The Case For Kindness In Marketing

By Henry DeVries, Contributor, Leadership Strategy

Attracting high-paying clients by marketing with a book and a speech.

Bottom line: kindness pays.

“By practicing kindness in your business, you can increase your income, generate new clients, stimulate repeat customers to buy, and much more,” advises international speaker and expert on influence Jill Lublin.

According to Lublin, here are four reasons that kindness in marketing matters:

1. Kindness generates prospects, connectivity, and customers.
2. Kindness does not mean weakness.
3. Kindness can help you stay competitive, anticipate pitfalls, and stay one step ahead.
4. Success, achieved through kindness, is indeed possible.

She shares seven pathways to expand kindness in your business and career in her new book, The Profit of Kindness: How to Influence Others, Establish Trust, and Build Lasting Business Relationships.

“I know what people think: Kindness? Really? The last Harvard Business School class reunion didn’t include a hand-holding circle of MBAs singing Kumbaya,” says Lublin. “Maybe not, but the cream of the corporate crop has always known that a smart business strategy includes how customers are treated.”

Lublin is a thought leader on the topics of radical influence, publicity, networking, kindness, and referrals (she spoke on The Profit of Kindness at a recent author’s conference I organized). She also is the author of three best-selling books including Get Noticed…Get Referrals and co-author of Guerilla Publicity and Networking Magic. Lublin teaches Publicity Crash Courses as both live events and live webinars and consults and speaks all over the world.

“We have the power to transform our lives, our businesses, and our community,” says Lublin. “What is desperately needed at this time is a global attitudinal adjustment in which we, as individuals, business owners, and leaders, commit to implementing kindness strategies into our lives, businesses, and everyday affairs in order to facilitate a return to societal balance — as well as to increase our individual success.”

Lublin offers examples of the many benefits that can occur just through the simple act of expanding your kindness quotient in your business.

“The online store Zappos is one great example,” says Lublin. “Other shops may view returned products as a nuisance, but Zappos sees them as a chance at better customer relations. They have a 365-day return policy for their products with free two-way shipping.”

In her book she further examines how kindness can help you build trusting, long-lasting relationships that result in mutually beneficial outcomes. For example, in a study conducted by Businessolver, 33% of employees stated that they would transfer to more empathetic employers for equal pay while 20% said they would do it for less pay.

“In order to connect with new clients or future business partners and transform your potential into success, you need to establish trust and build strong relationships,” says Lublin. “The key is to focus more on ‘giving’, rather than simply on ‘winning. What you will discover through your acts of kindness is that you will actually wind up ‘winning’, and you will feel more uplifted in the process.”