The Good News about Marketing

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I listened to an awesome podcast yesterday that has me still thinking about all of the wisdom nuggets that were shared, and especially how they relate to business owners and how they show up for their audience.

The podcast was Jen Lehner’s The Front Row Podcast for Entrepreneurs
and she was interviewing Seth Godin all about his newest book called This Is Marketing.

Let me tell you why I loved it so much.

As business owners, or anyone who has a message they want to get out into the world — authors, healers, coaches, entrepreneurs, network marketers… the list goes one — I think we can all agree that trying to figure out the best way to share your message and engage with your audience is something that can keep you up at night.

Let’s face it — we’ve got all the Guru’s in our industry telling us to do it one way…. we’ve got FB Ads in our newsfeeds daily trying to lure us to do it another way…. and we’ve got our own coaches and mentors telling us to do it yet another way. Not to mention, we often take a peek at what our competitors are doing and then freak out thinking, “Oh my gosh, I need to be doing it that way.”

I know for myself, this round and round rodeo of best practices has left me more confused than ever. And what I’ve done in those moments is try to just shut off all the noise and ask myself: “What do I think I should be doing? How would I like my audience to see me approaching them? What feels good to me?”

And for the most part, this helps! 

Seth Godin affirms this is indeed the right way to market your business, and share your story!

Much of the premise of his book is about this single concept: The single best way to make a difference is to truly see and understand the people you care to serve. Our job as influencers is to get really, really good at talking to a small section of our audience and get them to engage with us.

Godin says once they engage and fully buy in to what you are promoting, they will go and tell other people.

It’s really that simple. I really believe this is why storytelling is so important and valuable because people engage with stories. They resonate and can identify with stories. It creates opportunity to have conversation and engagement with your audience.

This is gold, really — and what a relief that you don’t have to figure out how to be all things to all people. You clearly identify your message and how you can serve other people, then go and figure out how to do that really, really well.

Here’s the other key message Godin has for his readers: Your work matters. It matters to the people you share it with. It will make a difference in their lives and when you start this domino affect, collectively we all make a difference together.

This can sound very Pollyanna to some folks — but I believe this to be true. I’ve witnessed over and over again the power of storytelling to share messages of hope, inspiration, determination, guidance…

Behind that story, you’ve got to back it up with really solid delivery of your offers … your products and services… but once your following experiences the transformation, you will have ambassadors that help build your brand for you! 

I highly encourage you to check out Seth Godin’s book This is Marketing, along with my brilliant friend Jen Lehner and her podcast The Front Row.

I’m going to spend some time this weekend digging a little deeper into This book myself, and likely will have some more aha’s and takeaways to share with you next week on my Alexa Flash Briefing. 

[IMAGE COURTESY www.sethgodin.com]