Being Authentic is More Important Than Being Professional

This will ruffle some feathers, oh well. It needs to be said. 

People are so overly accustomed to marketing and business advertisements that they become numb to it. The average person runs across 6000-10,000 advertisements a day.

Maybe a handful of those will be read or paid attention to. Have any idea which ones stand out? 

It’s not always the crazy weird ones or the super flamboyant ones. Those typically win a few laughs and smiles but hardly get sales anyways.

It’s not the ads that are politely begging the person to hire them, or the ads telling the person you’ve been in business since 1925 (sorry). 

The advertisements that get noticed are the ads that AUTHENTICALLY are calling out to the person, saying, hey, you have a problem or a need, we love solving that, we can help you, we’re here for you, we care. 

Sounds cheesy, and obviously, you wouldn’t say it like that, the point is, it’s real.

People can tell if you’re in business JUST to make a bunch of dough or if you love what you provide because it helps others in some way. Consumers can see through the B.S. more than most companies are willing to admit to themselves. 

It’s better to be who your business really is instead of trying to sound proper. No one speaks in daily conversation the way many businesses speak in their advertisements, all that does is put a barrier between the company and consumers. 

Leading to them not giving your marketing a second glance.

Today, Professional Means Boring, and Dry 

So here’s the rub, if your business is being authentic and trying to help people with whatever solution you provide, that’s professional already. 

But for some reason, businesses want to take it another notch and show zero personality or emotion in the name of “being professional”. 

Like I said above, it just separates you from consumers. People want to see what a business is REALLY about. They want to know the company intimately, no matter the size. All good marketers know that people have to know like and trust you before they buy, so why does all their marketing material only try to earn trust by being professional? 

“Professional” sales material just means boring. I am not advocating cursing at people or being rude for no reason or anything of the sort. 

I’m simply saying that maybe focus on helping people who see your ads KNOW your company better as well as trust it. 

Know what happens when you do that? If the business is more open and real than their competitors, some people will see who the company is and LIKE it. They will like the genuine nature of business. This will result in you earning the know, like, and trust factor that you need to get sales. 

Some people won’t like it. That means they aren’t the target market or target customer avatar to begin with. This means you weed out potentially bad customers, which is a good thing. 

Your marketing shouldn’t be for everyone. It should be for a specific audience, that needs whatever you’re selling. The more focus put on marketing to the RIGHT people, the more convincing it is. This turns prospects into customers.

All That to Say…

Just be genuine with your marketing material. Show people who your business is, really is. You’ll gain the customers you want and dodge the ones you don’t. 

If you have a great product or service that delivers whatever your advertising says it will deliver, that’s being professional. 

I guess In that sense, many companies speak politely… But are horribly unprofessional. 

But, I digress.