Dealing With Your Convictions as a Marketer

What do you do when your work brushes up against your convictions?

As marketers, we have a special task: we're called to create change.

To inspire. To motivate.

We're on the front lines of culture, interpreting consumer behavior and crafting messages that will resonate with people here and now.

Most of us want to see positive change in the world, and we use our understanding of basic human psychology and our communication skills to make that change happen.

But sometimes we end up in a position where we don't believe in the thing we're marketing, and we're tasked with pushing a product or service that we feel conflicted about selling.

What happens when we start feeling more like master manipulators and less like difference-makers? Psychologists call that bad feeling you get when your actions and values are misaligned cognitive dissonance .

My first grown-up job was for an advertising agency serving personal injury attorneys. We created TV commercials featuring fake brick walls (to bust through), miscellaneous animals, and plenty of attractive women.

We chased ambulances.

We asked if you've been injured in a car accident, a motorcycle accident, or an accident involving an 18-wheeler. Because you might be entitled to compensation.

It all felt icky, like I was helping wealthy attorneys take advantage of people less fortunate. Which wasn't necessarily true. In many cases, our clients helped people get through difficult times when they otherwise would have struggled to make ends meet.

Nevertheless, understanding that fact was one thing. Convincing myself I was doing good, important work was another. It didn't change the twisty feeling I got in my stomach when I walked into work every morning. So I reminded myself again and again: this is helping someone. This is fine. It's all fine.

But mental gymnastics didn't work. Something about the work felt sleazy.

And I knew it was time to start listening to my conscience.

How Does a Marketer Listen to Their Conscience?

First, you have to give your conscience the light of day. Ask some questions and give yourself honest answers. Like, who does my work impact? Do they really need the product or is someone getting rich off another person's misfortune?

What about the quality of the product? Who's making it, and what are their working conditions? For the value, is the product or service fairly priced?

In the age of personalization in digital advertising, these questions are more relevant than ever.

When you give yourself honest answers, you might realize your current role just isn't the right fit. If that happens, it's time to start saying no.

The Importance of Saying No

In business, we're so accustomed to saying yes. We graduate from college and say yes to the first job that comes our way. To the first client willing to pay us a buck. We rarely slow down long enough to consider the impact we're making.

But your subconscious brain works overtime analyzing the results of your labor. And that icky feeling you get about the work you do, it's not going away until you start listening to it.

Until you make a change.

Until you say no.

So say it often. Say no to the work that isn't going to pay you fairly, to the work that pays well at the expense of someone else, to the work that just feels wrong, even if you can't explain it. Say yes when you have the opportunity to contribute to something that makes the world even just a little bit better.

The bar is low, friends. It just can't do harm. The work you do can't take advantage of someone else's deeply rooted fears. It can't manipulate or misinform or steal.

Not if you want to feel alive while you do it.

I know we all have bills and families and chickens that need their grain. But the idea that we're not in control of our own careers is a belief we could all benefit from losing. Quitting when you feel sleazy about your life's contribution to the world is the best decision you'll ever make for yourself.

Your conscience will thank you.

Next, Consider The Tactics

So you've quit your job as an email phishing scammer. Now how do you make sure you never feel icky about your career as a marketer ever again?

Next, we need to consider the methods we're using. Plenty of marketing tactics are effective and manipulative and ultimately harmful. They take advantage of our deeply held human instincts: our scarcity mindset and our tendency to fear the unknown or the other.

Our goal as marketers should first and foremost be to make people's lives better. We do this by connecting dots, finding the right audiences for the right products and services, and communicating clearly and simply so the customer can make an informed decision.

Do we offer discounts in hopes of getting someone to pull the trigger? Sure, let the customer decide if the new price point meets their fancy. Do we spread misinformation and stir up fear to sell more ammunition? Please, God, no.

Dishonest tactics are wielded by sleazy marketers every day. But they're also wielded by well-meaning marketers with demanding bosses and looming deadlines. Which is why this topic is so important and so complicated.

Trust-based Marketing

Enter: a better way. The term trust-based marketing was coined by Dr. Glen L. Urban, professor and former dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management. The theory claims that being honest and open with your customer creates additional trust, which benefits everyone in the long run--the customer and the business.

People like doing business with those they can trust. In fact, they'll pay a little more to support a company willing to tell them the truth.

According to Urban, "Trust-based companies have higher customer retention and more stable revenue streams. The prediction is that trust-based businesses will, in the end, have higher sales volumes and lower marketing costs than companies that survive on push-based marketing strategies."

When was the last time you trusted a company with five thousand five-star reviews (and nothing lower)? As a consumer, I need to know I can trust you, and there are countless ways you can break my trust. Lying or manipulating me is top on the list.

According to a study by Ipsos OTX, only 4% of consumers believe marketers practice integrity.

The same study found that 6% trusted the U.S. Congress.

We lost to Congress, guys.

The bad news here is that marketers have a branding problem. People see an ad and immediately distrust the message. The good news is we've identified the magic sauce, and it's simple. It's almost too simple.

Be a good human.

Tell people the truth.

Treat people the way you want to be treated.

Even when you're afraid of looking bad. Even when it could cause you to lose customers. The trust you'll earn is far more meaningful. Your business will grow. And you'll sleep like a baby. What more could you want?