Marketing is Heaven and Hell
I recently read someone’s comment that marketing is hell. But in fact, everything is a reflection of what’s inside you.
Marketing itself is this: understanding others wants and needs and, if you wish to provide for those wants and needs (in order to meet your own wants and needs), being able to 1) reach them; and 2) express what you offer in a way that accurately speaks to them.
Unless we are stealing (having our own wants and needs met by simply taking), we are all marketing all the time. We are all trying have our own wants and needs met, which means figuring out what we can do for someone else so they will help us to meet our goals.
Maybe that’s convincing someone to go on a date with us. Or to help us move. Or to hire us for a job.
All of these involve brand (appearance), brand promise (reputation), market research (understanding the other), advertising (getting someone’s attention), and selling / bartering (exchange of value); the latter can include the credit we’ve built up over time with someone, or taking on debt (I’ll owe you).
And they’re all simply part of life.
So I guess if you hate interacting with the world, marketing would be hell. But for most of us, if you understand what it really is, then probably marketing is hell when you’re doing it according to someone else’s formula.
You must do 3 TikTok videos a day.
You must do a long-form video featuring yourself on YouTube every day.
You must run ads, and here’s the exact formula to follow.
You must reply to other people’s social media posts and start conversations.
You must … you must … you must.
Marketing done right is actually the most beautiful thing in the world, because when we’re rightly aligned with life, we are each a unique expression of love. And love is not one-directional, but an infinity loop. We are fed by giving.
Love is not one-directional, but an infinity loop. We are fed by giving.
When we seek to genuinely understand others and seek to provide them with the best of what we have to uplift their lives, and when we are rewarded with their best in return, we are creating the great flow of the universe. And when you introduce money into this equation, it simply allows for more people to become part of the flow — you may not have what I need, but I can take your thanks (money) and exchange it for the best that someone else offers, which fulfills my need.
Marketing begins with finding the most beautiful things inside ourselves and offering them to the world. And then, yes, we must “promote” them in some way. But hell comes of doing this according to someone else’s standard. Heaven comes of caring enough about others that you’re able to hear their wants and needs, and then generously offering to help those you can help with whatever you have created.
Everyone’s lives are better for this sort of exchange. Everyone’s lives are better because of marketing … when marketing comes from love.