We live in a culture that is obsessed with speed.
If we can’t have it now, there is no hope we will ever have it, so our deceptive brains would have us to believe. The problem is, this is entirely untrue.
You’ve likely heard the phrase, “Good things come to those who wait.” Waiting is not a mysterious force of the universe.
There’s nothing about waiting that makes it produce magical “good” results.
Waiting is fruitful because it creates space.
In this space, things happen.
You create new connections, you build new habits, you make work happen, you find new desires, you shed old beliefs, etc.
In the space of that kind of work, “good things” can be born—and they often are.
But that’s just one way to look at it.
“Now” creates its own problems. A “now” mindset leads you to make decisions based on scarcity instead of abundance. “Now” demands that an immediate need be met without consideration of your future self, which may have needs that are even greater.
Marketing is a perennial casualty.
“Now” marketing leads to:
- Slimy and grimy feelings
- Inauthenticity
- Exhaustion
- Remorse
- And more…
That’s not to say there’s nothing good about “now” marketing. I’m not advocating for irresponsible marketing, either.
In plain English here’s what I’m NOT saying: “Run fast, loose, and ‘safe’ ad campaigns that you can’t track.”
I’m also NOT saying: “Don’t call your customers to action NOW, cause they won’t like you.”
As an unashamed direct response marketer, I would be inconsistent to believe those things.
Here’s what I AM saying: “The market has made a decision, and they don’t like ads. What they want is value, so give it—a lot of it—to them.”
Your clever ads are not fooling anyone. The required permission to receive “more relevant advertising” is not lost on anyone. Nobody wants to be followed around. The market has spoken definitively on this issue.
What to do, then?
Simple: Teach, Share, and Inspire.
Teach. What do you know that you can teach other people? Have you spent loads of time mastering your line of work? Or even a hobby? Teach others.
How? Where? Anyhow, and anywhere. The Internet is a great place to start, but in person can work too. Write or video/audio record yourself teaching and share it to one of the thousands of places online made for housing that style of content.
Share. What habits have made you successful? What wisdom could you pass on? What lessons have you learned that changed everything for you? How does your opinion separate you from the accepted dogma?
Beyond simply teaching what you do, share what you think.
Inspire. Dreaming and thinking big are not skills most people learn in traditional schooling. You, though? There’s no reason not to help people you’re sharing with to think big.
Encourage them. Pick them up when they’re down. Show them that the hard work is worth it. Paint the vision for the future that could change their world.
When you create helpful resources for people, guess what they do? Share it with others. And when that happens, it’s game on.
You can’t buy the kind of marketing that brings along a personal recommendation.
It’s a longer game than, say, launching a Facebook ad.
But maybe it isn’t.
Do you know how long it takes most people who try to get good at writing Facebook ads?
Nevermind writing them, what about making the images and videos for it?
Nevermind all that, but what about actually using the Facebook ad interface that is hard even for professionals to master (before they change it again next week)?
People will always want to be taught, shared with, and inspired.
Focus your marketing efforts around that, in the most authentic and consistent way possible, and those efforts can’t help but to pay off in the long run.