Marketing Without Compromising Your Message

We are starting a new series for the month of August on marketing with a mission, serving without striving. If you are wrestling at your business in a way that feels pushy or like you’re making a performance, you’re not alone. Many Christian business women and men long to share our work with integrity, and we want it to be about service and not about striving. Is it possible to market your business without feeling like you’re selling out? Yes, it is. We’re going to talk about how to stay aligned with your values, your message, and your mission as you promote your offers, and how to discern when something just doesn’t feel right.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a lot to be said about marketing. It is an important piece of our business, but I realize that there is a lot of what you would refer to as noise out there, both in the online space and offline. There are lots of trends, and there’s lots of comparison that might be done. I want to acknowledge that there are common ways that we, as Christian business owners, feel pressure.

Ways that We as Christian Business Owners Feel Pressure

We often feel like maybe we need to water down our message. We need to sound more salesy, more flashy. We may feel we need to copy what so-and-so is doing over here, even if we don’t really feel right about it, and that is not the case. We can be authentic in the marketplace and we can do what God has called us to do. God didn’t call you to sound like everybody else. I believe God gifted us with a unique message and a unique purpose, and your message has that value of being what He called you to. Authentic marketing builds trust and trust builds connection and impact. So when you show up as your full, authentic self, you reflect the creator who made you.

Where to Begin

It’s important for us as Christian business owners to be stewards of what God’s given us and what He wants us to share and not be performers. One of the ways that you can stay aligned with this is to start with purpose and prayer. Before you ever create content or launch something, invite God into the process. Basically you truly ask God, what do you want me to say? Who do you want me to serve? Then as a result of that, you will use your own voice. You will not try to sound like everybody else. You will embrace your own message, your own stories, and your own personality.

Maybe you’re a little more gentle than hype-driven. That’s okay. People will resonate with you. I’ve always felt like in my business, I seem to align with people, and they are attracted to the message that I share as long as I’m being real. There are some people that will love what I do and there are others that won’t, and that’s okay. That’s what you have to remember.

Then you have to always check your gut and ask yourself, does this feel like I am being my authentic self and am I serving who I’m meant to serve? Or is there something off about this? If you aren’t feeling at peace about it, then you have to give yourself permission to either one, pause, or two, pivot.

Is It Time to Pivot?

So many times in business we have to pivot. Two years ago, I had been what I would consider striving to make a specific part of my business work. I had worked at it so long that I just felt like I was on this hamster wheel, if you will, just going through these motions over and over again, but I was not getting anywhere. Finally I just asked God, “Lord, what do you want me to do? Because I really don’t feel like I’m getting anything out of this, and I’m spending a lot of time on this. If there’s not a good return on my investment of my time, what should I do? Do I just need to focus on this other area of my business instead?”

That is when I chose to pivot. At the time I was a solo virtual assistant. I offered services and was doing all of the work, just me one-on-one with a client. I did not have anybody helping out in my business. It was just me and clients. That is when I decided that I was going to start hiring some subcontractors or what I like to refer to as my team members. They would begin helping me with clients, and we could take on more clients and I could train them. What I did at that time was what I called a pivot.

I pivoted the way I was doing business and it was the best decision I made. That was in July of 2023, and here we are in August of 2025, two years later. A little over two years later and it has truly been the biggest blessing. I’ve been able to now work with four team members who I am able to, one, pour into and mentor and two, share part of the business with and be a blessing to their families. That was a way that I pivoted. One thing may lead to another and you may realize that you have to do things differently than you thought, and that’s okay. But that gave me so much peace and I was able to do what God was calling me to do on an even larger scale.

Discerning or Disobedient?

The next thing you have to think about is, are you being discerning? Or are you being disobedient? You have to be aware of the difference between discomfort, which could also be termed as or thought of as stretching you in your business and misalignment, which can be referred to as striving in your business. I’ve heard a lot of people say in business over the years, “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Honestly, when you’re growing, being uncomfortable is not a red flag. It is sometimes what we need to do. Some things just require courage and there’s got to be a little bit of discomfort in order for us to grow. That’s the case spiritually, so think about that.

Final Thought

If something repetitively feels off or causes you confusion in your business, that’s when you need to take whatever that is to the Lord and then realize you don’t have to twist your message to make an impact. Trust that God can use your faithful, authentic effort and that you can promote your business with integrity.

Stay true to your calling. You do not have to lack integrity to be successful in business.