3 Keys to Successful Marketing

Editor’s Note: This article is part of our My Story Millennial Campaign contest series where we’re featuring the best of the millennial voices. Be sure to keep track of the series HERE.

It is the best time to be in marketing! Why? Because authenticity is the key to becoming successful in marketing and it is something every business has access to.

As someone who studied and practiced sales and marketing for the last 25 years, I’ve had the opportunity to observe many of the changes that have happened in the field. Marketing answers questions like “How do we choose when we buy?” “How do sales and marketing teams influence consumers?” “ Why do we become fans of some brands versus others?” and “Which companies are successful in selling and why?” and that is what excites me. It is all about human beings and their behavior.

At first, sales and marketing were about “developing the need” of the customer so they want to buy our products, to find ways to exaggerate the features so they are impressed by what we offer and to almost “trick” them to buy at our own timing so we can fill our assigned quotas.

That era is long gone. Some companies are still trying these old tactics but their return is far less because consumers now are a lot more knowledgeable. Although it makes our life more challenging in sales and marketing, this is a better time for all of us because we are forced to think more about consumers’ challenges and their desires versus our products and services.

There are 3 main aspects to marketing now:

1. Know exactly WHY you are in the business besides making money (as a professional or as an entrepreneur).
2. Identify your strengths and values as an individual and as a business and learn how to reflect them in your messaging.
3. Be authentic; be human.

Consumers still care about the quality and price of your products but they also respond to who we are and what we care about as a company. They are tired of hearing and reading about how terrific our products are. They don’t care. They want to hear how we are going to make their lives better and easier. They already do the research on their own. We do not need to “sell” them anything in the old sense. We want them to like us, follow us, become a fan and be attracted to what we do and why we do it. They care about our story, what our purpose is, and how we contribute to our community. It is a lot more personal and real. If you can do those three things, you have a chance to connect with your audience at a more meaningful and memorable level.

We, as business owners need to be very self-aware, be connected, know our audience, be vulnerable and understand our unique strengths to do great marketing.

We, as business owners need to be very self-aware, be connected, know our audience, be vulnerable and understand our unique strengths to do great marketing. The more authentic you are, the more love (love and passion for your products, your business, your customers, your fans) you bring to the table, the more successful you will be. You do not need to take my word for it, just listen to great leaders like John Mackey, co-CEO of Wholefoods or Howard Schultz of Starbucks, and see how their passion and authenticity helped them build great businesses.
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Copyright: lonely11 / 123RF Stock Photo

Brooke Ozlem Erol

After studying Business Administration with emphasis on Marketing her first job was at IBM. She worked for 11 years there in sales, marketing, and training. She worked a few smaller companies as a sales and marketing manager in San Diego, CA. She founded her first company in 2003 coaching others find their passion to live a fulfilled life and follow their dreams. Most of her clients are professionals who are in midlife trying to make a career transition and make decisions about their next step creating more meaning in their lives. In 2010 she also started her marketing and business consultancy business where she helps companies find their unique strengths, develop their stories, create mission and vision statements that inspire and move the employees, customers and their communities, find the human factor in their business and develop their marketing strategies and messaging based on these values. She is passionate about both individuals and businesses reach their best potential in a humanistic way. She is dedicated to be part of the gradual change that is happening in the workplace; created by good leadership that has values, clear purpose and prefers participation of all employees in decision making. Any company who embraces humanistic goals and approaches.