3 Reasons Why You May Object to Doing Marketing Promotion

“I’ve always viewed myself as a brand. When I started 10 years ago, that was very controversial. ‘Marketing’ and ‘PR’ were dirty words for the literary world, but that has changed. Once the book is finished, I want as many people as possible to read it.” – Camilla Lackberg, award-winning crime writer

work from home business

Many of us dislike the idea of having to do marketing and promotion. We may even view it as “dirty work” altogether. We find it a real pain with a capital P. Yet, promotion is one of the factors crucial to business success and consequently, financial abundance.

After setting up our website, we would like to believe “build it and they will come”. However, it is possible to spend years twiddling our thumbs, waiting for traffic and hoping to be discovered. This is not likely to happen if we do not do something to even let others know that our products, services or websites exist.

The danger of relying solely on manipulative SEO to improve rankings is that the search engines can change its algorithm rules suddenly. Where previously you had truckloads of website visitors, they now drop to a trickle. Consequently, your adsense income starts to drop to pathetic levels.

Well, this was exactly happened to some of the early sites that I built when I relied on advice from internet marketers who taught “make money quick” ideas. My interest waned as my income from these sites fell. It was also how I discovered that I was not all that passionate in these niches in the first place.

The same scenario can be observed even in a corporate environment. You hope like crazy that your boss will discover how good you are. You pray for the day that he or she will realize what a valuable asset you are. Yet, you hold yourself back by hiding out behind your desk.

Well, the story of Lemuel Gulliver in the movie, Gulliver’s Travels poignantly drives home this message: you will not get noticed should you play small and should you refuse to be visible.

Hence, some element of marketing and promotion is necessary.

To overcome your objections, it is necessary to understand why you are resistant in the first place.

The answer lies in the P-word – your Past.

3 Situations in the Past That Programmed You with Fear

Here are 3 instances that could have happened in the past and that continue to influence you negatively today:

(1) You have had a bad memory of being ridiculed and rejected when you tried to promote yourself or something. Your resistance becomes a projection of your fear of failure.

(2) You have had a bad memory of someone who was aggressively pushy in sales and trying to promote something to you. He or she might have refused to take “no” for an answer. For a while, you felt powerless and cornered to saying “yes”. Consequently, the memory of that hard sell left a bad taste in your mouth. You felt turned off and since then, swore off doing sales and promotion.

(3) You were programmed to believe that it is not right to “toot your own horn” as a child. Your parents encouraged you to downplay your successes because “children should be seen and not heard”.

Hence, once you have realized that it is the past that is hampering you, release through inner work so that you can be in the present.

Flow from the Space of Passion and Purpose

Promotions come naturally when you flow from the space of passion and purpose. You may not even realize that you are actively promoting sometimes, when you share about the work that you love. Your unbridled enthusiasm becomes your greatest marketing aide to making a sale.

Just remember this: if you truly believe in the value of your product or service, then you are doing a disservice by not letting others know about what it is that you offer.

When you are aligned with heart-centered passion and spiritual purpose, promotion puts you on the path to prosperity.

Love and abundance always,

evelyn lim signature

Life Vision Coach. Author. Energy Healing Practitioner.

Share Your Experience

Are you resistant to doing marketing sales and promotion for yourself, your product or your business? What do you think that your fear is about? Share your thoughts below.

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Stephen Joseph - July 30, 2013 Reply

It’s so true what you say about doing your reader’s a disservice if you don’t promote what you believe to be good for them. Certainly something to keep in mind if you’re shy about the benefits you’re trying to bring to the world.

[Reply]

Evelyn Reply:
August 1st, 2013 at 11:03 am

Hi Stephen,

Great! Yes, we sure have to keep this in mind if we feel great resistance to putting ourselves out there!

Abundance always,
Evelyn

Razwana - July 30, 2013 Reply

Yes, yes, and YES!
Also – understand your customers – promoting becomes easier.

HOW many times did my parents tell me not to brag about my achievements? There’s a difference between bragging and promoting though ….

Evelyn Reply:
August 1st, 2013 at 11:06 am

Hello Razwana,

Bragging comes from a place of fear and wanting attention. But if we operate from a place of love and passion, then sharing our message just flows so naturally!

It’s great that you have resonated with my post 🙂

Bryan Thompson - July 31, 2013 Reply

Hi Evelyn! It’s good to be back! It’s been a while. I was taught in my childhood a little of all three of those. It REALLY did its damage on me when I first got into sales (a field I did not stay in) ten years ago. I was mortified to have to talk someone into buying something. That’s really the way I looked at it, instead of saying, “These people are here because they’re INTERESTED in buying this product.” Even now, as I’m raising funds for a nonprofit I’m starting from the ground up, and rather than build energy from the AWESOMENESS I feel about the community I’m building, I let those feelings of guilt, shame, and fear wash over me. Great post!

Evelyn Reply:
August 1st, 2013 at 11:18 am

Hello Bryan,

Welcome back! It’s great that you are now presented with an awesome opportunity to address the emotions of guilt, shame and fear and so on. I find that keeping ourselves anchored in our vision puts us in a position of power and leadership.

Love and abundance always,
Evelyn

Hiten - July 31, 2013 Reply

Hi Evelyn,

This was another excellent post. I loved what you wrote about sharing the work that we love, and how it doesn’t even feel like we’re selling when we operate from this perspective. I’ve found this to be so true from my own experiences.

Having said this, I too have had limiting beliefs around selling. However, it was only when I started to think like a business person that I started to make sales.

Thank you.

Evelyn Reply:
August 1st, 2013 at 11:25 am

Hello Hiten,

I believe that the vast majority of us don’t really like the idea of having to “sell”. We feel uncomfortable about having to open our mouths. But yes, when we operate from a more empowered place such as love and leadership, we overcome our fears.

Ryan Bonaparte - July 31, 2013 Reply

This is so true. When I finished my book, I really did think that people would just find out about it after just a few email blasts to my friends. Fast-forward months later an I’ve started taking to the idea that you mentioned: sharing your work is a service not a bother. People are looking for something to read, and as long as your not spamming people and are genuine about your desire to help people, promoting your book is a wonderful thing. Not to mention you also get the opportunity to meet other people who are like-minded.

Evelyn Reply:
August 1st, 2013 at 11:31 am

Hi Ryan,

I am glad to know that you have overcome your resistance to sharing about your book. It’s important to trust that those who need it will buy and benefit from it. It’s in our soul purpose to make sure that others know that our book exists.

All the best!

Dems - July 31, 2013 Reply

Thanks Evelyn,

The quote: you will not get noticed should you play small and should you refuse to be visible. seems to be talking to me….

I am challenged!

Evelyn Reply:
August 1st, 2013 at 11:32 am

Hi Dems,

Glad to know that you are challenged. Go and take positive action now!

Harleena Singh - August 1, 2013 Reply

You are absolutely right – you DO need to promote yourself and your work if you want to be seen or heard, or else how do the people know you even exist!

Speaking of the online world, where there are numerous blogs – if there is no one to promote your posts, or you don’t make an effort to reach out and connect with people, how would anyone know about you, your blog, or your work.

Yes, a lot of it is related to the past, as you mentioned. My parents told me the last point – not to toot your own horn and we did that for quite sometimes. But the online world is totally different because here if you don’t – you aren’t going to be heard.

Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂

Evelyn Reply:
August 6th, 2013 at 11:49 am

Hello Harleena,

Yup, in the online world, if we don’t take some action to let others know about our presence, then our websites can get forgotten. While having quality content is important, we still need to get the word out!

Martin Poldma - August 2, 2013 Reply

At the end of the day, we can have the best products or best content in the world, but if we are not doing anything to promote them, then hardly anyone will ever get to know them.

Thanks for sharing.

Evelyn Reply:
August 6th, 2013 at 11:50 am

Hi Martin,

Totally agree!!

yoga poses asanas - July 7, 2014 Reply

I was wondering if you ever considered changing the layout
of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got
to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 images.
Maybe you could space it out better?

3 Reasons Why You May Object to Doing Marketing Promotion

Evelyn

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