Filed Under: Humanistic Marketing
Our souls are tired. Exhausted really.
They’re exhausted before we even consider work, or business, or branding. They are exhausted at the soul level from the tilted floor we’ve all been stumbling across the last two years. Exhausted from loss, from pain, from instability, divisiveness and not knowing.
Too many brands are desperate. Desperate to get your attention again. Desperate to make the sale, to pay their bills, to meet their quotas, to turn over as many rocks as they can using the technology now even more readily available and easier to use.
From within this dynamic has emerged an excruciating amount of mechanized bullshit.
These automated requests to set up a meeting, partner on a project, use their services, are not simply annoying.
They have become offensive to the soul.
The more full our inboxes and DMs become, the more weary our soul feels. As such, marketing in pitch-y and intrusive ways to exhausted people is both foolish and cruel.
Many of the marketers we know don’t like this shit anymore than their audiences do. They are exhausted too. Too many options. Too much terrible advice. Too much pressure for marketing to prop up business models.
As we have before, and will again, We. Say. No.
No to marketing via pitch and interruption and intrusion.
Saying “no,” out loud, publicly to this kind of marketing has reminded us of the power of no. Especially when the soul says it.
A life and business truth: when you know your soul, you suddenly know what to say no to.
Knowing your soul reveals standards for how you treat others and how you expect to be treated. Knowing your soul sets boundaries. It informs intentions and governs behaviors.
Brands that know their soul don’t participate in the bullshit. They don’t stop marketing entirely but they certainly market differently than brands that don’t have a soul.
Brands that know their soul treat the people around them with the care and concern they deserve after two years of this meat-grinder life.
Brands that know their soul are thoughtful about how they approach their fatigued audience.
Everyone is wondering how they’re going to market in this new world.
Pro Tip, folks: Beware marketing that requires you to disconnect from your own humanity.
Stay connected to your own humanity and say true things instead of marketing without soul.
And use your No.
No, you don’t have to dehumanize yourself or others to become a known brand.
No, you don’t have to use marketing as a blunt force weapon to create conversions.
No, you don’t have to use FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) to manipulate people.
No, you don’t have to be like everyone else.
No, you don’t have to modify who you are in the name of market share.
No, you don’t have to suppress your voice.
And maybe most of all …
No, you don’t have to do any form of branding and marketing that adds more exhaustion to our already tired souls.
What are you going to start saying no to? Drop us a note: humans@rootandriver.com
