Let’s talk about your Purpose.
Don’t worry… I’m not going to write about the power of knowing your WHY.
I’ll leave that up to Simon Sinek.
Instead, I want to ask you:
How purposeful are you in your marketing efforts?
How well have you thought your strategy through so that every moment you spend on client attraction actually moves the needle in some way?
Most coaches I know are busy being busy. They share stories on Instagram. They launch Facebook groups that end up looking like ghost towns. They send regular emails (or at least try), hoping to inspire clients to reach out.
And they worry that they’re not doing enough…
Maybe you need a YouTube channel or a podcast. Perhaps it’s time to write that book. Are Facebook ads finally in order? What about a summit?
The list of options is never-ending.
While all of these marketing strategies are viable, none of them will work for you if you don’t understand why you’ve chosen them and how they connect to your business goals.
I learned this lesson the hard way.
For about 8,000 years, I sent emails to my mailing list week after week. I invested so much heart and soul into building trust with my readers, that I often forgot to actually sell them anything.
Gosh… I sure didn’t want to offend anyone by giving them the chance to actually work with me!
See, I emailed my little heart out and hoped that somehow those efforts would indirectly pay off in the form of paying clients.
I made the same mistake with my Facebook group. I hosted weekly Facebook lives, engaged daily with my tribe, and did my best to create a real connection.
And, when it became time to launch my online program, I just forgot to announce it inside my Facebook group.
The truth is that I operated under an assumption most coaches make.
“If you build it, they will come.”
Maybe… but they’re far more likely to come when you actually invite them in.
Pretty quickly, I realized that I had to stop my pattern of wishful marketing and put my big girl pants on to actually invite people in.
My efforts needed a purpose. Otherwise, it was all just noise.
And… I needed to step out of the shadows of busy-work-marketing that allowed me to hide.
Here’s how I changed things up:
- I set clear and measurable goals. I know… A coach with goals… who woulda thunk it…
- I layered regular “sales” emails into my weekly blog rotation. That way, I don’t ever lose track of the last time I invited readers into my programs.
- I blew up my Twitter account. I don’t like Twitter and I’ve never gotten a client from Twitter, so why was I putting energy into that platform?
- I built a year launch schedule so I could plan, well in advance, when I needed to up my marketing efforts and how I’d do it.
- I hired help (experts in social media marketing to do the heavy lifting) so I couldn’t let my perfectionism get in the way.
- Every time I took on another tool or strategy, I asked myself, “how, exactly will this help me help more people?”
Because here’s the thing about marketing with purpose…
My biggest desire in life is to serve others. I sincerely want to help other coaches become successful and feel confident.
Yet without connecting the dots between my marketing efforts and actual client creation, I just made it too darn difficult for people to actually hire me.
And it’s my hands-on coach-to-client work that makes the biggest impact.
So, the only way to fulfill my desire is to market more directly.
Vulnerable? Yes. But even more valuable.
Now it’s your turn…
Take ten minutes to quickly audit why you do what you do in your marketing, what efforts are most effective, and where you might be just being busy. While you’re at it, head on over to our Coaches on a Mission Facebook group and share.
