Your Marketing Needs to Hold The Vision For Your People
So many of us feel grossed out by marketing because fear and shame are so often leveraged in mainstream marketing tactics.
I’ve always preferred to lean into empathy, acceptance, celebration, and empowerment. For a long time, I thought this was the same thing as championing Hope As a Marketing Strategy- but not quite. There was an ingredient missing. As it turns out, it’s an ingredient you REALLY don’t want to leave out. That is- if you want your marketing to be irresistible.
How To Actually Use Hope as a Marketing Strategy
When I first opened my agency, I vowed never to resort to pain-point marketing- a tactic that grossed me out from various corporate marketing trainings back in the day. NO to pressing on the bruise and then offering to sell you something to make it stop hurting.
I was also vehemently against toxic positivity marketing. “The bruise does not exist! You’re a girl boss!”
But, as my mentor says, “away" is not a direction.
I started by going all in with empathy. “I see that painful bruise, I acknowledge your pain. I will hold you while you cry, and remind you how strong you are for surviving.”
I went all in with acceptance: “I refuse to shame and blame you for having a bruise. Your pain is not your fault.” I wanted to hold space so you weren’t afraid to look at the wound and address it.
I wanted to celebrate you for your courage to do this. And empower you so you don’t feel as though you should ignore the things that are hurting you. Empower you to prioritize going and getting what you need to feel better.
But... then what?
Empathy Isn’t Enough
What’s the vision beyond “the bruise doesn’t hurt anymore”? Because, don’t we all want more than to simply not be in pain?
The Power of Desire
“Want” is the keyword. What do our people WANT that we can give them?
Desire is terrifying for so many people in our culture. We’re taught wanting is burdensome and selfish. We’re taught that we will be punished for asking. We’re taught that disappointment hurts worse than keeping our expectations low.
No wonder so many of us feel so disconnected from our desires! When we’re just trying to survive, we don’t have the luxury of wanting.
But when marketing can give us permission to want- that’s powerful. When it opens the possibility of getting something we thought we’d never be allowed to have- that’s irresistible.
They Want It. And They Can Have It.
It’s very simple: you deserve to get what you want. This is my favorite messaging strategy.
I tell my Cheerleading clients this over and over again. Every. single. time. it stops them in their tracks. Something opens up in their facial expression. A light seems to turn on. Shoulders drop. Big exhales are exhaled. Their bright eyes turn upward: imagining the possibilities.
Shockingly, they haven’t been told they deserve to get what they want, do what they want, be who they want very often. That’s why it’s so powerful every time I say, “You want it? You can have it.”
Here’s the main caveat though: I DO NOT TRY TO CONVINCE PEOPLE THEY WANT IT.
If they don’t want it, they’re not an aligned customer. Convincing isn’t the job of my marketing. Communicating is. If I’m offering something they don’t want and they go on about their business, my marketing has done its job.
People do struggle with feeling “allowed” to want what they want though. My marketing gives them permission.
Also, some people may not know how to translate what it is that they want into something tangible. My marketing gives them the clarity and the vision.
Who Can They Become If They Get It?
Who would you be if you got what you wanted? How much more good could you do in the world? How much more space, kindness, and love could you hold for the people around you? Your pets? The earth?
Who could you be if you didn’t have to devote all your energy to just surviving?
Where would you go? What would your home look like? How would you feel? What would you wear? What would your relationships be like?
Oof, doesn’t that feel so bright and expansive? So few of us indulge in asking questions like this, sinking into desire, daydreaming on purpose. But it feels so good to do this.
Marketing that taps people into this state of consciousness? Fucking irresistible.
Show What’s Possible on the Furthest Edge of What Your People Scarcely Dare To Hope For
That’s how to use hope to sell. Try it, it’s magick. ✨
I would love to help you create marketing like this. Come join Club Content Cauldron!!!
