consciously choosing to remain unaffected by ubiquitous marketing “urgency”

I don’t know about you, but my inbox is freakin’ out of control with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday marketing messages that attempt to manipulate me into feeling time scarcity and the fear that if I don’t (impulsively) act now, I will miss out and regret it later. Even though these marketing tactics are pretty transparent, I can still feel their effects in my mind and body, and the resulting overwhelm has started to erode the edges of my sense of well being.

I did make a couple of impulsive (didn’t-really-plan-this) kind of purchases and regret it a bit, but I don’t regret hitting delete on the huge majority of them even though I “lost out” on their offers. I really don’t appreciate being manipulated by a false sense of urgency only to be told the next day that they’re extending the offer out of the goodness of their hearts. I call BS!

Yet at the same time, I do feel good about the purchases that I would have made anyway, and appreciate the free shipping or extra value they offered. For me, as a small business owner, it isn’t just the extra sales that are my goal when offering special savings or product bundles, it’s the generous feeling of giving something extra to my customers, who I wouldn’t be in business without!

So, there’s my rant… and I’m thinking about how I might do things differently next year that authentically demonstrate my appreciation for my customers while staying out of the fray of marketing mayhem:)

All my best wishes for peace and presence during this holiday season,

Karen