If you’ve ever had buyer’s remorse or wondered why you even purchased something in the first place, you may have been the victim of admiration and agitation marketing. I’m here to help you spot these strategies, so you don’t get trapped again!
Plus, I’ve got a really epic #Tashmas gift for you today – it’s a prize draw!
Wait… What is #Tashmas?
I do it for both my birthday (1-12 March) and pre-Christmas (1-12 December) every year! Every day from now until my birthday on 12th March, there will be a new daily podcast episode, with a hot tip or practical strategy as per usual… but you ALSO get a gift! I love sharing the birthday vibes, and what better way to do that?! The daily gift could be a freebie, a special offer, a competition… but there will be something for YOU every single day.
Today’s gift is your chance to WIN a VIP mentoring session .. yes, another one!
Let’s do this!!!
Here for the links referenced in the show notes?
Enter for your chance to win a free VIP mentoring session over on my FB Page – find the Day 9 #Tashmas post: facebook.com/tashcorbincoaching
EPISODE 470: Listen using the player below, or click the links to your fave platform to subscribe and listen over there:
Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SpotifListen on YouTube
Admiration and agitation marketing traps
Have you bought something and soon felt buyer’s remorse or couldn’t remember your initial excitement for the purchase? If so, you’re not alone. This is common, especially for online business owners who are constantly exposed to online marketing and eager for quick results. This makes them vulnerable to certain marketing strategies that bypass informed consent and manipulate them into buying. When manipulated, you’re likely to regret the purchase or forget why you made it.
One prevalent deceptive marketing practice is admiration and agitation marketing. In this Heart-Centred Business Podcast episode, I want to discuss this strategy, highlighting traps and red flags so you can avoid them and prevent buyer’s remorse or forgetfulness about purchases.
Let’s break it down:
Admiration and agitation marketing involves two primary strategies, and two more hidden strategies: Building audience admiration, agitating their current state, minimising the workload to transform, and making people feel less-than for not having sorted it yet.
1. Admiration
Admiration comes from marketers boasting about their and their clients’ achievements, making you admire them, their results, and their clients’ results. Such marketing includes celebrating successes or waking up to five-figure sales. It’s not only in business-to-business or marketing spaces; it’s seen in parenting, relationships, health, and other niches. It’s more frequent where money is involved but extends to other areas.
2. Agitation
The agitation side of this marketing makes you uncomfortable with your current state, impatient, as if you’re the only one unsuccessful. It dials into pain points and agitates them. There’s a distinction between identifying and agitating a pain point. An example of agitation seen in marketing: “If you sorted your content strategy, you could send your children to any school.” It makes you feel your current situation is wrong and needs fixing. It connects to admiration—like phrases comparing your situation to theirs, making you feel lacking.
When explained, many recognise how such messaging made them feel agitated or uncomfortable.
3. Minimise the workload
Yet, it can be more subtle, so I want to share indicators even when hidden. Admiration and agitation marketing often makes the difference between your current and desired state seem simple—a one-step fix that doesn’t require much effort. Especially seen in messaging spaces, or health and well-being: one simple dietary tweak sheds kilos. They minimise the process needed to go from where you are to where you want.
4. You haven’t figured it out?
Another component is making you feel silly and less than for not figuring it out. By oversimplifying change or intervention for better results, they embarrass you for not having it figured out yet. Their aim is to make you think everyone else knows it, and you’re the odd one out, wasting time on other things. All these components work together: admiration of my and my clients’ results, agitation of your current situation, minimising the needed change, and making you feel silly.
Recognise the signs of agitation marketing
To protect against these traps, educate yourself to recognise them. If you’re consuming content that heightens your desire to work with someone but agitates your current state and oversimplifies the process, be wary. If they don’t explain their process and keep it a secret, this is suspicious. Additionally, watch how content makes you feel. After a webinar, do you feel inspired with actions to implement, or anxious about needing their specific help? Before making purchases, engage with the person’s free content. Follow them on social media, explore freebies, and watch for red flags like admiration and agitation tactics.
The risk of buying from admiration and agitation marketers
A valid question is: Why be cautious of this marketing? If it works for the sellers, and they promise similar results for people who work with them, what’s the issue?
The key is to consider WHY someone is needing to use this form of marketing? Providers using these strategies are often doing so because their offers don’t deliver quality outcomes because their process isn’t rigorous. Often, their results and the client results they platform, required resources most lack or involved people with larger audiences, more time, and support. Minimising the effort ignores the detailed process needed for results—they rely on hope rather than a validated process. Not only that, if they are willing to treat you as a number, and play on your emotions to make a sale, what will they teach you to do to your audience?
So… Buyer beware!
Hopefully you’ll be able to avoid them!
I hope this breakdown aids in recognising admiration and agitation marketing, so you can avoid experiencing deep regret or amnesia about purchases from here. Especially business purchases, because they are often the ones that we pin very high hopes on delivering strong outcomes.
Your #Tashmas Gift
Today, one lucky listener will win a 90-minute VIP mentoring session with me, to help strengthen your belief and confidence in your marketing strategy. This is also a powerful way to avoid being lured into admiration and agitation marketing, because you aren’t as likely to be agitated if you are confident in your strategy.
To enter, find the Day 9 #Tashmas post on my Facebook page, and share when you’ve fallen for this kind of marketing, or have been told that you need to use these strategies to succeed. You’ll not only be entered to win, but you’ll also help to inform my upcoming content on coercive vs consent-based marketing. So thank you!
My FB page is here: facebook.com/tashcorbincoaching
(More detailed instructions are on the post).
Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.
