Seth Godin explains what it is marketers are really selling.

“Not powder or chemicals or rubber or steel or silicon or talk or installations or even sugary water.

What marketers sell is hope.

The reason is simple: people need more. We run out. We need it replenished. Hope is almost always in short supply.

The magical thing about selling hope is that it makes everything else work better, every day get better, every project work better, every relationship feel better. If you can actually deliver on the hope you sell, there will be a line out the door.”

The hope marketers sell is mostly a hope that their product will actually deliver on its promises: whiter teeth, younger looking skin, minimized wrinkles, a slimmer waist, thicker hair. Godin’s right – in this world, hope is usually in short supply. The key is delivering on the hope you “sell.”

Churches have the truest, deepest, most unlimited amount of hope possible, and it’s the real thing. And we aren’t selling it – we’re giving it away. So do people know it? Are we lavish and extravagant and reckless with our message?