Stop Marketing To Your Critics
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Your marketing needs regular vibe checks.
Because we often say more than we mean to in our marketing… Like where we hold the most self-doubt.
And it is really hard to get customers to feel safe investing in you when you don’t feel safe yourself.
Is Insecurity Sneaking Into Your Copywriting?
When I review marketing copy, all too often, I can tell what the author is afraid of. For instance:
🍂 That the customer will think the offer is “too expensive”
🍂 That people won’t recognize their work as valuable
🍂 That their offer isn’t enticing enough on its own so they have to throw in a ton of freebies and discounts to get anyone to buy
🍂 “Beggars can’t be choosers” regarding who they work with and scope of work
🍂 That their business will never make it off the struggle bus
That’s right, the writing itself betrays these fears. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve wrestled with the very same fears myself- I’m not judging. But I also know this is not the marketing energy that sells.
It’s like how everyone thinks about the you ask them not to think about. Seriously, try it! “DON’T THINK ABOUT THE ADORABLE BABY HIPPO!”
… Are you thinking abut the adorable baby hippo? Of course you are!
So, if your marketing is subconsciously shrieking: “DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE PRICE!!” The recipient might (reasonably) wonder, “Should I worry about the price?”
Whereas if the marketing conveys a sense of ease, confidence, warmth, and welcome, it feels like a much less loaded invitation to accept.
So. Back to how I can tell the author’s fears from the writing alone. I can tell in a few technical ways:
🍂Their marketing copy is LONG & has the distinct flavor of overexplanation🍂 The tone is hesitant & appeasing- as though the Fawn trauma response wrote it
🍂 Boundaries are blurred or absent and you really have to hunt to find what the seller needs in exchange for their work- like price, scope limitations, who the offer is best suited for, etc.
🍂 The copy is far more focused on dissuading doubt than it is on building hope
Why do we do this? 😩
Unconsciously, I think a lot of people address their marketing to their critics. That’s who is in the back of their mind as they write their sales pages, craft their social media presence, and strategize.
I’ve had several clients who were exhausted from getting hyped up and super prepared for a sales call only to hear again that the client couldn’t afford them. Why did this keep happening to them??!
I’ll tell you why. They were attracting people who couldn’t afford them because that was who they were talking to in their marketing. That’s the pain point that was highlighted, the objection that was attended to. This imaginary critic was the recipient of all the seller’s attention and lip service.
Meanwhile, the folks who could gladly afford them weren’t addressed at all! Their pain points, their hopes, their circumstances weren’t mentioned. Of course they weren’t coming- they weren’t being invited!
How do I focus on my “F Yes!” clients instead?
When pressed, folks who have this struggle in their marketing admit to having difficulty imagining the person who could happily afford their services.
Trying to imagine this person actually made them so uncomfortable, they had been avoiding it entirely! (Until they got support.)
Why? Because they feared the person who would happily pay for their services didn’t exist. And that fear was blocking them (and their marketing).
They were in a “gotta see it to believe it” mentality, and they hadn’t seen it yet. “It” being happy high-ticket customers. So their marketing & sales were at an impasse.
Until I taught them a magic trick.
This is where we get to start bending reality. Have to, actually- to be a good entrepreneur.
Believe first. Then see the tangible proof.
Here’s why:
🌮 If you need a customer to validate your faith in your business, you are assigning them quite a bit of emotional labor they haven’t consented to
🌮 If you, the seller, aren’t grounded in your faith in the value of your work- why on earth would a customer want to risk investment?
🌮 They need an invitation to come. You’re going to have a hard time crafting your marketing as an invitation to people you don’t believe exist!
So, what really helps here- more than another marketing channel, another copywriting tip, another business class, another template, another tactic - is belief building.
🌮 Practice visualizing your “F YES!!!” client who is ready and willing to pay.
🌮 Decide to suspend your disbelief.
🌮 Take intentional risks in service of rewards you care about and actually want.
🌮 Expand your capacity to handle and learn from failure without it shutting you down. (Because, often, it takes a bit of practice for it to work!)
🌮 Practice the thought that your aligned clients are out there - perhaps lurking in your content right now!
🌮 Practice the thought that there is enough out there for you to get what you want. Enough money. Enough attention. Enough clients. Enough recognition. Enough appreciation. Enough exists in the world for you to get all that you want and more.
🌮Take all the pressure of having to convince off your marketing. Your “F YES!” clients don’t need persuading- just to be invited.
You don’t want your critics as customers.
Start marketing to your “F YES!” customers, and I promise you won’t want to go back.
Because when you sign a few critics as customers… It isn’t pleasant. Trust me, I know. I’ve done it.
When my marketing was an apology for charging any money at all, I attracted nickel & diming customers.
When my marketing was an apology for my audacity to claim my expertise, I attracted uncoachable clients.
When my marketing was an apology for upgrading how I value myself & my work, I attracted clients who were in it for the freebies and out-of-scope requests.
Changing my focus to my “F YES!!” folks made delivering the work so much more fun. No squabbles about price. No squabbles about scope of work or timeline. No “pitch me!” requests, cuz they were already sold by the time they made it onto a discovery call.
Sounds good, right? Now let me talk you down from a common anxiety ledge.
It’s OK if you couldn’t afford you.
This is a block I hear a lot. “But, I think my rates are expensive! I couldn’t afford me!”
There are a lot of business coaches out there shilling the advice to market to a past version of yourself who would have been really helped by the expertise you are now selling access to.
Sometimes this is good advice. It’s easy to relate to ourselves, after all.
But sometimes it’s bad advice. Because if the past (or current) version of you couldn’t afford your work, then you weren’t/aren’t your ideal customer.
Your ideal customer can afford you. This is why belief building and visualization is important. Because you are going to have to empathize with the concerns of a person who would happily pay for the results you make possible. And you may not yet have had firsthand experience being this person.
But that’s OK, because you have the imagination to picture yourself in their shoes. You have access to networks that can connect you with such people so you can get to know them better. You have a brilliant brain & research skills & the creativity to find media to consume that will help you better understand this person.
Here’s why this is an important concept for your marketing.
🌮 Your biggest struggle may not be theirs. Write to their struggle and you’ll sign more aligned clients.
🌮 You don’t have to have solved your biggest struggles to be able to help with what you help with. You don’t (yet) have their level of financial resources and they don’t possess your skillset. The 2 can exist at the same time. And that truth can knock your imposter syndrome right outta the park. Because you don’t have to have it all figured out to sell what you do have figured out and thus help a lot of people.
And zip bang boom! Marketing just got a whole lot easier.
If you’ve been thinking about a critical parent or ex, a skeptical friend, or the boss that fired you way back when, you can stop now. None of them will ever be your customer, thank Gawd. You don’t need to convince them of anything!
The only person you need convince that your work is valuable is yourself.
Because there are so many people who will recognize how much you are offering with your offer once you invite them in. Who will be ecstatic to receive such an invitation. This is who to picture- who to write to- when crafting your marketing.
Want a massive helping of positive reinforcement & support whilst crafting super effective marketing? Come join The Squad 🎉 my crew of excellently eccentric entrepreneurs hyping each other up, celebrating our heart-centered businesses, and tapping me as their on-call marketing director & captain of their cheer squad.
