Marketing Monday: you know you’re already doing it, Right?

mm logo w sign shadow Marketing Monday: you know youre already doing it, Right? Ya…that thing that starts with an “M” that makes you cring, vomit and curl up in a ball in the corner. And, we have ranted and raved abut this quite a lot so let’s see how you can leverage what you are doing.

You know when you run into that old college friend and it feels like you see each other everyday? You both start asking each other all that “whatcha been up to?” stuff and before you know it your old friendship is not so old anymore. Then, a few weeks later, you get a call from that same friend saying she went on your web site and “just loved your work so much” she wants to bring a bunch of her friends over to your studio. So you set up a date and in they come and out they go with lots of your stuff. That was marketing

You know when you’re kinda bored at that art fair you can’t figure out why you signed up for and you slither to the back of your booth pretending that you are not there? That’s not marketing

You know when you were standing by your work at your last opening and that person standing by your fiber hanging says ” I just love this, I never thought of hanging something like this on my walls” and you turn to her and just say “thank you” and then ask her about her house, the color of her walls, and what she has hanging where. Then after she answers you ask about what she does, where she lives, what she likes in the way of colors, textures etc. Then as the server strolls by you grab a glass of wine for her and lead her over to the sofa sitting in the sunlight of the gallery window where you continue finding out more abut her. That was marketing.

Remember when that hippy dippy granola friend insisted that you needed to support your local small business by frequenting the corner coffee shop? And remember, the first few times you went in and the the barista seemed to care less that you were there offering up your hard earned cash? And remember when you and a friend visited that same place and couldn’t find a comfortable place to sit and chat because the sofa and chairs looked like they were picked up from somebody’s curb and everybody in the shop was impatiently hovering around waiting for somebody to decide to leave? That coffee shop was not marketing

Remember the last time you were in your favorite fabric shop and you overheard a customer mumbling about what to do and how to do it and sounding very confused? And remember, how you leaned over and just asked what it was she was needing to do? To which she she said she had a hard time figuring out what colors and fabrics worked well together. And remember how you took an extra 30 minutes to talk with her and help her and you didn’t even work at the place and afterwards you gave her your card and told to feel free to call. That was marketing.

Remember, when you were at that stiflingly hot art fair and anticipated the heat by throwing in several battery powered fans and a couple of larger ones that ran off solar cells you stuck on your canopy? And, remember how people remarked about how thoughtful it was of you to think of cooling your booth and how because they were comfortable the stayed longer and bought more? That was marketing

Finally, remember that evening at your friends dinner party and you noticed the two guys off to the side of the room, one was talking a lot and was trying to give his business card to the other guy who was obviously trying to be polite and get out of there? And you recognized the guy who wasn’t giving out cards as someone you see once in a while at the gym, so you stroll on over and introduce yourself recalling your common link and you notice the guy with the cards slowly moving away as you and your gym buddy talk about workouts. Do you remember how he asked you what you do and you just turned it around and asked him more about his workouts, his goals etc. And listened to how he was struggling with certain issues and was amazed to find out that you were a personal trainer after he asked you the same questions. That was marketing.

So you see, marketing isn’t all about brochures, boring chamber meeting, bazillion dollar TV commercials or even sneaky manipulation to “make” someone buy your stuff. It may be for those big box corporate weenies but for us small biz folks it is really about relationships. Not just any old relationship, either, it is about relationships with the right folks the folks who get you and who you get. And it is about conversations you have with them and they have with others and those others have with yet more others.

Marketing is not about “making ” anybody do anything, it is just about letting your true self show through and letting the rest take care of itself. Now that’s not to say that it can’t be proactive because as you saw above it can be only to be real it has to be your kind of proactive. It is about ….well showing up!