helps someone see an alternate view, requires subtlety, and gets to the nub of the issue. As good marketers, our job is to help you get to the core of your client’s issue so you can speak to them directly in a way that connects and moves them.

Marketing, when executed with a desire to help, can transform perceptions and effectively communicate the value of your product or service to the right people at the right time.