Why I Called B.S. on my Friend Who Said All Marketers are Liars

I met yesterday with a friend who’s feeling down in the dumps.

His business is struggling and so is he. 

And even though he’s a brilliant mindset coach, he now questions everything he’s doing – including all things marketing. 

“I don’t like marketing,” he told me. “It’s the use of psychology to deceive people into doing what you want them to do. The really good marketers are good at that…But I haven’t been very successful at it. I’ve never really been a liar.” 

I called B.S. on that. 

Here’s what I told my friend (and I say to you): 

You deliver products and services to customers who benefit from what you offer. 

(If that’s not true, if you’re dishing out snake oil, you’re a fraud and you should shut down your business.)

When you persuade prospects to buy, you’re not deceiving them. You’re encouraging them to act in their best interest, to partake in a product or service that will help them. 

You’re only a liar if you misrepresent what your products and services can do. 

Bottom line: 

You don’t have to lie to market your business.

But you need faith in what you’re doing. You need faith that you’re delivering value, not snake oil. 

My friend was having a crisis of faith. 

“You’re feeling disconnected and a lack of belief in the value that you’re bringing to the market,” I told him. “If you believe and are clear on what you bring to the market, then persuading people to connect with you, persuading people to take a bite, persuading people to meet with you, and persuading people to buy is part of the gift you’re giving.” 

The best marketers start with their prospects’ stories.

The best marketers dive deep to discover what makes their prospects tick, to discover their prospects’ fears, frustrations, dreams, and aspirations. 

And when marketers discover what makes a prospect tick, they connect the dots between the prospect and the product/service. They can honestly describe how the product/service delivers what the prospect wants and needs. 

When you discover your prospects’ stories, when you know what makes them tick, you have the building blocks you need to assemble powerful, client-attracting content.

You’re guiding, not manipulating.

You’re revealing a true path to prospects, not lying to them.

You’re transforming marketing from frustrating to fun. 

Marketers lose that connection when they pitch the product and service without knowing the prospect.

Those are the marketers who pitch and prod to the masses, who say to everyone, “I have just the ticket for you.” Those are the marketers who lie to you.

You don’t have to be that marketer.  

On Friday, I’m hosting a free workshop — How to Transform Your Emails from Trash to Treasure — where I’ll walk you through ways to discover your prospects’ stories. 

This is 5in25 workshop — five tips delivered in 25 minutes, followed by Q&A. I’ll reveal: 

• How to create emails that subscribers open as soon as they arrive (and read with great interest)
• Simple ways to come up with an endless supply of topics that readers will consider “great stuff”
• A powerful, proven formula for creating irresistible subject lines.
• The greatest mistake that most marketers make with their email — and how you can avoid it.

Five tips in 25 minutes, followed by Q&A. The workshop on Friday, June 3 begins promptly at 12 p.m. EDT, 11 a.m. CDT (and it won’t be recorded). Click the button below to register…