Genuine marketing, based on honesty and integrity, is the only kind of marketing that truly engages the hearts and minds of potential customers.  The following are the principles of character driven marketing:

1. Always maintain a genuine attitude of integrity and caring. If you present a false facade of caring for your own gain, customers will eventually see right through it - and through you.
2. Have unflinching belief in the value and worth of the products or services that you offer, and in your competence to deliver them to the total satisfaction of your customer.  If you truly believe in it, so will they.
3. Strive to know your customers with the same degree of loving care and interest that you know your loved ones.
4. Be clear in the values and character qualities that you want to communicate to your customers in all your promotional activities.
5. Preparation is the key to success. Bear in mind the words of Abraham Lincoln….’If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I would spend seven sharpening the axe.
6. Seek to attract people to you, rather than chasing after them.
7. Know what marketing strategies personally turn you off, and avoid them at all costs.
8. Make sure that you love what you do because this passion, or lack thereof, shows through in your marketing.
9. Take advice from others, but don’t let them advise you against what your gut instinct tells you is right.
10. Present yourself as a leader, not a follower. If you’re not a leader, why are you in business?
11. Be aware that acquiring trust means giving of yourself with no expectation of return.
12. Be a memorable person and communicate your personal principles in the way that you speak and write to your existing or potential customers.
13. Always remember that building any kind of relationship takes effort. If you can’t be bothered taking the time to get to know your customers as individuals, your customer relationships won’t last long.
14. Promote your business through specific methods and strategies that reflect the principles, and your genuine intentions to grow your business through caring for your customers.

The Principles of Character Driven Marketing™ were developed by Tamara Lyster, an Ireland-based business copywriter and strategist.

Del.icio.us / Digg / Stumble it!

Subscribe