The Problem With Following The Marketing Hype Train

If you find yourself hopping from one new marketing channel to the next - and never getting any traction (or clients).....

Feeling worried that you’re “missing out” by not implementing the sexy stuff everyone else is doing…

I have some good news for you: you don’t have to copy people or follow the latest trend. In fact, it could be the very reason you haven’t gotten traction yet.

My marketing strategy was always to model others. Find a successful person and market exactly like they do.

On the surface, it made a ton of sense. If it worked for them, it would work for me, right?

But that advice got me into trouble. Led me to a bunch of dead ends. Had me doing all kinds of things that weren’t me. Things I abandoned after a short time.

The solution, when I found it, was simple:

Go all in on the type of marketing you love. Do it consistently. Master it.

(If you haven’t already guessed, for me, it’s writing!)

Now I get 2-4 people inbound messaging me each week (with no cold reach out) asking about my program, all from doing a type of marketing that I enjoy.

I’m not trying to encourage you to become a writer. I’m giving you permission to find what YOUR thing is, the way writing is for me.

If you want to be a successful coach, you should plan on showing up consistently in your marketing for at least the next 5 years.

That means 3-5 times per week minimum, until at least the year 2026.

Can you see why you better pick something you enjoy?

People will say I’m wrong, and that you should choose the marketing channels that are working the best right now.

In some ways that’s true - if your plan is to buy ads in the Yellow Pages or space on billboards, good luck.

But let’s unpack what marketing really is for a second.

In marketing, you have format, medium, and message.

Format is the form or type of content.

Examples = text, audio, or video.

Medium is where you place your marketing. Another word for this is “channel”.

Examples = social media, email, television, direct mail, podcasts

Message is what you say in your marketing.

Examples = what type of person you speak to, how you highlight their problems, how you talk about the solution, how you talk about your offer.

Here’s the thing: Message matters most. By a LONG shot.

Format can and should be the one you like most.

For medium, you should pick the one where most of your customers are, that is also a good fit for your format.

But message is everything. If your content doesn’t resonate, it won’t matter how cool and up-to-date your marketing techniques are.

Using unfocused messaging in your marketing is like trying to chop down a tree with a hammer.

Focused messaging upgrades you to a sharp axe.

A focused message, even in a less popular format and on a less popular medium, will win.

Mastery is found in the messaging.

Yet, when people talk about “marketing strategies”, they are referring to format and, more often, medium. They give little importance to message.

This is because message is harder to master. It’s deeper. And giving it attention would uncover other uncomfortable issues most coaches have - they don’t know who their ideal client is or really what they help them with. Or, at the very least, they suck at talking about it.

So, they hop from one channel to the next, hoping that it will be the big break they’ve been looking for. Still toting that hammer, trying to chop down that tree.

You don’t need to be like them. Do what you love, and master your messaging. Do it consistently. That’s it.

I hope this gives you a deeper understanding of what really constitutes marketing, specifically so that you have more confidence to OWN the type of marketing you’ve been pining for, the one you wish you could do (but were worried that it might not be effective enough).

When you get this right, your marketing becomes very clear and simple. You show up each day and put in the reps. Resistance and procrastination fall away.

People start to take you seriously because you aren’t going away. You begin to get messages talking about how much your content helped someone. Those messages turn into clients. It really can be that simple.

This type of radical transformation can happen in as little as 30 days.

When you find (and go all in on) the marketing format you love, and you combine that with serving your ideal client, in the niche you’re most passionate about, and create and sell an offer you wholly believe in, you will have a truly aligned coaching business that you can scale (while having a ton of fun) for years to come.

Identifying the type of marketing you would love to do consistently is one thing I cover in my 6 week 1:1 coaching program that takes coaches and experts who have tried all the gimmicks (with varying degrees of success) and are ready to shut off all the noise and get to work building the coaching business that fills them with gratification, leaves their legacy, and have a ton of fun along the way.

I also cover refining your ideal client, the niche you’re most passionate about, and building an offer you wholly believe in.

If this resonates with you, shoot me a DM to see if you’re a fit. I do my enrollments over Messenger. I’ll shoot you a few questions to make sure it makes sense. If so, we can start this week.