Powerful Marketing Is Surprisingly More Impactful Than Most Coaching

“People like us do things like this.”

It was month one of launching my former brand Get the F*ck Off when my friend,

Ash Ambirge

, suggested I read Seth Godin’s This is Marketing.

It’s a fantastic book cover-to-cover, and there’s this one central theme to it:

“People like us do things like this.”

Seth wrote an essay on his blog on this concept, which you can read for free here.

He writes:

This is a short essay about a big idea, the one that drives all of humanity, all the time.

Not our need for food or shelter. Not our need to survive.

For most of us, from the first day we are able to remember until the last day we breathe, our actions are primarily driven by one question, “Do people like me do things like this?”

So, the headline of this piece…

Believe it or not, that headline is an example of the concept at play.

I almost didn’t write that headline. IN FACT, I DID NOT WRITE IT. I used a headline analyzer/generator tool. It scores your headline. It gives you “emotion words” to use. It tells you if it’s too long or too short.

I found it on a Substack that I’m not subscribed to, but the author came up in my feed… It put me face-to-face with the whole “People like me don’t do things like this.”

The idea of “getting subscribers” or “boosting engagement” is off-putting to me, and the author of that Substack has created a culture around some of those things. And yet, their tools work.

Culture and identity were why I created Get the F*ck Off in the first place.

I created it to be an invitation to a type of person to explore something more meaningful.

It was an entry point to the first steps of awakening. It’s like “hey, here’s something you can stomach. And here’s some other stuff you could try if you want.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t work quite as I wanted. It repelled a lot of people, because guess what? “People like them did not do things like this.”

I had my former self in mind in that creation, as I was not accessible or available for any personal development work of any kind when I was a drinking, smoking, angry, barstool ornament. I tell the story a lot about drinking late nights in bars with men. Being “tough.” Being “strong.”

In my mind, I had an identity, and that identity kept me in a strict box.

Had I not been left at an airport in the middle of the night and faced that gross spiritual awakening moment, I’d probably not have spent the $49 bucks for the Whole Life Challenge that jumpstarted my entire new way of existence.

Why?

“People like me don’t do things like this.”

People like me didn’t spend $49 for an online wellness program where I didn’t “get” anything.

(Seven years later, I’m wiring thousands to my coach without batting an eye. )

This is why, in the beginning, radically powerful marketing can be more effective in transformation than most coaching. It lets the people know “YES. People like you do things like this.”

I love marketing, and often say I hate “marketers.”

Why? Some are regurgitating bots who throw out the “five easy steps” ponzi schemes. I certainly do not like those marketers.

And. Powerful marketers have a way of letting you know you are a part of the tribe. We have culture here, and you belong.

Marketing is what builds community

So, back to my headline:

Marketing, done well, creates identity permission, often better than most coaches do.

Many coaches live in the clouds, in the “manifestation bubble,” in the nonsense lingo of “your inner world” and blah blah.

No one cares. Where’s the identity permission?

Where’s the community?

I will lose most people with this next bit— I hope it isn’t you — but this wasn’t a piece about coaching or marketing. It was about life, tribes, being human, togetherness, and belonging.

Everything is part of the same energetic whole and lives by the same rules.

This piece was more about helping you think about:

“Why am I not moving in a certain direction because I’m saying to myself, ”People like me don’t do things like this?”

Let me know.

Stay beautiful.