The Great Marketing Reframe

From grimaces to stomach knots, talking about marketing seems to take on the sound of Charlie Brown's teacher, with so many syllables of "wah WAaah, wah WAah, wah."

What does this mean?

For starters, I find it terrifying ironic that, when it boils down to it, truly - marketing and coaching are actually ONE.

Yes that's right. I may be in the minority, but it's served me very well to see marketing and coaching with an equals sign between them. As in they are equivalent.

At heart, coaching is nothing but an advanced level of communicating, or some might prefer the word relating. Great coaching expands your awareness, lights a fire under you, makes you go 'Eureka!'

In the same way, great marketing is really only communication.

It causes action.

Coaching AND marketing both, when they're doing their 'thing'? bridge gaps of understanding. They solve problems. 

But of course when great marketing is being done on behalf of things, people or concepts that we don't like or agree with (politicians, warfare, annoying television, anything being marketed at the dinner hour) THEN of course, we begin to hate marketers and marketing.

I really think the way to get over this angst around marketing is to let ourselves be convinced or not convinced, whatever way the message is being delivered, AND whether we are convinced or not, reserve the right to NOT buy.

A lot of the reason why people (coaches too) feel the need to be rude to a telemarketer is because they're afraid of being sold, and spending money they don't have.

So try it, whenever you think about doing something dreaded like 'marketing' of any kind, think of it as coaching instead, and retap into that deep well of conviction and passion that you are here to coach.

By Andrea J. Lee