Have you ever followed someone’s step-by-step marketing formula, only to have it NOT WORK?

Or maybe it works, but it causes a sort of psychic drag within you?

This is a classic case of trying to squeeze oneself into an old marketing paradigm.

Listen, no judgment here.  I’ve done this too. I’ve been trained in all the tricks in the book – from coaching women how to talk to their husbands to get money, to telling folks it’s a once in a lifetime chance to buy something, to saying there are ‘only 5 spots left’!

I’m no saint.

But I am here to spark a conversation for those of us who are genuinely interested in giving power back to the people, even as we grow our businesses.

Especially as we grow our businesses.

You with me?

As we go along the path of the New Marketing, we actually have some unlearning to do. The old marketing paradigm has been programmed into us. Even as I write this, I hear the old marketing voices telling me YOU’RE LEADING ALL THESE PEOPLE TO STARVE TO DEATH.

But I find this sort of fear and intimidation so outré, don’t you?

So here are some magical tools for creating New Marketing for your coaching, healing or consulting business:

Notice how creating your marketing makes you feel.

As you know, our bodies are the only home we’ve got on this hunk of rock hurtling through space and time. And our emotions are our compass. When you try to express what you’re up to in your work, how do you feel? Clear and confident that it’ll connect you with your ideal clients? Frustrated and tongue-tied? All of the above? Your feelings about your marketing matters. If you feel grumpy, muddled, or disappointed when you try to communicate about your life’s work, notice that.

Notice the response your marketing creates in others.

Don’t just pay attention to whether or not people are responding. Notice who is responding, and how. Train yourself to see the difference between people showing up asking for discounts or telling you they can’t afford it, and people who are a perfect fit for your offer and who know it.

Think of marketing like a dojo.

A dojo is the place people doing martial arts go to train. If you don’t go to the dojo, you don’t learn. If you don’t learn, you won’t improve. All the wisdom and answers you are seeking about how to market your business are in the ‘dojo’ of showing up and doing your marketing. This is how I think about my Write Club community – as a dojo for people to train, to learn, and to improve their marketing.

Learn one thing.

Part of the thing about going to the dojo is that it can be intense, especially when you’re getting started. When I first started going to boxing class last fall, I was intimidated. I’d never belonged to a gym before. And facing off against people who wanted to punch me was also a first. But in Write Club, we have a motto: Learn One Thing. Which means when you show up, you don’t have to get better at everything all at once. You just need to learn ONE thing. After you write a piece of marketing or put a marketing project into the field, reflect: What went well? What ONE THING did I learn to do differently next time?

This is how people improve their marketing. Not by following someone else’s 7-step system. But by paying attention to their own experience, feelings, and results – and by being in conversation with other people who share their interest and commitment to success, no matter what.

If you’d like to join my dojo, join Write Club.

Big love,