The #1 mistake business owners make with their marketing

"Marketing is just a way to find people to buy my services" is a quote I often here from new business owners.
In this article we will look at the true purpose of marketing and why thinking of it as a way to sell to people is a mistake.

When I first meet new Coaches or Counsellors who are wanting to create their own private practice I ask what their current marketing strategy consists of. Most tell me that they place adverts which say that they are a Counsellor (or Life Coach) and give details of how people can contact them. Some will also say the type of therapy they work with, for example N.L.P, C.B.T, Bowen therapy and so on.

The mistake here is that potential clients will not understand from such adverts how you can help them. What will they get out of it.

The mistake believing that marketing is just a path to sell something to someone is that people will see through this pretty quickly and most likely walk away. Long gone are the days of traditional selling where you state what your product or service is and how great it is hoping that people will buy. People are pretty savvy these days and can see through a blatant attempt to get them to buy something.

In this age of remote digital marketing where your potential client may live thousands of miles away it is more important than ever to create a connection with them. We need to let people know we are human and approachable, and most of all that we genuinely care about how our service can transform their lives.

This was never more important than in the field of Life Coaching or Counselling where the service is essentially ourselves and our ability to create a therapeutic alliance. From the very first contact we make with a potential client we need to demonstrate our compassion, our understanding of their issues and most importantly what they will get from working with us. We need to have a conversation with our potential clients so that they can get to know us, get to like us and critically trust us so that when they find themselves in a situation where they do need that extra support and help that a Life Coach or Counsellor can give they will turn to us and not some random name listed in a directory about whom they know nothing.