The first rule of marketing is to focus on your client – address their “What's In It For Me?”.

Help them achieve their goals, give them something they need.

But beyond our basic functional and economic needs, most of want a bit more in life.

Most of us don't just buy Apple stuff because of what it does and because it's easy to use. Those are kind of givens. We're also buying into that whole “cool” image.

And likewise, many people won't buy Apple because they don't want to buy into that image.

Over here in the UK consumer journalist Martin Lewis has built a huge following as the “Money Saving Expert”. Not just because his consumer advice tips are good (they are). But also because we see him as someone who's on our side.

He doesn't just give us advice. He goes to the high court to fight against unfair bank charges on our behalf. He goes to parliament to lead a campaign for better financial education for our children.

He stands for something more than just good advice. And we buy into that.

Selling his website for £87m recently is an indication of how valuable standing for something has been for him!

Now I'm not saying that you should make up something to stand for just to try to get a following. People will see through that pretty quickly.

But the truth is that we all have things we believe in. Causes we'd like to champion.

Putting meaning into your marketing is a matter of allowing those things you believe in to be visible. Sharing more of who you really are.

Doing that builds stronger bonds with people who feel the same way.

I get lots of emails from subscribers. And many of them don't just say “that was really useful” or “I got great results from that”. They talk about how my philosophy of giving value in advance really resonates with them.

Or how moving from trying to sell all the time to building trusted relationships makes them feel good about marketing.

When people buy into more that just the benefits they get from working with you, it makes them more loyal. And more likely to spread the word.

To do that you have to open up. Weave what you believe in into your marketing.