WHY ‘AUTHENTIC’ IS THE NEW MARKETING

Maria Anderson-Contreras – Soul Mentor

WHY ‘AUTHENTIC’ IS THE NEW MARKETING

Since lockdown, the world and how we do business and work has dramatically changed and will never be the same again. Resources and people power have reduced. The way we spend and buy has also transformed more into essential or important products or services. 

It’s not that business has died. Far from it, business has undergone a renaissance rebirth into a way of being that has to be more real, more honest and more authentic than ever before. 

Lockdown has enabled so many veils of society to be gently or abruptly yanked off and what remains in this aftermath is a more honest seeing of things as they really are. 

How does this translate into business and how you promote your products and services? The change is radical and the opposite to what has come before it. 

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

To understand WHAT people are really buying is how you will know how to truly sell. Are people buying your products and services on the back of what the benefits and price points are? Or do you think that they could be buying something very different?  It is of vital importance to know exactly what people/customers/businesses are really buying from you so that you can pitch and offer what they are asking for as opposed to what they are not. 

How to do this is simply to be authentic. Because people are not buying what you do or what you make per se, people are buying INTO YOU. 

People buy from people. People buy once a relationship of trust has been formed. People buy from you when they feel they know you and resonate with you. People buy your values which means you have to present what is important to you and why. People buy into your life experiences and learnings. We are all in this human experience together and there is nothing more ancient community connected than sharing our stories. 

Stories sell. Your story WILL sell. 

Your story and the many stories that you’ve experienced have made you who you are today so this is the most important one and only Unique Service Proposition USP, or as Soulful Life Club co-creator Sharron Goodyear says – your UHP – Unique Human Proposition. 

Authentic marketing is to not lie or present things as being perfect and glossy. Be authentic, be real, honest and normal. This is what makes people warm to you. 

Imagine this analogy. Scenario 1: You are in a bar and someone comes and starts chatting to you. At the end of the brief conversation they ask you to marry them. What are you likely to say? Scenario 2: You get to know each other, know your likes and dislikes and build a relationship. Which scenario do you think will more likely lead to a deeper and longer lasting relationship based on trust? 

Authentic marketing means that who you are is enough. You matter. Your voice is important. Your point of view is vital. Your story has made you who you are and that’s creating a business with meaning. Your business is a showcase of you and your natural gifts and abilities. 

IN SUMMARY

There is no longer a need to be who you are not. Be yourself, share your story honestly and people will warm to you on a human level. 

It is no longer helpful to separate personal from business because being authentic is just to be real. Be real and you won’t go wrong because the people that get you will get you and the people that don’t won’t. You won’t lose energy and time and stress trying to talk to people that are just not your customer. Here is when the law of magnetic attraction really works and I can guarantee this because it has happened to me with this business. 

Since lockdown people want to buy what is real and honest. There is no room for BS. The invitation is to fully show up as yourself and to see how far that most important thing will get you. 

In conclusion, when I hear who someone really is and what has inspired them to do what they do, it creates a natural desire to want to support them to support me. It creates a heart-level connection that inspires safety and trust. Safety and trust sells – and this is why ‘authentic’ is the new marketing. This is about intimacy. When I buy a product or a service I want to know the person, what they’re about, resonate with them and feel that I know them. Then when I buy from them it feels like a connected experience as opposed to a faceless, heartless marketing campaign. 

Here’s an idea, say you need a web designer to help you. Option A: Web designer name, cost, link. Option 2: Web designer name, a bit about the business. Option 3: Web designer’s story, why they do what they do, what they’re passionate about. Which option would you choose? People want to work with people whom they have affinity with. There needs to be some connection, it may only be one thing but some shared value or vision of purpose. And then you’re in authentic marketing and customer for life and sustainable business practice. Authentic sharing solicits the trust of the listener that the person has integrity. If the story shows that they honour and value themselves then the listener will get that they will honour and trust them.

To find out more about this refreshingly real approach, book a free preliminary getting to know you chat with me and I will listen to you, to your story and will be interested to discover why you do what you do and why. http://fb.com/book/celebratingyoupr/