Your marketing resolution? Forget the ‘should’ and embrace what feels good
‘Bad’ marketing advice is an infinite resource! It feels as if there’s no end to messages such as, “You should be doing more marketing,” “You should be using Facebook Ads,” “You should be posting more on social media.”…
This is a trap that can be difficult to get out of. It’s easy to spend all your energy online simply keeping up with or trying to emulate what seems to be working for someone else. And don’t get me started on people selling this advice in a $97 online course!
We’d like to offer a Better, Bolder, Braver idea: forget the ‘should’ and embrace what feels good and what works for you and your coaching business.
Before you start drawing up an ambitious and complicated marketing strategy for 2022, take a moment…
…instead of thinking about what marketing you should be doing, consider what marketing would make you feel good!
“You too could make $1million selling courses online! Sign up now!”
We’ve all seen ads like this. And we’ve probably all had a moment of, “Oh, if only. Maybe I should check this out…”
Well, what works for them probably won’t work for you. Coaching services vary wildly and the way you deliver yours is likely very different. Still, it’s tempting, isn’t it? You see a coach plugging themselves on social media, or sending a you-too-could-be-staggeringly-successful type of email and you think, maybe I should be doing something like this too.
But if your only frame of reference is what appears to be working for others you’re not really thinking about you and what makes your coaching business unique. This drains your energy and usually gives you very little in return.
If you only do what others do, how do you expect to stand out?
Besides, it’s unlikely that what worked for someone who is telling you how much money they made selling online courses or high ticket programmes is going to work for you. Which is not to imply their offer is entirely dishonest, just that they’re probably not telling you about the pre-existing huge online audience they had, or the mailing list of old clients that gave their offer a boost.
Find a marketing process that works for you
When you’re looking for a fresh perspective, headlines (however attention-grabbing) don’t cut it. You need to see and understand the whole process to know if it’s a fit. Books like The 1-Page Marketing Plan, This Is Marketing or Oversubscribed are all excellent options, albeit not written with coaching in mind.
The temptation with these broad-ranging packages is to pick and mix the bits that appeal or are relevant. And you can get results that way. Though a piecemeal approach to marketing is likely to give you piecemeal results…
Ideally, you want a process, something that from end to end works for your coaching business. Our own marketing process –the Coach’s Marketing Journey — is designed specifically for coaches. And a guide to the whole thing is available for you to read and evaluate.
It’s all about the conversation
The ‘traditional’ approach to marketing tends to focus on conversions, form fills, mailing lists sign-ups, and so on. Good for building a network or online audience maybe, but not so great for introducing would-be clients to your coaching services. Instead, try focusing on starting conversations with interested people.
For the client, the decision to work with a coach isn’t made in a second or on impulse, it’s at the end of a journey of increasingly conscious awareness of their situation and how coaching can support them. We’ve identified five different levels of consciousness in the process, from unaware to most aware. We also offer a guide to this journey of consciousness, all laid out for you to read up front (no promises of ‘secret sauce’ here, just available information)
But… “I’ve seen this other coach who says their program works/will get me lots of clients/change my life.”
There are some very compelling sales websites out there, I’ve seen a lot of them. And I’m sure these people do have some top tips, tricks and tactics that will work up to a point. But beware of the magic beans. If it sounds too good to be true, there’s a good chance it is. Before you buy a marketing program, here are three red flags to look out for:
- They focus on how much money they’ve made — but not how much you’ll make? Guarantees are difficult to offer but if all they can say is how it worked for them, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll work for you. Ask yourself, are you really like them, do you have the same existing audience/business/mailing list they did? If you’re starting from different places, their program may well leave you with a very different result.
- They’re using pressure sales tactics — If you see countdown timers, prices that end in a “7”, or worst of all a popup telling you who else has “just purchased”, close the tab, walk away and save your money. A credible business doesn’t need to use these.
- The process or formula isn’t available until you buy the course — Ask yourself why? Is it so simple that they could explain it on one page? Are you in fact just buying a few videos and a lot of upselling for the next course?
If you are still unsure, ask someone to give you a second opinion — I bet that countdown timer will still be ticking down with the same offer tomorrow. Even simpler than that, sleep on it and see how it looks in the morning.
If someone is saying you ‘should’, maybe you shouldn’t
What’s that phrase? Shoulda, coulda, woulda…? If someone is telling you what you should be doing to market your coaching business, that’s often the biggest red flag of all. How well do they know you and what you do? How much of what they’re pushing looks genuinely applicable and useful, and how much is irrelevant… and how much is hidden until you part with the cash?!
Marketing your coaching using a process gives you structure and makes things easier. When that structure is open and flexible enough to fit your needs and circumstances (rather than the other way around) then you can approach your marketing as something to get enthusiastic about… it can even be fun!
Make your marketing feel good
Imagine for a moment that you enjoyed your marketing tasks. Imagine marketing not as a chore but as something that gives you a buzz, like your coaching work…
If you want to work on your marketing in 2022 in a way that feels good then join us for six guided sessions through our Coach’s Marketing Journey course. Starting on January 11th, we’ll be guiding coaches through the essential steps they can take to make marketing part of their coaching practice and create a manageable (and fun) marketing strategy that attracts better clients who see the value in coaching.
Our process is freely available for all to read in the guide on our website, there is no countdown timer (although given the first session is on the 11th of January, you might want to sign up before then) and, you guessed it, the price doesn’t end in a “7”! In fact, it’s a one-time purchase of £450, $600 or €575, making it an affordable investment in your business for the new year. Think of it like a textbook you buy once and then refer back to for years to come, getting value each time. Learn more and join us in 2022.
