Copyright © 2009, CoachingMillions.com & Milana Leshinsky
Let’s talk about some of the mind shifts and specific actions you can take to overcome marketing aversion. First of all, think about this: do you really hate "marketing," or just the "methods" that make you feel less than authentic? Let's face it, conventional marketing sucks. Who really wants to make a "name squeeze" page, memorize an elevator speech or learn to write hyped sales letters? The single most recommended marketing strategy for coaches is a newsletter. So as you start your coaching business, the first thing you’re told to do is start writing a monthly newsletter. After a few months you realize that newsletters don’t work (read as “don’t generate income”). All of a sudden marketing becomes difficult. A newsletter is the only method that can be easily understood and quickly applied by a new business owner, so what’s next? If the newsletter didn’t work, how DO you get coaching clients? You try different things, talk to different people, ask other coaches, and learn that they are struggling just as much as you are. But, if you're really good, you shouldn't have to market, right? Being good at what you do is important, and every good coach making great money is also good at "marketing" herself -- no matter what she calls it: attraction, networking, serving, referrals, etc. The truth is, it's really not "marketing" most coaches hate, its icky, slick willie "methods" we all resist. The solution is simple: use the strategies that make you feel great and that bring out the best in you. For example, many people are focused on the latest “gadgets” they can use to market their business: SEO, pay-per-click, blogs, podcasts, etc. No matter what “gadgets” show up every month, one thing always remains true: creating value for people is the best marketing strategy ever. Technology comes and goes (just ask those lost their income overnight when Google changed its searching algorithm), but creating value is forever.
What is value? In very plain terms, creating value is creating content. Most successful coaches and other business owners understand and apply this on a daily basis. If you’re not creating content, you’re not building a real value in your business. The best thing about this is that coaches have a big advantage when it comes to creating content! We can produce hundreds of pages of information
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