Are you unconsciously marketing yourself?

hypnotize   photo by Dave F

Do you know what you’re subconsciously telling people about your business?  Are you sending messages that don’t match up with the impression that you’d like to send (assuming that you know what that is)?

The thing is that you and your employees are constantly sending out messages whether you mean to or not.  Have you ever been to a retail store where one of the clerks was rude to you or someone else close enough for you to overhear?  What about a restaurant where they don’t clean off the tables before they seat you?  Or maybe it’s something small like forgetting to respond to an email from a prospect.  Any one of those is likely to cost you a customer.

What messages are you sending about your business?

The good news is that you have control over the messages being sent.  It’s all about being consciously intentional.

Jay Conrad Levinson – the author of Guerrilla Marketing defines the first competency of a strong Guerrilla Marketer as Intentionality:

I see every contact with my customers and prospects as marketing.
My words, attitudes and actions are all intentional and based on
my marketing goals.

There are two aspects of being consciously intentional – the first one is that you need to have a clear idea of what it is you want to project.  What message do you want to send to people?  It needs to be genuine and it should be something that elevates you and your company when it comes to your target market.  Do you want to be professional?  An expert?  Friendly?  Helpful?  Warm?  Cheerful?  This is your chance to intentionally share your company’s timeless core values with everyone you come in contact with.

The second aspect is that you have to be constantly aware – train yourself to always be purposeful on the conscious and unconscious messages  you’re sending.  Here are a couple of areas to think about:

  • How are you or your employees dressed?  Is it projecting the image that you want?

  • What about body language, attitude, eye contact?  It may seem small, but are you smiling when you see people?

  • How do you act?  Are you polite…to everyone, including the waiter!  Are you always ethical?  What kind of language do you use?

  • How about your written communication?  Is everything spelled correctly?  Have you proofed your marketing materials for typos?

All of this may seem overly nit-picky, but think about the people that you choose to do business with (or better yet, someone that you’ve chosen not to do business with).  Did they portray themselves in a negative way somehow?  It’s not fair, but people are innately judgmental and they will react to an unintentional slip-up.

Are you intentionally marketing yourself with everything you do?  What messages are you sending and are you aware of how you’re sending them?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on intentionality – share your comments below.

Shawn Kinkade   Kansas City Business Coach