Because Most Marketing SUCKS!
FWIW I don’t actually hate marketing per se, BUT I do hate what’s presented as “marketing” sometimes, especially in the Information Marketing world, the Blogosphere, the Digital and Direct Marketing space … and on and on.
Let’s start at the beginning … “You must find a niche.” or “You must identify your ‘ideal client’.” or other such blather. Sure I’d agree that if you’re responsible for coming up with marketing messages or offers you probably want to aim them at an audience, but that’s such a small piece of what “marketing” is all about.
Another thing I hate about “marketing” is when someone places the emphasis on making money, instead of “creating customers” (as the late, great Peter Drucker claimed was the fundamental purpose of a business).
Most of all I hate marketing as it’s often presented on the Internet because it gives business a bad name, and I love business as a solution creating machine that’s done more to improve the quality of human life than any other institution on earth!
Well we’re really at the starting point now … i.e.:
“I love business (and business folk)”
In fact there are lots of people I know who love businesses and business folk. Heck some of the most well known and beloved personalities have been and are business folk … like Steve Jobs, Richard Brandson or Elon Musk.
There are others that no one thinks of as business folk first and foremost, but they are like Buckminster Fuller (a personal favorite personality of mine BTW) and Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg and just about every major entertainer or artist who’s name you know … like the big “O” – Oprah Winfrey.
These folks are business people, doing business, coming up with ways to create and serve their customers, and making money … sometimes millions or billions … in the process.
One of things I most like to do is work with business folks to become more effective at what they do, especially in terms of their personal/professional performance and as leaders (truth be told I hold a special place for helping people become better leaders in their lives, in their businesses, in the classroom, in small teams … whatever and wherever, because I think good leaders make things happen that otherwise wouldn’t and great leaders change the world).
But … when many people think about business they are actually thinking about bad marketing.
They’re not responding to business or business folk, but to marketing efforts that promote ME over YOU. It’s made us all cynical, suspicious buyers who will reject a decent, valuable offer before we even consider it when we perceive the markers of “marketing” attached to it.
Why???
Well because we’ve probably all had the experience of being ripped off … a little bit or a lot.
We can probably live with the loss of money, but the lost of faith and face can be overwhelming, and that we can’t and won’t tolerate.
Yet we all seem to want things in our lives … from “stuff” that we use every day, like toothpaste and shampoo, or “special stuff” like a prized blouse, jacket or pair of shoes maybe … to special experiences, a fabulous vacation/holiday somewhere exotic or a special dinner out with someone we love. It could even be a simple thing, like a fresh ripe peach or a movie to relax with at the end of the day.
Each of these things comes to us via a business that produces, presents and/or delivers them. Also, all the services we want are largely delivered to us by a business of some kind … the professional medical or dental practice is a business, just like the massage therapist or hair stylist you might use.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this and what it means about “society” as we know it and think about it.
Once again I’ll return to Peter Drucker’s view of business. He used to say that he was a business scholar, because he was interested in people and the social structures we engage in, and that business was at the heart of many of our interactions with one another. I think he was absolutely right too.
I want to build a great business that delivers extraordinary results to my customers … it’s that simple why I love business.
I could also say that I want to express myself in relation to others in a way that allows me to manifest what I think of as some of my unique interests, talents and maybe even my unique gifts … and business is a space where I can do that.
BUT, I hate that you hate marketing. I get it … but I hate it.
You see I have something I really do want to share with you, my services, and I need to let you know about it to do that.
When I reach out to let you know about what I’m up to, and make an offer to allow me to serve you, I hate the unconscious resistance I know is there for some of you … regardless of how much the offer might be a match and fit for you.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to get past all that … for me and for the folks I work with who also have some great stuff to market, but deal with the same resistance.
So I’m changing tact … looking for a new wind, so to speak.
Here’s the simple scoop …
I’m setting up an Unconventional Advice “No Membership” Private Access program that will offer a complete suite of offerings at absolutely no cost or fees of any kind.
I’ll be writing articles, doing podcasts, putting e-books online and of course doing some new videos too.
Part of the Unconventional Advice “No Membership” Private Access program will be that we’re going to be cutting up the programs I’ve delivered and recorded for sale, and putting up the “best of the best” highlights as well.
Of course I’ll still have stuff for sale, products, programs and services … and I’d love you to become a customer of mine, but in the meantime I want to share with you some of the best stuff I have with no obligation other than to have the privilege of communicating about the stuff I’m interested in with you.
Coming soon …
Unconventional Advice “No Membership” Private Access
I’d love to hear your thoughts … leave me a comment below!
Best,
Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
New Hope, PA
Jay says
We live in a world filled with abundant content (hooray), however, most of it is misleading or misinterpreted.
It is a wonderful thing when the savant leaves trails for those of us on a journey of enlightenment to follow. Thank you for serving.
Jay
Joseph says
Jay,
Il piacere è tutto mio.
I would ask a favor though. As I build out the “No Membership” site that you might leave some feedback as you have the chance.
I expect we’ll begin populating it soonest!
Najma (Joanna) Beresford says
I was thrilled, am ALWAYS thrilled, to find something from you in my inbox. Sadly it hasn’t happened lately: so it was a reaI joy! I agree w/ everyone who thinks you are a GREAT FIND and Bearer of Great Gifts — I’m really juiced by your generosity of spirit! Drucker would approve 🙂 and I’m really looking forward to getting connected! Najma TYVM!
Joseph says
Najama, I am blushing with the enthusiasm of your response. Soon …
Mark Roche says
Love it. Both the spirit of what you are doing, and that there will be those mini-clips and other things available for exploring. On a certain level I love business, even have an MBA, but have most always shyed away from any business involvement because of many experiences of the cutthroatness of it. So many times one hears people excuse all sorts of unethical behavior with the phrase ‘it’s just business’, as if the rules of decency and ethics are not applicable in the business realm and that it is all about getting what you can whether or not it is at the expense of others. Which is also the timbre of so many of the marketing type materials it seems you have referred to. Looking forward to revamping my personal zeitgeist with respect to ‘business’. What you are speaking of seems exciting and hopeful.
Joseph says
Mark you are a wonder, I had no idea you had an MBA! There is space in the world for such a wonder working with those who respect such things, but alas not the morals that should accompany it. Maybe there is a calling there for you???
Vishali says
Any time spent with you is my pleasure. I would love this.
Joseph says
Vish, I take much caution in interpreting your comment 😉 … but I too have enjoyed our brushing up against one another, intellectually and spiritually of course, and look forward to opening this passage into more as well.
Mark Roche says
P.S. Sadly, my current view of business is a kind of generalization of the old joke about the movie business: What’s the definition of a friend in the movie business? Someone who stabs you in the front.
I have seen way too many examples of those kinds of behavior. The honoring of the being involved is so often only present to the extent that the ‘seller’ can use it to achieve his or her goals.
I know of an esoteric spiritual group that, to a large extent, uses ‘marketing’ as one of their practices. The idea, as I understand it, is that the particular product is almost irrelevant. What is relevant is the actual interaction, and using the interaction to honor the being of the other rather than to force the sale, whether or not, and mostly it is not, anything is overtly said about spirituality one way or the other.
Joseph says
Mark I’m not quite that “spiritual” myself, although I do care a great deal about “honoring the being of the other” and stand in a space that honors that as well.
My intention is somewhat more pedestrian actually. I have the ability to lead myself to the illusion/delusion that what I have picked up along the way may be of value, but only when shared with other.
My quest is multilayered as the Templars of old. I seek to establish the Kingdom here on earth (although my liege is not confined to a particular form of worship nor name to be used when singing praises). And, like the good knights I seek the rewards of the quest as well, though modestly by comparison to many who play in the the Kingdom alongside us.
My sense is that we are at a cusp, and the old models must fall to give way to the new models that are straining at the reins to emerge and gallop forth gallantly. Simply put I am interested in a future that works, and I recognize that a trail must be blazed for the new mind that must first emerge so the trail may be recognized for what it is as we encounter it.
Couldn’t be simpler than that now could it???
Mark Roche says
Not that they don’t also still make the sale and make money. Just that it’s not necessarily the only or even primary goal of it all. But they do nonetheless ‘keep score’. Yet, like yours, their approach seems to be about planting seeds, and creating matrices, for perpetrating the ‘kingdom’.
With respect to blazing of the trail, yeah. Unless it is blazed, very unlikely that anyone will recognize it. And as has occurred many times in history, even if it is blazed, it is often still not recognized. Even though the blazing of the trail technically proves the possibility of whatever that trail is, until a certain critical mass is achieved, probably many who don’t believe in the possibility will still not recognize it. So, not sure how but it seems that someone generating much more possibility thinking and believing so that people can more readily entertain and recognize what is emerging is something that will greatly speed up the whole process. I guess that is a lot of what the excitatory bias is all about.
Eli says
“I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” comes to mind. Brilliantly presented it actually called forth my “inner business man” from where he was hiding and I absolutely love it. I’m all in. For me, integrity is the key!
Joseph says
Eli … I hope some of what I share my call forth your “inner business man” to become your “outer business man!”
Dave says
Awesome and it has inspired me to do the same .
Joseph says
I wish you well squire … there is value in the “gifting” of what we have ourselves received to others, yet to do so we must break free of the taboos imposed upon us to do otherwise.
Wisdom may be in part knowing the edge of where to stand in what we can freely and openly give away, and what we hold so that we may ourselves have the position to share with others without need ourselves. From what I’ve seen in the marketplace this may be a razor’s edge.
Mark Roche says
Also, it seems that an arena that more than most should be devoted to true customer service and honoring, yet is a horrible example of creepy disingenuous marketing and lack of true care and fulfillment is the arena of politics, which theoretically is a service business but which in practice seems not very much so.
Joseph says
Mark, I am not going there today! But, I will ask a simple question … at what point do politicians earn their keep if they see politics as a career, and at what price do we hold them in the service they provide.
In a past age the service of politics was a honor to hold in delivering to the community a much needed hand, but the holder of the office sought a desperately to pass it along as to keep it, or so it seemed by the intention of the new order the brought this country into being.
Mark Roche says
A great question Joseph. Kind of similar to the situation with teachers, or so it seems to me. Some sort of balance needs to be achieved so that people in such positions will continue to put their hearts into it. Seems to me that a lot of that balance will only come from a big change in society’s mindset, and that’s a pretty tall order. Again, something I appreciate in your approach because it also seems that mindset changes, at least if they are in the direction of more inclusion of everyone in the benefits of society and culture, are not going to be top-down and so somehow must be achieved bottom up.
And yeah, I get that I went far afield from the original theme, but it did seem like the elephant in the room. Thanks for humoring me.
Thomas says
sounds great Joseph, And I would agree with your sentiments regarding business.
Joseph says
Thomas … thanks. I really think there is a kind of post-capitalist “business model” that is emerging, even though it’s not always easy to spot. This isn’t a profit-free zone in my imagination, but a zone regulated not for profit alone but for service to the community as well, with growth limited to that which sustains that market that houses it. We’re a ways off, but I believe as the gap between AI and automation, and the valleys and peaks of production closes we’ll begin to see an option that hasn’t existed when men were required to move mountains to honor kings.
Mark Roche says
Joseph, you wax poetic, and I really like what you said here. That seems to be the name of the game. How that business model and zone might come about is a good area for contemplation, both individually and more globally. In the 70’s or 80’s there was a statement going around that I loved, “Even the corporations are realizing that a dead planet is bad for business”, and it sure made sense. But the intervening time seems to have demonstrated that in fact it wasn’t exactly embraced as any sort of guiding light for the corporations and powers-that-be.
Jesper Brøns-Poulsen says
Well, I guess you call him Brandson, since “Brand” has to do with Marketing? Sorry, Joe, can’t help it. I am mismatching, detail oriented, wordist, with a hawk-eye for misspelling!
Joseph says
Jesper … what can I say, “Yes” will have to suffice 😉
Jesper Brøns-Poulsen says
And sure, I agree, although in the making of Billion of dollars, one could argue, whoever is doing it, is not doing good for the greater …good!
(European communist, I know!)
Joseph says
Jesper … I think that’s part of my objection to the current model. We truly need a “new mind” in business that sees it as an opportunity to serve deeply, while living within the structure of a monetary system that is driven to profit. The challenge is the distribution system and the desire for unlimited growth IMO.
Efra says
I’ve been following your work, and love your ‘unconventional’ ways of thinking! All your content is packed with wisdom both in plain sight and hidden. I’m looking forward to more revelations 🙂 Thank you! -Efra
Joseph says
Efra … thanks!
I like that you “see” what’s there even when it’s hidden in plain sight too.
Francesco says
Joseph, se vorrai affiancare una sezione in italiano del sito Unconventional advice “No Membership” private access program ne tradurrò i contenuti. E chi sa che questo non ispiri anche un francese, uno spagnolo, un tefesco . . .
Joseph says
Francesco … millie grazie! Ci penserò …
Gail Rosenthal says
Joseph I can’t thank you enough for your emails and blogs. I learn something every time I read one! THANK YOU for leading in the best possible way.
Joseph says
Gail … thanks again. I’m committed to writing much more, and also sharing in podcasts and some new videos as well.
I’ve been brewing the new potion for sometime and I think it’s now the moment to tap the cask and try they brew. I’m simply inviting others in for the tasting and if you like the beverage stick around and we’ll chat a while … and maybe toast ourselves in mutual admiration every once in awhile along they way.
David says
This is great Joseph. Your ‘no membership’ program sounds exciting but even more you’ve reminded me why I too love business.
Joseph says
David … my pleasure to remind you. FWIW my “vision” includes a way of thinking about a **new** world as well, where business leads the way … but we’ll have to get the pesky politicians and “old world” capitalists out of the way first to make room for the **new** breed.
Mark Roche says
Had neglected to say the most obvious. Thank you for setting up such a no membership totally free site like you are doing. No doubt it will lead to a certain amount of paying business for you, yet it seems pretty clear that is not the primary intent. For that I salute you. In my world that constitutes real ‘good business’ which is ultimately facilitating the creation of that world that works that you referred to. To me, such acts constitute blessings for the world, and also merit and blessings for those who do so. Thanks for the inspiration and the example. Makes one feel better and more hopeful about life and the world, and. given what is most likely to be on the site, also about our individual ‘places’ in that world. Kudos.
Joseph says
Mark,
Like I said it’s not totally selfless in any way. I’m happy to do it, and I’m happy that people seem to resonate with the idea (it’s about time IMO).
We need new models that respect the infinite expansion of information that we can create with a globally connected population via the Internet. I truly do believe that the old ways are dying before our eyes, and those that hang onto the ideas of capitalistic exploitation will die along with them.
BUT … I do believe equally in capitalism, and the emergence of a **new** capitalism that can perceive the kinds of things that **new** technology brings with it … like the infinitesimally small cost of distribution of resources, compared to the old ways.
When I consider this it only makes sense to share the information I have, or create, as freely as possible to connect with as large a group of like-minded individuals as possible. In that regard I have two strong hopes and dreams:
1. That many more minds than mine along will begin to contribute their ideas to what I begin and from that the ideas become much larger than I could have even contained or entertained alone.
2. That if people like what I share they will share it as well and help me build the **new** community I envision and spread the word of what I’m doing like wildfire!!!
If both, or even either, of those things happen then I will be amply rewarded for my contributions I’m sure. Some folks will want the complete package and will ante up for what’s behind or beyond the highlights I freely share. Others may be intrigued by what I’m up to and choose to come to some live event I host. There are a million ways to see this making sense even at a commercial, capitalistic level, while keeping the integrity of an open community intact.
We seem to have lost our sense of providing value as first and foremost as producers and gotten lost in the trap of “work” as a means to income and not having a life. I’m hoping to help at least a few of us find a way back from that cliff’s edge.
T says
Hey,
This is a great posting. I’m full of gratitude for your work and your offerings. It’s pretty amazing that you are offering your unique, high value and high impact resources.
I just feel like my whole life was shifted with one session with my mentor that was trained by you. I was living inside of my self-imposed prison and torture chamber inside of my work journey. Now I can breathe, see choices and feel my well-being and aliveness. Nothing has changed in my challenge yet everything is different in my challenge or OPPORTUNITY.
Your model is so elegant, simple, extremely effective and it frickn works like nothing else I’ve tasted, smelled and metabolized.
Thanks for having your work move through many channels including other people you’ve trained. It’s life saving for sure!!!!!
Joseph says
T – your words are very kind and appreciated. Thank you.
There’s plenty more coming … with a little grace I’ll have the time and opportunity to get at least some of it out of my head and off to you.
Jerry says
Joseph,
I have benefited greatly from all your iterations of the “Unconventional Advise” format…. So, I look forward to be further edified, enlightened, and inspired. Many thanks for all that you do for those who choose to pay attention….
Dorothy says
It’s my first time browsing around the site and I love what you say about business. It has changed my outlook about the “evils” of business. It is a more altruistic way of viewing it – based on to deliver something of value to others.
Just thoughts: You have accumulated much knowledge/wisdom etc., shared and charged dearly for the sharing. Is there a point of having so much to be overflowing and it being wasted? Then, to give freely this valued info so many more can benefit.