The Best Marketing Doesn’t Feel Like Marketing
So stop spamming people with your links
Marketing is hard.
People are getting thousands of marketing messages every day, so standing out from the crowd is a tough challenge. Throwing your links everywhere no longer works, writing articles about how awesome your product is will not get you clients. In fact, it hurts your business more than you think.
Marketers want customers but customers want relationships. That’s why the best marketing does not feel like marketing.
You need to step back and think about it.
Smart marketers are building trust with customers, they’re building long-term relationships. If your customers trust you, sales will follow.
In fact, you need to stop treating them like customers. Even more, you need to stop calling them “customers” and start treating them like an audience of people who want to learn from you. Stop thinking about how to GET their money and start thinking about how to GIVE them value.
I learned this lesson the hard way. I remember when I was working on my habit tracker app, I thought throwing my links on forums or Facebook groups will do the work. I was calling myself a marketer for doing this.
And as you may guess, I failed. A ban here and a ban there, I realized that this is not the way to go. This is not how marketing should work. I need to build trust with my audience.
So I opened Reddit and wrote a valuable article about setting goals and tracking your progress.
I was shocked.
That article alone got me more than 800 email subscribers and 400 new users!
At that moment I knew that the best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.
Smarter marketers have discovered that their job is not to sell their product as hard as possible, but rather to create experiences for their customers that make those customers want to talk about and share their product with potential customers. Traditional advertising doesn’t do this! Rather than push, push, push, marketers must provide opportunities for consumers to interact and engage with their brands.
A lot of companies, startups, influencers, and creators are doing this. They know how to sell without actually selling. Funny enough, content creators are better at marketing than most marketers working at billion-dollar corporates.
Here are some smart marketing strategies companies and influencers are using to build an audience.
Twitter Customer Service
If used correctly, Twitter can have a huge impact on your business.
The problem is that most marketers are using Twitter the wrong way. They just keep throwing their product links with a bunch of hashtags and pray for results. That doesn’t work.
On the other hand, companies like dBrand are crushing it on Twitter. They’re using Twitter not only as a customer service platform but also as a way to interact with people and throw some savage jokes and memes. Like this one:
Another example is Tesla, or specifically, the CEO of Tesla Elon Musk. He’s the number one most popular entrepreneur on Twitter. Just compare his Twitter profile to his peers like Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates and see the difference in engagement.
The key here is sharing content your audience will love. Engage with your audience. Answer their questions. Share jokes and funny tweets. Don’t just push links.
YouTube Reviews
Youtube marketing is one of the most effective techniques companies are using today.
I’m not talking about skippable ads. I’m talking about sending free products to Youtubers to test and review.
Let’s take tech channels as an example. Most people who follow big tech names on Youtube like MKBHD and Unbox Therapy enjoy watching tech products online.
People are willing to watch a 15-minute product review made by Marques Brownlee on Youtube but they’re will never watch a 1-minute product review made by a salesman wearing a suit on TV.
Both are marketing videos. Both are talking about the same product.
But the difference between them is huge.
It’s not about the product itself. It’s about trust.
TikTok Vlogs
TikTok is not just a dancing or music platform anymore. It’s one of the biggest marketing channels right now.
Milad Mirg built an audience of 4 million followers on TikTok by just recording himself making sandwiches at Subway. Imagine being a billion-dollar company spending millions on ads to end up getting passed by a guy making sandwiches with zero marketing budget.
That’s what I call, silent marketing.
Customer Stories
Letting your customers tell their stories with your product is the best way to gain the trust of your audience. But be careful, people are smart, they can smell marketing from far away. So bringing people to talk mainly about your product won’t work.
Your product should be amazing to the point your customers are willing to recommend it to their friends. Have you ever decided to buy a product because one of your friends or an influencer said he’s using it daily? No one paid him to say that. The product was just so good that they decided to share it with their friends.
This is one of the hardest yet most effective silent marketing techniques. Your product needs to make a difference in someone’s life to talk about it. It takes time to achieve that, but it’s worth it.
Takeaway
The best jobs in the world do not feel like jobs, and the best marketing does not feel like marketing.
If you can add value to people’s life they will trust you. It’s a long-term game. But you need to play it today to win tomorrow.
“The best marketers are always creating relationships. Relationships with customers, brands, and other marketers” — Kurt Uhlir
So here’s what you can do today:
- Create content that your audience will love. It can be articles, Youtube videos, or Tiktok vlogs. I mentioned different examples in this article, so you can take inspiration from them.
- Engage with people. Don’t just push links on Facebook and Twitter. Instead, share valuable content, jokes, memes, respond to comments, or do giveaways if you can.
- Make a difference in your customer’s life. If your product adds value to people they will tell their friends and family about it.
If you’re interested in achieving more goals in life, I encourage you to try Systemize. It’s a FREE goal & habit tracker that uses systems to help you track your progress along the way.
This post is part of a series of stories that explore business growth strategies that actually work.1. We Need To Redefine ‘Hard Work’ To Include ‘Hard Thinking’
The mind-shifting strategy to work smart not hard.2. How To Stand Out In A Crowded World
The power of story-telling.3. The Best Marketing Doesn’t Feel Like Marketing
How to market your products like a pro.4. The One Piece Of Advice That Changed My Life
A must read before starting any project.5. How I Went From 0 To 541 Email Subscribers In One Day
Give before you get.6. 10 Things Successful Creators Do That You (Probably) Don’t
Lessons from successful creators.7. 5 Side Hustles You Can Start This Weekend
Making money online is easier than you think.8. Here’s Why You Should Go Niche Your First Year Of Business
If you want to go big, go small first.9. 4 Actionable Tips To Find A Profitable Business Idea In 2022
A practical approach to come up with a profitable business idea.10. The Unfair Advantage Of Business Success
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