“Never have I ever…”

When’s the last time you played that classic game?

The one where you sit around in a circle

touch knees with the person beside you

hold up a few fingers and say:

“Never have I ever…”

If you’re a never-have-I-ever newbie, the rules are simple:

Someone says a thing.

If you’ve never done the thing? 

You leave all your fingers up ⬆️

If you have done the thing? 

You put a finger down ⬇️

Sometimes when I get a marketing idea — I play that same “never have I ever” game with myself. 

Except the rules are a little different. 

Because instead of sitting in a circle and saying things like “never have I ever drank a margarita in New Mexico while riding a bull in a bikini…”

I ask myself:

“Whatever it is that I’m thinking of doing — would I do it in real life?”

In case you’re wondering, I’ve never sipped a tequila cocktail while riding a bull. 

But I ALSO have never slid into the text message inbox of someone I barely know to just talk about myself for a full 500 words. 

Or told someone to hurry, hurry, HURRY so much that the fear of not-hurrying is motivating them more than their excitement for whatever it is they’ll get in the end. 

Or made someone feel really, really, really crappy about themselves in a “you totally suck” kind of way, just to tell them I’m the magic li’l pill that might make it all seem better. 

And here’s the thing: 

I think we’d all be better marketers if we stopped pretending like social life and digital life are totally different things. 

If we stopped pretending like:

Everyone on our email list would absolutely freaking love to get 362 emails of sales pitch, sales pitch, sales pitch, sales pitch until the cows come home. 

Or love to be given the “YOU NEED TO BUY NOW OR ELSE” shakedown until they feel like unsubscribing is the only way to save themselves from the urgency tornado that you’re spinning. 

Or love to have their pain points picked, picked, and picked at until they feel like they’re emotionally bleeding out and in need of a marketing EMT *stat.*

Do sales pitches, urgency, and pain points all have a place in marketing? 

They sure as heck do!!

Because nurturing a deep, two-way street relationship by keeping your name at the top of your audience’s inboxes?  

We love it. 

Sprinkling in enough urgency that your audience feels motivated to finally let go of their deep well of fear and give your offer a try? 

Exceptional. 

Addressing pain points with a sense of unending empathy that leaves your audience feeling seen, understood, and like they’ve found the solution they’ve been looking for all along?

Momentous. 

But when all these things get looked at through the lens of real life…

Looked at as though there’s a real, breathing, emotion-filled human behind the screen — instead of just a walking, talking checkbook…

It leads to marketing strategies that build audience relationships for the long-term. 

So you can bank on a steady stream of sales that lasts even longer. 

Cheers!

Regan 

P.S. What’s a marketing idea that’s bouncing around in your brain space right now? Shoot me a reply — I genuinely want to know. And you KNOW I’ll be all about helping you refine the heck out of it (because this stuff is my jam, and I love to hear about your idea jelly).