Approaching your clients about values-based marketing

Picture this - you’re in your “office” working on marketing materials for your clients and then…

PING!

You check your inbox and see a new email from your client asking you to scrap the entire idea you’ve just spent hours (and maybe a few days on) because they heard on some “popular marketing podcast” that they need to do marketing this way.

Cue the FRUSTRATION AND AGONY because not only is this going to take a lot longer to make these changes, and do double the work, but… the “popular marketing podcast” doesn’t care about values-based marketing, they just care about making the sale.

So instead of giving up in defeat, you think to yourself…

“I gotta talk to [insert client name here] about values-based marketing and how this will be better for them in the long run!”

Then you think… “Well, how do I do that and get them to listen to, trust, and heed my advice?”

Values-Based Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing Tactics

Traditional marketing strategies and tactics focus on things like:

• Demographics (important, but not always the most relevant to a brand/business)
• Growth in numbers (always looking to surpass numbers)
• Measuring “success” in external terms (ie: vanity metrics and numbers)
• Quick return and results (not always possible depending on the strategy)

And while those things have a time and place in marketing (think ads and certain conversion campaigns), you and I both know that values-based marketing measures things that are more “qualitative” than “quantitative”.

Yes, looking at the above is important but when we’re measuring impact and reach - we’re also considering things like:

• Psychographics and ethnographics (what our audience, clients, and communities value)
• Community Connection (deeper and more intentional relationships)
• “Behind-the-scenes” impact (messages, engagement, etc.)
• Long-term, sustainable growth (ie: brand legacy)

So it comes down to a few things - does your client (or your brand/business) want to grow quickly? Or are they looking to make a sustainable contribution to their industry and community?

If it’s the latter, then approaching this conversation with clients can be a little easier (in my humble opinion).

Explaining how values-based marketing works

With the rise of social media and the Creator Economy - there’s A LOT of information about marketing on the Internet.

From podcasts, YouTube videos, Instagram accounts, LinkedIn posts, and whatever else - everyone is talking about digital marketing… specifically content marketing.?

“In 2021, global content marketing industry revenue was estimated at roughly 66 billion U.S. dollars. The source projected that it would increase to 76 billion in 2022 and that it would continue growing over the further years to reach 137 billion in 2026.” (Statista, March 2022)

How do you explain how quickly marketing, content, and an audience’s values are changing to help explain how values-based marketing makes the most sense in the long run?

In my opinion, we gotta talk about a few things:

• Current social climate in the world (yeap, bringing in sociology)
• What current customers, buyers, and just PEOPLE value?
• And finally, what people are looking for in businesses and brands in years to come

In a Salesforce report, they found that 90% of millennials and Gen Z are looking to brands and businesses (small, medium, and large) to contribute more to the world than just gaining pure profits. We’re all looking for brands and businesses - even people - that share in our values and are working to make the world a better place. There was also another report sharing the differences between Millennials and Gen Z consumers and how to market to both generations.

All of this takes time, deeper connection, and a critical eye to what “popular marketing strategies” have worked in the past.

Reassuring your clients of their goals and brand legacy

While I am a firm believer that “every business and brand” needs marketing - each marketing strategy will be very different based on the brand and business's goals.

So if you’re working with a client that has been feeling:

• FOMO because of all the marketing content they’re consuming
• Left behind because they’re not always pulling in “viral trends”
• Unsuccessful because they don’t see the “external results” all the time

Take it back to their goals and the type of business, clients, and community they have!

Just recently, I had a conversation with a long-time client who offers B2B consulting services to larger companies.

We talked about how their numbers have dipped over the past few months in their engagement on social media - things like fewer comments, fewer likes or reactions, and slow growth in their followers.

From a “bird’s eye view,” it’s easy to think that we need to switch up the strategy to include things like playing the marketing game for each platform, being even MORE present on the platform (requiring more plug-in time from them or from us), and pulling in “engagement hacks” to get folx to participate and boost engagement for algorithm favorability.

In the end, we looked back at the impact and the “unseen” things you wouldn’t see in the front end of their marketing to measure results.

In actuality, their marketing strategy helped them…

• Stay top of mind for projects and leads
• Garnered private messages from community members that shared how impactful their content was
• New leads coming in for larger projects for systemic change
• And a personal win was that they aren’t “playing the algorithm game” to get eyes on their content, but are showing up how they want to

Reassuring The Quirky Pineapple Studio’s clients of their marketing goals and the brand legacy they want to leave - based on social change - has been helpful for our clients to see past “popular marketing trends” and more on their individual and community impact.?

Building this into your marketing processes

Getting to this point to attract and find clients that want to or are already focused on values-based marketing required a change in my own brand message and marketing.

I’ve found that a lot of people know “a lot” about marketing and the theory behind strategies - you know, things like…

• Staying consistent on social media platforms
• Repurposing content to get the most reach
• Asking questions to get people to respond

But in actuality, many folx might not know what it takes to implement a strategy like that - and that’s what we’re (hello, marketers and creators!) here for!

When we decided to focus on this type of marketing style (what we call Liberatory Marketing - pulling in an intersectional-feminist and an anti-capitalist lens), it was a PROCESS to approach this with clients.

Some clients were all for it - shout out to those clients who are already mission-driven and want to use their business to dismantle systems of oppression (you’re awesome!).

And other clients were curious and WANTED to shift their marketing strategy to adapt this model, but would often feel unsure if this was the right move, considering that you cannot see results immediately (at least not all the time).

How did I approach this with leads and clients?

I built it into The Quirky Pineapple Studio’s marketing processes and strategy, centered it on our own brand message and strategy, and stuck to my values and boundaries when folx would want to go back to “manipulative marketing” tactics.

Yes, it meant sometimes I didn’t get projects or clients…

It also meant that there was a lot more explaining involved in the onboarding and strategy presentation process - mostly because this concept was so new to folx.

But in the end, it’s helped my clients create a deeper connection with their community and clients, helped them stay top of mind with the content they create (in a sustainable way), and make marketing fun for them (which in my opinion, it totally can be)!

The business and marketing (r)evolution has already started - are you coming with?

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>> Want to grow your business sustainably, without marketing manipulation and outdated strategies, but with social impact in mind? Join our 7-month mastermind program for small business owners, marketers, and Creators - (R)Evolution of Business & Marketing Catalyzer!

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