This is the third in a series of 9 blog posts on Zen Search Marketing discussing the use of the 8 Fold Path philosophy in search marketing efforts.This series of blogs is by no means endorsing any religious viewpoint.
In Buddhism, Right Intention is best described as a commitment to improvement, whether that improvement is mental, physical or ethical. Basically, while Right View refers to the understanding of wisdom, Right Intention refers more to the mental energy that is used to control one’s actions.
In the past installment we looked at how we think about marketing, or utilizing Right View in marketing.
Unfortunately, you cannot spend your entire life thinking about things; they save that sort of stuff for philosophers and hippies. Sometimes you actually have to DO things.
Right Intention speaks more to what we do with that thinking. Or, more precisely, what we intend to do, because honestly, 90% of what we do derives from our intentions.
***We’ll get to the actual “doing” soon, I promise.***
Anyway, let’s think about that for a minute – intention.
The Police Officer Scenario
Let’s get away from the idea of marketing for a moment and think about becoming a police officer.
Becoming a police officer is a very noble endeavor. You are putting your life on the line every day to ensure the safety of the citizens in your community. Somewhere along the way, you made the conscious decision that the safety and well-being of your fellow humans is more important than your own. This is right intention. There are plenty of great men and women who have made this decision.
Not everyone becomes a police officer for the right reasons, however.
Let’s look at this from another angle. Let’s say your grandfather was a police officer. Let’s say your mother was a police officer. They both served proudly and did right by the community. You grew up with a stable home life, and now your mother is ready to retire with a good pension. Then the most terrible thing happens and she is hurt or even killed in the line of duty by some thug. You decide to drop out of college and become a police officer to get revenge for your mother.
It’s the screenplay for the next Hollywood blockbuster.
It is also wrong intention.
Even if you are a good cop, you went into this line of work for revenge. No matter how much good you do, it will always be for the wrong reasons.
You will live an inauthentic life.
Right Intention & Marketing
- - Why do I want to be at the top of the search results?
- - Why do I want to get people into my store?
- - How is what I am doing going to benefit the end user?
These are a few of the questions you may need to ask yourself before you begin any marketing campaign? Many people go into everything thinking only of how their actions will benefit them.
I get it. The goal of any business is to make money. Why else would we be in business if not for that?
There is one common denominator in business, however, that is often overlooked. Especially in online marketing.
People.
Your business is nothing without people.
People want to feel like they are the only thing that matters when they interact with a company. If you are not honestly showing them that they matter, they will find someplace else to spend their money. People can tell when you authentically care about them, and not just their money.
Right intention will get you there.
The search engines also want to know you care about people. They reward right intention with better results positioning, and more traffic to your site.
Every time you add something to your site, whether it is a button, or a piece of content, or a video, or a new product ask yourself how this will benefit the end user.
Will whatever you are doing improve their life in some small way?
If you can say yes to this the right intention is there.
No matter what you do, be authentic.
It matters.
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