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The Science of Spiritual Marketing: An Initiation Into Magnetism

How to make your marketing a value-centered series of choices that can lead to a more abundant company

by Andrea Adler

Excerpt of CHAPTER 1: THE ROOT CHAKRA OF PR

Spiritual marketing is a science in the sense that it provides a rational understanding of an emerging worldview: the reuniting of science and spirituality. Science is a system of acquiring and organizing knowledge that reveals information about reality. In the same way, this book attempts to share reliable, concrete predictions about the science of spiritual marketing, gained through my research.

TOO MUCH NOISE
From the moment we are born and alert enough to perceive information on any level, we are inundated with advertisements that promote some product or service. Our senses are flooded by blaring hype, propaganda, political spin, and advertising that scream at us from the radio, TV, newspapers, billboards, telemarketers—and now from the Internet.

Advertisements are showing up in elevators and at the gas pump. They jingle and jangle before us on TV and in grocery-store checkout lanes. They have even made an appearance in restroom stalls and over public urinals. After trying countless ways to tune out the noise, customarily without victory, our brains have become so saturated, so numb, that the thought of using any of these venues to promote ourselves has become, to say the least, unattractive.

It’s a shame to think we must turn away from the channels of communication that bring us pleasure in our leisure and benefit to our work in order to escape this overkill. This problem has been, in fact, the catalyst for me to initiate my search for a holistic/spiritual approach. By delving into the base chakra, the root cause and true nature, of PR itself, perhaps we can understand how this dilemma came to be, and how we can move out of it.

IN THE BEGINNING...THERE WAS THE WORD
America is, after all, the land of word of mouth. Word of mouth brought our forebears to this new world. Word of mouth populated the first sparse settlements on the eastern shore, and then drew everyone westward. Word of mouth settled the frontier. In the late nineteenth century, as industries and cities grew, word spread to the farms and rural towns that jobs were available and that fortunes could be made by moving to the big cities. As a result, thousands of families moved away from their country settings hoping to improve their families’ future. There were no TV or radio announcements made to inform these farmers about this opportunity. Still, the news spread.

Historically, word of mouth was, and still is, a powerful way to disseminate information. It is that face-to-face relationship with someone you know that establishes authenticity and credibility. Of course, if the object of the buzz is not authentic or doesn’t live up to its expectation, the buzz will quickly die and bad press will take its place.

I am not proposing that word of mouth is the only way to create an outreach, or that advertising through traditional media can’t be effective. I am purely sharing some thoughts about the word-of-mouth phenomenon. Both The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen are books that extrapolate the word-of-mouth trend in greater detail and are, without question, books I highly recommend you add to your marketing library.

So, how did we move from this simple, uncomplicated form of marketing to the media explosion and misuse we currently endure?

MEDIA PROPAGANDA
It is clear that a quantum shift, a watershed of demarcation, took place in how the media was used—manipulated, if you will—in 1924 during the administration of President Coolidge.

The widespread prosperity that followed World War I had catapulted the nation into a mass consumer economy, and President Coolidge set out to capitalize on the innovations. After an arduous search, he found and hired just the man to help him accomplish his new agenda: Edward Bernays, regarded as the founder of the field of public relations.

For instance, while working for the American Tobacco Company, Bernays mastered the link between corporate sales campaigns and popular social causes. He did this by persuading prominent women in New York City to hold up Lucky Strike cigarettes at a public event as symbolic “torches of freedom.” Another clever global media affair Bernays originated was the “Light’s Golden Jubilee,” a worldwide celebration commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the electric light bulb, sponsored (behind-the-scenes) by the General Electric Corporation.

THE MARKETING OF GOODS AND SERVICES
In the 1950s, television gained national popularity. Consumers could now see the products that they had previously only heard about. Corporations that could afford to advertise, did, and for the most part monopolized the commercial airwaves. Through aggressive and subliminal messages, advertisers directed millions of people toward the purchase of goods and services that, in the end, may not have led to their advancement or betterment.

Commercial advertising promoted cigarettes as a “cool” thing to do on a summer day; only later did we discover the deadly effects of nicotine and inhaled carcinogens. Milk manufacturers are still promoting dairy products as the best source of calcium for our bones, yet naturopathic and allopathic doctors alike are finding that dairy products do not necessarily “do the body good” and can trigger severe allergies. Research has documented the harmful effects diet drinks have on our teeth and organs—not to mention the cancer-causing and neurologically overstimulating sugar substitutes, saccharin and aspartame, used to sweeten these drinks. Fast food, household chemicals, and the pesticides we eat and breathe all contribute to climbing death rates. And don’t even get me started on the overconsumption of pharmaceutical drugs and the detrimental side effects they create in the body, or the destructive products damaging our environment and our global atmosphere.

THE NEW PARADIGM
There needs to be a shift. There needs to be a way to restore the integrity of marketing and public relations, as both a process and a profession. Not only for the consumer, but for the conscious business owner and the marketing consultant who wants to promote his or her clients ethically and become more conscious about the actual products and services being promoted.

Some years ago, I began to contemplate these issues . . . rather obsessively. I watched how people from various professions struggled with how to define themselves, how to reach their audiences in ways that were provocative and stimulating, while at the same time uplifting rather than degrading. How to create marketing strategies that were ethical and memorable. I would observe how businesses tried to stop manipulative actions and practice “truth in advertising,” but would inevitably fall back and repeat approaches they disliked—because they didn’t know any other way.

Then I had an overnight revelation that took thirty years to materialize. I realized that many business owners had not journeyed inside themselves first. They had not asked those pertinent questions that would bring them more into alignment with the spiritual aspect of their nature and of their business, but were, instead, “shooting from the hip.”

I saw how thousands of dollars were being spent by earnest businesspeople to learn their respective fields, and yet, when it came time to open their business and start marketing it, they were in the dark. They had no idea how to start, let alone proceed. They would hire marketing consultants, but many of these consultants performed their job like allopathic doctors and mechanics, looking at only one part of the body, without considering the whole picture—the mental, emotional, social, and spiritual implications of the campaign. In addition, many of these consultants didn’t care what their clients were promoting, even if it meant killing wildlife, polluting the environment, or destroying the planet.

For marketers in the new paradigm, integrity needs to be top on the list. Instead of jumping in with all fours for the monetary rewards, we must ask ourselves: Does this client resonate with who I am and the kind of business I want to represent? Are they missing the mark? And if so, how can I support them to reconnect with what is important? Our responsibility is to steward our clients, guide them to Oz -— the future they want to experience —- so they are aware of where their “Yellow Brick Road” starts and ends.

We walk a fine line when we start writing our clients’ material. Our true role as marketers is to help clients access their vision, their innate wisdom, in a process that brings their deepest yearnings to the forefront—so that it’s their words, their images that resonate with the audience they want to attract, not ours.

If more marketers would understand and use this process, people’s faith in the profession would be renewed, the vital force of public relations would return, and business owners would be more apt to pursue positive, life-enhancing marketing options.

As entrepreneurs, sole proprietors, and CEOs, it is time to take responsibility for the products and services we are introducing. It’s time to ask ourselves: How is my business serving me, and the gifts I have to offer? How is my business helping my audience, and the world at large? Because we are living during a critical moment in human and planetary history, when global warming, capitalism, and consumerism are at a heightened peak, these spiritual/holistic inquiries are more fundamental than ever.

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Andrea Adler is an international speaker, workshop presenter, and the author of three books on spiritual/holistic marketing. Andrea specializes in supporting entrepreneurs, small and large business owners, and students on the relevance of spirituality in the workplace. She teaches a practical philosophy of consciousness that demonstrates how to integrate spiritual practice and psychological self-inquiry into a concrete and fundamental transformation of people's lives and their businesses.

Andrea has studied meditation for 30 yeas and has lived in ashrams and meditation centers in India, Paris, New York and California. Throughout her 30 year career, she has continually integrated her meditation discipline with her evolving expertise in PR and marketing, helping people understand the spiritual and practical laws of abundance and applying these principals while doing business.

Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Andrea travels internationally, presenting her dynamic, interactive workshops.

www.HolisticPR.com

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