Perhaps this is a question you may be struggling with right now and yes, it’s a bit of a controversial subject
As a Christian, my focus should be on spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and salvation. There’s no bigger need for a savior than now. However, I’m also an online marketer. Many marketers will no doubt see this pandemic as another opportunity to make more money. Just keep in mind, that what I’m talking about here is making money ‘during’ a crisis and not making money ‘from’ a crisis.
Unfortunately, some marketers’ business ethics are less than desirable. For example, hoarding and price gouging or attempting to take advantage of others in some other way in their time of need or out of greed is just plain wrong, and yet we see people doing just that. Peddlers selling false hope and scammers out in full force.
Fact: We know that marketers use fear to motivate consumers to buy, donate or otherwise comply.
To use fear to drive someone to action you must prove the following to the consumer,
- You are likely to be affected.
- When it affects you, it will be painful.
- You have the ability to avoid this pain.
It would appear that we have the perfect formula above if we were to embrace this fear-based marketing tactic. Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way. As a matter of fact, it’s quite possible to market our business with love instead of fear.
Jesus used tactics and strategies that both you and your ideal prospects would feel good about. Jesus Had a Marketing Strategy!
Although Jesus loved everyone, He chose to spend nearly all of his time mainly ministering to His 12 followers (disciples) and that eventually spread His message to the entire world. Principles below:
- Connect, Don’t Convince – He targeted an audience and simply said, “follow me”.
- Be a Master Closer – He never begged, He knew His message was important. “Look, either you are for me or against me,”.
- Practice Duplication – In John 12:29 He said: “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak”.
