Beware of anti-marketing!
April 28, 2009 at 12:58 pm 3 comments
I was facilitating a discussion with a group of small business owners this morning when a new word popped into my head — “anti-marketing”. Sounds dangerous, but what is it?
I had encouraged everyone to think about marketing as a conversation, in fact, every conversation they have with customers, prospects, employees, colleagues… even friends and family. They were all familiar with the concept of the “30 second elevator pitch” and the USP (unique selling proposition), so I asked them to think about the value of personal storytelling as a marketing tool.
If marketing is every positive conversation we have and storytelling is a great way to connect with customers and generate positive word-of-mouth, anti-marketing would be every negative conversation we have or story we tell. Let’s face it. Who wants to do business with someone who is negative? Do you?
To combat anti-marketing, just be aware of the conversations you have and the stories you tell. If you’re tempted to go negative, bite your lip! Let the other person do the talking for awhile, or find a way to change the subject.
Keep your personal brand positive and you can expect a lot more referrals and a lot better word-of-mouth.
Entry filed under: CEO coach, marketing coach, personal branding, social media.
1.
a2computer | April 28, 2009 at 1:33 pm
This is absolute genius, and I’m really surprised that more people don’t think about it.
Personally I’ve always thought that people who spend a lot of time bad mouthing other business , are doing nothing more than trying to cover up their own flaws.
Good read.
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2.
rkenneth | May 5, 2009 at 9:02 am
I don’t know about the genius part, but anti-marketing is not an effective tool in the world of social media. Bad-mouthing the competition is often countered with high-volume good-mouthing. The wisdom of the crowd has a way of being heard these days.
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3. Digital Biographer™ » Posts about Personal Branding as of April 29, 2009 | April 29, 2009 at 4:17 am
[…] is a lot more fun and rewarding than going to “work.” I remember people used the term […] Beware of anti-marketing! – rkenneth.wordpress.com 04/28/2009 I was facilitating a discussion with a group of small business […]
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