It’s still dark outside, sunrise is coming in a little bit. And the rain is coming down and down and down, a blessing on a spring that could use a lot more rain.
I want your marketing to be like rain, a blessing and a gift on a thirsty land. I want this because we are in such need of blessings and care and love. And each of us, you, too, carries gifts that we all need.
It’s hard to think of marketing like a rain of blessings, because so much marketing is not that. So much marketing comes from a thirsty place, a deep unresolved and untended neediness. And, sadly, that untended thirsty, needy marketing reaches out, like a sponge, to take, to sop up all the goodness, and leave nothing behind.
We can’t help having needs. I would go so far as to say that it’s good that we have need. Our neediness is a healthy vulnerability, an opening in our hearts that allows goodness in, that allows us to weave the tapestry of love and care with others that our world so needs.
Our so-called culture encourages us to cover over legitimate needs with terrible solutions. When we’re thirsty to express grief, we’re told to cover it over with entertainment. When we feel empty inside, fill it up with terrible food that leaves us aching.
Yet, nourishment is available to us. The question I lean into so often, “Is love available even here?” has never failed me. If I come curious, if I come willing to be surprised, the answer is rarely, simply “Yes.”
The response to that aching question of the heart is more often a downpour, a warm rain of care, and love, and compassion, and strength, and justice, and inspiration into my heart. That question opens me to a filling up, rain barrels full, leaving my heart awash in such goodness that it is easy to give.
When I’m full like that, I can act. I can tend our garden. I can reach out to friends and community. I can care for our clients with a generosity and openness that has no harshness or neediness in it.
And I can pour out marketing that is accompaniment, that is a river that is meant to carry other beloveds who need this particular rain.
If you are hesitant about marketing because you don’t want to be the thirsty sponge, you don’t want to add to the desert of disconnection in the world… that is wisdom. That comes from a caring heart.
Can I tell you a little-known fact about marketing? The only difference between marketing and actually doing your work for clients… is the level of consent. Your clients consent to being deeply worked with, to being vulnerable, to fully going through what you do.
Folks in your audience haven’t consented to that. But, they have consented to take a sip, to accepting a glass of water.
Don’t abandon your more inner desire to show up, to be present. Let the rain fill you, and overflow, and let yourself offer that nourishment to all who are thirsty.
And, of course, there is skilfulness and things to know… but you can learn those. Those are the easy parts, and they can be done very imperfectly and still work just fine.
Because truly, at the core, marketing is the willingness to put down the dry sponge, and be the rain.
With love,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
Yes, Marketing to Strangers is meant to help you be the rain.
Yes, it’s a course we’re selling that costs money. Yes, it’s full of details and strategy. Yes, it’s also full of love and care and healing.
If your business is thirsty, and needs to be in front of more strangers, so more people can lean into your gifts, and help you thrive…
Consider joining us. Starts May 20, runs five weeks.
Read here: Marketing to Strangers
Ask any questions you have. Or just jump in.
