This week I talk about all the things I've been working on and why I'm taking a break.

I’ve been tricked into working for social media platforms for free.

And so have you.

Every time you post on social media, you’re creating content for them to monetise. They position Ads around your content and they keep the Ad revenue.

Sometimes, they even get you to pay to put content on their platform, by paying to promote that content more widely. Which boosts their Ad revenue.

This isn’t how the platforms frame it, of course. You’re encouraged to see all this as ‘getting your content in front of your audience’.

But it’s not really your audience. When you build an audience (followers, subscribers) on social media, you’re paying to reach them, either through promoted content or simply in the time it takes to show up and play the game.

So why do we still do it? In this video I explain another, more effective way to connect with people.

If you sometimes feel you’re not getting many clients or people aren’t buying what you’re offering then you’re not alone. I speak to a lot of coaches and consultants who struggle to find clients.

The most common question they ask themselves when they find themselves in this position, is “What do I need to do to sell more/ better?” Their natural response is to try to work out how to beef up their marketing messages – make them more persuasive or impactful.

But this is the wrong question to ask. It’s looking at the situation from the wrong perspective.

This week I've been under the weather and low on energy so I've been fixing my broken website and trying not to force the creativity.

Order the revised edition of the book: https://reframingmarketing.com/buy/

Why do selling and marketing so often feel like an uphill struggle? I believe it’s because we’re often trying to persuade people to get interested in the products or services that we have created. It’s tough to convince someone they really need something they don’t even know about. Trying to sell coaching or consulting can be especially hard when the people you’re pitching at haven’t even begun to consider those services.

But here’s the secret to making marketing easier: switch your perspective 180 degrees.

Instead of trying to find people for what you’re selling; trying making and selling what your people are interested in and asking for.

Paid ads are a highly ineffective way to attract new clients for coaches and consultants.

Paid ads promise to bring you more business. Paid ads are relatively easy to use. Paid ads are a tempting marketing option…

It’s tempting to take what looks like a shortcut. At first glance, paid ads seem to promise to let you skip the queue and get you in front of a lot of people.

So why am I saying they don’t work?

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, how AI generated content is coming fast and how you can stand out when it arrives, and how an IT nightmare unfolded for me this week.

Ezra Klein podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/will-a-i-break-the-internet-or-save-it/id1548604447?i=1000651522107

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4mFwx4xGGmXrxTzHfgYpLG?si=3-0up7FnSGOz_Os7HnCurg

No one opens a restaurant with a Michelin Star on the door. You have to earn it.

The same is true with marketing. You can’t go straight from doing no marketing at all to showing up every day with a wide range of engaging multimedia content. Yet this is often the expectation people put on themselves. And not least because they regularly hear from ‘experts’ that this is how to make it work.

Just like a good chef, you have to experiment with your marketing menu, learn what gets a rave reaction, what the regular favourites are, and what comes back to the kitchen uneaten. After a lot of practice and experimentation, you create a marketing menu that people can’t resist.

You can watch the bear on Disney+ https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/series/the-bear/52m6nx7HoP5F

It’s easy to fall into the comparison trap. You see someone else doing what you do but more successfully and think, why aren’t I more like them?

You see their social media posts: selling out their programs, having six-figure weeks, getting a million views… and you feel you have to try to keep up.

But is any of it real? Remember, social media makes it easy to create the appearance of success.

And more importantly, is what they have really what you want?

A semi-regular update about what I have been working on. This time, what I have been editing and a deeper dive into what I use for editing and a real example of how coming up with content ideas is simpler than it might seem at first.

https://simonbatchelar.co.uk/email-signup