Think about the marketing you avoid like the plague.
The interruption. The imposition. The persistence. The invasiveness of it all. You dodge it because it is one of the most annoying experiences in the world. It’s kind of ironic that businesses spend so much on being this annoying.
Do you remember a time you enjoyed being forced to focus on something you weren’t interested in?
Now, think about the people you serve. They hate the marketing you dislike, too.
Why in the world would it be ok for you to put them through exactly the kind of experience you detest?
Makes no sense, right?
Many offer wonderful things and market obnoxiously.
If you sell products and services, you might think you need to grow a hard skin, put your product out there, make the right noise, until you reach the right people. You might think that’s just the price you have to pay to get clients and customers. That is, be annoying when promoting your stuff.
You might think that’s just the way things are, that you need to do what you have to do to put food on the table. Sure, some will hate you. But that’s what it takes to make money. Right?
Not quite.
You didn’t come here to offer an amazing product or service only to try to sell it through marketing people don’t want to hear about. There’s a whole lot of that out there already, and people are sick of it. That marketing has to go. It’s the wrong kind.
It is extractive. It is marketing with the sole intent to take from people.
One would think that with all the technology we have, the super advanced targeting features, the amazing AI that provides top-notch market insights, sophisticated strategy, and human-like messages, marketing would become less annoying.
But no. Much of it still sucks. Many people still think marketing is about making people buy more (hint: it’s not about that). They believe it’s about knowing everything there is to know about their target market, so they can create harder-to-resist campaigns (it’s also not about that). They think it’s about boosting reach, so prospects and buyers increase, even if that means spamming a lot of people.
It isn’t about that either. That’s not marketing. That’s being obnoxious.
If we care about people, we need to do better.
We can’t continue interrupting when we’re not wanted. We can’t keep forcing value. We can’t keep blasting people with emails they didn’t sign up for. It’s not about being ruthless and continuing to spew endless marketing until someone decides to buy. That’s selfish. Arrogant and indifferent. It’s expensive too, because it’s working less and less.
Furthermore, we can’t keep hiding behind strategies based on tendencies, recent studies, or someone else’s research. That’s also not marketing. That’s living in a bubble. Real marketers talk to people. Or at least take the time to immerse themselves enough in their worlds to know their real pains.
That’s what allows you to generate a product or service that brings relief, messaging that resonates, and campaigns that land like conversations people want to have. When you don’t know what it’s like to feel the discomfort they feel, how in the world are you going to innovate and earn trust?
We can’t continue producing outlandish events, slick video, or sophisticated digital experiences if the whole thing feels too rehearsed, too plastic, or too formulaic. Although shows can be an excellent marketing tactic, marketing isn’t supposed to be a show every single time, creating a huge invisible gap between the brand and the consumers.
Overproduced marketing creates more distance.
The real thing never feels sneaky.
It feels well-intended because it emanates truthfulness. You know what I’m talking about. When you read, listen, or watch someone talk with honesty, you immediately sense it. It hits home. It stirs you up in the right way. It gives you hope, makes you smile, and excites you to do stuff you hadn’t done before.
Real marketing changes you for the better. It is helpful. It’s pertinent. Sure, it takes a lot more work. But it’s the one we urgently need.
Think of the last time a campaign made sense immediately. The words they used, the colors, the logo, the story they told, the design. You said, “That’s it.” “They get it.” or “Yup, that’s me.” Those campaigns worked not because the people behind them worked hard or spent more, but because they had one clear intention at every single stage: to benefit.
Those campaigns make you stop doing what you were doing without interrupting you; they make you want to consume their content without forcing it down your throat. They make you want to search their business, visit their website, add to cart, and click buy.
All like going down a slide willingly.
It never feels like marketing. And if it does, you couldn’t care less because their message lands hard.
I call that intent-to-benefit marketing, and it is the opposite of extractive marketing. One delights, the other annoys. One listens, the other pretends to listen. One talks to people, the other imposes messages. One gives, the other takes.
We’re not here to extract. We’re here to delight, improve, solve, and actually benefit.
Which kind of marketing do you want to do?
You need to pick your side. We don’t believe in using direct response formulas to maximize sales. We use them because they help our audiences make the right decisions when evaluating the products and services we sell.
We don’t do market research to find more ways to trigger needs and make more sales. We do so so we understand who we’re trying to help and help them better. We don’t create value to attract audiences. We create it because it benefits them.
We don’t do lead magnets to build lists. We do them to connect with the right people. We don’t believe in spending more so we reach more. We believe in spending so we reach with more precision.
It’s not about the tactic; we love tactics. We just use them with different intentions.
We aren’t against making money. Far from it.
All those things we believe in involve making sales. They involve making a lot of money. Real marketing doesn’t separate profit from real benefit. They’re one aim. They don’t compete.
We use KPIs and OKRs. We measure ROI and ROAS. We monitor interactions, CVRs, CTRs, cart abandonments, RPVs, and CACs. We’re not against making money. We love making money for people. We just don’t believe in making it annoyingly.
Are you up for it?
Up next: How to start doing intent-to-benefit marketing.