📄 “I’m terrible at marketing”. Martin calls BS

Found a message in my inbox this morning – someone asking for help, saying “I’m terrible at marketing”.

I don’t buy that though.

I consider anyone in the world skilled at marketing.

If you have a social life, if you have friends, if you have a spouse, or if anyone ever told you “Hey, thanks!” for something, you know how to market.

Even the lone hermit-monk living in a cave, living off of berries and nuts and never speaking to anyone, knows how to market himself.

It’s just that his banner ad reads ‘permanently closed for business’.

Marketing is something we do all the time, just like selling, communicating, and breathing.

We always communicate, and we always ‘market’ something.

Even if we’re marketing the story that “I’m terrible at marketing”.

You’re not terrible at marketing:

You just don’t have a simple, workable, attractive action-plan yet, that you voluntarily launch into every day with glee & zest, and that’s designed to get you in front of the right people, at the right time, and with the right message.

The difference isn’t between “I’m bad at marketing and ”I’m good at marketing”.

The difference is between “I market stuff with precision and intentionality” and:

“I just do stuff without much of a plan or enjoyment, (or: I just don’t do anything at all) because I’ve told myself that I’m bad at it".

Besides: It’s not about ‘doing marketing’.

It’s about connecting with people who seek a particular kind of value, and letting them know that you can equip them with that value.

That’s what’s behind friendships too, albeit mostly automatic: You signal (i.e. ‘market’) to people who you are and what you stand for, and those who want that in their lives become your friends.

And if you want your business to be filled with clients who you like as much as your friends, and who pay you handsomely, all you need to is not let things happen automatically, but with precision and intentionality instead.

All you need to do is create and repeat a simple set of actions that you enjoy doing.

Which ones?

Can’t say – depends on your situation.

Happy to have a chat and see if we can create a fun action-plan for you, though.