Lately, I’ve been thinking about the power of fear and how fear impacts your marketing efforts. I attended a continuing education program last week which reminded me that the greatest human need is to be connected to other people, and that the greatest human fear is that of rejection and abandonment.
All the strengths we possess in our lives are the same strengths we possess in our businesses. It stands to reason, then, that the weaknesses in our lives would show up in our businessses as well.
Since these fears operate within us all the time, it makes sense that they would show up in our businesses as well.
If we don’t know what we fear, we will never understand what might be holding us back. Let’s start, then, by looking at some ways in which fear might be impacting your marketing efforts:
- You avoid taking risks or trying out new things because you fear this will upset your customers
- You avoid accepting new, larger opportunities because you’re “just not sure you’re ready”
- You feel criticism very deeply; and one critical remark can wipe out a hundred compliments
- You delay and hesitate on launching new projects, waiting to make them just “perfect”
Now, of course, there are other ways that fear sabotages our marketing efforts, but all of them reflect some variation on these four themes.
Understand that all marketing is about getting people to listen (pay attention) and then getting them to act. If you never launch anything new or take any risks, people will stop listening. If you never step forward and ask them to take an action, your marketing efforts will never be as profitable as they could be.
You may know that I’ve recently published a book on the topic of overcoming rejection. I think this is an important life skill- maybe the most important life skill. If you can’t overcome rejection, you will never reach your fullest potential. Oddly enough, sometimes, the greatest skill at overcoming rejection comes from rejection itself. It’s that whole “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” idea.
My favorite quote about overcoming fear comes from Anais Nin: “And the day came when the when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
Where will you risk blossoming this month?
