The fundamental business principles still apply despite dynamically evolving technical generation. How often have we heard “Don’t mix religion with politics or business?” It’s advice freely expressed and usually followed across the full spectrum of business and industry for generations. But the mixture is not always detrimental to success. A strategic approach to targeting a specific religious segment of a market is not only common but legitimate, particularly when a product or service is offering leads to solutions for targeted consumers faith-based wants, needs and desires. But as a generalized marketing strategy, how much of your personal religious beliefs is prudent to your brand?
In today’s social marketing environment, marketers are encouraged to engage consumers and cultivate long-term individualized conversations that create brand loyalty. The goal is to connect the customers on an emotional, non-sectional level. Mixing your personal religious beliefs with with your brand has the potential to negatively hurt the business, especially in smaller, more diverse markets where business is dependent upon the whole of the market for survival. In this scenario, focusing on a religion as the sole drive of a brand’s identity can have a negative impact on the bottom line. Businesses are derived from the concept that a product or service fill a need or provides a solution to a problem.
In our increasingly diverse society, injecting personal religions beliefs too much or too forcefully into a business relationship is counter to professional behavior that requires that any business be respectful in a shared space with its customers. As we see in some election years, overt display of personal views and opinions on religion/politics or social issues can be controversial, unwelcome and counterproductive to the goals and objectives of the business.
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