Marketing Is Not A Four Letter Word

This article by Janet Beatrice appeared in the September 1, 2005 issue of Spirit of Change and is the second article at http://www.spiritofchange.org/articles.php?id=16

I used to believe marketing was antithetical to a spiritual life. Now I write marketing materials for a living. Did I sell out? No, I just realized my view of marketing was lopsided.

You can hardly blame me. MacDonald’s heralds its fat-laden salads as healthy. And how often have you received an authentic-looking “check” in the mail that’s really a dubious discount from your local car dealership?

Luckily, spiritually minded business owners needn’t resort to photos of young, bikini-clad women purchasing crystals or lying on Reiki tables to market themselves. The shocking truth is, honesty is an excellent marketing method.

I wasn’t always so sure of that. In my 20s, I tried to make a living writing short stories. Not a good idea. Eventually, I decided to face reality and try marketing writing. For years I’d been writing stories, humor columns and news articles and editing dry technical material, but I couldn’t get comfortable with the idea of using my writing for marketing.

Then I started a little business offering a music and movement course for children. I wrote calendar listings, press releases and ads. I realized that marketing was no dirty deed, but simply the way to let families know about classes I was proud to offer. A few years later I got a job writing press releases for a local arts agency. Once again, the work was innocent enough. When doors started opening for a freelance career in marketing writing, my shifted perception allowed me to face marketing without fear of selling my soul.

To market is to simply let people know about your business and what’s good about it. That may be scary to those who offer an inferior product or service or who are overly fearful of competitors. But for spiritually minded business owners, offering high-quality services or products is the only acceptable way of doing business.

After my “conversion,” I began to wonder if my mistrust of marketing methods was silly. I soon discovered a web site devoted to encouraging businesses to market with integrity. Clearly, there is a need to spread the word about this concept. The web site is http://www.principledprofits.com, the brainchild of marketing writer Shel Horowitz. Business owners are encouraged to take the “Business Ethics Pledge,” promising to offer honesty, integrity, and quality in their work.

Mr. Horowitz has also written a book, Principled Profit: Marketing that Puts People First, which encourages and helps businesses to market themselves with honesty and integrity. The book includes examples of companies that have gained through marketing with integrity or lost through failing to do so. For instance, when cyanide-laced bottles of Tylenol caused seven deaths in 1982, Johnson & Johnson recalled $100 million worth of Tylenol products. The corporation took a big loss to protect consumers and customer loyalty went up, in turn, allowing the company to recover relatively quickly.

In stark contrast, Mr. Horowitz cites the shockingly irresponsible practices of Ford and Firestone, who suspected safety concerns on Explorer tires even before the tires caused hundreds of fatalities and injuries. The fact that they exhibited poor marketing practices pales in comparison to the fact that they caused immeasurable harm and tragedy to so many.

Not long ago, a man approached me about writing content for a web site advertising a new guitar instruction course he had written. He already had a web page up for another guitar course, one so filled with hype that I did some internet research to be sure he was offering a decent product. Because of the hype, I was genuinely surprised when I found good reviews of the first course.

He later told me he hated hype and didn’t feel great about using it. But when I assured him I didn’t write hype, he questioned whether he could sell the course without it. Because so many use the method, he decided it must work. I assured him that hype might bring in customers, but inflated claims would leave customers disappointed and unlikely to buy from him again. He never did hire me.

Even if dishonest marketing did bring in more profits, I would reject it, and I believe most, if not all, readers of this magazine would as well. People are better off taking pride in who they are and respecting others than having more money than they need. If they can’t earn enough with honest marketing, they’re spiritually better off finding other employment.

I firmly believe that marketing with honesty and integrity is the best way to attract and keep customers. And to think, executives didn’t think spiritually-minded people were business savvy. We knew it all along.

Janet Beatrice is a copywriter specializing in web content and press releases through her business Scribe for Hire. She can be reached at 978-897-5444 or at janet@scribeforhire.net. Visit http://www.scribeforhire.net.