The ISFJ Marketing Profile: Perceiving / Feeling / Judging Introverts As Marketers
BusinessMost marketing gurus prescribe their favorite “marketing obligations” – outreach activities they deem necessary for any owner, manager, or entrepreneur trying to survive and grow. Sometimes the “shoulds” are relatively new tactics, like blogging and tweets, while other times the “shoulds” are old resources, like cold calling or networking.
My approach is different. I encourage people to be suspicious of any generalized marketing recommendation that claims to apply to everyone. Why? Because one-size-fits-all recipes don’t take into account the human factor: the role of the different people who carry out the marketing advice. Time and time again, I have seen people struggle with how they are supposed to market when marketing tasks go against their personality.
Much easier than handling a personality transplant is selecting marketing methods that suit your personal tendencies, beliefs, and values - tasks that you can accomplish without venturing far beyond the limits of your comfort zone. When marketing tasks match your instincts and habits, by stretching it a bit, you have a much quicker and less burdensome chance of success.
To explore your natural marketing style, start by taking the Myers-Briggs Personality Test. Let’s say the test indicates that you are an introvert, someone who energizes in solitude and tends to feel drained from social interaction. (An extrovert, on the other hand, feels drained and moody when alone and recharges with other people.)
In the Myers-Briggs personality system, an ISFJ (Intuitive / Sense / Judging Introvert) is a loyal, friendly, responsible, and conscientious person who strives to create harmony at work and at home. Caring, hard-working, and cooperative, ISFJs instinctively believe that others mean well and are therefore vulnerable to being scammed. They are quietly sensitive to the feelings of others and adept at organizing a comfortable and tasteful environment.
Personality experts tell us that famous ISFJs include Louisa May Alcott, Johnny Carson, William Shatner, Barbara Bush, Charles Dickens, Nancy Reagan, Melanie from the novel Gone with the Wind, and Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
If the Myers-Briggs tests reveal that you are an ISFJ, you may be quite uncomfortable with the idea of marketing, preferring to believe that virtue, skill, and knowledge should attract attention on their own. Therefore, your best marketing tactic may be to partner with someone who likes to be in the limelight. You, in turn, support the association in ways that leverage its strengths, such as:
Organize pleasant meetings that introduce leading figures in your field to newcomers and vice versa.
Running free and highly interactive introductory teleseminar that get everyone comfortable with and with each other challenging topics
Create and show a video of you interacting effectively with customers.
Let it be known that you are happy to work with people who are easily intimidated, awkward, or slow to master certain tasks.
· Organize “meet and greet” sessions in exotic settings, such as museums, yachts, or aquariums
Send very thoughtful and perfectly appropriate gifts to the people you want to meet.
Maintain warm and lasting relationships with all the people you have met online
Write insightful and appreciative comments on potential customer blogs.
Follow up patiently and responsibly with those who have expressed an interest in becoming clients but have not yet signed on to the final results.
Trends to watch out for as an ISFJ include the difficulty of saying “no” to clients and volunteer projects, the tendency to get depressed when people don’t respond as you anticipated, and the horror of controversy and conflict. You need a receptive audience and a positive environment to perform at your best and thrive.