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Metaphors are so essential to the way we communicate every day that we cannot get along without them.

A metaphor allows us to understand and experience one kind of thing in terms of another.

For example — if you say that you have a “roaring headache” you are expressing your experience of the pain in your head in terms of a loud noise. Or if you are so excited that you say ” I am over the moon,” you are expressing your feeling state in terms of cosmic height and distance.

We are so accustomed to metaphors that they usually go unnoticed. Most of the time that’s not a problem.  However when it comes to marketing, and especially Internet marketing,  the metaphor  — Marketing as War — is the source of what is most offensive in what we all see online.

Also, if you are unaware of the meaning of that metaphor you are trapped into presenting your products and services in a way that seems “normal” — BUT that is not the only way, let alone the best way for any of us to market what we provide.

Marketing As War

Take a quick scan of the sales letters and promotional materials online and the language you will find in too  many cases is:

Killer Copy: the metaphor suggests that the copy you read will somehow knock you dead — which, after all,  is not what the seller wants. He or she wants you alive to buy the product.

Or perhaps the copy will kill off any objections you have and pave the way to the sale.

Weapons: the tools used by marketers are seen as weapons and the connection with “marketing as war” is obvious.  But why relate to marketing as war? And what does that make the customer — the enemy to be captured, subdued, coerced, corralled?

So the relationship between seller and buyer becomes combative.

Destroy Your Competition: there are many variations on this theme with different verbs: crush, wipe out, annihilate, attack, kick-butt, level, smash, trash — and more.

The obvious problem with war is the intent to do harm. Is it any wonder why marketing and selling are so offensive to so many people, sellers and buyers alike?

What does it mean to you when you read “killer copy,”  “weapons,” or “destroy your competition?”

Success As Insanity

Success As Insanity is another curious metaphor that leads to expressions like:

Insane Profits: the more profit the more you’ll hear it said — “Those numbers are insane.”

Crazy: we were at an event recently where the word crazy meant good, and really crazy meant very good. 

Why would crazy or insane come to mean good unless the results are so unexpected, or overwhelming, or out of proportion that madness is the only appropriate response — and then – that’s the description? And that’s more of a comment on the state of mind of the person using these terms than it is of the actual event(s) itself.

How do you feel hearing success equated with insanity?

New And Different Metaphors

Now, imagine what marketing and selling would be like if the metaphor(s) were different.  For example, instead of Marketing as War, what if it were . . .

Marketing as Partnership

Marketing as Love-based Service

Marketing as an Exchange Between Friends

Marketing as Heart Connection

Marketing as Natural and Organic

Marketing as a Dance

Marketing as Healing

What will your marketing and selling be like when you use these metaphors?

What other metaphors do you suggest? What metaphors create the ground of integrity from which your marketing efforts arise?

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Because It’s All in the Connection,