6 Rules to Avoid Marketing Like a Psychopath
There are psychopaths in our midst…and they’re closer to home than you think. What makes a psychopath? Well, we could sit here all day and discuss the finer points of that particular pathology (if you were so inclined and didn’t have a to-do list rolling out your office door…), Generally speaking though, psychopaths display characteristics such as a lack of conscience, an inability to empathise with others or consider how their actions affect the feeling of those around them. As a result, their actions and goals are very closely attached to their own personal desires, overlooking consequences and context. Yeah, great, but what does this have to do with marketers or marketing? Well, over the last five years, I’ve asked the same question to hundreds of marketers, “Have you ever pressed ‘publish’ on a blog post you knew to be sub-standard purely because you had a deadline to hit?” An unbelievable amount responded by nodding and smiling, showing very few signs of embarrassment or regret. This is symptomatic of something. Something I like to call psychopathic marketing. We’re marketing like psychopaths and it needs to stop! Are you marketing like a psychopath? Do you do any of the following three things? 1. Produce marketing material based on the wants and needs of your company – not your audience. 2. Not worry about the true value you bring to your audience with every piece of content you publish. 3. Focus purely on the results your marketing campaigns bring you? Sound familiar? So many of us market like psychopaths, showing no empathy or concern for what our audiences want, need or care about. Instead, it’s all about us. So how do we avoid committing such cardinal marketing sins? Over the years I’ve created a set of rules that steer me well when I feel things are getting a little bit single-minded. RULE ONE: Your guiding principle and the very first place to start should always be asking yourself, ‘Is the marketing material I am producing in the best interests of my audience?’ RULE TWO: Win the hearts and minds of your audience through empathy mapping. Step into their shoes and find what they love and loathe, what they seek and what they seek to avoid. Right down to the newspaper that lands on their Welcome mat every Saturday morning, you need to know exactly who they are. This is crucial and utterly non-negotiable. RULE THREE: Don’t fall into the trap of treating your entire audience in the exact same way. Don’t just cater to one primary customer category because that’s where you see the dollar signs – that’s just a fast-track to alienating the rest of your audience and strays heavily into the psychopathic marketer’s playbook. Make the effort and take the time to understand each of your audience personas and create unique content just for them. They’ll thank you for it.
