Why You Should Learn How to Market

Over a year ago, I started running a monthly marketing challenge for a community of coaches.

Each day, people had to share a marketing post in our group.

5000 posts later, I suddenly realized that I needed to market marketing to them.

What happened is that I shared the following quote with the group:

“Marketing is your moral obligation.” — Tony Stubblebine

And, well, let’s just say that not everyone agreed with that statement.

After thinking about it a bit, I realized that I hadn’t explained the point behind it very well and that the pushback was understandable.

A lot of the (often icky) marketing for (often questionable) products and services we’ve subjected to naturally have us feel wary about the whole thing.

In my own life, it had taken me years to start to see marketing — if done ethically and for a good offer — as something positive. In the process, I had begun to take my new perspective for granted and assumed that other people must feel the same way about marketing.

Spoiler alert: they don’t.

But how can you get good at marketing if you hate it?

To help the people in my group change their perspective about marketing, I shared the following analogy with them:

The 2 choices ahead of you

“The best marketing strategy ever: CARE.” — Gary Vaynerchuk

Let’s assume you have created a super-tasty dessert that’s made of healthy ingredients.

You have made a whole batch of this delicious, healthy dessert…and, well, the kitchen is now a mess.

You have two options:

• don’t tell anyone that you made dessert, start cleaning the kitchen, and just hope that your roommates somehow find out about it so they can grab a sample, or• tell your housemates that you made dessert, why it’s awesome (it’s delicious and healthy), and offer them some in exchange for help with cleaning the kitchen.

The dessert is what you are offering to the world (which I assume is something that really helps people and is good for them).

Telling your housemates about the dessert is you marketing your products and services to the world so that your ideal clients can decide to buy from you.

Asking for help in exchange for the desert is you pricing your offer.

There’s no manipulation or coercion in the example.

You’re simply saying that you have an amazing dessert and that your housemates can have some if they’re willing to pay the price.

That’s what healthy marketing is like… and we do it all the time, whether we have a business or not.

The way I see ​the customer isn't king. Instead, your customers are heroes who could use your support to successfully complete their quest, whether that's eating healthy, improving their relationships, or starting a business.

That's why you need to let them know that you can help.

If you think about it this way, isn’t this form of marketing actually a service to the world?