Attraction Marketing and the Spirit of Christmas
Want to Puzzle with the Grinch?
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?
It came without ribbons. It came without tags.
It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store?
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?
Well, of course Christmas means so much “more” – but could there be any parallels between the “meaning” of Christmas and the tenets of attraction marketing? Here are three humbly offered parallels for your holiday enjoyment.
1) People are Attracted to a Gift Freely Given
Attraction Marketers:
Ann Sieg has written: “Allow me to give you one simple overriding rule that governs everything we do: All Good Sales and Marketing Begins By Putting the Other Person First.”
Bob Burg and John David Mann have written: “Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.” And, “Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.” And, “The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.” – - – “Have you ever wondered what makes people attractive? I mean, genuinely attractive? Magnetic? They love to give. That’s why they’re attractive. Givers attract.”
The Christmas Story: Christmas is all about gift-giving. It’s about God’s gift to earth (Jesus):
O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM (3rd verse)
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven
No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.
It’s about giving gifts back to God:
AS WITH GLADNESS MEN OF OLD (3rd verse)
As they offered gifts most rare
At Thy cradle rude and bare;
So may we with holy joy,
Pure, and free from sin’s alloy.
All our costliest treasures bring.
Christ, to Thee, our heavenly King.
It is about love-based giving, as described in the famous “love passage”:
1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-8 (Version: The Message)
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
2) People are Attracted to a Life Without Fear
Attraction Marketers: A foundation for Mike Dillard’s entire Magnetic Sponsoring™ program is the Alpha Networker™ mindset. Such a mindset, he says, requires living in a mind-state of abundance. A person living in abundance does not fear loss or failure. They are unconcerned with criticism. They love themselves and others who matter to them. People are naturally attracted to the Alpha because they have confidence and offer value. Dillard says that some people can learn to become Alphas by deciding to change their mindset.
The Christmas Story: The angels say repeatedly, “Do not be afraid…” Why? The God of the Bible has offered the powerful gift of love. The Apostle John wrote: “When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.” [I John 4:17-18 - Version: The Message] Call it the “love mindset” or the “godly mindset.” It’s source is a bit different than what Dillard talks about, but the result is the same. In the words of an ancient prophet: The godly person “does not fear when heat comes… and has no worries when drought comes.” [Jer. 17:7-8] When so many live lives of fear, the calm and confident life is powerfully magnetic.
3) People are Attracted to Good News, Helpful News
Attraction Marketers:
Ann Sieg has written: “You can begin enjoying all the respect and benefits of being a recognized authority figure, without actually having to be one!” Through research and through application of what you have learned, you are already ahead of many others who have not done that. You may not be the recognized expert, but using what you have learned, you can position yourself as a knowledgeable expert. “Being an ‘expert’ for the purpose of lead-generation means knowing slightly more about the topic than the customer. Nothing more.”
Mike Klingler has taught: “Leverage the news, what’s hot. Create a little buzz in your circle. The search engines notice this. Your audience notices it. Your credibility goes up and you stand out. People want to join you and perhaps subscribe to your blog. Because you look like you are in the know, and people want to be in the know too. All you really did was paid attention, and shared it.”
The Christmas Story: The shepherds, following the instructions of the angel, went and found the baby Jesus. Then what did they do? They told everyone else they met what had happened that night. Were they experts in messianic prophecy? No. Did they understand everything that happened? No. Were they theologians or rabbis? No. But they passed on what they knew. And what they knew was exciting and of interest to those that heard it.
THE SHEPHERDS (LK 2:15-18 Version: NIV)
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN
Go tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere,
Go tell it on the mountain,
Our Jesus Christ is born.
CONCLUSION: What To Make of This?
I wrote this for enjoyment. I do NOT believe the Bible was written to teach us about business or marketing. But perhaps you can appreciate Christmas more when meditating on the parallels from our everyday world of marketing. Or perhaps you may appreciate our marketing activities more with the parallels from the Christmas Story.
Either way, Merry Christmas! … and, as Barbara Silva would say, let your light shine.
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