What is Spiritual Marketing? Spiritual Marketing is a belief in forces greater than ones self. Key to this belief is aligning business practices to a set of core principles from which all energy or market forces flow. Forces that govern the way we do business and promote the successful flow of goods and services.
To some extent the spiritual aspect of the practice are considered novel but in fact they are as ancient as the concept of commerce. The challenge is conceptually learning and adapting modern terminologies. Establish a set of best practices on how to successfully tap into this strategic energy.
The key word here is successfully because accessing the realm of Spiritual Marketing is meaningless unless the practice employed is a winning one. This article is devoted to developing an application that allows us to effectively tap into these core forces.
At the root of any prevailing performance is the practitioner’s motivation or in essence intentionality. Therefore, the first step would be to write down your intentions, your plan. It does not have to be a full blown business plan. A list of ideas or task of line items will prove to be just as effective.
The plan should be as specific as possible with completion dates. In the case of amount of sales or dollars earned a quantitative goal such as an unambiguous number is ideal. After completing this external exercise of putting your plan together, the next step would be to internalize it.
The best way to internalize your plan is through a cycle of revamping which is comprised of reviewing the plan and then taking time to meditate over it. Some may ask how long should the meditating process be. The answer is it depends how long it takes you to get the feeling or the desired affirmation at a given interval. Basically, you are looking for a sense or a feeling that you have taken the plan as far as it can go to date.
Then there is a continuous improvement process which requires the plan to be revised as needed or as the spirit moves you. This may be done a number of times. However, it is best to have a limited number of iterations involved in your cycle of review. The meditative examination and rewrite process may be necessary a number of times but the goal here is to spiritually prepare for the right action. It is important that your intentionality is righteous giving rise to the best results.
For the sake of reaching out to the Technocrats, the language has been muted. The tendency is to shy away from overtones that might be considered overtly religious. It is difficult to do so when the topic or substantial part of the context has to do with those things spiritual.
To a great extent the most powerful component in this business practice is faith driven. We will return to solidify the faith base side of this topic after a brief discussion of the term marketing and its relationship with this entire concept as a best business practice.
The definition of marketing starts with a social economic integrated process. Where by the wants and needs of individuals or collectives are discovered and cultivated. As a result a product or service is designed and assigned a value where the end game is satisfaction for an appropriate cost.
The key is satisfaction. The idea is to establish product worthiness or good will by meeting or exceeding customer expectation. This goes right back to the heart of motivation and intentionality, which is fundamental to success.
Markets by definition are social economic structures. From a practical standpoint profiling certain specifics such as affordability, necessity and durability play a significant role in establishing niche parameters. Product proliferation can be calibrated on a scale measured by need or governed by emotions. The fickleness of the public is often a matter of chance regardless of the need factor.
So once a product has been packaged properly and is well scaled with respect to needs and impulse buying the balance if often tipped in the favor of those businesses that have an edge in the Spiritual Marketing realm.
Here’s where business become faith based. All your homework is done. The market has been well defined. You are customer driven and product worthiness is beyond reproach. From the standpoint of intentionality you are righteous.
The next step is an easy one and is truly a matter of faith. Believe that above all Spiritual Marketing is a gift. In as much that this concept as well as the following can be adopted into your belief system you are on your way to launching a successful business venture.
To accept the idea that understanding and even more importantly believing that Spiritual Marketing is a gift it’s the first of two steps in an endeavor to bring science and spiritualism of the business best practices together. It is here the science of building your business and the art of faith generally associated with religion merge to form one of the most powerful strategies for operating successfully.
Accepting Spiritual Marketing as a gift can not be taught. Either you understand or you don’t. In as much as it is a gift those who go on to practice the precepts will acknowledge the second and most important step of affirmation and that is the gift giving component as part of the process. This practice is better known as charitable giving. For all intent and purposes the charitable aspect of Spiritual Marketing as an investment in your business must be paid up front.
Thus there is a return on investment associated with gift giving. The dividend is disproportionate with the gifted amount. For example the minimum one should consider investing would be ten percent of gross income. However, the initial investment is an opportunity to maximize the associated future income because for the most part it is unassigned.
The question one might ask, what is meant by the dividend or the return on investment, ROI being disproportionate to the amount of the gift? This can best be explained two ways. The first is very direct. Dividends are generally measured in the range of being valued at ten times the amount of the initial gift.
There are other benefits that are more intangibles and they have to do with timing. You have heard the expression “time is money”. Often in business, situations occur some unexpected and some hoped for. These occurrences take the form of opportunities loss or gained. The values associated with these unique business phenomena are sometimes incalculable. A break as many might call it is named so because literally they can make or break a business.
The ebbs and tides of such events happening in your favor are matters of faith and are directly and indirectly associated with the many aspects of Spiritual Marketing as it relates to intentionality and the ROI of gift giving.
Often times when something unforeseen happens business as well as individuals ask the question, “Why me?” The answer many times rest within the science of Spiritual Marketing. The use of the term science here is not to be taken lightly because it is an area of study where things can be observed and cause and effect are measurable, so the word does apply.
It is no surprise that some of the most successful entrepreneurs are among the most prolific philanthropist. Yes you might say it’s because of their vast sums of money they are able to give so much. The question then becomes what came first the chicken or the egg. In this case the answer is simpler, the science of Spiritual Marketing, motivation with respect to intentionality and the art and science of gift giving came first.
There is a simple way to prove this supposition. As an individual or activist entrepreneur, begin to practice the precepts of Spiritual Marketing put it to the test. Be generous and be cognizant of your intentions. There is such a thing as tempting faint for the wrong reason. However, there are some failsafe measures woven into the process.
Giving something away in order that the act is converted into a monetary reward, the practice is somewhat counter intuitive. It is difficult to give for selfish reasons because the value in the gift giving is rooted in the measure of the sacrifice. The question becomes when does the balance weighed by sacrifice begin to supplant what may be considered routine and intentionality becomes the determining factor.
This is the beauty of Spiritual Marketing. The proof is in your faith and the manner of the test.
