You know what I’ve realized over time?? I really don’t like the marketing field anymore!😭 At least not the way I was brought up in it. My version of marketing has taken such a sharp turn as of 2022, and I can't go back to the traditional agency style of marketing. I've done my share of promoting businesses or projects I don't believe in. And I've watched what that does to a person over time.

Marketing can easily feed into pride because it rewards control. When you're skilled at shaping narratives, your brain lights up every time you land on the "right" angle, the right wording, the right moments. I imagine it’s similar in law, where you’re trained to frame a case in the strongest possible way for the client you represent. This form of strategic framing can follow you into your everyday life, though. I have struggled with certain friendships, especially with people in marketing or in sales, because of this very thing. When strategic people are unevolved in their walk, you can feel the calculation underneath what they say and don’t say. You can sense when an interaction has an angle behind it, when someone is positioning themselves, when what’s being said is the right thing instead of the true thing. Frankly, I tiyad!🫠

I’ve witnessed corporate managers casually say things like, “We need a black person in this scene so it looks like we’re diverse.” Catch that -> "....so it looks like...." And that's just a light example. While there is value in highlighting the diversity of an organization, the moment it becomes a box to check, people start being treated like puppets instead of human beings. It feels wrong when that kind of language becomes second nature among our peers. We have to catch it and correct it, or distance ourselves from it completely. I have to be on guard, because I can assimilate if I'm not careful.

I’ve even seen marketers put a lot of effort into crafting heart-touching projects. Real production value. Real emotion. However, during the process, they consistently disrespect cast and crew in subtle, underhanded ways. When multiple people walk away with the same experience, multiple times, you start to notice what people are like when their mask slips. In the end, the goal isn't to pour their heart into a meaningful project; it is to get the credit for it, without the character to match what they present. Experiences like that have shown me some of the clearest forms of pride. Many bullies thrive in marketing because they are rewarded for controlling the appearances of their superiors and their own. These types can keep their money and behaviors far away.

‍

Satan, and our own fleshly desires, can take a real gift and redirect it toward self-exaltation or the promotion of specific agendas. Money talks, and marketing is its bestie.

‍

I want to be clear, communication is a gift. Strategy is a gift. The ability to tell a story that truly reaches people is a gift. Without those who knew how to record, preserve, and carry meaning across generations, we would not even have Scripture the way we do today.

The problem is never the skill itself. The problem is what the skill is being used for. The same ability that can honor truth can just as easily protect an image that should be torn down. That is the tension every communicator has to sit with honestly, whether in marketing, law, sales, media, or anywhere words and narratives hold power.

Once you understand how influence works, you also realize how easy it is to use it for the wrong reasons, or with the wrong heart posture.

‍

I pray for everyone who carries this kind of gift. Strategic thinking is real, and it matters in God’s Kingdom. But I pray that the gift stays submitted to something greater. That the people whose stories we tell, and the people we work with, are treated as human beings and not as material.

The closer you walk with Christ, the less you’re drawn to what looks right, and the more you look for the fruit of the Spirit behind it. <3