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 individual development and expertise. So why doesn’t online marketing coaching work?

1. stuartjdavidson.com http://stuartjdavidson.com/online-marketing-coaching/
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 individual
development 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 marketing
coaching helped turn a failing business into a rags to riches story. But the vast majority of online marketing
coaching programs just do not work.
How do I know? Because I have personally invested in online marketing coaching myself and it was less than
satisfying. What I can say is that most online marketing coaching programs are either inadequate at helping to
effectively 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, the
Internet 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 the
time. When the recipient executes the new learning, they cannot go back to the coach to seek additional advice
and support – the coach will have no experience themselves in the real world application.

2. 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 to
your personal development. Coaching that offers short-term and quick-solution type programs just don’t work. By
looking at the program curriculum, or how the coaching is structured, you can get an understanding of the depth
and 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 your
problems and reach your goals. If they are motivated differently, be it for ego, money or anything else, then the
coaching doesn’t work. You might find the coach delivers a lackluster effort in producing ongoing resources, or
doesn’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 to
deliver 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 playing
catch up all the time – trying to squeeze in as much as possible, trimming down on the finer details and skipping
over important explanations.

3. 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’s
lazy 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 the
collective. 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 up
after for additional learning.
Sporadic coaching – jumping from one problem to another with no real structure – doesn’t work to effectively
reach goals and solve problems. Time plans and lesson plans should be provided to recipients so that they can

4. 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, they
won’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. Coaching
doesn’t work when the coach refrains from asking for feedback on a regular basis. It’s like walking down the street
without 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 that
the skill set, attributes, personality, passion or ambition is not right, it’s impossible to ignore. When coaching is
delivered by someone who is not using their best marketing or personnal quality in delivering the program, the
quality of service will suffer.
Have you ever heard professionals in any capacity say that they will never teach or coach? That’s because it
takes 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 a
wealth of information at your finger tips. The recent explosion of social media has also opened channels to get
connected to global audiences. Together, this has unfortunately paved the way for coaches to emerge that haven’t
been 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 marketing
coaches who tried and failed themselves, but have the theoretical understanding to pass snippets of knowledge on
as coaching programs.
The main thing to look for is the digital footprint. If the online marketing coaching is relatively new, what have they
done in their professional experience to warrant the title of “coach”? Have they worked for a number of years in the
industry? 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 to
achieve. Then, you’ll be able to research online marketing coaching that suits your requirements.

5. Anyone can type “marketing coach” in LinkedIn and get a list of profiles under the text “ 760,482 results for
marketing coach“. There are also “ About 14,100,000 results” when you type this into Google. So it’s obvious that
the 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. Coaching
that 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 the
complete 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 which
anyone 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 real
value? Or visited any of their social media profiles and checked their online presence? Have they “walked
the walk” as they say they have?
Credibility – understanding what the coach has achieved professionally gives merit to their services. Look
for testimonials, social proofing, influencer engagement, a client list or portfolio to get a clear picture of
where their skills and expertise lies.
Appropriateness – does the coaching service suit your requirements? Will it develop skills, understanding
and 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 have
a sustained presence in the industry and whether their coaching programs offer long-term memberships. If
it’s a new coaching service that only sells on a monthly basis, then the coach might not appear too
commited to it’s long-term success and have designed it this way so that they have an escape route – if
they 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’t
make a session, will the resources be made available online for you to go over later when it suits you
better? Does the coaching structure and content change often enough to keep addressing your
requirements, or does it follow a structure that is preset for months to come and about as flexible as an
iron-bar?
Value – this can be a subconscious decision. In anything we buy where there is reasonable choice, our
minds decide whether something is value for money. Does the benefits outweigh the costs? How does the
online coaching membership compare to close others? Would you be satisfied with paying the fee to
receive the benefits it says it will deliver?
Investing In Yourself Is Crucial
Never forget that…

6. If you don’t invest in yourself, you will never improve your skills and expertise. And if marketing is important to you
or 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 would
help you or your business.
What would you like to be coached on specifically?
Image source: ALAMY
Website by TheSocialShark © 2014. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms & Conditions Sitemap
↑ Back to top