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Performative Marketing

Performative Marketing
“Lights, camera, action!”

There's a vendetta against branding in this country, so naturally, marketing feels like one big act.


Imagine someone not being a supporter of outsourcing your thinking but pioneering the “just throw it in ChatGPT” movement for the last 3 years.


Imagine someone not being a believer but talking about God, and suddenly using words like ‘amen’ and ‘conviction’ to market their services, without any spiritual principles governing their life. 

 

Imagine someone talking about helping people price their services to "always have money flowing in," but 95% of their audience won’t even pay $30 for their services.


Surface-level messaging is everywhere. And as things get harder, it feels like small business owners in Trinidad and Tobago will say anything to make money.


So, to help you build a brand to attract your ideal client, let’s understand what performative marketing is, to be more circumspect when we speak, and improve our efforts.


“What I’d do if I was getting lots of inquiries but no conversions”: What is Performative Marketing?


Anything a business or service provider can’t back up in their actions, with results, or validate through experience, is considered ‘The Greatest Show On Earth!’ or performative marketing.


We’re a long way from those days in Dynamic Business Strategist when a thought or concept caused controversy. Now, many local service providers are stuck in a cycle of parroting expertise, instead of building it.


Remember, for a while, we were encouraged to let “someone,” whoops! I mean something else to do our thinking.



When you jump on a topic you’ve never supported, adopt a talking point you have no real experience with, or change how you express yourself because of how someone else speaks, the things you say come across shallow, opportunistic, or exploitive.


To you, you’re being progressive, innovative, or building a library of words, but in reality, you’re perceived as trying too hard.


It's insincere to feign purity of intention when your success rests upon an act.


Lean Into The Cause


The way TheBrandTUB expresses itself, for example, has a lot to do with who the type of clients I typically attract are, and how they understand the world.



Like I said, if tone isn’t given consideration, it will speak louder than your words, instead of working in harmony with it.


Sure, I have fewer clients than probably the average person reading this blog, but the mystery of my language makes it more believable that I typically work with believers.


On a call with one of my biggest clients, without reading any of my content, she said something about me, told her I’m a Christian.


So sometimes, when people inquire but don’t buy, often it’s because they see you as a Pharisee; an actor; a hypocrite; someone who is performing, trying to convince instead of being themselves, instead of being sincere.


Now you can appear deep, travel the world, and win awards on a lie.


The question is, do you want to?


Assuming you don’t, here are some red flags to watch for before you speak:


  1. Using a topic as refuge against something you’ve been publicly vocal about to change the story and preserve your image.

  2. Using words or expressions that your target market wouldn’t naturally use.

  3. Bold claims about something specific without any data, stories, or results to support it.

  4. Being about a cause only when it benefits you!



At the risk of losing my job and sinking my career. I didn’t bat an eye telling my boss I wouldn’t design a wedding invitation for two men who were getting married.


Everything before flip-flopping due to consequences becomes an act!


Stop acting.

Shake Your Cock N Bull Graphic Designs, my free Facebook group is exclusively for local founders who want to give their most secret fears about being online a good shaking, so they can venture online with confidence!


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