There’s a course you can buy on Udemy called “How to be Authentic in your Marketing”.
It may sound like a Yes Minister episode, but it’s real.
Surely the moment you try to be authentic, you’ve lost?
It reminds me of all those “Why” videos doing the rounds a few years back, all explaining at length why the poor adviser who’d been persuaded to spend thousands was passionate about advice, loved his/ her kids, dog and suburb, and really did it because they wanted to help.
By the way, all of those things might have been 100% true (most clients I work with are motivated in some way by the desire to help), but they miss the point.
Simon Sinek once said, “People don’t care what you do until they know why you do it”
The disconnect is that he wasn’t talking about marketing, he was talking about leadership (which is why the TED Talk was called How Great Leaders Inspire Action).
People don’t care what you do until they understand how it can help them.
Not help them in the ways we think it can help them (i.e. get your financial house in order)…
…but solve the actual, real life problems that they’re facing right now…. THEN they’ll care about your why.
And when it becomes about that, telling your why story, or trying to be deliberately authentic aren’t nearly as important as what really gets result.
Adding value in real, practical terms, giving them insight, stories or simple steps that change things for the better.
