Just be authentic.
Don’t be salesy.
Avoid being wasteful, unethical, or a “quick win.”
Is this what you imagined as mindful marketing? It totally is on the surface level but I want to step back and lift the veil of what mindful marketing is. It goes beyond the marketing trends and “best-practice” rules.
By the end, you’ll easily apply some of its components right now into your purposeful business.
Let’s go back for a moment though and get a better understanding that this isn’t a made-up concept or a clever pairing of words (by me or others). It’s very much rooted in practice and theory
First, Social Marketing in Public Health
Yes, this is a thing. There is a sector in public health called social marketing.
It’s confusing because we read social marketing and think of Instagram and Facebook but it’s not that.
So, what is social marketing?
Social marketing uses marketing strategies to promote socially beneficial behavior. It uses similar marketing approaches as commercial businesses but with slightly different goals. Whereas Nike’s marketing plan is for you to buy more shoes and not forget their tagline, social marketing’s plan is for you to consume more water, or create less trash.
And I actually think this is lacking big time right now. There is so much confusion around wearing a mask, social distancing, and promoting socially beneficial behavior. But I digress!
Remind me what “regular” marketing is
Yes! Let’s get into that now. Marketing is so vast. I don’t know if there’s one clear way to describe it. In short, marketing makes it easier for your audience & clients to find you to therefore grow your business. Generally, “regular” marketing strives to improve the offerings or products of the business rather than considering the growth of their clients.
Whereas social marketing is striving to improve socially beneficial behavior, “regular” marketing is striving to improve its offering to get the business name out there.
Mindful marketing
I see it like this
“regular” marketing + social marketing theory = mindful marketing
At the root of mindful marketing, it is about promoting socially beneficial behavior and it’s also about improving or enhancing the offering in order to best support the clients, customers, or audience. As a result of mindful marketing, awareness of your audience is up-leveled and your business is growing with it. Whether that’s physical awareness, mental awareness, emotional awareness, or spiritual awareness.
It first starts with observation. Observe your thoughts, then your words and actions, and then your behavior.
Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny. — Lao Tzu, a mystic philosopher of ancient China
Tip #1: As you step in to work on your marketing for your purposeful business, check in with yourself? What kind of thoughts do you have about it?… “This is hard” “I’m not good at technology” “Marketing is expensive”. All you’re doing is observing. You’re not analyzing or judging these thoughts in any way.
Beyond marketing trends with mindful marketing
There are two pillars to mindful marketing
- Align
- Value-focused
Align yourself then grow your business
At one point your purposeful business was just a thought. There were a series of actions that needed to align in order for it to come to life. That could be everything from taking a leap of faith and not doubting yourself to publishing your website. These “alignment” points are so important for the growth of your business. What do you need to keep you aligned? Do you need a therapist, a coach, a daily mindful practice to keep your grounded? Or perhaps it’s a group of like-minded individuals that will support your growth? Find whatever it is and continue with it.
Tip #2: A quick way to align your self from day-to-day, take deep breaths before you step into your day. And ask, am I working toward my vision? Am I taking action toward the goals of my purposeful business (ie revenue, email list, followers, personal development, etc)? Am I taking care of myself (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) to be more receptive to opinions or a new approach?
If your headspace is off, or if your personal alignment is off, then aligning and growing your business is going to be really challenging.
Create value and love
At the time I’m writing this in 2020, creating from a space of value and love is just as important as setting your revenue and income goals.
As you estimate how much money you hope to generate in Q4, mindful marketing thinks of the impact you want your people to take away. Instead of continually advertising and pushing your message, it’s about providing education, value-based offerings. This is where understanding the huge benefits of content & inbound marketing comes into play.
Tip #3 Be intentional. Not Habitual.
I go on certain patterns where I follow someone’s marketing “best-practices”. Plus I personally recommended “best-practices” that I’ve seen work too! But at the same time, I say screw it.
Don’t follow any “best-practice” or “professional” advice if it doesn’t resonate with you, your business, or how you operate. Break the rules. Stop following the guidelines that will supposedly get you, hundreds of new clients. Call me out on my sh*t if I ever do something like that.
You can see my approach to writing is very personable. Some would call it “unprofessional,” “sloppy”, “grammatically incorrect.” I don’t care.
I know it’s challenging to do things differently. I’ve worked with clients and businesses that flat out won’t take my recommendations “because they’ve been doing it their way” or “they’re tired of changing it.” I get it. Change is challenging.
Being mindful means that we are open and receptive to a new perspective. To observe when our thoughts are screaming “I’m right, their wrong” and breathing through that discomfort.
Be intentional with your marketing and see what happens.