Creating marketing content that both engages prospects and gets them to take action is simple… in theory. It really just boils down to deciding what to say and how to say it.
But, when trying to get prospects to engage with content, many coaches tend to give too much away. I call this Hard Teaching.
It’s when coaches give out so much high-quality content that the prospects have no reason to buy from them. They become full instead of becoming hungry for more.
The best way to engage your prospects through your content marketing and still create a desire for more is through Soft Teaching.
We give them a taste – something valuable but easy to digest and remember – that doesn’t fill them up. It makes them hungry for more of us.
Soft Teaching is best done through story selling where we tell a story, teach a lesson, and then make an offer.
The offer can be the trickiest part to pull off, but when you get it right, prospects are eager to take action so they can get more of you.
It’s our job to make it easy for them to take action, and the best way to do that is to use product placement.
Product Placement
In the offer, we’ll insert a mention of our product or service. It doesn’t have to be a really overt “Buy My Stuff!”, but every single message from you should have a link to something of yours.
Here are two examples:
Story Selling and Product Placement in Video
On Christmas Eve, I was in Fiji and I showed a little five or six-minute video called Marketing Lessons From Santa. It’s 12 marketing lessons you can learn from ‘the man in red’ about growing your coaching business.
Now, is that hard content? Not at all! It’s soft content. It’s story!
You can watch the video to see how I used story selling here.
It makes it easy for them to take action and associates our product with the solution to their problem.
Story Selling and Product Placement in Email
This is an email I used a while back. It uses the Story/Lesson/Offer format and ends with product placement.
Have you got kids, [First Name]?
I‘ve got 5 (I know, we should have bought a TV!)
Anyway, my 18-year-old, Jotham, is a great soccer player.
His team won their club competition again, and they‘re playing in the ‘Champion of Champions’ knockout now, to see which is the best team in the state.
The boys have been together since they were 11, and every weekend we traipse across Sydney and over the state to watch him play.
So this weekend, I’m sitting on a bench with 100 other parents, watching the quarter final, when 2 teens walk over. One’s carrying some kind of booklet in his hand, and the other is holding an old cloth money bag.
We’re in a rough neighbourhood, and it looks a little shady.
The one with the booklet won’t look me in the eye.
He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, and asks:
‘Do you want to buy a raffle ticket?
I’m watching the game, and I say ‘No thanks’.
He grunts. Moves onto the next parent and asks:
‘Do you want to buy a. raffle ticket?’
‘No.’
And the next. And the next. And the next. ‘No.’
‘No.’ ‘No.’ ‘No.’
The kid keeps going. Asking & getting rejected.
Asking & getting rejected.
… I watch him get rejected 27 times until one person finally says ‘OK’.
[That’s the story. Now, the lesson.]
SO WHAT’S THE BIG SALES LESSON?
Some sales trainers would turn this into a persistence story. How you’ve gotta keep going UNTIL you get a yes.
I think that’s selling you short. I think that sort of teaching is what’s got so many coaches into deep financial trouble in the first place.
If you‘re selling, and 27 prospects say ‘No’, you don’t need to be more persistent.
You need a different approach.
Right?
See, I think there’s a good chance you’re still selling like the kid with the raffle tickets, and it’s hurting your business.
Let me explain.
He was trying to get people interested in his PROCESS, not his RESULT.
Nobody wants to buy a raffle ticket. But who wouldn’t want the car, or the holiday to Fiji?
Which would you be more likely to listen to: ‘Do you want to buy a. rafle ticket?‘ or ‘Would you prefer to win a car or a holiday to Fiji?’
Enough about the kid. Let’s talk about you.
Your coaching is just like his raffle ticket.
It’s the process, not the result.
Here’s how to fix it, in 2 steps…
1. List 3 specific results your prospects want.
2. Re-name your tactics, packages & processes after them, so you’re literally selling what people want.
[That’s the lesson. Now, the offer.]
Taki
PS. If you’re marketing to prospect after prospect and getting the silent treatment (zero response, or just a straight ‘No.’), then you need a marketing system that gets people to call you, not the other way around.
That’s what Million Dollar Coach does, and you can get it here. [Link to Product]
The product placement is quick and subtle, but it leaves prospects with an easy decision. If they want a marketing system that gets prospects to call them, they can get it right away by clicking the link.
The email isn’t a 500-word advertisement or plea to buy a coaching program. It’s provides value, but not so much that prospects don’t feel like they can handle any more. It’s engaging, entertaining, and useful… and it works.
That’s Soft-Teaching.
How do you think using the soft-teaching strategy can make a difference in your business? Comment below!
P.S. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you grow your coaching business:
1. Grab a free copy of my book
It’s the roadmap to attracting prospects, signing clients, and scaling your coaching business. — Click Here
2. Join the Coach Dojo and connect with coaches who are scaling too
It’s our new Facebook community where smart coaches learn to get more income, impact, and independence. — Click Here
3. Join our Implementation Program and be a Case Study
I’m putting together a new coaching case study group at Black Belt this month… stay tuned for details. If you’d like to work with me on your client-getting and scale plans… just send me a message with the words “Case Study”. — Click Here
4. Work with me and my team privately
If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take you from 6 to 7 figures… just send me a message with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details! — Click Here
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