Power vs Force Marketing
Article Summary
One of my biggest pet peeves as a coach is being marketed to, forcefully. Today I am going to explain what I mean by this. I am going to give you examples of what to do and what not to do. As well as a clear and obvious example of how this was done to me. Let’s market with power, my friend!!
Scroll down to mid-page to learn about POWER Marketing!!
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Force Marketing (Scroll down for Power Marketing)
Last week this gal jumped into my DMs with some force-based marketing. Here’s what she said:
“Kathie I love the work that you’re doing as a Life Coach!, that’s such important work to be doing in this world right now. I remember starting my business and how scary and exciting that stage is. When did you start your business?”
I knew right from here that something shady was about to come my way. Why? Because if you knew anything about me you’d know that I have been coaching since 2002 for starters. And if you really researched my IG account you’d see a ton of content. I am by no means “new and scared.” Chalk that up to mistake number one.
I smelled a rat
Since I smelled a rat🐀 I answered her question with a single, one-word answer. I said,
“2000.”
Hoping she’d get the kind but subtle hint and leave me alone.
Instead, she hearted this! Did she even read the year? Maybe I should have said 2000 years ago. Even then I doubt she paid attention. She then proceeded with more bullshit!
“Oh that’s amazing! Thank you for sharing with me.”
Really girl? Did you even read my response?
In retrospect, I think this thing was a bot! This makes me even more skeptical of DM marketing!
Continued Forced Marketing
She proceeds with more in a new message, I might add. She says,
“I’ll give you the short-ish version.”
<Let me quickly remind you here that I NEVER asked for any of this.>
She goes on to say, “I never wanted to be a coach. I literally did not even know who Tony Robbins was 8 years ago. After changing a lot of things in my life (career, relationship, health, home, etc….) I realized I was stuck playing small for so long because of fear, doubt, insecurity, lack of confidence etc….”
End of the message but another quickly follows. Let me insert something of high importance here. If I have been a life coach since 2000, do you seriously think I would relate to the fact that you didn’t know who Tony Robbins was?
And the name Tony Robbins gives me a seriously icky vibe for so many reasons!! 🤢
And 8 years ago
I was already the corporate wellness director at a large firm. Eight years ago I had been practicing as a successful fitness trainer and life coach for 12 years.
Furthermore, if you even remotely looked at my content you’d see I am in fact a coach who teaches others how to overcome “doubt, fear, insecurity, and lack of confidence.” her words, not mine, because I do my best to NOT market on insecurities, especially when I have not established authority! And she had not established authority with me!! FORCE MARKETING!!
Did she pay attention?!
She continued further with another message before I could even respond!!! 😨
“So I started a 2-year AOS program in Mind-Body Transformational Psychology. In that program, they sort of “forced” me to get some coaching certifications and it was love at first sight. I had to coach all of my friends (who majority were entrepreneurs themselves) and the transformation they were getting lit me up from the inside out.”
I am fuming now!!🤬
Even if this gal even slightly looked at my profile she would have seen that I possess a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. And if she even remotely paid attention or even simply cared enough about me as a person, she would see that she was insulting my intelligence with her very selfish, very forced, very immature message!!
Now I must add that this gal calls herself a “Business and confidence coach.” That’s great. And obviously, she has a ton of confidence to slide into my DMs and market herself as an “expert.”
But at this point, I do not even follow her. Why? Because I originally followed her a few days prior. But once I really looked at her posts and content I saw that I was not in alignment with her so I unfollowed her. No big deal!! I was just paying attention.
My Response
So I replied to her. I said,
“Please stop. Been doing this since probably before you were even born. Forced marketing is bullshit.”
She said,
“I understand you feel that way based on past experiences..”
WTF? Based on past experiences??? She was seriously forcing her marketing upon me in the here and now. I was getting sick just reading her inauthentic messages that were very poorly communicated!!
She just continued before I could even reply further about the ‘experiences’ part. She said,
“Personally, I don’t like to sell anything to anyone that I don’t know. Why would I sell something to you without knowing if I can even help you?”
End message and she hadn’t even had a reply from me yet.
Then she says the very last thing to me (before she read my response mind you).
“But have a wonderful day, I love the work that you’re doing and wish you all the best.”
And then she ghosted me!!! I was pissed!!! And gaslit!!
I had a reason to be totally frustrated with this gal. How did she know my experiences??? And she was marketing to me NOT selling. There is a huge difference!!
Please tell me that was a bot. That will renew my hope, of which I have very little now!
Power vs Force
I responded,
“Experiences???” End message.
Enter another response from me,
“Quit assuming you know people. That’s inauthentic. Spoken from a woman who’s old!!”
Yes, I am happily old. I’m as old as the Super Bowl. But that was the end of that message. And she was still ghosting me so I continued with another message.
“Marketing and selling are two different things. You were definitely marketing to me. First of all I don’t even follow you. What makes you think you can jump into my DMs and tell me you were scared when you first started???? Like I’m scared and that’s how we relate???? Talking to my pain points????? Study the levels of consciousness in the book Power vs Force then tell me you were not forcing your marketing on me. The only reason I’m even responding to your bs is because you prey on victims I coach. Seriously, study effective conscious marketing then you’ll find those that love you!!!”
Side note: link to the book Power vs Force.
And yes coaches like her prey of victims. Victims that I coach today. My Amy Porterfield content is very popular. And that is exactly the way this gal was preying on me. Oh, such a bad taste in my mouth.
To make matters worse she ghosted me. She did not even read those messages until I called her out in my stories. Even then she did not respond. Had she responded and accepted responsibility for preying on unsuspecting souls I would not be calling her out here.
Power Marketing is Here to the Rescue!
Those messages were 100% out of alignment with my core values and what I teach. So what do I teach? To really understand that let’s talk about a very authentic and genuine way to approach someone. This message comes from Karan Mehtani. And let me tell you it’s a pure example of Power Marketing.
(Just FYI in 2024 Karan has changed her marketing. I think she also has a bot responding to her DMs Talk about inauthentic marketing!! Please do not show trust in her until you know. I say this because she used to refer people to this blog post to promote her business. Online marketing changes and she changed. This article was written on December 19, 2022.)
“Hi, hope you’re doing good. You’re posting some great content! If you’re interested I can give you some free tips which will help you increase your reach organically on Instagram and get clients. If you like them you can use them, otherwise, you can just laugh at them and never talk to me again. 😊 -Karan”
This approach is kind and thoughtful. She is not assuming I need her coaching, yet she is. She is not insulting my intelligence by telling me I can laugh at them and never talk again. I loved this!! And she did not jump into “solutions” to my so-called problem.
Her next message came with many key takeaways that I could practice today and made sense.
Side note: In December 2023 Karan changed her business model and Instagram has changed. I do not align with her anymore, either. 🤦♀️
They were simple and to the point. I could see her expertise in two messages! In fact, she earned my trust this way!!! Trust is key in power marketing.
After several exchanges just like this, she then asked me if I was interested in a purchase. This purchase was not over the top (only $129) and was a simple email exchange and more bonuses on how to do what she offered.
I made the purchase and even had to wait 3 days for the email because she limits her client intake. BUT I trusted her because of the great advice she gave me. In fact, this gal provided so much for free that I felt that alone was worth what I paid her!!!
And this my friend is how it’s done. This coach single-handedly made me fall in love with Instagram again!! And that is what we as coaches, entrepreneurs, and team members need to do in our own worlds.
We need to take a problem our clients have and turn it into an easily solved problem. But to do this takes two things.
Know Your Ideal Client
It takes completely knowing your ideal client, inside and out.
Benefit and Integrity for ALL Involved
And the second thing it takes is working from a place of power not force. This means getting in the flow and working from a place of integrity and benefit for you AND those you work with!
What happens when you don’t know who you work with? That will be evident in your messages, just like gal number one. Remember her? The “Business and Confidence Coach”?
Solutions for Forced Marketers
That’s it bottom line! Gal #1 the confidence coach? Well, I am not her ideal client. I do not need her services. In fact, she needs mine! or she should fire her bot!
Gal #2 works from a place of flow, light-hearted and fun! Once gal #1 gets that concept - she will be great! I am sure of it.
As for you, please don’t fall prey to coaches like gal #1. This happens more often than I like to mention. I have had so many coaches approach me with forced marketing.
Even Amy Porterfield markets like this. And she teaches us how to find our ideal client. Very succinctly I might add. But the element she leaves out of the equation is she forces her sales on those who do not need her <very expensive> services. Just like gal #1, just like so many other coaches out there. In an unregulated market, it is easy to do.
But when you see and truly feel the inauthenticity in the marketing it makes it easy to walk away. And if it gets really forced upon me, I will call them out!!
Simple Shifts
A great simple shift will start when you identify your ideal client. You know, the person who truly needs what you offer. Stop marketing fishing poles to someone who already has the best fishing equipment and has been fishing since before you were even born. 🤣
Social Curator offers great solutions for all of your marketing. In fact, Social Curator recently released all of their issues (over 60) on their awesome and inspiring platform. It is full of great resources. And they will also teach you how to identify your ideal client!! I highly recommend Social Curator.
I also highly recommend Joseph Rodrigues. He has a ton of free content on his YouTube Channel which is also in podcast format. As of this writing, he has over 440 episodes.
He also has online marketing courses. Joseph will teach you how to identify your ideal client as that is marketing 101.
I have purchased all of his courses and at $147 total it is a steal. Especially when you compare it to Amy Porterfield’s content which could cost you over $5,000 if you purchased everything she sells. And with Amy, you’ll definitely be taught ‘Forced Marketing’. Joseph on the other hand teaches how to market from a place of power, in a flow state, and with integrity and benefit for you and your customer.
Here’s a link to Joseph Rodrigues's Courses.
Here’s a link to Social Curator. Use this link and save on your first month - if they still offer that, things change! (I think SC doesn’t offer that anymore, especially to me because I talk about the unethical marketing of her business bestie Amy) 😩
Thank you for spending part of your day with me. If you found this article helpful please share it using the simple share buttons to the side. Until next time I’ll see you next time. Peace out and Namaste!
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