Sarah Santacroce, How to Bring the Human Connection Back to Marketing – InnovaBuzz 468
Sarah Santacroce, Humane Business Revolution
In this episode, I’m really excited to have as my guest, Sarah Santacroce, the Founder of the Humane Business Revolution. She’s also an internationally recognized LinkedIn Consultant, entrepreneur, podcaster, “Hippie turned Business Coach”, and author of “The Gentle Marketing Revolution”, and upcoming “Selling Like We’re Human” books.
Sarah has over a decade of experience in the fields of marketing, entrepreneurship, coaching, online business creation, and strategy. She has been facilitating, training, and holding space with in-person and online groups since 2010 and is trained in the ‘Art of Holding Space‘ as well as “The Art of Participatory Leadership”. Her approach is grounded in these pragmatic experiences, based on research and best practice. Bundled with her extensive inner work, knowledge about mindfulness, meditation, and alternative ways of healing, this creates a unique perspective on business that is holistic, humane, and gentle.
In recent years, Sarah’s upbringing and life’s experiences inspired a yearning to create a global movement that encourages people to bring more empathy and kindness to the business world, live a more meaningful life, and take care of our mother earth and each other. She lives in beautiful Switzerland where she was born and raised but considers herself an alternative thinking citizen of this world. When she’s not working she loves adventure and traveling, yoga and nature walks, or hanging out with her 3 boys (a husband and two teenage sons).
In our discussion, Sarah talked to me about:
- Starting your marketing journey with self-awareness and personal power
- Building long term sustainable relationships
- the concept of maximum sustainable generosity (Jonathan Fields)
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
We should all strive to create a purposeful business, not just a profit-based business. It means bringing more empathy and kindness to business. @SarahSantacroce on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To TweetShow Notes from this episode with Sarah Santacroce of Humane Business Revolution
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
- Being in business is not a bad thing. Making money is not a bad thing. It is just about how you make money.
- We should all strive to create a purposeful business, not a just a profit-based business. It means bringing more empathy and kindness to business.
- A business enables us to make a good living whilst also helping our clients and our planet, as well to give back to the planet.
- Everybody already knows that being authentic is what sells. Be careful in using things like vulnerability, authenticity, and doing good for the planet. If you’re just using them as another gimmick, then it’s definitely not being authentic.
- There is no program on how to be authentic and empathetic. You have to find it within yourself.
- Clients are already exhausted of being bombarded with all the hype marketing. Hype marketing makes people feel anxious.
- It all starts with awareness. We need to wake up from these trends of just doing things and repeating what everybody else throws out there.
- The 7Ps of Gentle Marketing serve as a simple framework to transform your marketing. The center of the Mandala is our inner center. It connects us with who we truly are. It brings us to our center and allows us to connect on a different level with our clients.
- The 7Ps of Gentle Marketing is all about doing. It’s all about the things we need to do as marketers.
- The “doing” is the easiest part of being a marketer. The hard part is the “being”.
- It all starts with YOU. You need to work on yourself first before you talk about any ideal client. Go into your passion and purpose – why are you doing this work? Why is it important to you? What’s your story and values? What’s your worldview and how do you bring that into your marketing?
- Marketing = connection = communication = stories.
- Go into your story. Dig deep into that to bring more of you into your marketing.
- Don’t search for the hero story. Stop looking for what you can dig from your childhood or your struggles to become a self-made millionaire. Those are not the stories that people want anymore. That may have worked years ago, but people want more belonging now. They want to be on the same level as you. Think about the stories of today, even as you struggle. Those are the stories that people are interested in.
- Marketing is about resonating with people and that happens when you share your story. Share more about your feelings, not just facts.
- Marketing should be more right brain oriented than left brain oriented. We need to bring more creativity, love, feelings, connections, belonging, and meaning.
- Bring your own creativity into your marketing. Figure out how you can make it more beautiful, fun, and emotional, because that is where the connection happens.
- Humane marketers are very much focused on giving that sometimes we forget the receiving part. We need to start practicing the value of Maximum Sustainable Generosity. You could be generous but make sure that it is sustainable to both yourself and your business.
The Buzz – Our Innovation Round
Here are Sarah’s answers to the questions of our innovation round. Listen to the conversation to get the full scoop.
- #1 thing to be more innovative – Nurture your right brain. Bring more of your right brain thinking into your daily work because that is where ideas come from. Innovation happens in the creative brain, and very rarely in the analytical brain.
- Best thing for new ideas – Reinvent something. Take an existing idea and come up with your own framework around that idea.
- Favourite tool for innovation – Trello and Zapier
- Keep project/client on track – Trello and regular check-ins
- Differentiate – Find out who you are first. Go deep into how you are different and bring more of that difference into your marketing and your business.
To Be a Leader
Start with self-awareness. See how it feels when you’re on the receiving end of aggressive marketing. Start unsubscribing from some of the things that just don’t feel good anymore. Protect your energy and start thinking about your own marketing. Think about how you can change certain words that perhaps don’t resonate with you anymore. Because it’s all about the details, and one word makes a whole lot of difference.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank Sarah through her website.
Suggested Guest
Sarah suggested we have a conversation with Steve Morris, author of The Beautiful Business. So Steve, keep an eye on your inboxes for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz Podcast, courtesy of Sarah Santacroce.
Links
- Website – Sarah Santacroce
- Website – Humane Marketing
- Podcast – The Gentle Business Revolution Show
- Twitter – @SarahSantacroce
Click here to get your copy of the fill-in-the-blank one-page 7Ps of Humane Marketing Plan.
Book
Cool Things About Sarah
- She loves adventure, traveling, yoga, and nature walks.
- She has a PhD in Life & Community Values.
- She speaks English, Swiss-German, French, and Italian.