Traditional Marketing? Nah - too salesy

a better way to grow

This morning, I awoke from dreaming about compost. It wasn’t the first time. Nor, I expect, will it be the last. My husband calls me “The Constant Gardner” because nearly every conversation around the dinner table will eventually turn into one about plants.What I love about gardening is that, at its core, it’s about solving problems. Have clay soil and 100 degree summers? Well, I can solve one of those problems - and that’s a start. The best part is, when you get it right, the results are downright beautiful.And delicious.Plants are honest that way. Find out what they need to grow and give it to them, and you’ll have a jam-packed cornucopia come harvest time.Now, you can do this in a couple of ways:You can buy chemical fertilizer at the store. It’ll feed the plants, sure enough.Or, you can beg, barter and buy heaps of manure and compost that will not only feed the plants, but also the worms and bacteria that make up the very foundations of a successful garden. It takes a little longer, lasts a lot longer, and makes me happier as a person. And you get that thrilling sensation of digging your hands into warm, soft soil. Sheer heaven.My approach to building a business is about the same. I won’t say there’s a right way or a wrong way to do it, but I know that one way feeds my soul. The other way just wears me out.The “other” wayThe other way involves manipulative sales tactics, “growth hacking,” slimy-feeling sales funnels and landing page formulas, and ROI measured only in dollars. It involves filling people’s inboxes with words they can’t use and don’t want, and eBooks that sound good from the outside, but are hollow on the inside – even when they promise to deliver “real value.”I’ve done the most ethical version possible of that for nearly 10 years, creating content strategies that do deliver real value (and deliver on promises), and crafting words that “Attract, Convert and Delight.” I’m a big believer that Customer Success is the way to go (because if your customers aren’t getting what they need, what are you doing?!). But still, it all started to feel a bit jenky.I was a content marketer who didn’t like selling, and didn’t like being sold to. I found myself deleting every sales message that landed in my inbox, even if they were from people I liked and businesses I admired.And I got to thinking: I can’t be the only one who can’t stand anything “salesy.”My anti-buyer’s journeyThen I had a client come to me with this request: “My clients can’t stand anything ‘salesy.’ Can you write a non-salesy sales page?”It didn’t take me two seconds to put this idea together: Clients who don’t like being sold to? I know exactly what to say to them!Turns out, there is an entire group of clients out there who demand authentic relationship-building. Most of the “sales tactics” that work so well for many businesses don’t work at all for them.  They need content that rings true for their people, and that reflects their higher, soul-filling goals.And most of them are life coaches. Or spiritual coaches. Or authors, healers, mystics or psychics. Whatever words they use to describe themselves, they want one thing:To help people live their best lives.And, of course, make enough money to continue doing it in a relative state of comfort. No need to be a monk in a cell – that’s not how most of us do our best work! My job is to put your wisdom into words that will bring the right people to you – the ones who need your help. And, I don’t believe slapping my idea of a sales funnel or formula onto your business is the right way to do it. My approach is to find ways to speak to the deepest needs and desires of your audience – and that is a very individual thing.Be who you are.Do your work in the world.I’m here to make sure you’re seen and heard by the people who need your message most.I believe in your work.