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“I wish I could just be myself, marketing my business based on what I really believe . . . but I don’t want to risk offending a potential customer.”
“Focus on your market, and what it wants first and foremost. THEN shape your business and its values around that.”
“Authenticity? That’s a luxury for businesses that don’t need to make money.”
Being Real.
The premium placed on authenticity in business and marketing has never been more crucial to breaking through the noise in the marketplace.
Markets are increasingly demanding about not just the quality of the product or service . . . but people also want to know about the person or company behind the curtain. Does the company walk the talk? They claim that they’re socially responsible. Authentic. But are they really real??
No longer can businesses assume that the population will believe marketing claims simply because they say so.
It’s increasingly challenging for businesses to navigate this terrain — how can I get my message out without succumbing to making hyped-up claims, pounding my email lists, or offering deep discounts to get the work.
Some even go so far as to say that marketing, by nature, isn’t really authentic . . . that it’s not possible to promote your product or service and still “be real.”
“The irony is that marketing can’t be authentic. It’s an all-out arms race as brands compete to showcase their products and services in the most attractive, clever and appealing light possible while simultaneously downgrading their competitors and sweeping any negative commentary under the rug.” – Forbes Magazine.
Being Prosperous.
On the financial side, there’s a shadow belief that you can’t be profitable if you are authentic. That “ideals” are the purview of the businesses that don’t need to make money – that principles are a luxury.
Like most shadow beliefs, there actually is a shade of truth to this. In 2018, Dick’s Sporting Goods stopped selling assault weapons after the Parkland shooting, and just recently announced it will pull guns and ammunition off the shelves of 125 of its 720 stores.
Dick’s Sporting Goods’ CEO Ed Stack said at the time: “As we looked at what happened down in Parkland, we were so disturbed and saddened by what happened, we felt we really needed to do something.”
These decisions did not come without financial consequences. As of November 2018, retail sales were down almost 4 percent as many gun rights advocates boycotted the stores.
This shift away from gun sales isn’t entirely based on principles as the company also had a broader strategy to pivot its business to other categories, like shoes and fitness wear. However, most analysts believe that the company will weather the decisions and will soon start to post gains again in the near future.
There are numerous examples of values-driven organizations whose principles are inextricably tied to their brand.
TOMS shoes gives one pair of shoes away for every pair it sells. While the idea of giving away as much as you sell does not intuitively seem like a winning recipe for a profitable business, their philanthropic mission has propelled them forward for many years. Instead of shying away from their identity as a company with a cause, they have doubled down and recently adopted the relatively political goal of ending gun violence.
While some businesses would worry this could prove too polarizing for their customers, TOMS continues to succeed.
Patagonia is well known for giving 1% of its revenues to fund small, grassroots activist organizations. But did you also know that they have written into their corporate guidelines that they “don’t want you to buy clothes unless you need them.”
In 2011, Patagonia ran this ad in the The New York Times on Black Friday, encouraging people not to indulge their consumerism but to practice awareness of their buying habits for the benefit of the planet. This campaign resulted in double-digit growth for the company for the next four years.
The cynical might say this was a brilliant marketing strategy designed all along to sell more jackets were it not for the political and economic risks founder Yvon Chouinard has taken over the many decades in guiding this remarkable company according to his values.
Going even further, how about this campaign for Tecate that was aired in Mexico telling men NOT to buy their beer. After running this ad, Tecate’s revenues grew by 13% while also increasing domestic violence prevention. Shortlisted for awards, one judge said “You can’t row back from it. Tecate nailed their colours to the mast to stand for these values.”
Tecate beer ad telling men not to buy their beer.
Daring to take a stand for what you believe in by integrating your values into your business . . . it’s supported by data.
Research shows that 89 percent of Gen Z “would rather buy from a company supporting social and environmental issues over one that does not.”
However, if a company comes out in support of a cause that seems unrelated to their own mission and brand, it can have the opposite effect — it comes across as a media play for public brownie points, ultimately damaging the brand reputation among a Gen Z audience.
These numbers show that businesses that claim to be socially responsible while employing practices that aren’t aligned with these claims don’t pass the sniff test with savvy markets.
In order to convince people you truly care about a cause, businesses also have to be willing to invest in that cause . There’s even a name for this practice – “goodwashing” – borrowing from “greenwashing,” which refers to companies making unsubstantiated claims about valuing the environment.
So, what does all this have to do with you and your business? No matter how small, no matter the industry, no matter the product or service — you don’t have to compromise your voice, your ethics, your values in order to be prosperous.
Here are a few suggestions for ways you can take steps toward integrating your values even more powerfully into your marketing:
“If humanity does not opt for integrity we are through completely. It is absolutely touch and go. Each one of us could make the difference.” ~ Buckminster Fuller
Join us in making a small but meaningful difference in setting a higher bar for how we do business. Nothing less than the future of our planet depends on it.
All expressions of who you are and what you deliver are clear, honest, and in sync with your principles and values. Your website, emails, and promotions echo the foundational principles of your business.
Being real and principled doesn’t have to mean not being profitable. Unravelling the beliefs that make up your money story may be part of your journey. We are committed to building a future where prosperity and authenticity in business happily co-exist.
“The way is made by walking it”
The act of a starting and building a business is one of the most creative acts there is. Don’t know the next step? Just start walking. The way will become clear, the fog will lift, you will know.
Interested to know more about how we help people grow their businesses?
Sign up for a free 30-minute strategy session with us!
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When we hired Angela to design our new website, we discovered pretty quickly that she is so much more than a talented designer. As a startup, she helped us distill who we are as a company – our brand, our values, our purpose. From there, she and her team built a site that is a perfect reflection of Assessing in Action. We could have hired a big agency to design our site, but when we saw her work, we knew we wanted her on our team!
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