BIG Marketing Myth, Start with Marketing that Works for You! | By Ben Dooley, MCC

Marketing Myth #1: There's only one way to market your business. And it's THIS!

It makes sense that most coaches get overwhelmed and frustrated when it comes to marketing:

• Most of us aren't trained or schooled in the world of marketing.
• We've had our own unpleasant experiences with marketing that leave us feeling unsatisfied, and even manipulated or lied to.
• There's already so much freaking marketing out there - everywhere I turn it's a plug for this and an ad for that. The online world has completely exploded and abused our marketing boundaries. (I don't know about you, but every time I open my email box there is a flood of people trying to push their stuff on me).
• There's something like 8 million different ways to market - with new ones popping up all the time. It used to be simply having a business card and doing speaking engagements. And then it was just needing a website. But quickly we had to have a Facebook page, and then we had to Tweet, and Pinterest, and Snapchat, and Instagram, and who knows what else is next? It's all so much.

Are you putting up the "No" barrier?

As a result, we instantly put up the "No" barrier. And sadly not just as a consumer. We also become an instant "No" to the idea of marketing ourselves and our business.

"But Ben..." I can already hear you saying. "You market all the time. It seems like every week something from you pops up somewhere." And if you're following me, you're probably right. And that's the point - marketing is a necessary action to build and maintain any business.

• Without marketing, how would anyone know you exist or what you offer?
• If you didn't market, how would any of your clients know how and where to find you?

Now, I'll be the first to say that I'm no expert in marketing. I only have my own experience and self-education. There are others out there who have spent many more years and many more dollars to truly understand this crazy world.

Today I want to clarify one thing: There is no ONE way to market!

There is a whole world of marketing out there devoted to someone's particular marketing technique. Did you get that? I'll repeat that so you truly let it sink in: There is a whole world of marketing out there devoted to someone's particular marketing technique.

Every time an email or a blog post appears telling you they just discovered an amazing new strategy to attract incredible amounts of customers - that's their product. And they are marketing to you to get you to buy it.

Don't get me wrong. There are tons of different ways to market out there from cold calling to blogging to networking to speaking engagements to tweeting to webradio to open telecalls (like the amazing Coaching Skills Forum 😉 ) to writing articles (like this one) and many more. And they can all work.

At least for a particular person.

Many people are convinced their way of marketing will work for everyone else too. They assume, "If it works for me, it works for EVERYONE." And that's what they want you to believe.

But don't buy in to what they're selling so quickly and easily.

Look at it this way: In coaching, we explore with our clients to find what works for them, right? We don't give our clients the answers. We don't tell them what to do and we certainly don't make claims that, "If it worked for me, it most definitely will work for you."

And we can keep that same mindset for marketing! If we take each marketing approach that appears in front of us as information rather than the answer, then it's an invitation to try it out and explore. Poke around and see if it fits.

Let's look at Twitter for example:

There are people out there who absolutely love Twitter, connect with it and tweet easily and effectively. Great. That works for them. But it's not for me.

I completely hate Twitter. I don't get it, I don't read it and I really can't do it. It takes me longer to pop out a 140 character post than to write this article. That's just how I'm wired. I don't think Twitter is bad, it's just not for me.

That's not to say I didn't try it. Of course I did. How else would I know Twitter wasn't for me? And not just once. I gave it a really good shot. But my brain just isn't wired that way. So instead it's going to be much more effective for me to focus my energy on some other form of marketing.

I like to fully form and express ideas. I like my writing contributions to have actual content and information - perhaps with an effort to teach and pass along some learning. I can't really do that with Twitter. But I can with an article.

So yes, though informative and helpful, this article is also a form of marketing.

And if an expert claims, "If you want to have a successful business you have to Tweet" then I'll be happy to have a conversation with them - and it'll be more than 140 characters!

So, here are the 5 Steps I tell all the coaches I work with to get started with:

1. List: Make a list of all the many different forms of marketing that are out there. (I could do it for you, but as we know in coaching, it's important that the client does the work).
2. Review: Now go through your list. Make a quick judgment on each of them - LIKE/ DON'T LIKE. Not had much experience? You can also include how it feels to receive them, because if you don't like receiving a particular type of marketing, then you're really going to have a hard time creating and sending out that stuff. For example:
   • Twitter – don't like
   • Facebook – don't like
   • Blog – like
   • Newsletter - like
   • Workshops – like     (Wait a minute. I said I wasn't going to do it for you. Don't worry, there are many, many more you can add to this list.)
   • NOTE: And for options that you neither like nor don't like, put that in category C. Whether you don't have enough experience to form an opinion, are curious and interested or are unsure because it's pushing a comfort zone for you. That's OK. You can C about it later - get it?
3. Explore: Now take a little more time to explore what it is that you like and don't like for each technique. What could be good? What values are met or triggered? What strengths are utilized? What specifically about it don't you like?
4. Learn more about the LIKES: It might be worth your time and energy to learn how to utilize these methods effectively. To make a marketing method work for your business, there is usually more to it than just putting out a blog or a tweet. Go and Google it! Wondering how to use Twitter to grow your business? How to use Pinterest/Facebook to find clients? How to write a blog post that gets clients? Type it into your search browser and get learning.
5. Let Go of the DON'T Likes: For all those DON'T LIKEs, don't worry about them. Toss them aside. Clean them out of your list. This is clearly a marketing direction that isn't worth your time and energy.

I guarantee whatever marketing approach you choose, there will be an expert out there ready to market their product and process to you. But now the marketing method will be effective and appropriate to you. Which, after all, is what you want your marketing to be, right?

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Contributing Author:

Ben Dooley, MCC. YOUR coaching confidence and success made easy and fun. "I BElieve that you are an amazing, powerful, and impacting coach! I want to help you connect to that coach and unleash your coaching power and confidence to create your coaching success!" Find out more about Ben—awesome mentor coach and so much more—at www.bedo.org

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