November is America’s unofficial month of gratitude, which just happens to be one of our core values here at Outsource Marketing. Gratitude fuels a positive work environment, builds strong relationships, and allows people to feel seen and heard.
How can gratitude grow your marketing?
At the heart of your marketing is a team that communicates with your audience. They control the voice of your brand. Expressing gratitude—both internally as a team and externally as a brand—shows your team, your clients, and customers that you care. It reminds them that you’re a real human, not a faceless company. Showing gratitude allows you to improve customer relations, brand loyalty, and productivity.
Looking internally, we know that small groups get shit done. We also know that collaborating on projects can boost employee engagement and can have lasting effects on overall quality of work. How does gratitude fit in? According to the Harvard Medical School “…Gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”
So, if your small, collaborative team practices expressing gratitude, odds are you’re going to accomplish more and get closer to reaching your goals.
Take a minute to think of three things you’re grateful for and write them down. Doing this exercise makes your thoughts more tangible and will help you internalize and remember them.
If you do this twenty-one days in a row, you’ll make a marked impact on the next six months of your work, willpower, and levels of calm. Now imagine if everyone in your small team did this for 21 days too. That’s six months of higher performance levels, greater capacity for success, and an atmosphere so calm you’ll think you’re in an Enya music video.
What does “expressing gratitude” look like?
Showing gratitude to clients and customers is all about taking the time to find a little way to acknowledge someone else’s efforts. The same way you thank your favorite barista Jessica when she makes your grande, almond milk, triple shot, extra hot, no foam latte with a splash of hazelnut right the first time, show your appreciation towards your clients by thanking them for all that they do. Do you sigh with relief when they respond quickly, or do a little dance at their thorough feedback? Let them know.
Take the time before or during a meeting to acknowledge the work your clients have done. When you’re emailing back and forth, consider adding something you’re grateful for to your signature. If you have office stationery, write them a quick thank-you letter or postcard to let them know they’re appreciated.
Internally you can use systems like Bonusly that allow coworkers to give each other small bonuses. This not only shows coworkers that they’re appreciated but it also allows them to physically type something they’re grateful for. You can also integrate gratitude into progress meetings to let coworkers know you can see the work they’re doing.
How do you move forward?
Maybe you don’t have a marketing department or you’re a small, collaborative, party of one (solo conga line!). In that case, you might want to consider outsourcing your marketing. Here at Outmark, we believe that marketing + happiness = growth and, in order to achieve a state of happy, you need gratitude.
If you think about it, growing your company is like growing a relationship: it takes time, conscious effort, and appreciation. So if you want to stop flirting with your marketing and start going steady, shoot us an email at hey@outmark.com or give us a call at (425) 283-1800. And don’t worry, we don’t play hard to get 😉
In June 2019, our team had a series of meetings to uncover what happiness means to Outmark, our clients, and their customers and clients. Happiness promotes better health and wellbeing, encourages creativity, and improves employee retention. Happy employees make marketing fun. We focused on 13 components that frame happiness for us. Stay tuned for the other 12, what they mean to us, and how they can help you grow your marketing and your business.
