“Professionalism” Is Killing Your Marketing
Do you want empowered marketing or to “look professional”? You can choose one.
If you are an artsy, alternative, justice-loving, entrepreneur capable of empathy… why on earth are you trying to make your marketing look so corporate?
If your ideal clients aren’t mainstream corporate, I bet you anything the “5 marketing rules guaranteed to CRUSH the market” or whatever the tech-bro, Elon Musk worshipping, pain-point selling business gurus are instructing you to do- aren’t going to attract them.
And using marketing in that way isn’t going to grow a business that can do what you want it to.
Alright my fabulous rule-breakers, I’m going to tell you how you can make your marketing SO much more fun. And how you can use it to reshape culture so that we can all be kinder to our bodies, our spirits, and our communities.
Let’s ditch professionalism for empowerment in marketing.
Who Defined Professionalism Anyway?
The concept of “professionalism” exists to keep things comfortable, pleasant, & compliant in systems largely controlled by cis, straight, white men.
Visually, the standard is what is comfy for cis, straight, white men. Don’t wear anything that’ll make ‘em pop a boner. No hairstyles that might trouble them with the reminder that there are races, ethnicities, and cultures that exist outside of whiteness. Appearances must be managed to be appealing and non-threatening. Cover your tattoos, don’t get that piercing, and avoid hair colors that make you look like a poison dart frog.
No time off for period cramps (and never ever mention such distastefully feminine things). Lean in rather than foster cultures where other people get to talk sometimes. Everyone else gets to talk about church, their straight spouses, and 2.5 kids- but if you bring your same-sex partner to the company picnic, you won’t get that promotion.
Is this the standard you want to replicate as “professional” within your own business? Is this the work norm you want to perpetuate? Is this how you want to use your power as a business owner to shape the culture and the world?
Of course not. Now stop suffocating yourself in that button-down, shake out your hair, do a little twerk of liberation, then keep reading. Let’s exchange professionalism for empowerment.
Be the Superhero You Want To See in The World
The beautiful thing about being an entrepreneur is that you get to create something new!
Yes, you learned a lot as you gained experience up to this point. You were probably told- and probably believed- that there are ways that things must be done and business rules that must be followed or else.
But you make your own rules now. Take what works for you and leave the rest.
What cultural acceptance or knowledge would have made the world easier for you to bear? Share that information in your marketing! Rather than pressing on pain points with your marketing, you can shape a culture that doesn’t have to suffer in the same way that you did. Think how much pain you could use your marketing to alleviate!
Lead With Love
It’s true that it can be very effective to poke at people's fears and insecurities and then offer relief in the form of your product or service.
But that is a manipulative and unkind form of marketing.
When you exacerbate people’s fears in order to make the sale, you are triggering a trauma response on purpose. You get sales out of terror and desperation. You create client dependency on you to take away the pain you keep manufacturing. For clients who break free of this cycle, they won’t come back… and they’ll warn others away.
Through your marketing, you can change the culture. You can use your marketing to change the public consciousness about what is normal, desirable, good, and, yes, professional. You can make these constructs more inclusive, loving, healing, and joyful.
Instead of pain point marketing, you can offer empowered, hope-based marketing instead. This can look like:
Providing free, helpful information so clients are equipped to make good decisions for themselves.
Introduce new ideas into the public consciousness. Help the world imagine better ways of doing things.
Offer mindset adjustments that alleviate shame, hopelessness, feelings of stuckness, or other trauma responses.
Support your clients in making aligned, intentional decisions for themselves. Remind them of their sovereign right to choose for themselves, don’t just tell them what to do.
Notice and celebrate your people’s wins. Help them to notice and take pride in their successes.
Don’t compete, give credit! Hype your colleagues and what you’re learning from them. Remind the world that there is enough for everybody.
Model business practices that are kind, ethical, restorative, and joyful.
Be Gay, Do Crime
There is no part of your identity that is “too political” for your aligned clients to relate to. In fact, the more yourself you are in your marketing, the easier it will be for your people to identify themselves as “your people.”
If, like me, you came from a conservative corporate background, you were probably told that it’s not professional to be “political.” My former bosses were convinced that there was no way to make money if you scare clients away just because of “minor little differences of opinion” like raging homophobia or white supremacist tendencies.
It’s not true.
As my business coach is probably tired of reminding me: there are enough queer business owners, BIPOC business owners, feminist business owners, and neurodivergent business owners in the world for M.Isa to only accept clients who align with our values.
Our aligned clients wouldn’t be well-served by marketing agencies that consider these identities “too political” anyway. They need a marketer who is “political” in the way that they are.
By the way, the same people who define what’s “too political” are the same people who have a monopoly on defining “professionalism.” And you don’t have to do what they say.
Be as political as you want in your marketing.
You never have to code-switch again in your marketing if you don’t want to. Actually, your marketing will probably be much juicier, more compelling, and more authentic if you stop.
Don’t Check Your Emotions at The Door, Welcome Them In
“Check your emotions at the door” is a particularly silly business trope when it comes to marketing.
Because buying is an emotional decision. Not a rational one. And people don’t continue to invest in brands they don’t like, trust, and relate to. (See? Emotional.)
To connect emotionally with your aligned clients, you have to market emotionally. Your feelings are your friends. It’s unhealthy to leave them unacknowledged.
Besides, emotionless marketing is ineffective and boring.
Werk Wear
And, baby, wear whatever you want to. A crop top is no less inherently “professional” and trustworthy than a blazer.
Wear what makes you at home with yourself. Wear whatever puts you in your best most confident mood. Your aligned clients will be into it.
Whatever your version of a power suit is, be it a Wildfang show stopper, stripper heels, or both at once: donning it will help you bring your A-game to your marketing. Dressed as the best version of yourself, I bet you’ll stop wanting to hide from your brand’s social media. You could never deprive the world of such fabulousness!
Don’t Be Mean to Your Body-ody-ody-ody!
Also, let’s please retire the idea that “professionalism” requires buying into the grind.
Your business deserves to succeed even if you’re not working 80 hours a week. Your business deserves to succeed even if you’re not working 40 hours a week. Your business deserves to succeed if you only work 3 days a week and sleep until noon every day.
Your marketing will be most effective when you are showing up with quality content consistently. So you’ve got to support your body in being able to show up with consistent, quality content.
Yeah, you do have to show up. But don’t hit frequency benchmarks with fluff that gets likes but doesn’t sell.
Empowered marketing doesn’t require you to hurt your body by depriving it of rest, food, and fun.
You enjoy your life. Build a business that supports you in enjoying your life. Then share that joy with others in your marketing.
Share what kind of a life is possible when you have built an aligned business with empowered marketing. Share how you made it through challenges to that joy. Share it in a way that feels good to you. (Please don’t try to market on every platform!)
You don’t have to say something just to say something. You don’t have to pretend you don’t struggle and that you have it all figured out. You don’t have to check your emotions at the door.
Be abundantly yourself, abundantly human in your marketing. It invites abundant connection and trust- which is the point of marketing anyway.
Corporate Marketing Always Tries to Catch Up to the Empowered Marketing Trail Blazers After the Fact Anyway
The truth is that corporate marketing is always trying to play catch up with trends set by the bold rule-breakers. The ones who don’t just do things the way they’ve always been done before.
Empowered marketers drag us all into the future.
You can build a happier, healthier culture that is so beloved by the people- corporate will have to redefine “professionalism” again and again just to catch up.
You don’t have to be anyone else’s definition of “professional” in your marketing. Do you. ❤️
Ready for your own empowered marketing? I’m here to support and encourage you in finding your way to business alignment and the abundance you absolutely deserve. You can book me as your Marketing Confidence Cheerleader here. 🌻🌞✨
