Why I think authentic marketing is the best thing since sliced bread.
This is a picture of me on a bench. With Sobble – a Water-type starter Pokemon.
No, I’m not a Pokemon trading whizz. A few years ago the only small Japanese creature I could pick out of a lineup was Pikachu. And I couldn’t tell you anything about him other than he was yellow. But my 10-year-old son is obsessed with the game.
Sobble wasn’t the photoshoot companion my incredible photographer Karen was expecting. But it is impossible to go anywhere in my life and not be confronted by my children. Or some reminder of them
“So what, Peta?” (I can hear you rolling your eyes all the way from Berkshire!)
Well, firstly – rude!
And secondly – I have built a loyal and supportive audience by sharing all parts of my life (not just the #soblessed performance parenting bits, and not just the #girlboss entrepreneur stuff). You want me – you get stories of humus-covered webinar notes and answering client emails during the 2 am feed. And you get Pokemon, Minecraft, a far-too-deep understanding of the Napoleonic Wars (Ethan’s new obsession), and metaphors based around Hey Duggee.
To put it in marketing speak – I’ve built my business through authentic writing and authentic marketing. I connect with my audience by being me. All of me.
And that strategy is also how I take my clients’ brands from boring to boast-worthy. One of my copywriter friends, Sonali, calls the way I write “like a human being speaking to another human being”. Which, in the world of online marketing, is rarer than you’d think!
Why those guru-backed marketing strategies aren’t working for you
Trying to get people to buy things is an ancient practice. (Spoiler alert – we’ve been doing it long before Don Draper ever lit his cigarette). In the golden age of advertising, very clever marketers and psychologists learnt how to sell using manipulative copywriting tricks and hit-and-run marketing tactics plastered all over billboards and newspaper spreads. and now – Facebook ads are the new billboard ads, but accessible for those of us without buckets of wallpaper paste and a broom. So the same tactics have stuck around.
And they worked for a while. But now we have a few problems. Because I’d guess that ad spend isn’t working very well for you right now. And the social media algorithms aren’t currently your friends either.
It’s because these tactics weren’t made for you. They were developed for massive businesses. The Birds Eye’s, Mcdonald’s, and even Ben & Jerry’s of the world. You can’t beat their budgets.
And those 3 step programmes constantly being sold to you by coaches on LinkedIn, Instagram, and even TikTok? You know the ones – post 12 times a day and engage with at least 25 people in the comments whilst following 56 new people. Oh, and film Reels and Stories and start dancing while pointing at things. All while running your own business.
They work for these coaches, sure, but that’s because they have a team of 15 badly paid content creators doing it all for them. So they can focus on the important stuff. You can’t win the quantity race.
But what you can win – is the quality race.
How to connect with your audience
If you want to connect with your people – the ones who will buy your stuff, reply to your emails, and tell your friends how amazing you are – then you need quality connection.
You get that with authentic marketing, and here are my 6 tips for how to connect with your audience (and boost your business):
Get clear on who you’re speaking to.
You can’t make a connection with someone if you don’t know who they are. You need to put in the hard work on researching your ideal customer. Find out where they hang out, what they like doing, what other things are going on in their lives.
Listen to them.
Every authentic connection is built around dialogue. It’s all very well having something to say, but is it what they want to hear? The more time you spend listening to your ideal audience, the better you’re able to communicate with them. As people. Not just wallets on legs. You can find out more about listening here:
7 Voice of Customer Practices to Make Your Audience Feel Seen and Heard
Be a real person.
Your customers are real people. And they want to connect with a real person. You.
If you’re a smaller brand, then this is easier. Drop in some behind-the-scenes content (not overly curated “look at my artfully prepared Sunday lunch and my rosy-cheeked cherubs sitting around the table without throwing peas at each other”. But your early morning dog walk, how pleased you are that it’s warm enough to put the washing on the line, frustrations with HMRC – that kind of thing!).
If you’re a larger brand, then you can’t just be one person. But you are still made up of real people. Showcase them, Celebrate them, and sound like them – not like faceless customer service robots.
With real values
These days, people are overwhelmed with choice on how they spend their money. As wonderful as you are, they can probably buy almost an identical service or product from about 8 other businesses. They are looking for why they should spend their money with you. And we’re not talking about price.
One of the reasons the About Page is the 2nd most visited page on any site is your potential customers are checking to see if you’re principles match theirs. They want to know if you care about the same things they care about before they hand you money. They want to make sure their hard-earned cash is spent with companies who align with their values.
Which means you have to talk about your values. Decide what they are, and make them obvious in your messaging. For more on how to do this without turning Instagram into a soap box, here’s another post:
How to Talk About Politics Without Pissing People Off
Speak to their pains
So, you’ve acknowledged that the people you’re selling to are real people. But that means they have real lives, with real pains. The marketing mechanism of finding people’s pain points and speaking about them in your copy is true.
The difference with authentic marketing? You’re not using those pain points to try and make people feel bad so they’ll buy your stuff. You’re not poking at the pain points to convince them that, without your product, their life will be worthless and awful.
You’re making them feel heard. You’re saying “I know you’re struggling. And you’re not alone.”
That is authentic marketing GOLD.
Address those pains with empathy
And, once you’ve acknowledged those pain points. Once you’ve sat down on the park bench next to your potential customer and listened to their struggles. Then you can put your arm around their shoulder. You can address those pains with empathy. And show them how your offer could be the solution they’re looking for.
You can show them how you (someone close to you, or past customers) were in similar situations. That you understand how they feel. And that you’d like to help.
Because you care.
The key? You have to actually care.
And that I can’t help you with.
How I can help
Rather get this off your place so you can focus on the parts of your business that don’t feel overwhelming? That’s cool. This is where I come in. I’ll work with you to:
- Develop a messaging strategy that sees your customers as real people
- Create a website that feels like your authentic online home
- Write content that your ideal customers can’t wait to devour
Sound good? Here’s what to do next:
Fill in my (very short, and not at all complicated) contact form, and I’ll set up a call where we work out the best way I can help you in your business.
Or, if you’re not quite there yet, then sign up to my weekly newsletter for more tips on authentic marketing, weaving your values through your messaging, and news on Hey Duggee.