Marketing Mistake - Setting Aside Your Core Values
This post was inspired by a recent email I received from a friend and reader of my blog after a recent post I wrote. I shared a video that had some valuable tips for marketing. There was, however, a problem with the video I “highly recommended” people watch. It contained a bit of profanity, and I did NOT warn my readers about it. At the very least, I should have warned people that the guy used profanity to get his message across and to watch the video at their own risk. My friend brought to my attention that he was a little shocked that I would share this video and recommend it despite the profane language because he knew it did not fit with my own Christian values. He trusted that my blog would always reflect good values and he would not have to worry about what I post. I disappointed him with my thoughtless sharing of that video. He was right! He knows me very well, and he knows I am normally one who is careful about what I say, share and talk about and not let my mouth run wild. The good news is that I was able to remove the video and let my friend know I was sorry that it happened and that I’d use better judgement in the future. I hope he’ll keep reading (and watching)!
Marketing your company is everything you do, the good and the bad! It is how you answer the phone, respond to an email, and set up a job site. It’s your final leave-behind package with a client and so forth. Yet marketing is also the little things you do in your company that reflect your core values. As a Christian man, I try to run a company that is honest and trustworthy. It is because of this that I try to produce content that is safe, helpful and beneficial to my audience, not crass. I learned a valuable lesson from my friend who had the courage to call me out about my poor judgement in posting that video. The video had a lot of great things to say, but the guy who produced it likes to use profanity. I live in the real world and I have heard a fair share of profane words over the years. So hearing profanity is not normally a problem for me. The problem is when I then push that out to my readers and, in a sense, endorse it. So be careful when marketing to your customers. Make sure you continue to market in a way that is professional and that your customers will appreciate. They typically hire a company because they like and trust them. Do not disappoint them by being someone you are not just to get a point across.
The Lesson I Learned: Never Compromise Your Core Values
Marketing your company is everything you do, the good and the bad! It is how you answer the phone, respond to an email, and set up a job site. It’s your final leave-behind package with a client and so forth. Yet marketing is also the little things you do in your company that reflect your core values. As a Christian man, I try to run a company that is honest and trustworthy. It is because of this that I try to produce content that is safe, helpful and beneficial to my audience, not crass. I learned a valuable lesson from my friend who had the courage to call me out about my poor judgement in posting that video. The video had a lot of great things to say, but the guy who produced it likes to use profanity. I live in the real world and I have heard a fair share of profane words over the years. So hearing profanity is not normally a problem for me. The problem is when I then push that out to my readers and, in a sense, endorse it. So be careful when marketing to your customers. Make sure you continue to market in a way that is professional and that your customers will appreciate. They typically hire a company because they like and trust them. Do not disappoint them by being someone you are not just to get a point across.
About David Chism
David Chism started his business out of a passion for helping small contracting businesses grow, be more profitable and become better known to their target clients. One lifelong hobby of David is using techie gadgets. So this blog is a place where he writes about technology, marketing ideas, just for fun (humor), personal thoughts on small business and more.
