I don’t want to work.
I don’t want to spend the rest of my life working.
Selling at people I’ve grown up with, selling at people I live close to… our lives aren’t meant to be so salesy.
But that’s exactly what life in a consumerist society is like.
Every aspect of how we run our lives is now intertwined with, “Okay, but don’t do it for free.”
When I first sat down to write this article, I realized something important…
I actually don’t want to write about marketing for the rest of my life.
I don’t even want to sell my services for the rest of my life.
I want to have fun. Just like you.
I want to go to events with live painters or musicians, I want to do something crazy new or different. Sometimes, I don’t want to be on my phone at all. Honestly, I want to actually do something.
There are people on one side of the planet suffering every day. And I’m here on my computer talking about how I want to do something other than work.
Why do people link two completely unrelated things and connect them?
Why did Google create pop-up doughnut shops to promote the Home Mini (which happened to be the size of a doughnut)?
Why did Redbull have Felix Baumgartner fly back into Earth from the stratosphere? (This… has nothing to do with energy drinks.)
And why is it totally fine that Tinder created a giant fun slide to communicate their stance on politics?
Each foot represents a state with legal protections for the LGBTQ+ community.
Because at the end of the day, the best way to connect with people is through what we all share: the desire to do something new, and to have a good time.
So yes, we all need to sell our products and services to make a living.
But can’t we all have some fun while doing it?
I’m not saying throw your right-hand-man out of the stratosphere for some likes. Connect to your local DJ or artist, and throw a party in your community.
Invite every local with something to sell, and give everyone (patrons and consumers) a reason to have a good time. Whether that be with a giant slide, or something creative that you just haven’t thought of yet.
Since The Great Resignation, which I will more affectionately call, “The Small Business Boom of the 2020 Pandemic,” there are a ton of new small entrepreneurs looking to get their business off the ground.
But how do the professionals market themselves?
And how do they do it without looking so salesy?