Jonah Richman, Empathic Marketing Coach
Channel: George Kao
Date: 2020-10-17

Jonah helps coaches, healers, and heart-centered educators attract clients and students online. He has been studying online marketing since 2012 and has led over 100 in-person and online workshops. Jonah is also a trainer in Compassionate Communication, a modality that emphasizes authentic self expression and empathic listening. He combines Compassionate Communication with ethical marketing strategies to create a unique style of marketing that is perfect for solopreneurs who have strong needs to be authentic and respectful as they promote their business.

5 things we discussed:

1. There's a misconception that marketing is all about broadcasting your voice. Marketing is actually a conversation. Marketing is a back and forth dialogue between you and the people you help. So it’s important to listen. What are you people saying about their challenges and desires? Great ways to listen if you don’t have clients yet is to conduct marketing research interviews. Then create content based on what you’re hearing in the interview. Never stop listening and responding. 

2. Don’t think of marketing in a linear way. (Got this idea from Andre Chaperon.) Linear thinking is the idea that you want to get a prospect to jump through a series of hoops. They see an ad, watch a webinar, receive emails, purchase a course. Purchase an upsell.  The idea is to get every lead to follow this exact linear series of steps. This requires a lot of pressure and scarcity tactics at each step. “Click here now before you miss out.” Many buyers don’t like this style. They’d prefer a choose your own adventure approach where they consume your free content on their own terms and then buy then they’re ready. George, you’re a great example of this type of marketing. 

3. There are three conditions needed for a sale to happen: Safety, trust and desire. They need to feel safe and comfortable with you. No fear that you will be rude to them or cause them to feel bad. They need to trust that you can help them achieve the result they want. And they need to desire that result strongly enough to be willing to spend money to get it. 

4. By combining marketing with Compassionate Communication I’ve created a way that is very effective at building emotional safety with a potential client. Almost every person who hires me says they did so because of how well I listened to them. So I make sure to offer them either an opportunity to experience my ability to listen to demonstrate it during a workshop or presentation. Listening also helps people connect with their desire for what they want. This approach requires no manipulation whatsoever. Listening helps them to get connected to their desire. 

5. A marketing tactic that I find unethical is to falsely suggest that achieving a result is easy, when in reality it’s not. “In my course I’ll teach you how to lose 50 pounds in a week without dieting or exercise.” Or claiming that “all it takes to make six figures is to follow their simple 3 step process, even if you’re completely new in your modality and have never run a business before in your life.” I see this as a business coaching world all the time. And it hurts people. I even signed up for a program that marketed this way. I learned a lot from them but in my heart I never trusted them. Now I avoid any program who markets this way. Instead I’d prefer to be honest that building a business is going to challenge you. If you choose to start your own business, you’re like Harry Potter. You’ve got to face evil wizards. Yes, you can make a lot of money, but don’t start a business because you’re hoping it’s an easy way to get rich fast. Start a business because you want to do something meaningful with your life or your very clear that earning your living as a solopreneur is the lifestyle you want. Do it for reasons that make fighting evil wizards worth it. If it really were easy, then you’d probably just get bored anyway. 

Connect with Jonah:

Website: https://jonahrichman.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonah.richman/