Marketing Re-Imagined: April Ann Q Quiñones Of Space Xplor On How We Can Re-Imagine The Marketing Industry To Make It More Authentic, Sustainable, And Promote More Satisfaction
An Interview With Drew Gerber
It would help to use stories, videos, and media that are more relatable to the general public than an orchestrated depiction of what an ideal, luxurious life should be.
From an objective standpoint, we are living in an unprecedented era of abundance. Yet so many of us are feeling unsatisfied. Why are we seemingly so insatiable? Do you feel that marketing has led to people feeling unsatisfied and not having enough in life? If so, what actions can marketers take to create a world where people feel that they have enough, and they are enough? Can we re-imagine what marketing looks like and how it makes people feel?
In this interview series, we are talking to experts in marketing and branding to discuss how we might re-imagine marketing to make it more authentic, sustainable, and promote more satisfaction. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing April Ann Quiñones.
April Ann Quiñones is a Content Manager and Digital Marketer. She works for Space Xplor in its SEO and online advertising department. Besides marketing, she loves delving into minimalism and slow living.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to know how you got from “there to here.” Inspire us with your backstory!
I’m an English teacher by profession, but I only briefly worked as a teacher after graduation, and instead, I pursued freelancing, content creation, and digital marketing. I’m now helping Xplor, particularly Space with content management and digital marketing.
What lessons would you share with yourself if you had the opportunity to meet your younger self?
The biggest lesson I would share with the younger me would be to ‘slow down’. I was such a workaholic in my younger years, and I basically lived in the future most of the time and was not really into savoring the present.
I always felt like I should be elsewhere, and I never really stopped striving and moving and progressing until I sort of hit a breaking point. Now, I have learned to be more intentional with my commitments, actions, and goals. I make sure to ‘get what I want’ and ‘want what I get’ because that’s how so many people roll nowadays. We tend to have this never-ending desire for what is ‘better’ and what bears more ‘glory’.
None of us are able to experience success without support along the way. Is there a particular person for whom you are grateful for that support to grow you from “there to here?” Can you share that story and why you are grateful for him or her?
My husband has always been there to support my choices and endeavors, and when we had our baby, my support system has always been my little family.
What day-to-day structures do you have in place for you to experience a fulfilled life?
For me, the day-to-day structures that have brought me a sense of fulfillment are mainly the following:
- A solemn morning routine– It’s not anything grand, but morning routines, for me, bring a sense of rhythm and predictability to each day. My morning routine just mainly involves making breakfast for my daughter, doing breathing exercises, and enjoying my cup of coffee since I follow an OMAD diet and don’t eat until 4pm.
- Trusty to-do list– I secure the list of everything I need to do each day the day before. For me, there’s something empowering about starting each day, knowing the big and small things that you’ve resolved to tackle. Not starting the day with a to-do list of the most important things that matter might just lead to doing mere busywork that may not necessarily bring about the most impact. Intentionality is very important, especially in terms of work hours and productivity.
- Avoiding backlogs– Backlogs tend to become a burden that sort of unconsciously haunts me and disables me from doing leisure peacefully. That’s why I do my best to avoid doing things at the eleventh hour and avoid the dreaded backlogs since procrastination only brings stress and hampers the quality of my output. Time management then plays a key role here.
- Doing my best every time– Whether I get recognition or not, I do my very best in everything that I do. Since I’m already spending my time on something might as well make it ‘time well-spent’ by making sure the outcome reflects the kind of quality that represents who I want to become in the industry.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think it might help people?
I’m now focusing on helping Space Xplor grow. It has so much potential, and it really makes the lives of both parents and daycare centres much easier. I’m proud of how far it has come over the years.
Ok, thank you for sharing your inspired life. Now let’s discuss marketing. To begin, can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority on marketing?
My marketing expertise includes social media marketing and creating sales and marketing funnels that engage, nurture, and convert users to customers.
Throughout history, marketing has driven trade for humans. What role do you see that marketing played to get human societies where we are today?
We definitely wouldn’t have the economic sophistication that we have today if it weren’t for the creation and evolution of marketing through the years. Initial records of forms of marketing have even been discovered on clay tablets in cuneiform writings from ancient Mesopotamia. Marketing started much earlier than many people think. The main role of marketing is to establish awareness of a product or service, and with social media and the whole internet, the job is getting even easier today.
What responsibility do marketers have when it comes to people feeling that they aren’t enough?
Our societal structure and the entire modern landscape of capitalism, consumerism, and social media fuel the trend of ‘never having enough’. It’s responsible for marketers to think of ways to ethically make money without ruining people’s sense of who they are. But intentional living, mindful consumption, and a whole, content life are all personal choices of the consumers. It requires a lot of inner work for one to willfully decide to not become a part of the huge system that can eventually be harmful to the soul.
For me, if there’s something we, marketers, can do, it’s to deliver high-quality products and services that fully meet the needs of the consumers. Classic products that last– functional and timeless. Reliable, consistent services that save people both time and money. I think the world, especially the social media domain, should try to tone down on selling a ‘lifestyle’. Perhaps it’s about time to share real stories instead– stories, pictures, videos, and media that are realistic and raw. Instead of conveying something that is not a genuine depiction of reality, convey something that represents what reality looks and feels like. Perhaps instead of selling an image, we can try to keep things simple and go back to selling genuine practicality and engagement.
Many 21st-century marketing professionals in a capitalistic society will discuss solving human “pain points” as a way to sell products, services, and other wares successfully. In your opinion or experience, has aggravating pain points led to more pain?
Constantly tackling and solving the consumers’ pain points has definitely made our society more and more convenient. However, there’s a fine line between solving practical pain points and taking advantage of people’s desire to appear glorious and perfect.
People’s definition of success nowadays is already curated in comparison to other people’s success instead of in accordance with one’s own unique source of joy and contentment. The world has quickly become a mad, silent competition of who’s better and who’s more successful. It’s no longer a matter of whether or not our ‘basic pain points’ are met. Marketing has come to subtly depict ‘mediocrity’ as a pain point in and of itself– when in fact, there’s nothing wrong with being average and we definitely don’t have to be perfect or become the best every time.
In order to try hard to depict a ‘perfect life’ on social media, people spend on products and services that make them look the part, and for as long as people use social media and have access to snippets of other people’s highlight reels, the world’s pain points are bound to become more sophisticated and complicated. So, yes. Aggravating pain points can lead to more pain in a way that the pursuit of perfection will never be quenched for as long as people can see other people whose lives seem to be better and shinier than theirs.
Different cultures view trade/marketing differently. While some may focus on “pain-points” others may focus on “purpose-points”. How do other cultures differ in how they approach marketing? Please give examples or studies you may know about.
Definitely, countries are not made equal in terms of how materialistic they are. Some of the countries which are regarded as ‘materialistic’ include the US, China, and South Korea. Some of the cultures which are deemed less materialistic include Scandinavian countries like Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark.
It’s fascinating how countries form their collective perspective in terms of consumption and lifestyle, but as marketers, focusing on purpose points and intentionality can go a long way to make the world more regulated and grounded– and even less anxious.
Okay, fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview: It seems as if we have never stopped to question marketing. In your opinion, how can marketing professionals be more responsible for how their advertising shapes our human experience of feeling safe, secure, and knowing that we matter? Based on your experience or research can you please share “Five Ways We Can Re-Imagine The Marketing Industry To Make It More Authentic, Sustainable, And Promote More Satisfaction”?
5 Ways We can Re-imagine the Marketing Industry to Be More Authentic, Sustainable, and Promote Satisfaction:
- Be careful when trying to sell a ‘lifestyle’
Some products or services are more than just for function. Instead, they are sold around the idea of ‘elevating one’s lifestyle’. While designing an awesome lifestyle can potentially make one feel better and prouder, the problem lies in helping create a culture of ‘lack’ and ‘inauthentic success’. Authentic success is all about ‘following one’s unique truth, and that truth is based on what truly and genuinely matters to each individual. While it’s totally the consumers’ responsibility to define what matters to them, marketing can dictate what shapes a user’s set of values and priorities. Perhaps, we can form our marketing strategy in a way that makes people focus on ‘what works for them’ instead of ‘what’s wrong with them’.
2. Make marketing materials more realistic
As mentioned in the previous points, it would help to use stories, videos, and media that are more relatable to the general public than an orchestrated depiction of what an ideal, luxurious life should be.
3. Focus on product quality
Every business should focus on one thing– delivering great, useful products and services. The world right now has gone beyond ‘use’ and ‘practicality’ and what matters these days now lies in what elevates the self-image and feeds the ego. If we can bring our focus back to ‘quality and purpose’ instead of ‘image and lifestyle’, that can be a great way to bring more meaning to how marketing operates.
4. Promote Corporate Social Responsibility
Employed marketers may have little to no say as to the core structures of the companies they’re serving, but when our ideas are called for, it’s best to pitch how becoming more eco-friendly can be a great starting point. More and more users are also becoming more aware as to the devastation too much consumerism brings to the planet. Promote environmental friendliness not just as a matter of gimmick but to truly promote sustainability since the trajectory of every industry is also gearing towards that same direction. Other factors like animal cruelty, fair labor practices, and so on can also be tackled.
5. Become a genuine marketer
Our job as marketers is not just to get paid trying to bring awareness to the products and services we are trying to sell. Our job is to make sure that what we’re selling brings true value to the people we seek to serve. Approaching our work with empathy, compassion, understanding, and authenticity can be a great starting point, and if all marketers collectively think as one, perhaps we’ll have a shot at making change happen. It may be too idealistic to think that we can change how our society has naturally evolved into a seemingly never-ending quench for ‘more’, but we can always do our best to re-imagine how we can make an impact through the work that we do.
For you personally, if you have all your basic needs met, do you feel you have enough in life?
Yes. And I’m saying yes because I personally have done my best to simplify not only how my life operates but how I perceive life. I always remind myself of my mortality and how our human experience should be savored and experienced by us and only us.
Unfortunately, many humans operate their life not to savor their existence but to make their existence appear important in the eyes of others. This totally depends on one’s upbringing and the kind of things that matter to them, but ‘memento mori’ or remembering death, for some reason, always helps me grounded and the fact that there are over 2 trillion galaxies in the universe reminds me of my insignificance and how this little bubble of a world is just a speck of the grand cosmos.
Do you have any favorite books, podcasts, or resources that have inspired you to live with more joy in life?
My favorite books and resources include The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, Follow Your Heart by Matthew Andrews, the works of Brene Brown, and videos of Sadhguru. Constantly reading articles and watching videos about minimalism, Taoism, Buddhism, and essentialism have also helped me shape how I view life today.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I’m planning to create YouTube videos on Slow Living soon. It’s not to start a movement but to join the existing movement and help educate my circle on the importance of re-evaluating our lives and knowing what truly matters.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
I used to have a personal blog, but unfortunately, it got hacked and I still have to rebuild my site after the whole platform got wiped out. I did start a Facebook page recently as a creative outlet that touches on this similar topic and more.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
About The Interviewer: For 30 years, Drew Gerber has been inspiring those who want to change the world. Drew is the CEO of Wasabi Publicity, Inc., a full-service PR agency lauded by PR Week and Good Morning America. Wasabi Publicity, Inc. is a global marketing company that supports industry leaders, change agents, unconventional thinkers, companies and organizations that strive to make a difference. Whether it’s branding, traditional PR or social media marketing, every campaign is instilled with passion, creativity and brilliance to powerfully tell their clients’ story and amplify their intentions in the world. Schedule a free consultation at WasabiPublicity.com/Choosing-Publicity.
Marketing Re-Imagined: April Ann Q Quiñones Of Space Xplor On How We Can Re-Imagine The Marketing I was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.