Maybe you put the wrong date for your workshop in your email newsletter, or spell-check messed up the post you wrote, and you didn't catch it before posting to Instagram. Or perhaps your email sequence was set up incorrectly and you double-emailed your list. Maybe you sent something to previous clients that was intended for prospective clients.
These examples - and literally hundreds of others - are mistakes - small and big - you can make marketing your business. For many coaches, healers and creatives making those kinds of errors can really sting.
A few weeks ago, you received an email from me that started out "Oren when coaches, healers and other creatives market and build their business…"
Oren?
It should have read "Often." Someone even sent me an email to ask me about it. She thought perhaps it was a mistake in the naming on my mailing list, or…
Oof.
Nope. It was a mistake. Plain and simple.
I'd rushed through my last review before posting and decided to change how I opened the newsletter. And then made that typo. I corrected on my blog, but it'd gone out to my whole email list that way. And it was the first word of the post, not buried four paragraphs in.
When I realized what had happened, I felt a familiar flush of discomfort. I pride myself in excellence (which is different than perfectionism). Mistakes are annoying. They are, also, very, very human.
Mistakes as a Marker of Authenticity
Sometimes when coaches, healers or creatives make mistakes in their marketing, I’ve seen them use it, often unconsciously, as an excuse to pull back, to tone it down. They seem to slow up sometimes or otherwise go back into hiding.
And that's often because they're operating under a misconception. They've somehow understood marketing to be about being or acting or speaking in a particular way. And that way doesn't include making mistakes.
But that's not true.
A key tenet to authentic marketing is that authenticity is magnetic. Another one is that people are attracted to you, the real you. And if the real you has made a mistake, that's just part of being authentically yourself. There’s nothing more real than being real, however unpolished that might be in any given moment.
When You've Made a Mistake
If you've discovered something you or your team have erred on in your marketing, here's what to do.
Accept That It Happened
I know this one seems obvious. But I’ve done it myself. Part of it is the discomfort of the situation. Depending on the magnitude of the situation, there can be a level of disbelief, a resistance to the fact that the mistake, did, in fact, occur. Some people immediately fly into a fever pitch trying to figure out what happened, while others drop into collapse and overwhelm. While quick action is important in some situations such as a data breach, most of the time taking a few minutes to settle into the reality of what has happened in your first step.
Acknowledge How You're Feeling
Next, you need to acknowledge how you're feeling (not how you think you should be feeling.)
Maybe your annoyed, chagrined, or embarrassed. Or maybe you don't feel much of anything (that's OK too!). Acknowledge whatever it is. For me, when I discovered the mistake, at first, I felt embarrassed, then I was annoyed at myself. I was trying to make a last-minute edit, early in the morning on my phone, without my glasses - what was I thinking?? And after that passed, I felt a bit sad, hoping the error didn't distract someone from that week's message.
Acknowledging how we feel, especially if how we’re feeling isn’t great, is important.
Access Compassion
When you've made a mistake, you need to give yourself compassion. So much compassion.
Maybe you didn't sleep well the night before, or you have a sick toddler to care for, or an aging parent. Maybe you didn't understand a piece of your technology. Or there was a miscommunication with your team.
Maybe you have no idea at all why or how the error was made. It just was.
Once you acknowledge how you feel, see if you can access compassion. Making mistakes is part of being human. The Sufis see mistakes as being part of the Divine Love, enabling us, in perfect harmony, to learn. You can ask yourself, as my teacher Mark Silver says, is Love available even here?
Once you've entered that place of understanding and love for yourself, you can step back and check with your heart to discern what, if anything, needs to be done to correct the situation. You can also see, depending on the situation, if anything systemic needs to change or if there is something deeper that might need to be looked at if this is a mistake that has happened before.
Practicing Compassion
A few weeks after the "Oren" email, in early June, you received a corrected version of my monthly newsletter. A few key paragraphs had been left out of the middle. It was only a few minutes after the initial email had been sent, and the letter didn't really make sense without the copy, so I decided to resend.
I’d been given another chance to practice compassion.
The compassion is key. Without it, you might judge yourself harshly or get triggered into old trauma or stories that aren’t helpful. And you might not be able to see clearly what needs to be done to correct any wrongs. In the end, without stopping to offer yourself compassion, you run the risk of responding from a place based on your programming. Maybe you get defensive or avoid the situation all together. At the very least, you affect your ability to create a positive relationship with your marketing.
The next time you make a mistake in your marketing - and I’m pretty sure you will in some way - you can give this a try. Accept that it happened, acknowledge how you are feeling about it, and then see if you can access compassion. This will open the door to seeing what, if anything, needs to be done as a next step in alignment with your deeper self.
Make no mistake, this is a great practice to bring into your marketing, your business, and your life.