As a marketer, I believe organic product companies are best served by being PERSONAL and HUMAN-SOUNDING…rather than “too professional” or corporate-sounding in their marketing.
I dunno what it is…but many biz owners try to hide behind a corporate veil. They’re too polite, too nice, too boring, too obsessed with following the rules.
As if showing their “human” side were unthinkable!
Fact is…people buy from people.
The most successful marketing campaigns I’ve seen revolve around a strong voice, usually that of the CEO or founder of a company.
So many organic/natural/health companies treat marketing as an excuse to be a people-pleaser…or worse, an exercise in tiptoeing on eggshells. For example, they don’t dare rock the boat by using strong or colorful language! Or they don’t dare say something people might not like!
If you want reach the hearts and souls of loyal organic customers, then you need to speak personally and candidly in your marketing…as a human talking to another human.
Let your true personality shine through.
This is pretty easy to do if you run a small business…just type up emails as if you’re talking to a friend. Hold nothing back.
If you run a larger company, you still need to have a human “voice” behind the company. (Seems like the larger a company gets, the more bland and diluted the voice becomes. Or it starts sounding like those cheesy, overly-happy commercials with no substance.)
A few ways to share your human side are:
- Rant against the things you strongly disagree with.
- Kick the a$$ of companies that represent a force of darkness/evil/ill health/corruption/pollution in the world.
- Talk about what you loathe in your industry, and how your company is changing it.
- Share personal stories from your everyday life and tie those stories to products you sell.
- Bonus tip: Rant about something, then put a “P.S.” at the end of your email with a link to buy one of your products. You’d be amazed at how much more you sell!
You can do all of the above in your blog and/or email newsletter.
I know it’s easier said than done…but please try it and see how it changes everything for the better.
(If you don’t have a large email list, start working to build that immediately.)
Food is a very personal matter. Personal care products, same. The way things are going in the organic industry — those companies who tell it like it is, using real human voices, will win far more loyal fans than companies who are afraid to rock the boat. Just because you’re “organic” and pure doesn’t mean you can’t use colorful language, or be human, or roll up your sleeves and fight!
Even Joe Dobrow, who I interviewed, said his top piece of marketing advice for organic companies was:
“Be authentic: wear your passion on your sleeve and sound human. Natural foods consumers will respond to that, assuming your product is good.”
Talk soon,
Michelle
Michelle Lopez Boggs is a copywriter, copywriting mentor, and author of "The Anti-Marketing Manifesto: How to Sell Without Being a Sellout." She's helped her clients sell millions of dollars' worth of products and services online by using the MEI(S) principle — motivate, educate, and inspire, and sell. 