#84 - Motivate Ethically: How to Use Urgency Without FOMO in Your Marketing

Ready to ditch the pressure tactics and sell with soul?

In this episode, I'm breaking down a smarter, more conscious way to use urgency and deadlines in your offers — without creating FOMO or burnout. You'll learn how to inspire action using truth, transparency, and value that actually serves your audience.

We’ll cover:
 → What "ethical inspiration" really means
 → The 5 key components of aligned urgency
 → Why rewarding action beats punishing hesitation
 → Real-world examples from Amy Porterfield, Stu McLaren, and inside my own private podcast strategy

⚡Plus: I’ll walk you through how to craft a bonus or time-sensitive offer that motivates your audience to move — because it helps them win, not because they’re afraid to miss out.

🎧 Want the perfect example of this in action?
 Check out my private podcast, The Premium Client Energetic Self-Audit — DM me “AUDIT” on Instagram or grab the link in the show notes!

Mindset to Market is a Luminous Creative Production. If you'd like to learn more about our business coaching program and group coaching container, please visit us online at DeborahcSmith.com.

Mindset to Market is produced by Deborah C. Smith and designed to inspire and support big-hearted creatives in finding their own unique path, building a sustainable business, and creating financial, spiritual, mental wellness and abundance.

🎉 Work with Deborah Learn More
💕 Visit Deborah online at DeborahCSmith.com
💕 Follow on the 'Gram. @deborah_smith_coaching

Transcript

 I know you've probably seen this hundreds of times. Cart closing today. Last chance to get in. Only two spots left. Don't miss out. Or how about running a timer on an Evergreen product that you could buy any day of the week and pretending that you're running out of time. Now, do not get me wrong. Not only have I done this in my own marketing, but those strategies actually work.

They will get people to take an action and they do get us to click a link and buy. Fear of missing out is a major motivator for people. Okay? But today I wanna talk about a more conscious way to create a sense of urgency. One that feels actually good to you, and that respects the intelligence of your audience.

So let's talk about how to motivate people with integrity, using ethical inspiration that drives action and actually builds trust with your audience at the same time. Hey there, and welcome to the Mindset to Market Podcast. Your go-to place for practical tools and solutions for the everyday challenges of being a creative and spiritual solopreneur living in a material world.

I'm your host, Debra Smith. I'm a holistic business coach with 17 years of experience, and I help my clients bust through mindset blocks and build a daily practice that prioritizes your business's financial growth. As well as your personal health and wellness. I'm here to offer you support, creativity, mindset, practical how-tos, and getting into imperfect messy actions so you can find balance while building the dream business.

If you're a purpose-driven soul entrepreneur who's working on that dream one day at a time, then you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Okay. I love this conversation and I will be transparent with you. Many times in the past I've used what I consider to be slightly unethical marketing tactics because we get taught how to do that by masters in the game, right?

The big gurus are out there teaching us how to. Build funnels and create marketing messaging that triggers the psychological triggers in the mind of our potential customers. And you know, that's a big part of marketing, so I'm not gonna diss that so much. But I will say transparently that I have fallen down the rabbit hole of people's kind of FOMO marketing funnels more times than I'm comfortable admitting and made a purchase when I didn't quite think it through very much.

I didn't really do my research on the product or the service, and I kind of fell for those psychological triggers myself. And then regretted it, right? So, and I, and or have gotten into programs that were mismatched or paid high ticket prices for a, a coach who didn't really deliver on their promise. So that does not feel good.

And so I, the reason I bring this conversation up today is mainly to talk about a very different way to approach the same. Strategy, which is basically to create the feeling of urgency so that people make a decision. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. But before I dive into the details, I do wanna just do a tiny bit of housekeeping.

Uh, the wait is over for those of you who joined the wait list for the premium client energetic self-audit that private podcast is ready to listen to. So now you can go to the link in the show notes or on my website, and when you enter your name and your email address, no longer be put on a wait list.

You'll actually just go straight to the training, which I'm really excited about. It's taken a a little bit longer than I thought it would, but it is ready so. And the second announcement I wanna make is that I am opening space mid-September for the next cohort of the Mindset to Market Foundations group coaching program.

And I'm gonna be talking about that in the coming weeks, and it is a wonderful program that I'm so excited about. I cannot wait to share the details of which, and so this is a great opportunity for us to work together if that's something that you have been thinking about. Okay. Without further ado, let's talk about ethical inspiration in your marketing and a way to attract the attention of your ideal client.

Call them into, you know, an energetic conversation with you. Get them active. Get them doing things by offering them a true reason to take actions. So this is truly how to motivate ethically, right? How to use urgency without the fomo. And so we're gonna talk about what is ethical inspiration. We're gonna talk about the key components and some real world examples of what that looks like.

So, um, and then I wanna talk about why it matters for your business, of course. And I will give you an action step at the end. So let's start with what is ethical inspiration? At its core, this is the idea of motivating your audience to take aligned actions, but not out of fear, but from a place of empowered choice.

So it's not about pressuring people. It's about showing them what's possible, inspiring them, and explaining why right now is a great time to say yes. So giving them the call to a decision and giving them a deadline, but not based on you're gonna lose, you're gonna miss, you're gonna regret, right? So it blends three really important things.

It blends real facts, real deadlines, deadlines that are absolutely going away if they don't take an action in real value. And here's the secret sauce. You're not creating urgency just to make sales, you're creating momentum for them that's gonna serve their larger transformation. So when it's done right, when this, when this strategy is applied in, I think the correct way, you actually get them into action, get them into momentum, and, and get them making choices and getting results, which easily leads them to the next step, right?

So here's the key components of ethical urgency. Uh, number one is the, the most important is truth and transparency. So you have to be honest with your people, right? You have to be, excuse me, you have to be honest about deadlines, the capacity, uh, the bonuses. So for example, if you can only actually take five private clients this month, and two spots are already filled.

Then, then say that. But if you could actually take 10 clients and no spots are filled, then don't say that. Right? Like just straight up, just be honest. It doesn't matter. If you have no results yet and you're at the very beginning of your journey, tell us that you're at the beginning of your journey and you believe you can help us get a transformation.

Like give me a reason to, to trust that working with you is gonna be valuable to me, even if you've never served a client before. So just be honest about deadlines, be honest about your capacity, and be honest about what they're gonna get, you know, from a transformation, et cetera. So that's one. Number two is a, a real reason for them to take action right now.

So when you add urgency with something that genuinely helps them take the next step faster. It, it actually feels good, right? So an example would be if you sign up by Friday, I'll send you my private content planning guide so you can get a head start. So there is a perfect example. If you take action by this deadline, I'm gonna give you.

An extra thing that's gonna help you get an even bigger transformation, right? So better results. It's, it's a really good motivating tool. Uh, so add a, so number one is truth transparency number two is a, a real reason for them to act now. Number three is to reward instead of punishing. Whoa. What a novel concept.

Instead of saying, you're gonna miss out, you're gonna say something like, you'll get this extra help if you act now. Right? Just like that last example. So this is motivation, right? It's not manipulation, it's, it's such a. Fine line there, but it actually makes a big difference. Uh, when we motivate people and we inspire them, it's very different than, than, you know, teasing or, you know, pressuring.

So, okay, number four, uh, key component is high value support. So your urgency strategy should include something that removes friction. Or accelerates their results. So this could be like a bonus training, a done for you template, uh, maybe a private strategy session. Those would all count as a way to create that urgency with something that actually really, truly helps them.

Typically, I add in. Uh, I motivate people by saying, if you like, a fast action bonus that I use a lot that's very, very popular is if you join me before the end of this training or et cetera, I'm gonna give you a free one-on-one strategy session, because that really helps people get much more clear about the steps they're gonna take.

So it's very valuable for them. Um, so that's a good example. All right, number five, key component is gonna be creative framing. Your creativity really matters here. So craft bonuses and timelines that align with your offer's purpose and make it feel custom, right? Don't just make it feel canned, like you copied it off of somebody else's website.

Like be creative. Tap into something new and different. Um, if you're not already following Alex Ozzy, he does this really well. I think one of the things I really like about him is. He's constantly trying to do something that other people have not yet done. So it's interesting to watch him and then you get sucked along with his journey and, you know, all of his offers are great.

Okay, so let's talk about some real world examples of ethical urgency in action. Uh, and these are just people that I have either studied with or, um, actually I'm using myself as an example. So. Or me. So number one is gonna be Amy Porterfield's timely bonus strategy. Um, when I, I had been following her for years and I knew I wanted to do her.

Digital Course Academy because I was really into the idea of creating digital courses. But, you know, I thought she's an expert. I'd like to learn from somebody who really has got this done this right. So, um, but I wasn't really sure, you know, I was very much just drifting. I wasn't really sure when I was going to.

Join her if I was gonna join her, and I was on a webinar with her when she, you know, not only did she deliver an incredible live training that I got so much value out of that I felt excited to work with her, but also at the end of her webinars. And, uh, she, she does a really masterful closing sales strategy on her webinars.

It just, the way that she does that in and of itself as a masterclass. And she adds these timely tactical bonuses that really enhance her course experience. So for example, she'll say something like, sign up by Friday and get a Canva template pack so you can launch your lead magnet 10 times faster. And this is really smart because it speeds up their success.

It removes a lot of overwhelm, like designing all the graphics. And it's not fear-based, it's results-based. And it aligns with her program because she doesn't teach Canva, you know, graphic design. She teaches course creation, but. When you launch a course, you need a lot of graphics to go along with it. So this is gonna help her students get there faster.

And she is a, if you have not, if you don't follow her and you don't, um, already know her work, I highly recommend like learning from her and, and following her. 'cause she's kind of a genius. Okay. The second example that I came up with is, uh, Stu McLaren teaches What. Is known as the first 10 strategy and the first 10 strategy is this idea, uh, that you pre-sell your course by inviting your first 10 buyers in exchange for a discount and feedback.

Now Stu created this strategy and then Amy started teaching it inside Digital Course Academy, which is where I learned it. And the reason I bring it up is because I now teach this to all of my students, and I, it it's just because it works. It works every time. It's a really brilliant, so here's the deal.

It's urgent, it's limited to 10 people, right? So if you don't get in there in the first 10, you, you miss out on this 50% off discount. It's collaborative, and that's a really fun thing for people. Believe it or not, people like to be in on the ground floor of what you're creating. And it's not just hype, it's actually a service that you're offering, right?

You're, you're, you're rewarding them for co-creating with you, which is really brilliant. Um, I'm not gonna go too deep into that strategy, but I will just say a nice feature of this approach is when you're launching something new. It really helps to get people's testimonials so that you can then sell it at full price.

And so what I like about the first 10 strategy is that you don't have to tie this to a date on the calendar. It can just be until I get 10 people. And so you can kind of keep that open-ended and reward those first 10 people that come in no matter when that happens. So if you're just getting started, this is a really good, uh, this is a good way to start.

And I tend to use this strategy. Anytime I launch something new because I know that the benefit that I will get from 10 people who are willing to give me feedback, so I highly appreciate that and I find it very ethical. It's super transparent. You're like, I don't really know yet. I'm trying this. I want you to be my first 10.

I think it's gonna be brilliant, but I need your feedback. Okay, so that brings me to my third example, uh, which is actually my new private podcast, which is called the Premium Client Energetic Self-Audit. And so here's the thing, I wasn't going to do this, but then I reviewed the content that I created and I realized, um, with the help by the way, of a great coach that.

It would be more effective if I added ethical urgency. So here's the thing. I created and crafted six short episodes just to help you audit where you might be leaking energy and people pleasing and underselling, or I'm sorry, undervaluing yourself. And, and it's, it's, it was great as it was, but what was missing was the key motivating factor to make sure that people who decide to, to do this are actually gonna complete it.

And so I went back in, and again, I had the supportive coach to do this, and I created a timely bonus. So if you listen to all six episodes. Inside the private podcast in five days. Then you and you do the homework, which is leaving comments beneath each audio. Then you unlock this amazing bonus and. You are someone who is motivated to do this type of work, which is basically, you know, cleaning up your pricing wounds, you know, clarifying your value, learning how to speak to premium clients in a way that feels really grounded and confident.

If that's, if that's the work you need to do, then the bonus training is something that you definitely need and will definitely want. So, um, I'm really excited about having added that mainly because I think it's gonna get people to do the other piece of the work, which is going to help them have a huge transformation and make more money, which is part of my mission.

And so I created this entire thing to help people break through some of the blocks that I had to break through. And if you're interested in that, definitely go grab the link and get in there and, and start that. And you'll see how I'm adding this ethical urgency by adding a really good, you know, inviting people to chase a really great bonus.

And listen, you don't have to get that bonus training, but if you want that bonus training, you have to do the videos in five days. And the reason is because I'm rewarding. Action takers, and guess what guys? You better believe it's intentional. I'm rewarding action takers because I only wanna work with action takers.

So if ever any of the people that go through this training. Decide they want to work with me. They are pre-qualified as people who will do their work. And I'm saying this not to be a jerk, but from the point of view of somebody who has taken on clients in the past who did not show up, did not wanna do their work, and that's really challenging.

It's really frustrating when somebody's super blocked and they, they actually just don't. Do the work because they don't get the transformation, they don't get the results, and it's a heavyweight to carry. So this is like weeding people out. I highly recommend you copy this strategy from me and use it in some of your free content to motivate people to to take action.

All right, which is a perfect segue into why this matters for your business, which is that if you're a heart led coach or a service provider, here's what I just want you to remember. You can use deadlines without being dramatic. You can use bonuses without being sleazy, and you can create urgency by using intention instead of intimidation.

And this approach is really about trust, because people wanna feel seen, they want to feel respected and supported, not manipulated. Nobody feels good after they get swindled into a quick fast sale and they, you know, drop a hundred dollars or a thousand dollars or $10,000 and then don't, don't really get.

Any results or transformation. So the next time you're launching, I want you to ask yourself, what will genuinely help my clients take action? Right? What would genuinely get them to take action? How can I reward decision making instead of punishing hesitation? And what bonus or container or service would actually help them get started?

And then stay motivated. And again, if you want to hear an example of how I'm doing this in real time, head over to the premium client, energetic self-audit. It's a private podcast that not only motivates people, but also gives you a lot of clarity to move forward in your business. So bonus, bonus, bonus, um, and you can dm me the word audit, uh, on Instagram, or you can grab the link in the show notes or you can head over to my website, which is deborah c smith.com, and you'll find an invitation, usually I think at the hello bar at the top of my website.

Website has been updated to have the premium client energetic self audit link. Okay, so soft, empowering invitations to take action are the are the deal. And I would just, you know, if you wanna learn how to build your own ethical urgency strategy. Like I said, join my free training or please feel free to message me for private support.

Um, we can map it out together. You know, no gimmicks, no pressure, just a clear path, uh, built for your energy, built for your audience. That's what I do with my clients is map out their path to simple sales. So. That is my episode for the day. I hope you found this helpful, and if you have comments or thoughts about this conversation, I would love to hear them.

Drop me a line and you can also comment right at the show notes. There's a link there now where anyone can send me notes. Yeah, and if you have ideas about ways to motivate, inspire, and move people forward in their process, I would love to hear them because this is all a work in progress for me as well.

I mean, I'm out here testing stuff all the time, and what I have found is that. I feel better when I'm ethically inspiring and motivating people and creating urgency based on something real, as opposed to just typing words that I think are gonna, you know, psych people out. So I'm doing this out of integrity and I hope to help you do the same.

And yeah, and I hope you found this helpful. And with that, my dear, have a wonderful rest of your day and I hope to see you inside that private podcast. Um, and until next week, may you be vibrant. I.