Praise for The Gentle Marketing Revolution
You don't have to be pushy to be successful! The Gentle Marketing Revolution is a blueprint for a world where those who use authentic marketing not only make the biggest impactthey also make the most money.
Dorie Clark, author of Entrepreneurial You and executive education faculty, Duke University Fuqua School of Business
Sarah's book is the inspirational lift we need in an increasingly harsh and desperate marketing world.
Mark Schaefer, author of Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins
The Gentle Marketing Revolution is to heart-centered business owners what quiet is to introverts total permission to be ourselves and communicate about what we do with authenticity, connection, and love.
Jenny Blake, author of Pivot: The Only Move that Matters is Your Next One
People want whats real, now more than ever. Its okay to market in such a way that it acknowledges your flaws, and Sarah Santacroces book shows that this is the BEST way to market your business.
Chris Brogan, President, Chris Brogan Media LLC
If you seek a way of doing marketing that actually feels good, where you're in authentic connection with other human beings, and in alignment with your own heart, look no further. Sarah's book will light the way for you.
George Kao, author of Principles of Authentic Business
Makes an easy read on how a hippie upbringing views the current online hard sell marketing environment. Love it!
Tony Santacroce, Chief Marriage Officer
The Gentle Marketing Revolution
Grow Your Business Your Way. With Integrity & Kindness
by Sarah Santacroce
Copyright 2021 by Sarah Santacroce
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the author
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Edited by Elizabeth Rea
Proofread by Deborah Dove
Cover design by Wageedah Sallie
Interior design by Polgarus Studio
Graphic illustrations by Denise Zimmermann
To my sons Simon and Diego.
Dare to be different!
Contents
The Gentle Marketing Creed
We run our business to make a positive difference and to support ourselves financially.
Similar to B Corporations, we balance purpose and profit. We are here to serve, but we are not martyrs. We are in business.
We embrace gentleness throughout our business.
We treat clients, potential clients, and employees with kindness and empathy. Being gentle doesnt mean that were pushovers.
We believe in integrity and authenticity.
We just want to be ourselves in order to do our best work. We dont use authenticity as a buzzword. It means that we show up as ourselves, in integrity.
We cultivate community.
In order to build a sustainable business, we invest in creating community, not just systems.
We ensure fairness.
We care deeply about creating win-win-win situations: win for the world, win for our clients, and win for ourselves.
We make the world a better place.
Everything we do aims to make this world we live in a better place: our products and services, our relationships, and our communications.
We align who we are with what we do.
We dont change who we are in order to do what we do. Were the real deal.
We aim to bring the human connection back to marketing.
As much as we love technology, we prioritize the human connection in our marketing activities.
We see marketing as a creative process.
We are in our flow when we turn on our right brains and take marketing from arduous to joyful!
We approach marketing from a place of abundance.
We know that there is an abundance of clients waiting for us.
We are gentle visioneers.
We are part visionaries, part pioneers. We are a new species of gentle souls who reinvent marketing (and business).
Dear Reader,
For years I thought I wasnt cut out for this business and marketing thing. Youve probably heard the saying, Its not personal, its business. In business, you have to be tough. And I was just too nice, too gentle. There have been countless times when Ive lost track of my authenticity in order to fit in.
Now that Ive taken that mask off, Im reaching out to my fellow marketing misfits who feel like they dont fit in either.
My intuition tells me that if you picked up a book with the title GENTLE Marketing , you also often think of yourself as a black sheep, a misfit, or too soft for business. You value kindness, integrity, honesty, fairness, and equality. Youre not interested in the hustle. You just want to do what youre good at and pursue marketing as a necessary part of running a business. Youre looking for a better way to market your business in alignment with your values without getting lost in the one-size-fits-all formulas. Am I right so far?
I founded my first online business in 2007 and have grown up in the online marketing world. Having completed countless marketing programs myself, I know whats available to entrepreneurs, and most of these programs sell a cookie-cutter approach based on the founders own recipe for success.
Over time, I realized that I no longer wanted to follow anyone elses model. I was ready to take the risk and give myself permission to do business and marketing my way, even if it meant that Id fail the first few times. This realization inspired a yearning in me to create a global movement that encourages entrepreneurs and impact pioneers to bring more empathy and kindness to business and to empower them to be different. As the daughter of two hippie parents, leading this revolution feels like a kind of homecoming to me.
Why gentle?
A few years ago I had an epiphany that led me to reserve the domain name for The Gentle Business Revolution. With all the nongentleness going on in the world, I knew it was the perfect term. I also have to give credit to my friend Andy Mort, who has a podcast and community he refers to as Gentle Rebels. Ive always loved his work.
To me, the opposite of gentle is tough. Expressions that come to mind include Shes a tough businesswoman, Business is tough, and Its just business. All of them have nothing to do with being gentle.
One of my subscribers recently sent me this note: Throughout the years, my experience of you has been that of a benign presence. According to Wikipedia, benign means gentle and kind. Yes, thats who I want to be in business. Not tough, but rather gentle, kind, and fair.
But remember, first and foremost, gentle doesnt mean too nice. Just because were gentle doesnt mean were pushovers. We can be both gentle and fierce, like my friend Nicole says. Its kind of like a mama bear. She can be so gentle with her cubs, cuddling them, patting them, and teaching them how to fish. But try to attack one and shes as fierce as anything.
When we set clear boundaries, are confident about our worth, and follow our own rules, then we can be gentle AND build a sustainable business.
Second, the Gentle Business Revolution includes gentlemen (pun intended!). The word gentle doesnt imply that this is a women-only movement. While I believe that we need more feminine energy in business, I also strongly believe that its not about a war of the sexes. This is a peoples movement, and it includes people of all genders and races!
Marketing is where I needed to start
I see it as my mission to prove that you can be successful in business by being gentle, not tough, and by being personal, not just business. Gentleness and human connection can be applied to every aspect of a business: marketing, sales, HR, operations, etc.
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