Consistency Beats Perfection: The Patagonia Lesson on Marketing

In this episode, I share a serendipitous moment sparked by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard’s book, highlighting the power of authenticity in marketing. Too often, business owners struggle with marketing because they’re trying to craft a “perfect” or “unique” voice, rather than simply being themselves. Drawing from real client conversations, I explain how the most effective content comes from genuine experiences and actual pain points — not from forced formulas.

Key topics covered:
- The importance of authenticity over perfection in marketing
- Why trying to be someone you’re not makes marketing harder
- Using real client challenges as the foundation for valuable content
- The value of consistency in building authority
- An invitation to join my one-to-one coaching programme, designed to help you market with confidence and authenticity

Listen in to discover why showing up as your true self is the key to sustainable, effective marketing.

Curious about one-to-one coaching? Submit an application here and we can chat about your business.

If you’re ready for more personalised support, I currently have space for five new one-to-one coaching clients.

It’s 11 hours of tailored coaching for £2,500, designed to help you build a marketing system that feels like you — no formulas, no pretending.

If you want to apply for one of these spots before we open it up more widely, you can do that here:

https://airtable.com/app28MNir9SrqMbbK/pagGT2MCWXEbrEUVH/form

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, welcome to the KaffeenAuthority Builder podcast.
Today I wanna share a littlestory that happened completely
by accident this morning.
I was getting the Patagoniafounder's book off my shelf to
lend to my sister-in-law, and itjust fell open on the section
about marketing.
And what I read made me stopbecause it was so relevant to

(00:20):
what I see with my clients.
The book said, the paragraphsspecifically that I opened said,
our branding efforts are simpleto tell people who we are.
We don't have to create afictional character.
Writing fiction is so much moredifficult than non-fiction.
Fiction requires creativity andimagination.
Nonfiction deals with simpletruths.
And then a little later run inthe passage it said, without a

(00:43):
formula, the only way to sustainan image is to live up to it.
Our image is a direct reflectionof who we are and what we
believe.
And that really hit me becausefine, that's about Patagonia and
they're a very purpose-drivencompany and, and lots of people
will recognize them as such.
But it really hit me because somany business owners that I come

(01:03):
across find marketing reallydifficult.
They put it off the resistor,and one of the big reasons is
that they're trying to find theperfect voice or a unique voice.
In other words, they're tryingto be something that they're
not.
And when you do that, of courseit feels hard.
It's going to feel unnatural.
You're going to resist it.
Even if you manage to craftsomething, it will feel icky and

(01:24):
you won't want to put it outthere.
But if you're just beingyourself, it's so much easier.
This happens to me all the time.
For example, I get off acoaching call or a sales call
and a client will have sharedsomething they're struggling
with pain point, an objection, achallenge that they've run into,
and I recognize it straight awaybecause I've heard it a hundred
times before, more often thannot.

(01:44):
And that's my sign that it's notjust their issue, it's something
a lot of people are strugglingwith.
And because it's fresh in mymind, I can often just repeat
back what I said to them in away that helps others too.
And I often do this using voicenotes.
I shared an email yesterday thatwas exactly this.
I'd just come off a sales callwith somebody who ended up

(02:05):
signing on for one-to-onecoaching.
We had talked about a particularchallenge, and I thought, I've
heard this a lot of times.
So while it was all fresh inmind, I just jotted it down.
Well, in my case, a voice.
And yes, my friends despairsometimes when they get extended
voice notes on WhatsApp, but Ireally love them.
They let me do a brain dumpright away, and it's not
polished, but it's genuine.

(02:26):
And it's my voice, literally myvoice.
And then later if I want, and ifthey think it's worthy enough, I
can refine it into a podcastepisode or an email a bit like
I'm doing right now.
And the reason it works isbecause it's based on something
real.
It's not crafted out of thinair, it's grounded in an actual
conversation, an actual painpoint.

(02:46):
That means it's gonna bevaluable to more than just that
one client.
which brings me back to thePatagonia quote.
Because so much of the imagerelies on authenticity, a
formula would destroy it, andthat's exactly what I encourage
my clients to do with authoritybuilding.
If you understand who you are,who you help, and who really
values your support.
If you are in business and youhave clients who come back who

(03:08):
live working with you, thenyou're already solving people's
problems, and that's yourmarketing content, their
objections, their pain points,your responses.
That's the goal that otherpeople, it's gonna be meaningful
to other people as.
So I encourage you to thinkabout this for yourself.
Are you avoiding marketing?
'cause you're trying to create avoice that isn't you?
Are you chasing a level ofperfection?

(03:29):
That means nothing ever getsfinished.
Are you trying to be someoneyou're not?
And if so, no matter how muchsupport you get with it,
marketing is always going tofeel hard.
You'll start, then you'll stop.
You'll find it difficult to beconsistent, but if you show up
as yourself.
The self that people already payfor, then, you know, it's
genuine.

(03:50):
You know, it's valuable to morethan just one client.
And, uh, because it feelsnatural, you're gonna actually
do it consistently.
And that's the big takeawaybecause we know that consistency
is way, way more important thanperfection when it comes to
building authority.
You don't need to be a perfectlyimagined version of a business
owner.

(04:10):
you just need to be the realversion.
Of yourself, the one that yourclients already love, which is
also why I wanted to mentionsomething timely.
I currently have limited spaceto take on five new one-to-one
coaching clients.
We're about to start advertisingthis more widely in the coming
days.
So if you're listening rightnow, you're getting first access
is the package of 11 hours ofcoaching.

(04:32):
For 2,500 pounds.
And the beauty of this is thatwe can tailor it to your exact
needs.
It's designed to give you aclear, personalized system for
your marketing and authoritybuilding.
No more chasing formulas, nomore trying to be someone you're
not.
So if you'd like to secure oneof those spots, you can do that
right now at the link below inthe show notes.

(04:53):
See you next time.