The Marketing Strategy That Made Me Say "No Way"
Ditch the "shoulds" and build a business that feels good. It's possible (and profitable!)
I'll never forget the first time I felt an instant red-flag gut reaction in my business.
In early 2020, I was enrolled in a course for Squarespace designers, hoping to learn how to attract clients consistently. One of the first modules focused on defining your niche through an ideal client avatar exercise.
After the usual questions about demographics and likes, the coach got into the meaty question of the lesson: "What keeps them up at night?"
From her perspective, the best way to grab your ideal client's attention is to call out their deepest fears and position yourself as the solution. Basically, paint a picture of the horrors they'll endure if they don't hire you.
While I'm being slightly reductive in my recap, the sentiment remains the same. Getting clients happens when you:
Press on pain points
Give (questionable) promises
Tap into scarcity masked as urgency
"This Isn't Quite Right..."
These messaging strategies did not sit well with me. It wasn't just a niggling thought; it was a full-body "ick" and an instant decision of "I'm not doing it this way."
Pain point marketing is an objectively fine strategy. It works for many people, but I knew it wouldn't work for me. It felt negative, rooted in shame, and kind of mean. The strategy wasn't a fit. And in my world, we honour intuitive nudges.
The Low-Rise Jeans Dilemma
Let’s put this into non-business terms for a moment. Have you ever seen a trend you so badly wish you could pull off… but it doesn't fit?
Like when I was 13 and low-rise jeans were all the rage. The one-inch Dorinha’s looked cute on my friends, but with my long torso? Not so much. It was borderline indecent exposure.
Sometimes, the style we want to adopt – the jeans we're coveting or the marketing trend we're seeing everywhere – just doesn't work for us.
And that's okay.
Ditching the "Shoulds"
When I started offering 1:1 mentorship to creative entrepreneurs, the theme of “I'm not doing it this way" repeatedly arose.
Coaching clients would come to me having tried to force a strategy that just didn't align with their integrity:
🚫 "Handling" objections to make the sale
🤳 Forcing themselves to be on camera
☹️ Sticking to content pillars they hated
💸 Launching a course just because they "should" scale that way
They felt like they were the problem because they weren't seeing results from strategies that felt icky or misaligned.
I helped them ditch what didn't feel good and rebuild a plan honouring their values, capacity, intuition, and passions. Then, everything started to flow with more ease:
One client reframed her approach (and strategies) for selling on Instagram and booked out her high-ticket spots months in advance.
Another client finally went all-in on the niche she wanted to claim and tripled her monthly revenue.
Someone else pivoted to a new offering she had been dreaming about for years and went from booking basically zero clients to her first six-figure year.
There's Always Another Way
Yes, there are tried-and-true strategies for growing a business. It's essential to learn them! But discernment is key. If something doesn't feel aligned, you won't take action on it. Take the time to step back, reflect, refine, and make it a better fit.
The gap in feel-good growth strategies for creatives is exactly why I created my group coaching program: The Expansion Collective (TEC 🦋).
It's the roadmap to help you master the creative business growth foundations, where all strategies are rooted in integrity and heart.
But beyond mastering the strategies, TEC is really about providing you with the personalized coaching to make them your own, so you can:
📈 Have a growth plan that feels good
✅ Actually implement (a missing link in many self-study programs)
✨ Trust your intuition to guide your strategic actions
Ready to Move the Needle?
Here’s a starting exercise for you:
Pull out a notebook and ask yourself: ‘What strategies don’t feel good in my business right now? Where am I forcing things? What am I spending time and energy on each week that I really resist doing?’
Identifying what’s not working is the first step to building business growth strategies rooted in heart (read: the ones you’ll feel good about implementing).
Inside TEC, this is our starting point to help you build and execute your vision: amazing clients, a schedule with room for rest, the revenue you desire, and unshakable trust in your worth.
If you're curious about joining us, hop onto this list so I can give you more detailed information about the program. We kick off in less than 2 weeks!
Leave a Comment
P.S. Have you ever had that instant "ick" feeling in your business? Leave a comment and tell me about it! I'd love to hear your story.
With love,
Samara
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