Rethink Your Marketing

A few weeks ago I shared a video of which I was pretty embarrassed, but I did it anyway. If you missed it, you can see it here. And while it didn't feel so hot to open the kimono, duh, that ezine got the highest open rate EVER.

Really?

I've definitely seen spikes in ezines in the past but this one really threw me. I did a little digging and came up with something to consider about YOUR marketing messages:

The rawer, the better.

The truer, the more engaging.

The grittier, the, well, higher the open rates.

Is this because you guys are dying to see me crash and burn?

I kind of doubt it. Maybe some of you would like to take a poke, but not enough to create that spike. In fact, I think it's really more about an overarching shift from the perfection we've become used to seeing on social media: Everyone with the tan, cheerful, amazingly successful teenagers graduating early and off to Harvard and the vacays in St. Tropez.

I admitted to being guilty of posting the good stuff. Let's be REALLY real, we need to ensure our businesses attract plenty of new customers and new customers aren't necessarily going to sign on the dotted line if their first glimpse of you is in a drunken face plant from college. Obvs.

Now enter wabi-sabi. Wikipedia explains the aesthetic of wabi-sabi to include roughness, beauty in asymmetry, intimacy and appreciation of natural objects and processes.

Beauty that is Imperfect, Impermanent and Incomplete.

We all know the Japanese have been around a lot longer than yours truly so maybe they've got something there in those 3 i's.

The 3 A's

Perfect, because this week's video is about my version, the 3 a's: Acknowledge, Accept and Adjust.

You'll have to watch to really "get" the 3 a's, but the salacious component is when I call out one big lie that's been circulating for way too long. So natch, I blow it up.

I'm kind of over the baloney - can you tell? It's hard enough being the wabi-sabi girl in a town full of size zero super models, and I've got a really amazing life, but not everyone has it so good, so no need to pile on the perfection and make everyone feel even worse, right?

In fact, I've totally decided that when it comes to business and coaching, I’m happier helping the size 16, mom of the kid booted from high school whose been married 17 times, 13 to the same guy because she's really that mixed up, who wants to once and for all, get it right in business.

In fact, business in general is actually the epitome of wabi-sabi, don't you think? There is no arrow-straight trajectory to the top, nobody creating perfect pricing right out the gate, no success stories without so, so much failure, no matter what lines of bullsh*-t you've been fed.

So what's the bottom line here?

The bottom line is that EVERYBODY'S businesses and their founders go through ups and downs and times of self doubt and despair, but it's ONLY in those times that you get up by your bootstraps and make things go one way or the other. This week's video talks about one big lie and two other super helpful strategies to embrace the beauty in imperfection and offer you concrete places to turn for help if you need them.

Speaking Of Helpful, It's Fix It Friday!

• Every week I’m challenging myself to give you a resource that applies to the content of the ezine to help you accomplish one of our top 3 goals at The Profit Goddess!: Pricing, Productivity or Profitability. This week's resource is an extra boost of inspiration.... Check out the movie, Maiden.
• You might think I've cheated by giving this as a resource, but it's very intentional and totally underscores the points I made above. Maiden is about the first all female group of sailors to go around the world and it makes wabi-sabi look like Versailles.
• One of my favorite lines in the movie is when one of the teammates notes that races like the one featured are ENDURANCE races. You have to be built for the long hall – the ups and downs, highs and lows, very literally if you'll ever have a shot at winning. Important to remember that it's not the one bad quarter you had, it's what you do with the whole life of your business that really counts.

So...watch the video, subscribe to my YouTube channel if you're so inclined and if or when you feel comfortable enough to do so, drop me a line to tell me how it’s going.

Until next week!

xx - Marley

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