How to market more humanely with Sarah Santacroce

Your Dream Business

English - November 14, 2022 00:00 - 45 minutes - 41.9 MB - ★★★★★ - 34 ratings
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Previous Episode: How to work out your pricing to align with you and your values

Next Episode: The biggest mistake people make with goal setting

Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with Sarah Santacroce, who talks all about
humane marketing and her alternative model to the traditional 7 P’s of marketing.

I always love talking about this sort of stuff, as I think it's helpful to have open conversations
about some of the marketing tools and tactics that are commonly used, because I have
fallen for them and I’m sure many of you have too!

What I really love about this episode is that we talk about how to actually market our
business in a way that fits with us, and Sarah has some really interesting takes on why we
should look at who we are, rather than looking at our avatar.
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

What is wrong with traditional marketing
What humane marketing looks like
How to know when you’re doing humane marketing

THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE
Humane marketing starts with awareness, the fact you’re even mindful of it, is a great first
step!
HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS

The 7 P’s of humane marketing
How we bring more empathy into the business world
Why humane marketing is still about selling, just in a compassionate way

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Sarah's Website

Sarah’s LinkedIn

The 7 P’s of Humane Marketing

TRANSCRIPT
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How are you doing? So we have an interview and if you listen to my episode last week, which hopefully you did, and if you haven't, go and take a listen cause it's, I was gonna say it's a good one. That always sounds so like full on.

Like, I'm so amazing. Go listen to it. No. It covers a lot of good stuff. Oh man. And also, I talk about what's happening with the podcast, which is the fact that my interviews are gonna be stopping soon. So I have literally after this one, another three interviews, and that's it. And then it's just me. So if you wanna find out more on why I've done that, then obviously go back and listen to episode 267.

But this week we have the lovely Sarah who talks about humane marketing and it's a really lovely conversation and actually probably quite an interesting one given. And I always taught love talking about this sort of stuff, and I try not to go on about it all too much because sometimes I think it can sound like we're being very negative and it's not that at all.

I think it's helpful to have open conversations about some of these marketing tools and tactics that are used because I have fallen for them and Sarah has fallen for them. And also what I really love about this episode is we talk about how to actually do it in a way that fits with us. And she kind of has some really interesting takes on us looking at who we are rather than necessarily looking our other task straight off the bat.

So I find that really, really interesting and she's so lovely and we've met a few times and I've been on her podcast and it's one of those people that she just kept being put back in my world and back in my world. So sometimes you have to go, I think we should be having a conversation, but it's a really, really good conversation.

I know you're gonna like it, and like I said, enjoy it. We've only got a few of these interviews left. So I will hand you over to the lovely Sarah, and I will see you in a bit.

Okay. I am really excited to welcome to the podcast today, the lovely Sarah Santacroce. Sarah, how are you doing?

Sarah: I'm...

Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with Sarah Santacroce, who talks all about
humane marketing and her alternative model to the traditional 7 P’s of marketing.

Sarah’s LinkedIn

The 7 P’s of Humane Marketing

I know you're gonna like it, and like I said, enjoy it. We've only got a few of these interviews left. So I will hand you over to the lovely Sarah, and I will see you in a bit.

Okay. I am really excited to welcome to the podcast today, the lovely Sarah Santacroce. Sarah, how are you doing?

Sarah: I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me Teresa. It's always so fun to hang out with you.

Teresa: And we've hung out a few times, which is lovely and very serendipitous. Kept being thrown into each other's lives, and I love it when that happens. It's like, you see someone somewhere and then something else happens. You're like, Oh, you are here again. Like, or we've been put in the same space again.

So I just think that's the universe going in. No, you two should probably like have a conversation. Lovely. So nice. So we always start exactly the same way on the podcast where we get you to introduce yourself to my amazing audience by telling them who you are and how you got to do what you're doing today.

Sarah: Yeah. Thank you for that. You know, I used to always go back to the professional background and you know how I became who I am today. And now that I understand the importance of being and not so much of doing, I start with my hippie upbringing. So that kind of the story I tell now because, yeah, I grew up in Hippie Commune, a small Hippie commune here in Switzerland.

My parents and some friends bought an apartment building together and we really just colive during my whole childhood. So from age, probably two until I was, 17 and moved out, I grew up in this different way of living together, and back then, of course, I thought it was normal to me, but everyone else thought this is weird.

You know, people walking in and out of your apartment and you know everybody and you're always eating together and all of these things that we did differently. Yeah. Were, It's just very strange to other people. Especially I remember boyfriends, you know, like who are all these people just walking in and out.

Yeah. I'm telling that story because it really matters to me now, you know, I kind of came full circle with myself and, and growing up that way gives you a certain kind of set of values. And when I then moved away and kind of started on my own path and got into business, became an entrepreneur, I was so influenced by this business thing and how you have to be in business and you notice, well, we talked about this before, Teresa, kind of this online business and who you have to be and how you have to show up.

And so all of these hippie values really didn't fit in that picture that maybe I, I also created myself, but definitely felt like other people were giving me this picture of what it means to be a successful online entrepreneur, especially a marketer. Right? So really kind of coming full circle and, and saying, wait a minute. You know what really matters here, even if it's in the online space or, or it doesn't matter. Like what does really matter when it comes to your relationship with your clients, with your community and, and all of that.

And so, yeah, I, I feel like I'm coming back to those values that I grew up with and really fully showing up with those. And it seems like people, it was really scary coming out with that story. Especially on LinkedIn, right? LinkedIn is kind of like the mystic, very corporate. And now I just Yeah, absolutely embrace it and I feel so different from, you know, just even five years ago.

Teresa: That's so good. And honestly, like this is the stuff people remember. These are the things that like that's, you know, now I could probably spend the entire time of the podcast literally asking you about this. Cause it sounds fascinating.

And again, it's that learning what, you know, you knew no different. That was how you lived and that was your life. And that was, you know, and I know no different to how I lived. So it's just, I find it so fascinating to talk and learn and understand about how people live and how they work and how they show up in the world and, and I just think you are right, that kind of you know, upbringing to then go into something that's very business orientated and then into an online business that is very about the numbers and a very veiled attempt of being like caring about the people, when really you care about the numbers and when you hit those big numbers, it's almost impossible to give people that attention because it's just too big.

So tell me, so my audience, describe what it is service and, and business you have today.

Sarah: Yeah, so what I'm doing today, well maybe when I started I built a LinkedIn consulting agency and, and really just focused in on LinkedIn and helped still do with my clients today, but it's not something I'm growing anymore.

But you know, like LinkedIn profiles, how do you use LinkedIn for business? I trained in companies and schools, et cetera, et cetera. And so then a few years ago while kind of going through this okay, who am I? What's my story? And really kind of a breakdown cuz I remember sitting on a therapist chair and just saying, look, I just don't fit into this business world anymore or maybe never have, but I've been playing this game, wearing the mask and now I'm like, I'm done with this. Really not knowing well, what am I doing then if, if I can't do that for my LinkedIn consultancy, then what is it that I'm gonna do instead? Until kind of like a few days a, after this term, the gentle business revolution came to me.

So this idea of we need a revolution, which is kind of goes hand in hand with my hippie upbringing. You know, we need to do things differently. And the, the term gentleness, meaning like we have been doing things in such a kind of rough and business is business. Business is not personal kind of way that I felt like that's why business never worked for me or it just didn't work well for me anymore.

And I wanted to bring more gentleness and empathy and kindness back into, into marketing and business and, and so from that term, it then became the first book and, and now I call it humane marketing due to a trademark issue I had to go through, through some kind of trademark mess. But in the end, I found a term that fits even better.

I feel like instead of gentle, I call it now, humane marketing. So meaning, you know, humane includes the word human. So yes, it's human, but it's humane, which still means gentle and empathic and, and just kind of yeah kinder. So yeah, that's what I'm doing now. I'm basically creating a humane marketing revolution.

Teresa: I love that. So, so good. So let's talk about then, what's, I guess what you think is, you know, what might be wrong with traditional marketing, and then what does humane marketing look like?

Sarah: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Well, there's so many things that I feel like are wrong with the traditional marketing, but I would say, if I had to sum it up, it really is this big gap between the human consciousness where we are now and where marketing is, and I feel like this gap is getting bigger and bigger between, you know, where we are in terms of how our consciousness has evolved, at least most peoples. And yet marketers and we as marketers are still using the same techniques. And I'm talking about the, you know, urgency strategies, the, the cookie cutter approaches, the last call and, and all these kind of things that feel very manipulative and maybe not very truthful techniques.

And so the, the conscious client today, sees right through this. Right? And that, and that's why they've done these surveys. And, and a marketer always kind of is the least trusted professional. Why? Because we have been taught and, and kind of brainwashed into using some of these strategies that are just not based on truth.

You know, some of them are based on human psychology and, and I don't think there's anything wrong with human psychology. But it depends how we use them, right? Yeah. How we use those techniques. And traditionally in online business, there's a lot of people who, who know about human psychology and then tell you to abuse that concept and, and, and only make it profit oriented rather than human oriented, which means, I know, you know, there is this tool, this technique that helps me get into my people's mind and, and kind of help them make a decision.

There's nothing wrong with that, but if you trigger their pain and shame points, then there's something wrong with it, in my opinion. So that's kind of the, the, what's wrong with it? Well, we're still using these old manipulative techniques that I think they've actually been blown up over the last 10 to 15 years because like what you said before, everybody wants to always go bigger and, and it's all about the numbers.

So obviously if you only want to focus on, sell more and go bigger, then yeah, you need to kind of but use these techniques that just are, you know, tricking people into, into buying. And so that's really the reframe that I'd like to offer. Let's use marketing, but let's use it for good, you know, because we do want to offer our services.

And a lot of my clients are healers and they, we have great things to offer to our clients, but, but not in the, you know, not using those techniques that are just shaming people and making them feel worse.

Teresa: Yeah, and I think there's so much here in terms of, well, first off, the first thing that came to mind is this is what you taught. Because I and weirdly, and this morning I was talking to my Becky's on my content team and I was like, And I'm thinking about my podcast going forward. What content do I need to do? And I said, I think I might go back and look at some of the podcasts I did and re-record them as in redo them because my opinion has now changed because I went through this process and I think you almost have to have gone through it, not now.

Now you can learn from someone else, but I went through it to then go, Oh, hang on a minute. This isn't me. Like this isn't who I am. I'm following the rules. I'm following what we're told we have to do. And I was then teaching some of those rules. And then suddenly I managed to get the strength and the power to go, Do you know what this, this isn't for me.

I don't, I don't feel nice. I don't feel this doesn't fit with me. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good to meet or my customer. And actually it's not me. So I think like, you know, that's the first thing. I think we are taught these things and therefore you know, we need to and, and my job is getting my members to unlearn all the stuff that they've been taught.

The other part of it that's tricky though. And so I'm really interested hearing where humane marketing comes and what we can do, because the problem is some of these tactics work, right? Yeah. And that's the most annoying thing in the world because they're wrong, they're horrible, they're not nice.

But the reason people use them is because they are effective, right? And. The problem I have in my particular world is that I will get people who don't believe my membership is what it could really be because they have been used to a membership that's been sold to them in a slightly salesy sales tactic way.

I, you know, getting them in their. You know, discounting price to be fast and to do this. And you know, and again, I'm not saying I haven't done some of this stuff in the past cause I have, but I've changed. And so they might go into a program because they fell in that very slippery slope of this marketing style, or as we like to call it, like marketing quicksand.

They then buy the product, the product doesn't come to the thing that they want, or actually they've been let down and therefore they look at someone like me who is very ethical in how I market and genuine, and what I say I do, I do. And then they're all nervous to spend anymore money because they've been burnt already.

Sarah: Yeah. No, totally. And I think that's where our role as humane marketers really is on lies. It's, it's like educating our communities about what they've seen and experienced before and telling them, Look, this is what is different with our programs. And here we don't do any of that, so we need to have you, It's almost like we're, we need to empower our clients because they've given up their power.

A lot of them have given up their power because of the marketing gurus are just basically telling them, here's what you need to do. This is your problem. Buy this and you know, all your problems will be solved. Yeah. And so what we've created over the last 15 years is huge crowd of people who have given their power away to the marketing, basically. And so they're, they're not knowing how to make their own decisions anymore unless they're forced to, right? With the scarcity techniques. But the problem with the scarcity techniques, and the reason why I, I would really encourage you and everybody else to keep going with Humane Marketing is because it detracts the wrong kind of clients as well.

Right. If you, and you know this because you know some these big names. If you look at how they're marketing and they have huge communities and you know, programs and they always pick, you know, the one or two success stories, but they don't tell you that besides the one or two success stories, there's a thousand customers each time that have absolutely done nothing.

There's no success. They haven't even participated because they come with the scarcity energy and they sit in the scarcity energy.

Teresa: And then they're lost in that sheer size of it. Like even if they come in with all good intentions, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna get involved, and they get, they fall, you know, down the way. Then I was thinking about one of my members just the other day, and I thought, Oh, she hasn't been on a call for ages I'm just gonna DM her. And I've just remembered actually who it was and I need to do it. But I like the fact that I can recognize someone who normally turns up and shows up and hasn't done, and that I can think, Oh, I'll drop her a DM and just see if everything is okay.

Whereas like you said, you get lost in that massive, massive thing. And also depending on the environment. So I'm not saying all environments are like this, but sometimes the environment is very ego led. It's very, you know, kind of competitive. You know, there's lots of competitive bragging going on, and it's like, And also because what, you know, some of the mark, what some of these people want is they want these incredibly unbelievable testimonials.

So again, they're only putting perhaps their time and attention and only talking about some of the members that have done, or the students that have done the best, most amazing thing. Whereas actually, like when I think about some of my members who have been in my club for a long time, like some of the achievements that I am like most proud of would be, I guess, to some people, very small as in that member achieved a small thing.

But I know the effort it took to get them from one place to another and the work that went into it, and actually I know, although on the surface it, they didn't, you know, triple their income, but they're still in the job and they're still doing it and they're still showing up and they're still showing their face.

That is a bigger achievement. As the people I've been able you know, increase their income. So yeah, it's, and, and also it's not me, it's not me who doing it. Like yeah, I can help and yeah, I can give advice and support and pick you up when you're down and cheerlead you when something amazings happened, but you have to do the work.

And I think that's the other thing that sometimes in this marketing quick sound is that we think that this is the magic answer and it's not. We are always the answer. Yeah, we can learn some stuff. Yeah. We can have a community that helps us and keeps us motivated and accountable. But it's not, there's no magic bullet ever. I wish there was, cuz I'd have taken it flipping ages ago....