“…We are ‘persuaded to spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need to make impressions that won’t last on people we don’t care about.’”

This is Kate Raworth quoting Economist Tim Jackson in her book Doughnut Economics while discussing the power of aspiration in influencing human behaviour.

Reading this, I realized that seeing (or at least feeling) this is what kept me from marketing for so long.

(And what keeps me from engaging in much of its mainstream still.)

I thought of it only as a way of doing the above.

Until I encountered Joanna Wiebe’s non-sleazy copywriting and “Voice of Customer” thinking. And then immersed myself in Seth Godin’s “Permission Marketing” ethos. Together, these made me see there is also a light side to marketing (as there are two sides to everything).

Then I understood that good, useful, vital ideas, products, and services will die on the vine if they aren’t properly conveyed and shared with the people who most need and care about them.

There is a way of marketing that can show us how we can use our resources (time, money, effort, connections) on things we do need to have lasting effects on our lives, communities, families, and selves while supporting, inspiring, and broadening the circle of people we care about most.

And that's work worth doing.

Lightly,
James

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