I don’t consider myself a marketing expert, but I do consider myself a better than average -small marketer- and the reason for this is that I was able to sell things to people and write things that resonate with others.

It’s hard to market something. I am a developer and for many year I hated marketing.
This, until I discovered that marketing was _not_ what I saw on tv.

Marketing is much more than that. Have you ever got to a city you loved so much that, by talking to your friends, you made them visit the city?
Well, you just sold something to someone.

Word of mouth is, basically, a form of personal marketing and it works because it has three main components that are working well together.
First: You are passionate about the subject (in this case the city)
Second: You know it (you visited the city and can tell what’s great and what’s not).
Third: It’s honest (you are a friend)

That’s why it works, and this is something you can try to apply to as many areas you’d like.
Passion, Knowledge, Honesty are enough for basic marketing.

But yet we fail at marketing, aren’t we?
Why does this happen? Well, for one reason it’s selfishness.
Being passionate doesn’t mean shouting “IT’S BEAUTIFUL, IT’S THE BEST THING IN LIFE”.
These arguments are not worth it, nobody believes it.

If you think about it, when you’re passionate about a trip to a city and you tell the story you don’t simply start by saying “it’s amazing”, you add information that _you_ liked.

For example you might say:
_”When I was in Venice I loved the silence that you get because there are no cars around, it’s so strange to walk at night and hear the sound of water. It’s as if you’re in a jungle, but then you realize you’re walking into a city filled with people”_

That’s way different than saying “Buy my product, it’s the best”. That is the key difference.
What we miss when we try to sell things to others is that we tend to focus only on saying “it’s good” instead of explaining what does it for you.

Start by sharing how and in which things the product you’re selling will improve your life, work, whatever. Tell how it helped you, what it helped you to achieve.

Be honest about it, don’t be fake, share the struggle if you had it (like, for example, “I wasn’t able to do X because of Y”) and, last but not least: READ IT OUT LOUD.

It must feel like a talk with another human being.
If it doesn’t, it’s not ok, if it does, you’re off to a great start.