What does “Mellow Marketing” even mean?
Mellow marketing is a method we’ve made up (yes, we can do that!)
Here at Unsocially Inclined, we really like to emphasize mellow marketing when referring to just about anything to do with, well, marketing. We’re all about taking back the term and adding some pizzazz and individuality into the idea of it.
But how are we different? The question a lot of brand strategists and marketers ask their clients and themselves. There are many ways to answer this question. Some practical, some existential. In this blog, I’m going to introduce you to the foundations of our methods of marketing. They may be different from others you’ve seen, and they may not be. Either way, we’ve made them our own! We’re not reinventing the wheel here, but we are customizing it.
The purpose of this blog isn’t to convince you to work with us really, just to present information so you can decide what’s best for you and your business. Clarity and choice first are how we operate, they’re part of the foundation of mellow marketing.
We got here because I (Monica) went to school for marketing and was both intrigued and terrified by it. Then, at 19 years old, I didn’t know that capitalism was at the root of the worst parts of it and I thought marketing “for good” meant supporting nonprofits. In time, it’s become clear that nonprofit and for-profit didn’t mean good and bad, this shit has layers and smokescreens and nuance. The exploitation exists in structures and systems, like capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and colonization. So as we navigate creating more equitable systems, we’re also navigating how to do business that makes change.
After over 14 years supporting brands, organizations, and people calling in more attention for their products, services, or programs, I’ve gathered a few concepts and building blocks that shape what we do with people here at Unsocially Inclined. With the hopes of shifting systems while supporting rad people.
When most people think about a “marketer,” it doesn’t always bring up a soothing, relaxing image. Some might even shut down at the idea of doing it.
Our method of marketing is designed for those who want to believe there’s a different kind of reality on the horizon, one in which marketing isn’t a tormentous dance of, “get them to like you!” or “fake it til you make it!” but might even be considered FUN and FLIRTY, and even FRESH?
Hence, we like using “mellow” as fodder for this. When thinking of a good person to talk to or someone you’d WANT to buy from, what adjectives come to mind?
For us, it’s a vibe that gives off a feeling of… “chill.” Like resisting exploiting systems that tell us our worth comes from our productivity or monetary profits. We’re here for relaxed livelihoods that don’t take everything from us. And to be cute and alliterate, we decided to use a synonym, which is “mellow.”
The dictionary says mellow is “pleasantly smooth or soft; free from harshness.” Goodbye, obligatory, anxious, pointed language and methodologies! Hello “your way” and a more“natural way” for you.
Mellow marketing is a living, breathing framework. All marketing is! And we’re evaluating what we do every time we have the pleasure of working with a client.
Let’s break down the application of such “mellow”-ness in marketing:
We look at how to market YOUR business, not someone else's or someone's idea of your business.
A human came up with the idea of the business, and it’s humans who are buying from that business, and you’re the human owning the business. Thus it is our job to make sure it’s owned through and through by the same person. The marketing advice we give is catered to what will flow based on your preferences and our experience of what works.
Mellow marketing is about saying no to what doesn’t work and saying yes to what will work based on what you want. There are many different ways to do things, and we’ve collected them over the years to ensure and validate that you don’t have to do it like what you’ve seen or before or think in a limited way about the “how.”
As we’ve highlighted in our offerings such as our Leadership Design blog (Take the quiz!). There is a multitude of ways to do business well out there, and each needs the other. In this way, you can rest easy knowing your individuality is an asset. You DON’T need to be like everyone else to run this business, or do business “the old-fashioned way,” and the Mellow Marketing method is to remind you to stay an individual in the face of strategizing and growing your business efforts. Because people are here to buy from the unique individual who is you, and you get to decide what that looks and feels like.
To us, business is a science and an art.
Business is a funny and frustrating thing sometimes. When we don’t have a big team and budget to always be in our “zone of genius”, we’re asked to be creative and analytical simultaneously. No small task for anyone.
We look at business, and especially marketing, as an art and a science. Ideas and experiments are happening in tandem. Right and left brain in full effect. Business evokes action, but it also evokes feelings, just as science and art do.
We call bullshit on “it’s not personal, it’s business” because you’re offering your art to the world. There are ways to detach from the results of our experiments without bypassing our experiences and emotions. We’re experimenting with our client’s content and offers all the time and we’re honored to do it. When we do, we don’t tell them how to think or feel, we incorporate their longings into the strategy first because how we feel about what we do is crucial to a holistic and sustainable business.
We facilitate the answers with you, and we don’t do promises.
Promises, promises. The business world is full of them. As humans, we like certainty! Even though we’re fairly certain that it doesn’t exist. The business win flexes we see online are often out of control and out of context. Because almost 100% of the time, ROI (return on investment) can’t be guaranteed. We’re upfront about this from the beginning because as much as most sales pages don’t want you to believe it, the future of business is unknown. We can make educated guesses and informed decisions, and we do, but we won’t make promises.
We facilitate answers based on years of experience, data, and YOU. A mellowing marketing approach isn’t complete without all three. You know your business best, and no “expert” can tell you otherwise. Mellow Marketing reminds you we aren’t here to tell you anything; we’re here to help you solve problems your way, guide you to the answers you seek by incorporating our experience, and execute some of those for you if you’d like.
That’s because this business is not owned by us, your business coach, your parents, your great aunt, or the whims of your clients. You have your own discernment that can help market your own products to get your own clients, and trusting that and focusing on that is what needs to be done. We trust that in you and are here to help you make it happen. The more we can be honest about who we are in the context of a world that often encourages us to be someone we’re not, the easier it is to put language and strategy to that person.
Just as we shape our relationship with the people around us, we can shape our relationship with our business. We observe, apply knowledge, sometimes stumble on mistakes we made before, and break patterns.
So we’ll make sure we’re asking the right questions, and giving you encouragement as you make your way to the answers. We’re facilitators, not dictators. Answers to questions like…should I be spending this much time on Instagram? Am I sending too many emails or not enough? Why am I creating all this content but not seeing leads?
All important questions have different answers based on a business owner’s lived experiences, privileges, limitations, and more. We support you in facilitating those answers in business and applying them. And if you want to know what we think because you don’t feel equipped to answer, we can do that too!
Mellow Marketing methods only work when a person is feeling safe to be true to who they want to be, not the world’s idea. And we’re here for that.
Many unconventional things are business-worthy. We get hype about that!
Selling your creative projects can be a business. Certain services may be radical and unheard of, but still, commerce can happen if you want it to. That being said, we’re not proponents of making everything you do a business. We need hobbies, art, and interests that capitalism doesn’t drain of all their joy. So if you’ve decided to monetize something, we focus on the possibility in everything and prioritize that in our approach.
If you want to make unique types of businesses, we want to assist in seeing the potential and the good in that! Alternative ways of thinking about what sells and what doesn’t are always welcome in the Mellow Marketing world. Anything can be marketed if it’s being talked about; anything can be a product if there’s a need. People’s needs are ever-changing, so of course, the industry should also be.
We’re here to encourage innovation and prescribe an alternative approach, so of course, we also love alternative types of businesses. Alternative to what? Manipulative practices, capitalist systems, and more!
We focus on holistic marketing and building a sustainable business brick by brick.
We’ve talked a lot about ideas so far, but at the end of the day, we also have a ton of experience with implementation and how the marketing world works. We can walk you through the essentials of your plan, the foundation you operate on, the core messaging, and more to make sure you can stay mellow about the “what” and the “how” as well.
We believe simple is better, and we’d like to explain to you the basics so you aren’t scratching your head and overwhelmed by all of the information. We know that sustainable businesses are often the most holistic in their approach. And we also know that building a sustainable business often happens brick by brick and takes time. We believe that we can focus on cash injections that help us exist in this society while simultaneously setting our sustainable systems that dismantle the hustle over time.
This could look like selling on social media if that’s what’s working, but recognizing that being on social media all the time isn’t sustainable. So we focus on SEO or email marketing in the background to lessen the reliance on social. It could also look like creating automated systems in the background that follow up with past clients and nurture relationships to support community ad expansion. The fun part? It looks different for everyone!
We believe in brick by brick in both doing and telling, so there are no bad questions to field toward us. We’re here to help you feel stable as you grow your business, and we’ll do it in a shame-free, simplified way so you know the essentials and don’t worry about what you don’t know hurting you.
We value earned trust together with our clients.
A big part of our vision is we want consent in how we interact with anyone we’re doing business with. Just as we won’t give you unsolicited advice as part of honoring your process, we also honor your trust.
That means that if we agree to deliver something, set deadlines, or check in with you, we value communication as the foundation for creating a great relationship with clients. But, we don’t expect any level of perfection from our clients OR ourselves.
Yes, we’re mellow about our approach, but not passive in how we conduct our relationships. We value proactivity and don’t take people’s trust for granted.
This is a core tenet of mellow marketing both inside the companies and outside of the companies in connecting to audiences. Gaining and keeping your clients’ trust (whether it’s between you and us helping you, or you and your future audiences) requires transparency, honesty, humility, accountability, and a mellow approach to knowing what the big picture is: relationships. And in all of it, life happens, conflict happens, and resolution happens.
At the end of the day, maintaining connections is about valuing them enough to speak up at the appropriate times. We prize this about our team, and we also prize an environment of comfortable openness, conflict, and accountability to maintain that trust.
In conclusion…
We know this was a long one, so thanks for hanging in there! It’s so important for us to share what working with us can look like. The final (for now!) foundation of our mellow approach is listening and adapting. Nothing we do is absolute because every time we start a new project or begin with a new client, these approaches could change based on what people long for or need.
Does this mellow marketing approach resonate with you? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us.
We’re always keen on helping people be more comfortable with selling, which means selling ourselves! So if our approach does resonate, check out our offerings and how we can support you.
