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Why Online Marketing Coaching Doesn’t Work

For years, online marketing coaching has had a positive impact on people’s personal and professional lives.Coaching provides positive educational learning experiences for those who wish to progress their individualdevelopment and expertise.

So why doesn’t online marketing coaching work?

I’m almost certain that if you dig deep enough, you will find a few success stories where online marketingcoaching helped turn a failing business into a rags to riches story. But the vast majority of online marketingcoaching programs just do not work.

How do I know? Because I have personally invested in online marketing coaching myself and it was less thansatisfying. What I can say is that most online marketing coaching programs are either inadequate at helping toeffectively develop their members skill sets, or the coaches themselves are not suited to their role.

In either case, online marketing coaching doesn’t work when:

The Online Marketing Coach Is Not Experienced

If the marketing coach hasn’t experienced what it is they are teaching in the real world, then it’s all theoretical.While this still has it’s merits, the teaching will be simply taken from other learning resources, like textbooks, theInternet or school, and then rehashed back to the recipient.

Delivering coaching that doesn’t fall back on real events and professional experiences doesn’t work most of thetime. When the recipient executes the new learning, they cannot go back to the coach to seek additional adviceand support – the coach will have no experience themselves in the real world application.

The Online Marketing Coach Loses Interest Quickly

Any online marketing coaching worth it’s salt will have long-term plans available to demonstrate it’s commitment toyour personal development. Coaching that offers short-term and quick-solution type programs just don’t work. Bylooking at the program curriculum, or how the coaching is structured, you can get an understanding of the depthand longevity of the coaching services.

The Online Marketing Coach Is Not Motivated By You

Everyone is motivated by different things. The very best coach will be motivated by helping you to solve yourproblems and reach your goals. If they are motivated differently, be it for ego, money or anything else, then thecoaching doesn’t work. You might find the coach delivers a lackluster effort in producing ongoing resources, ordoesn’t go the extra mile to help when individual concerns arise.

The Online Marketing Coach Doesn’t Have Time For You

Even with all the motivation and interest in the world, if the coach just can’t commit to a suitable amount of time todeliver effective coaching, then it just doesn’t work.

The level of service will suffer, along with the recipient’s learning progress. The coach will end up just playingcatch up all the time – trying to squeeze in as much as possible, trimming down on the finer details and skippingover important explanations.

The Online Marketing Coach Provides Only One Teaching Method

In today’s digital world, there is no excuse for only providing online marketing coaching through one medium. It’slazy and does not address the different learning opportunities available to coaching members.

Effective coaching should be delivered through multiple channels in order to suit the clients and provide a well-rounded learning experience. If it’s only delivered through one, then it usually doesn’t work to suit the needs of thecollective. Different mediums include:

Downloadable resources

Online articles

Embedded videos

Webinar training

Forum engagement

Social media groups

Podcasts

Skype

Face-to-face

Email

The Online Marketing Coach Doesn’t Provide Structure

Coaching doesn’t work when there is no structure. Recipients need to know when coaching will be delivered,especially in group environments. They need to know if they need to prepare, what to bring and how to follow upafter for additional learning.

Sporadic coaching – jumping from one problem to another with no real structure – doesn’t work to effectivelyreach goals and solve problems. Time plans and lesson plans should be provided to recipients so that they can

learn more at their own pace outside of coaching delivery.

The Online Marketing Coach Doesn’t Ask For Feedback

Coaching doesn’t work when it’s not a two-way form of communication. If the coach doesn’t ask for feedback, theywon’t know whether they need to adjust to meet the requirements of the recipients.

Asking for feedback is key but understanding the recipients needs and adjusting accordingly, is critical. Coachingdoesn’t work when the coach refrains from asking for feedback on a regular basis. It’s like walking down the streetwithout opening your eyes – you’ll bump into things and not know what they are or how to get around them.

The Online Marketing Coach Can’t Coach

Sometimes, coaching doesn’t work because the role is just not suited to the coach. For whatever reason, be it thatthe skill set, attributes, personality, passion or ambition is not right, it’s impossible to ignore. When coaching isdelivered by someone who is not using their best marketing or personnal quality in delivering the program, thequality of service will suffer.

Have you ever heard professionals in any capacity say that they will never teach or coach? That’s because ittakes you out of your comfort zone and places you in situations where you have nowhere to hide.

The Online Marketing Coach Hasn’t Achieved Anything Significant Themselves

The technological advances of the Internet, mobile and smart devices have meant that it is now easy to access awealth of information at your finger tips. The recent explosion of social media has also opened channels to getconnected to global audiences. Together, this has unfortunately paved the way for coaches to emerge that haven’tbeen there, done it themselves and achieved anything significant – they can just look as though they have.

The common myth “those who can’t do, teach” isn’t quite what I’m getting at here. Sure, there will be marketingcoaches who tried and failed themselves, but have the theoretical understanding to pass snippets of knowledge onas coaching programs.

The main thing to look for is the digital footprint. If the online marketing coaching is relatively new, what have theydone in their professional experience to warrant the title of “coach”? Have they worked for a number of years in theindustry? Do they have an extensive portfolio? What have been their main successes and failures?

How To Find The Right Online Marketing Coaching For You

First, understand how coaching will be helpful to you and know what it is that you are looking for help in trying toachieve. Then, you’ll be able to research online marketing coaching that suits your requirements.

Anyone can type “marketing coach” in LinkedIn and get a list of profiles under the text “760,482 results formarketing coach“. There are also “About 14,100,000 results” when you type this into Google. So it’s obvious thatthe Internet is more than capable of showing pools of people to choose from.

The difficulty lies in selecting the right online marketing coach. Specifically, the right coaching for you. Coachingthat addresses your concerns, not the concerns of others.

Sometimes, it will have to be delivered in a 1-2-1 coaching environment for you to get the full attention and thecomplete personalisation you may require. Whatever your requirements though, ask yourself this…

Will this marketing coaching help me to reach my own personal and professional goals?

Finding the right coach for you will undoubtedly be a personal choice, but there are some key barriers whichanyone will need to overcome before investing their own time and money. These include:

Trust – establishing trust is key. Have you read any of their online content and thought it provided realvalue? Or visited any of their social media profiles and checked their online presence? Have they “walkedthe walk” as they say they have?

Credibility – understanding what the coach has achieved professionally gives merit to their services. Lookfor testimonials, social proofing, influencer engagement, a client list or portfolio to get a clear picture ofwhere their skills and expertise lies.

Appropriateness – does the coaching service suit your requirements? Will it develop skills, understandingand expertise in areas that you seek to improve?

Reliability – this is sometimes hard to measure or make an informed decision on. Check to see if they havea sustained presence in the industry and whether their coaching programs offer long-term memberships. Ifit’s a new coaching service that only sells on a monthly basis, then the coach might not appear toocommited to it’s long-term success and have designed it this way so that they have an escape route – ifthey get bored or a better opportunity presents itself then they might be out quick.

Flexibility – learn the processes involved with change during the coaching delivery. If you are late or can’tmake a session, will the resources be made available online for you to go over later when it suits youbetter? Does the coaching structure and content change often enough to keep addressing yourrequirements, or does it follow a structure that is preset for months to come and about as flexible as aniron-bar?

Value – this can be a subconscious decision. In anything we buy where there is reasonable choice, ourminds decide whether something is value for money. Does the benefits outweigh the costs? How does theonline coaching membership compare to close others? Would you be satisfied with paying the fee toreceive the benefits it says it will deliver?

Investing In Yourself Is Crucial

Never forget that…

If you don’t invest in yourself, you will never improve your skills and expertise. And if marketing is important to youor your business, then the right online coaching can be invaluable to your future and success.

It would be great to hear your thoughts in the comments section below on how online marketing coaching wouldhelp you or your business.

What would you like to be coached on specifically?

Image source: ALAMY

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