Truly epic marketing is authentic. Whether you are selling a look or a lifestyle, anything short of the real thing feels disingenuous. Even those ‘real people’ adverts are awkward (we’re looking at you, Dove!) If you want a message to resonate with your audience, then you’ve got to get back to your roots.
Real Talk
Talking the talk is the best way to foster trust with your audience. This means that in some capacity, you have to put yourself into everything your marketing team does. Brew up a little essence of the authentic you and sprinkle that fairy dust on everything.
This is the part where I need to take my own advice. After five years of creating content on my outdoor living site, I felt uninspired. While I got satisfaction seeing many of our projects succeed, I realized that I was working to suit the analytics rather than doing what felt right.
Alas, the notion of getting back my roots came about more as a result of circumstance than of personal reflection. After buying a small farm in the country, I started spending time outdoors, planning our Greenmoxie tiny house and the glorious summer weather meant we were cooking on the campfire every night.
When David, the marketing genius from Jib visited, he laughingly pointed out that I was living the lifestyle that I encouraged through Greenmoxie.com, but that I wasn’t using any of that material in my marketing (insert ironic face palm.)
A Dirty Gourmet is Born
The very best thing about your company is you and your team. You and your personal experience is really what makes your company and if you slap some stock image face onto it, you won’t stand out from the crowd.
Drawing on my personal experiences is tough. I’m shy and, like most writers, I prefer to write about the world while staring at it through the window. I went back to the things that I am passionate about; nature, food, the environment and I am going to say food again just so you understand how important it is to me. Being outside and sharing a meal around that fundamental symbol of warmth and comfort; the campfire embodies all I wanted to share through Greenmoxie.
Get it Together
Being environmentally conscious usually predicates a love for the outdoors. If I can just get people out; help them to connect with nature create an essentially healthier and happier society with a vested interest in the environment
While kitchen cookbooks are beautiful pieces of art that plumb the depths and breadths of culinary possibility, camping cookbooks are dull, sad little affairs. Unless you’re prepared to pack a dozen pre-made canisters of cookie and biscuit dough, cans of soup or hot dog wieners, you’re left eating s’mores and Kraft dinner. I decided to create a real cookbook for those rare beautiful who like camping, hiking, climbing, paddling, biking or swimming and have to pack their meals in.
These are recipes you really can make on a campfire, they don’t have a ton of ingredients, the food is fresh and you even have a full color picture, so you know what you’re signing up for.
The Moral of the Story
Returning to the things I genuinely love, the things I do in my own life and drawing on my travel experience has really inspired me. I think it shows in this book which I produced with my wonderful friend, David. Together we have made something unique; a real campfire cookbook that looks beautiful and is genuinely useful to all those crazy hearts who like to play where the wild things roam. And if, for even the briefest moment, I am able to share a recipe with you that makes that moment more enjoyable, that makes a meal memorable, then I will consider this a life well lived.
Learn more about Nikki’s new book – Listen to the Podcast
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