Om Marketing (Yoga and Marketing)

I am a great fan of connections wherever they may be found. So I am pleased that my friend and fellow marketer, Lisa Munjack, has found these unexpected connections in her life and work. I thank her for sharing them with the rest of us.

– James Heaton

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Yoga and marketing

Yoga is about controlling your mind. Marketing is about trying to control other’s minds. End of story, right?

Not exactly.

As I progress with my personal yoga practice, and as I progress with my marketing practice, I find these two areas of my life converging. I find myself bringing yoga in to inform my marketing work, and I’m not just talking about inhaling the positive and exhaling the negative when dealing with a particularly challenging client.

I am finding yoga can give me a leg up in refining and carrying out a marketing message.

I am finding yoga can give me a leg up in refining and carrying out a marketing message.

Yoga is about a union of mind, body and soul. Marketing strategy can be said to be about a union as well—finding the sweet spot that satisfies client need, the uniqueness of the client’s product and the needs of the target market.

Yoga teaches tuning out distractions and being present. In my practice as a marketer, one thing I’m trying to do is reduce the noise from competitors so that my client’s message can ring out clear as a gong. To do this, I must help them clear out the clutter and uncover the uniqueness of their brand. I must help them remove all internal distractions from their message. I must ensure that they are absolutely consistent and clear in everything that they do.

There is other noise that I must quell as well. This is the noise from marketing service providers each hoping to convince me that their outlet or method is the most effective way to get the client’s message to the world. With a clear mind I can find—as if through meditation—which among all of these options will serve my client best. Doing this, I can deliver maximum impact for minimum financial output.

What is the consumer’s problem that my client’s product solves better than any other?

Clients also generate their own noise. They may have emotional attachments to certain marketing tactics or a desire to exert influence outside their expertise. I must focus. I must focus their mental attention as well. Their minds must be drawn away from their own needs and brought to the place where they can see the world as their consumers do. What is the consumer’s problem that my client’s product solves better than any other?

Marketing as breathing

In yoga we never force a breath or a pose. Marketing should be the same.

Having oriented the client’s mind, it now becomes a matter of making everything seem effortless. In yoga we never force a breath or a pose. Marketing should be the same. If done well, marketing should not be about forcing a message down anyone’s throat, but rather about flowing naturally into people’s minds. Marketing’s message should gently, yet firmly and comfortably, inhabit the consumer’s consciousness. Done perfectly, people shouldn’t even remember a time without my client’s product. It should become a natural part of their lives.

Marketing in this analogy is also like the breath that takes us through our asanas, carrying us from one pose to another. If there is tightness or resistance, we adjust. The great idea is not one that is forced in any way, and if the original plan encounters resistance, we adjust, making it flow. We change the monthly e-newsletter to weekly. We include a special offer in the next ad, or adjust the call-to-action.

Now pause, be still. Take a deep breath, and with it, clear your mind. Stay with me. Focus, now join your hands in mindful prayer, and set in motion your intention for success.

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About Lisa Munjack
Lisa Munjack has decades of experience in promotion and marketing, honing her skills with top corporations such as Penguin Group, Knight-Ridder and most recently with the New York Post. At The Post she helped attract millions in new and incremental advertising revenue through customized print and digital promotions and partnerships. She also negotiated major sponsorship packages and business development opportunities to create new revenue streams for the newspaper. Her professional network includes movie studios, sports teams, Broadway shows, nonprofits, auto, media and retail.

Munjack Marketing helps small- to mid-size businesses with marketing strategy and execution, including copywriting, event planning, social media marketing and sponsorship acquisition.

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Photo of strange clouds over Rockefeller Center by James Heaton