What Romance and Outreach Have in Common

I know, I know - it’s hard to imagine the giddiness, excitement, and lightness of love having anything in common with the dread, resentment, and heaviness of doing your outreach.

And yet, the two have more in common than your heavy heart might let you believe.

The first is consistency.

Both romance and outreach depend more on how often you show up than how perfectly you show up.

Romance requires time spent together: whether it’s date night, texts throughout the day, or phone calls when you’re apart. It stays alive when two people continue showing up for each other consistently.

Even if you’re tired or cranky or moody, when your beloved reaches out, you want them to know:

I’m here.

Maybe not all here. Maybe not my best self. But here.

Marketing outreach asks the same of you.

Show up.

Even when you’re not in the mood. Even when you're tired or cranky. Raise your hand and say, ‘here’.

Let your engagement be noted. Let your presence be felt. Let your communication be steady and reliable.

The second is a little harder to navigate.

How do you stay connected to yourself while reaching out to someone else?

This is tricky in both love and outreach.

How do you avoid warping yourself into what the other person wants or needs from you, rather than staying centered and reaching out from there?

How do you stay connected, genuine, and true to yourself while also being attentive, open, and considerate of the person in front of you?

Here’s what I’ve found:

True love doesn’t ask you to leave yourself.

Neither does good marketing outreach.

Rather than treating marketing as a plan you have to follow, look at different strategies and choose the ones that genuinely speak to you.

Keep yourself at the forefront of your outreach.

Make sure you're included in it.

Don’t change your voice, your message, or your perspective because you think that’s what your audience needs to hear.

Be appropriate, of course. But don’t become so polished that you end up distant.

Because ultimately, outreach is about connection.

And that is something you already know how - and love - to do.

Thinking of you,

Karen