We all know the “golden rule” – the principle of treating others as you would want to be treated. It’s a time tested rule, represented in most cultures and religions around the world.
The reciprocity of it— the ability to control one’s actions and engender similar actions from someone else— makes you feel good. If I put positivity into the world, I can expect more positivity from the world. If I am negative, I can expect more negative back.
Here’s a question: Have you ever applied this simple, easy to understand principle of the golden rule to your marketing strategy?
Whoa you say! Wild idea!
You are probably thinking something similar to the following right now: I am a marketer, not a moralist. I have a job to do. We need to sell.
Ok… OK. I know. I am there too. As CEO, I need to hit goals for my company, and I need my team to hit their goals.
But think about this, how often do you find yourself saying to companies:
Please send me more generic emails.
Please follow me all over the internet.
Please flood all my social feeds with irrelevant ads.
Please call me constantly on my mobile phone.
Please lock me into a 25-step marketing, BDR, Sales cadence.
And when none of that works, please sell my data to another company so they can do all that to me too.
I bet you never say these things. In fact, I bet you are overwhelmed by the thousands of companies using the same approach to get your attention. The volume of the digital noise is deafening.
Guess what? This might be the biggest opportunity you have ever had as a marketer.
You have an opportunity to differentiate your brand from all that noise.
Breaking out starts with asking what you would want from a company that wants to introduce themselves to you? Don’t think of your company — think of a random company.
When I think about it, here are the things I want a brand to do for me:
- Inspire me
- Entertain me
- Be positive
- Be personalized, contextual, timely and relevant
- Educate me
- Help me be successful
- Support me
- Don’t waste my time
Then, if this is what people want, apply this thinking to your marketing campaigns and sales processes.
Test yourself
Are you delivering all of the items on this list with every touch point, every email, every physical mailing, every step in your marketing, BDR and Sales cadence?
If you focus on this list of items with every message, every email, and every piece of content you deliver, then you know you will be delivering value to your prospect or customer. You will be communicating that your brand wants to build a relationship. Not just sell something.
That’s human. That’s universal. That’s actually pretty simple. That’s the Golden Rule.
Deliver value
To break out further, add more physical experiences into your campaigns— break away from a digital-only mentality. Brands that leverage physical experiences are able to break through the digital noise faster and with much higher levels of success.
The physical experience helps your customer start “seeing” all your digital content — the content they previously ignored. You want someone to read your email? You want someone to interact with your ads on Instagram? Send them something in the mail first— introduce yourself with a physical experience. But don’t forget the golden rule with your physical mailing. All the same rules apply.a.png)
