It’s not working.
You’ve tried writing blog posts. You’ve tried posting on social media. You’ve tried boosting and running ads.
But it’s just not working. Sure, your family and friends liked your page and even read a few posts. But none of it is getting to the people you want as clients.
It’s like you’re talking, but the mute button is on.
The good news is that each of the things you did was probably fine.
So what’s the problem?
In a nutshell … it’s noisy and confusing out there. Your ideal clients won’t even know you’re there unless you attract their attention first and speak loudly and clearly enough to be heard.
What does it take to be heard?
The following 6 principles, curiously all starting with “C”, will help you design your individual messages and your overall marketing strategy in a way that will be effective. You can also use them to diagnose what has gone wrong in the past.
Coherent
Your messages, taken as a whole, must be logically connected. If the individual messages were pieces of a puzzle, you would say that the pieces are different parts of the same picture.
Opposite: Anything that seems out of place or contradictory.
Consistent
Your messages, taken as a whole must support and reinforce a primary message. If the individual messages were asteroids, you would say that they are all in the asteroid belt, orbiting around the sun.
Opposite: Lack of a primary message or individual messages that are irrelevant or contradictory to the primary message.
Continuous
Your ideal customers should hear your primary message over and over and associate that message with you. For
Opposite: Thinking you can stop sending it.
Complementary
Your messages should be better together. For example, if you (intentionally) have a snarky image, then a snarky blog post is a good thing. However, if you have a wholesome, helpful image, then the same post wouldn’t work for you.
Opposite: Anything you say or do that doesn’t actively enhance your image or, worse, detracts from your image.
Compatible
Each message should be compatible with the customer, meaning it should be targeted to a specific segment of the population and targeted to a specific phase of the customer journey. To learn more about the customer journey, refer to A Better Way of Finding Coaching Clients
Opposite: One size fits all.
Coverage
Your communication, taken as a whole, should address all of your customer segments, taking each through all of the stages of the whole customer journey.
Opposite: Gaps. Missing segments or stages.
So now what?
While you were looking at the principles, you may have noticed that the last two (Compatible and Coverage) are the ones that require the most up-front homework in terms of market research and the most effort in terms of writing and sending messages. And they are the reason that most marketing efforts fail.
The good news is, now that you know about them, you can do something about them and create a marketing strategy that really works. To get you started, here’s a link to a PDF with some doable, practical steps for identifying and understanding your ideal client, your “avatar”, which is a key part of your market research.
