This Is Marketing: You Cant Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Perhaps you’ve seen the shift
When you opened this book, you probably said, “I have a product and I
need more people to buy it. I have a marketing problem.”
By now, I hope that you see the industrialist/selfish nature of this
statement. The purpose of our culture isn’t to enable capitalism, even

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capitalism that pays your bills. The purpose of capitalism is to build our
culture.
Once you adopt a posture of service, of engaging with the culture to
make change, the shift happens.
Now, instead of asking, “How can I get more people to listen to me, how
can I get the word out, how can I find more followers, how can I convert
more leads to sales, how can I find more clients, how can I pay my
staff . . . ?” you can ask, “What change do I seek to make?”
Once you know what you stand for, the rest gets a lot easier.
A glib reverse engineering of your mission statement isn’t
helpful
Too often, we get hung up on our purpose, our why, our reason for being.
And too often, that purpose is simply a backward way of saying, “I’d like to
sell more of what I’ve already decided to sell.”
In my experience, most marketers actually have the same “purpose.” To
be successful. To engage with people in a way that benefits both sides. To
be respected, seen, and appreciated. To make enough of a profit to do it
again.
That’s your why. That’s why you go to work.
Okay, got it.
But a better business plan takes that universal need and makes it specific
—describing who and what it’s for. It outlines the tension you seek to
create, the status roles you’re engaging with, and the story you’re bringing
that will make change happen.
That’s not your purpose. It’s not your mission. It’s simply what you do.
If it doesn’t work, that’s okay. It doesn’t mean you’re without a purpose,
or that your “why” is doomed. All it means is that you’ve ruled out one
more route in your quest to matter.
Now you can find a new one.

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