Q. What is authentic marketing?

R.M. You might think of this as marketing or promotion of one's business that doesn't come from self-centeredness but from a higher place, a place of service and contribution. When you are marketing your business authentically, those who come in contact with your business are inspired to work with you, they don't feel coerced or manipulated.

Q. That somehow sounds antithetical to American business. After all, we associate marketing with being less than truthful. I think we've even come to take most marketing messages, not just with a grain of salt, but with downright suspicion. How is it really possible to market authentically?

R.M. Sadly, American business and the advertising industry realizes most people want fairly superficial things. They realize that people act from their own self-interest and therefore prey on motivators such as beauty, greed, status, and instant fulfillment. But of course, most products and services don't deliver on those promises. A shampoo really isn't going to make you more popular. A new car isn't going to make you any happier.

Q. So you seem to be proving my point. Where does authenticity fit into all of this?

R.M. First it comes with the realization that all marketing isn't about promotion or advertising. That's really just the tip of the iceberg of marketing. Marketing is really about the complete experience one has with a company's product or service. So marketing isn't just a slogan or a brochure or an advertisement. It's about how the company answers its telephones and how they respond to complaints and how they deal with their customers. And, of course, it's about the actual quality of their product or service.

The bottom line of authentic marketing is about truly caring about your customers and clients.

Q. So what does this look like in the marketing of professional services? You use your 5 P model of Positioning, Packaging, Promotion, Persuasion and Performance. Is that what it means to market authentically?

R.M. Not really, that's just a model for different stages in the service business marketing process. The 5 Ps are a very useful tool but you can still use those principles without much caring at all, where the sole purpose is just to make more money. That can be done, but authentic marketing, at its core, is about caring. From that point you can start to market from a whole different place.

Q. So what happens after you start caring?

R.M. You'll start to realize that caring doesn't happen in a vacuum. That is, you can't just sit in your office and really care about your clients and do nothing! Caring requires action and marketing is a very powerful vehicle for action. You can only make a difference with the services you provide if people understand what those services are and how they work. And people will never be able to take advantage of those services if they've never heard of you.

Q. So once you've made the commitment to care about your customers or clients, and I assume that would include things like providing high quality services, communicating honestly and responding quickly, you still have to get the word out.

R.M. Yes, exactly, and this is where people have such a problem. They can understand good service, good communication, reliability and all of that -- they see that as being authentic -- but they have a hard time "getting out there," as you say, getting known, communicating about their services to a wider audience, even explaining the value of their services. This part of marketing often doesn't feel authentic.

Q. Why is that?

R.M. It's what I call "car sales syndrome." What I've observed in speaking to thousands of people in workshops and seminars is that when it comes to marketing and selling, most of us immediately have the image of someone selling cars - usually used cars! That's what selling is to us. You know what I mean -- deception, not caring, talking without listening, and outright manipulation. Since that whole realm is so distasteful to us, we don't want to have any part of it. After all, we ARE professionals, aren't we? We don't want to stoop that low, and of course, that's very understandable.

Q. That sounds like quite a hurdle to get over. People are happy to provide great service and in fact do care about their clients but they don't want to be tarred with the same brush as "car sales." So they do very little in the area of self-promotion. And if they do, they always feel a little tainted by it. Is that correct?

R.M. Absolutely. If that's the mindset we're stuck in we'll never reach the number of clients we could or really make the contribution we're capable of. In many cases it means we often end up with less- than-ideal projects, doing things we'd prefer not to do instead of the work we really have a passion for. So in trying not to sell out to the "false gods" of marketing and selling, we often end up selling out anyway. I've seen this with hundreds of clients. Their issue isn't always: "how can I get new clients," but "how can I get the right kind of clients and do the work I was meant to do?"

Q. So how do you help them market themselves authentically?

R.M. It's quite simple really but we make it too complicated. First you commit to caring about your work and your clients above all else and then you commit to holding true to that attitude of caring in every aspect of your marketing. You realize that marketing and selling your services have nothing to do with selling used cars. You start to realize that authentic marketing is about communication, education and helping solve problems.

For instance, when you're working on the material for your web site, you need to explain how you help your clients and build a solid case for your services. There's nothing wrong with building that case from every legitimate angle possible -- case studies, testimonials, details about how your service works, etc. You don't have to resort to hyperbole and hucksterism to do that successfully. You have to be completely honest and demonstrate your caring without saying things like "we're a caring company," which no one believes anyway.

Q. This doesn't sound easy to me.

R.M. It's simple, but not necessarily easy. It takes a very high level of commitment and self-honesty. It takes being vulnerable and open. It takes working at continuous improvement. It takes really digging into the actual value you provide and finding the best way to present that information. But that's what builds trust and relationships.

The companies who get it, and I'm including both small and large businesses, turn themselves inside out to communicate to their customers with complete integrity. Those kinds of companies build loyalty that a competitor could never erode with a million dollar ad budget. For instance, I get many referrals from people who have never even worked with me. That's because they feel they know me and trust me through my marketing.

Q. Does it take much of a budget to market authentically?

R.M. For a professional service business it can be done with virtually no budget at all. Communicating one-to-one with your clients and prospects (what I call keep-in-touch marketing) can be done by e-mail for virtually free just as I've been doing for over 3 years. It's really an authentic one-to-one conversation with those you do business with. And that can be done in many, many ways, from giving talks to a thousand people to writing an article for a web site to speaking to someone at a networking event.

Q. Authentic marketing certainly feels right, but is it really profitable? After all, if you don't make money in your business, you're out of business. All of this sounds somewhat idealistic.

R.M. That's what I used to think as well, but it's really just the opposite. Authentic marketing is about the long-term. It's about building loyal clients, not about making a one-time sale.

For example, I have a client that provides supplies to the construction industry. I talked to several of her clients to get some testimonial quotes. It was a wonderful experience speaking to them because they were all so thrilled by my client's service and responsiveness that they wouldn't go anywhere else. Being authentic doesn't mean being a doormat. Authentic marketers can be very hard-headed business people. But they tend to attract the right kind of clients so it becomes very profitable for everyone.

Q. So what are the first steps in beginning to market a professional service business authentically?

R.M. Just decide to start. You'll see opportunities opening up everywhere for authentic marketing. Commitment to this is all-important. Without it, you'll be stuck with your outmoded notions of selling used cars and you'll never take a step.

This article, copyright Robert Middleton, Action Plan Marketing. All rights reserved. Robert's web site is a comprehensive resource on marketing for Independent Professionals. For free marketing resources and valuable marketing tools visit 
http://www.actionplan.com