The Real Reason Your Marketing Isn’t Working—And How to Stand Out with Fabi Paolini

In this episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing, I sit down with brand strategist Fabi Paolini to talk about how to attract the right clients—those “power buyers” who are ready to invest, take action, and value your expertise. If you're tired of people ghosting your offers or saying “maybe later,” it’s probably not your offer—it’s how you're messaging it. Fabi shares her Angle of Mastery framework that helps you stand out in a crowded market and speak directly to people who are already motivated to solve their problems.

What You’ll Learn:

• The key difference between “thinkers” and “doers” in your audience

• Why pain marketing is outdated—and what to do instead

• How to position your offer as a need to have

• The concept of your “Angle of Mastery” and how to discover yours

• Fabi’s process for creating messages that magnetize your ideal clients

Visit Fabi Paolini's social media pages:

Website:https://www.fabipaolini.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabipaolini

Uncovering How To Speak To Power Buyers Using Your Angle Of Mastery™️: readytoinvestclients.com

Book your 15-min messaging session: brandmessagesession.com

  📍 📍 Are you tired of attracting the wrong clients or you know the ones that want everything for nothing? Well, what if I told you the problem isn't your offer? It's how you're talking about it. Well, today I have quite the guest for you. They are going to show you how you can shift your messaging so that power buyers are ready to invest and they see your offer as a need to have, not just a nice to have.

 This episode is brought to you by Metrical, from planning to publishing, to understanding what's actually working. Metrical gives you data-driven control, and with their built-in AI tools and competitor tracking, you'll stop guessing and start growing. Just click the link in the show notes for 30 free days of premium access and make sure to use the code KD 30 all.

Let's get into today's episode.

  📍 📍 📍 Welcome back to this week's episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing. Today we have a very special guest. We have   📍 📍 Fabi Paolini on the show, and she is a brand strategist that is helping experts speak to power buyers by leveraging what she calls their angle of mastery.  She works with people just like you.

Coaches, consultants, creatives, and she helps them reframe their message so that their offer becomes an essential. Not just an option. So if you're ready to go from being one of many to being the one in your industry, you are going to love this conversation. Fabi. I am so excited to have you on the show today.

 Thank you so much, Katie. That was a awesome introduction. Oh, well, I mean, like you and I had, you know my name by the way.   📍 Well, and I mean, you and I have had the opportunity, we actually connected earlier and I was like, man, I need to have you come on my show because I love everything that you have to say, and I love your idea behind.

Power buyers. So for people that might be, say, listening and saying like, what the heck is a power buyer? Um, who exactly are power buyers and what makes them different from someone who just browses but never buys?  Yeah. So. Essentially for me, a power buyer is the type of people who are ready to invest, right?

And so what that means is not only that they're ready to invest money, because obviously we all all want that, but it's ready to invest time. They're ready to invest energy. More than anything, it's the type of people who are committed to solving the problem. I feel like, uh, I, I see there's a big difference between people I call thinkers who are the ones that think about the problem.

  📍 They will download every PDF available. They will watch every single webinar they will consume, but they won't really act.  Versus the doers, who are the power buyers?   📍 Who are the people that are like, I have a problem. What do I do? Who do I hire? Where do I go? And they just go. And for me, you know, I identify myself as a power buyer.

 Like that's literally how I am. And what I realized is that what I had been taught over the years, and even how I was doing messaging for a long time. Wasn't speaking to the people that were really determined or that were just really ready to solve the problem. It was more like speaking to the people who had the problem, period.

Yeah. And there's a difference between having a problem and actually doing what it takes to solve it. And so when I recognized that, that's when I shifted my message and I created a whole thing around speaking to power buyers.  I love that. And, and with speaking directly to power buyers, what do you think that some of the messaging mistakes are that you, that most people are making?

They're, you know, like you said, they're talk, they're, they're pushing out the wrong messaging, but what is, what is the right type of messaging that actually pushes those buyers away from, from making the, the, the call making the investment?  Yeah, so it's really interesting because. We've been taught in the marketing space to do things the wrong way, unfortunately, and I think that it used to work, but I just think that the world has very much shifted.

And so for me, the main thing that people are doing is they're becoming what I like to call the   📍 Ursula, where you're speaking to the poor, unfortunate soul, right?  It's like. You're speaking to people who are hopeless, who have so much anxiety and nothing has worked, and you feel like you're about to give up and, and it's like you are doing a lot of pain marketing.

So everything in your message is leading with the problem, what the problem is, how bad the problem is, why, why it's important for you to solve the problem right now, how painful it is. And so what I found is that that type of message that is really, really, um. Emotional and heavy. Tends to attract people that are in   📍 victim mentality who are not really ready to solve it.

 Right. And, and the thing is that most people are doing that without recognizing that they're actually doing it. So they're literally saying things like, you know, you're so frustrated. And nothing that you do has worked before and you feel like you're about to quit and you're hopeless and, and so then you get on a sales call with somebody and they tell you, I'm really frustrated and I'm skeptical about investing in this because there's so many things that I've bought that aren't working, or I'm not really sure if I wanna invest.

And you're surprised that they say that to you, but that's literally who you're calling in. Through your content.   📍 So for me, that's probably the number one mistake is really just speaking about the problem, but not painting a clear picture around who the person with the problem actually is. There's a big difference of, okay, one thing is the problem.

The other thing is. The person that has the problem.  Yeah. Paint me the picture around them first, and then that's how you attract those power buyers. Does that make sense?  Yeah, it makes perfect sense. So do you find it's more about changing what people say or how they say it?  I think it's a little bit of both.

And I, I, and for me, for me, honestly, Katie, it comes down to really understanding the audience. I genuinely feel like most people don't truly understand their audience. They think they do because they've done I-C-A-I-C-P at whatever you wanna call it. Yeah. Like avatar exercises. You, they filled out worksheets or they've worked maybe for the last 10, 12, 20 years with, with clients, and so they think that they get it.

But I feel like most people don't. And, and again, it's, it's just a lack of understanding of the language that speaks to buyers. And I'll give you a, a specific example that I, I often give because I feel like it's very visual and easy to understand. So if you were a weight loss coach or a nutritionist or however you wanna look at it, typically the message that you see out there says stuff like.

You are overweight and you're unhappy with your body and you've tried so many diets, you've lost count, and you feel like your metabolism is broken or slow or whatever, and you're so frustrated and you're so unhappy with how you look and, and you are try, you've tried so many different things, right? So this is all very heavily focus on, again, what that problem is.

The option or the alternative and how you do it differently is again, painting the picture of the person, right? And what the motivations behind them wanting to solve the problem are. So I would say like you are a high level executive woman and you are spending your days on stage speaking in front of hundreds of people or in back to back meetings that are really high stakes for you, and you are here spending most of your time thinking about what to wear.

Because of how uncomfortable you feel in your body versus the thing that you are going to say to make sure that you nail the presentation or you close the deal with a client. So now I've taken the problem. I've made a story around it. How does that problem show up? Why? What's the motivation behind it?

So it's a mix between what we're saying, but then it's also how we're seeing it. It's, it's much more, again, who is that person? Does that make sense?  I love that so much because it's, and I think this is why I was like, yes, you have to come on the podcast because I, it's very in alignment with the my, my four post strategy of kind of reverse engineering and.

You know, with mine, it's what's the intention behind this post? What's, you know, who's this post for? And, and for you, you know, for me it's, it's my four post strategy for you. It is the an ankle of mastery, you know? And, and, and that's, that's the concept that you're known for. So for someone that says, man, I love everything that you said right now, Fabi, what is this angle of mastery?

Um, tell me, tell me more about it and, and how does someone. How do you help someone discover theirs?  Yeah. Okay. So with that first piece, with the power buyer. What I want you to understand is that power buyers are smarter, or it's not necessarily they're smarter, but these are people who have invested before.

They have a high level of knowledge and understanding. And so what I discovered is that it's not enough for me to do what I just did with the weight loss example. I now have to make a strong case for why working with me. Is a smart thing for you to do, like the smart place for you to invest in. And so that's where the angle of mastery comes in.

For me,   📍 the angle of mastery has to do with the big picture outcome that you are helping your audience with, like the big picture solution or not. It's not even the solution or the process or the method. It's more about like. This is what we're going to do together, but it's also about essentially your unique understanding about both the problem and the solution, right?

 It's what is it that you are bringing to the table that nobody else can do, and especially I feel like in the world that we live in right now. Where there's, everybody's a coach, everybody's a consultant. Everybody like everybody knows everything and chat. GPT can give you also so much. Yeah,   📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 You have to find ways to communicate why you are different if you don't do it effectively,

especially in the world of AI where, let's use weight loss as as an example. If I am like, okay, I wanna lose weight, let me go into ChatGPT and ask it to create a weight loss plan, and the answer it gives me is better than of coaches, then you are in trouble.   📍 📍 📍 And so for you, you have to find a way to really be able to communicate the difference.

Like what is your perspective, what is your point of view? And so for my, the work that I do with my clients is, first we help them define, well, what is the root cause of the problem that your audiences are experiencing? And, and typically this is a, like a whole process that we take them through, but it's really understanding again.

What is, why do you think that the person has the problem? Well, first of all, understanding the problem period, right? And that has to do more with power buyers, but it's, why do you think that they have a problem? What is the reason for it? Based off of your experience, your knowledge, the wisdom that you have, the clients that you've worked with, that like the know-how that only you can bring.

What is your take on what's actually going on? And so once we've defined that, I typically give that a name, right? So we, we create concepts for this that are your own. Mm-hmm. And then we do the same for the opposite. So given that this is the root cause of the problem, what is the opposite? What is your unique solution or what is the, your, your take on how to solve that that is different?

And again, I'm not necessarily talking about your method or your process, but it's more about. The big idea, right? And so that's typically what we take our clients through, um, to really help them define that perspective. And again, when we're thinking about that power buyer, your job is to really make a strong case for your way of doing things, right?

To really show them that you have the antidote to their problem. And if you can give them insights about why it's different, how it's unique, then you're building more of a demand for what you do. And so that's what we do with that angle of mastery piece. Essentially.  It, it's your differentiator. It you, you know, because I mean, as much as I would love to say I'm the only social media agency in the world, you know, I'm not even the only social media agency in this building, you know, and, and, but there is something different that we do, and I know who we work with and how the way that we do things helps them best.

And I, I think that it really comes down to. Tweaking and building out content specifically Rev, like you said, reverse engineering it almost to be like, this is the problem that I solve. How am I going to get it in front of the right people? This message in front of the right people, because not everyone is an ideal client.

Mm-hmm. So once someone tap taps into that mastery angle, how does it actually change the way that they show up? The market, you know, like on social media, on podcasts, on, you know, digital ads. Anything like, how, how do you help them really kind of fix the way that they've been showing up?  Uh, for me, I think that that's probably the most exciting part of the process because what happens is that you end up, once you create these concepts that are your own right, like, nobody can copy them.

'cause I think that sometimes I, I, I don't know why people. I, I don't know, like they get concerned about being copied. I never do. But anyways, I think that there's people that are concerned about like, somebody's gonna copy me or whatever. But beyond that, it's like once you've really discovered these terms that are your own and that make you feel truly like that authority, right?

Of I am, I'm know that I am the authority in talking about angle of mastery because. Nobody else is talking about it. 'cause it's my thing. I've trademarked it, it's my whole thing, my process, everything like that. Right. And so it feels more like you are sharing with other people that message that you wanna be known for.

Right. And it's like your flag, this is who I am, this is what makes me different. And I know for sure that nobody else out there is talking about it the way that I'm talking about even if we went through the exact same certification program or MBA or whatever you did, right. I have this perspective and it's my own and nobody else has it, and it immediately makes me stand out.

Yeah. And so it really changes the way that people show up in terms of like that confidence. One thing that is really cool that I see happening very often is then I. You being quoted back your own message and, and having people tell you things that you say in your content and you say very intentionally and purposefully having people say these things back to you and, and you being like, oh, you know, I, I had a client that I worked with who is, um.

A coach for executive woman and she had her whole angle of mastery concept was around the maverick inflection point. And so she was so excited because people just keep on telling her, oh, that is me. I'm exactly at that maverick inflection point and that, and, and really resonating with that. And so I feel like it definitely makes a big difference and you.

Um, building that internal momentum for yourself and, and, and believing in what you're selling ultimately, which is ultimately what's gonna create more certainty and conviction and everything that you put out there.  Yeah. And I, I love that. C can you share, I, I think that the executive woman, the client that you worked with is, actually, I'd love it if you went a little bit further with how you helped her go from being one of many.

To really standing out because they decided to step in and own their mastery. Um, because I, I know it sometimes, especially in with social media, like we see others in our industry and it's like, man, you know, like they're doing all these things and look how, look at how big they're growing. And I think that doing exactly like what you're talking about mm-hmm.

Stepping in into that angle of mastery is, is what helps you stand out in a very crowded sea.  Yeah, so this case with Christina, uh, when she came to me, so this is a woman who had a lot of corporate experience and had been coaching for a long time. And when she came to me, she, her case was really interesting.

She had a very small following on social media, um, was trying to figure out. How do I express what I do? But she sounded exactly like every other executive coach out there. There was nothing different. It was literally, I don't, I don't remember the exact thing, but it was like, how do I get promoted or whatever, like simple, basic thing that everybody else is saying.

And so for us it was first about really uncovering who are power buyers? Who are like, who, who is this woman? What is the problem? And we uncovered that. It was really the maverick women. So specifically we went into STEM and financial careers. That's was like the kind of sub niche within what she does.

But then we uncovered this idea of like the maverick women, the women that are like trailblazing moving forward. But then talking about eventually how that becomes a problem as you are trying to climb up the ladder and land like an executive, like a high level executive role, right? And so what happens when you create a message that is that specific, is that you automatically start filtering people out that are not going to see themselves as that, right?

Like if I don't see myself as like the maverick trailblazing woman, I read her content and it's like, Hmm, okay, that's not me. Just keep on scrolling. Yeah. But then the opposite is also true. And so what happened with her was really interesting because she started creating a lot of content and she had a post on Instagram that went mega viral, like millions of views, and she went from like, I don't know, maybe a thousand followers to like 40, 50,000 followers within weeks.

Oh, wow. And calendar completely full. And people telling her I am like the Maverick woman. That is a hundred percent me. I'm at the Maverick infection point. It was really an interesting process, how it really changed her business, but it came down to really getting clear on the audience. For me, I think that that is the basis of everything, because when you have that clarity on your power buyer, everything else is built around that.

Like how do I craft that angle of mastery so that. They would feel like it's speaking to them and how do I create content that filters people out as much as possible, but then is like a lighthouse to the right people. Yeah. And so that's kind of what happened with Christina.

  📍 📍 📍 I love that. So. You've said before that the way that we talk about our offer determines how people value it, you know?

Mm-hmm. From taking the, the words of like, oh, you're frustrated with the weight loss, or, um, anything like, kind of like getting the frustrated people on, in the, the, the helpless kind of people onto the call instead of those power buyers. So how do we make it feel like it's. Not a, not a nice to have. Mm-hmm.

Like this.   📍 This is a need to have.  We need this product. I need to work with Fabi. What, how could, how do we make that switch from Yeah. From with our messaging?  So what tends to happen, and for me is one of the most common issues that I see, especially when you do work that is a little bit more. Intangible or transformational, like breakthrough life coaching, spiritual.

This actually can be true for everything. Is that it tends to sound more like a nice to have. Right? It would be nice. Sounds great. I love even with he weight health, wellness. I was gonna say health ness, um, you know, relational. Like there's all of these things that are like, sure. I mean, it would be nice.

It would, it sounds great. Do I need to invest? Thousands of dollars. Well, I don't know. And so I always tell people that everything is a need to have if you express it correctly. Right? Yeah. Like a $50,000 Hermes purse. For a certain audience is a need to have, but it's all about communication. How do I really show the value of what I'm selling, but not from a place of like, here's why you need coaching.

Because if you are saying in your content, here's why you need coaching, you're already speaking to the wrong audience. Your audience already knows that they need coaching, right? Um, but it's more about crafting the whole journey. So I have a process called the need to Have formula, where I kind of go through everything we talked about, like.

We're speaking to power buyers. We're talking about how the problem specifically shows up for them, what they're currently doing to try to solve the problem. But then we're showing them through the angle of mastery piece, why that hasn't worked. What is the actual problem that they have? Like it's it, for me, it's really about shifting beliefs.

I think that oftentimes people focus on in their content about like. What they need to do. And what they need to do instead is focus on creating content around what they need to believe, right? So for me, for example, in what I do, I talk about how people don't have a marketing problem, they have a messaging problem.

And so a lot of what I'm doing through my content is shifting belief. Around. No, no, no. You think it's marketing, so you are doing, you're spending more money on ads or you are doing more content or, or getting on more, you know, platforms on social media or trying to get more reach. But really what you have is a messaging problem, and here's why.

And we're shifting those beliefs. And so when we're able to do that. And present our angle of mastery as the solution, as the antidote to the problem. It becomes a need to have, you're speaking to the problem in a way that feels more urgent to solve without you having to default on, we have three spots open, or price is gonna go up, or card is closing or, or any, I mean, there's always a time and place for doing that, and I think that when you're doing it with.

Like it's genuine, real, urgency. It works. I I But when you were doing it as a way to get people to come in mm-hmm. I don't think that that's as effective. What we want is to speak to people who have an internal urgency already to solve the problem and to craft our content in a way that just brings insight after insight, after insight that would make them feel like, oh, that's what's going on.

It's the clarity. Exactly that, that,  that you're, you're helping that. And I think that that's huge. Like having the role of clarity be the differentiator. That's what makes it the no-brainer. Right. Exactly.  Right. It, it's, it's those insights for me, it's like those light bulb moments of, I never thought about the problem like that.

I didn't realize like that was going on. Uh, and I'll give you another example. I worked with, um, a coach a few years ago, or. Maybe last year. Anyways, it doesn't matter. Time is is a mess. Now it's, you know, we're 20, 25. I don't even know what, what month it is anymore. But anyway, she was a relationship coach and a lot of her message was focused on like attachment styles and a attachment styles.

When you are leading with methodologies or processes, it tends to be your level of awareness of the problem as an expert versus the audiences. Obviously there are gonna be people within those power buyers who are very specifically like very solution aware, and they're like, I know that the problem is my attachment style.

I need to hire an attachment styles coach. But for the most part, even if we're talking about power buyers for them, they view the problem differently. And so what we did is in part of defining her angle of mastery, we created the concept of. Um, the success driven heartbreak cycle. And the idea is that the very thing that makes women successful is the thing that makes them attract the wrong partner because they're great at problem solving.

They're great at fixing things in their career, but then they attract partners that need to be fixed, right? Yeah. And so what happens is that when you are explaining the problem like that versus me saying, you have the avoided attachment style. I don't know what that means, but now you are telling me.

Wait a minute, that is how I am. I am great at fixing things. I am great at problem solving. I am super analytical or whatever. That is how I'm doing things in my real. You are giving them these insights that make them feel like, oh, well then how do I break the cycle now? Now I want the antidote to that.

And that's when you present the solution. And so that's the idea. It's really about those insights and that's what's gonna make a massive difference in you being able to create a bigger need for what you do. And, and it makes it seem, so I have a,  I have a good friend, Alicia Barr. She's, uh, a sales coach and one of the things she always says is, stop selling like a douche bag.

Um, and with what you just said, it makes it seem. Almost like, like a breath of fresh air. It, it's not that bro sales, it's not being pushy and spammy. It really helps to me, the way that you just explained it is like, oh yeah, this is, this is something that I need to have, and. It, it's urgent that I have it, as opposed to just being like, oh, well here's this thing.

Give me your money. It's not, it's not salesy and growth a  hundred percent. And for me, Katie, that was part of the reason why I crafted it. Everything crafted it, crafted everything like I did. Um, because again, like that's what was being taught. It was the, yeah. Let's talk about the pain. Let's talk about how bad the problem is.

Let's get people to see that the problem is so bad, they need you right now. And it never felt right to me. I felt like I did not wanna sell to that audience because I wasn't that audience myself. And I was like, there has to be a different way, a different way to empower people too, and to trust my process and to trust.

I'm good, right? Yeah. At what I do that even if somebody says no to me, there's always gonna be somebody else that will come in and say yes. And so for me, a lot of what I do is about empowering the buyer. Right. So, you know, we have, and, and this is a whole other conversation, but we have a very, um, like.

Empowering sales process, for example, 📍 that we take our cl, our, our, our, I mean not only our clients through, but I mean people who wanna become clients where, you know, for example, I begin my process with a 15 minute assessment call where I literally will write people's messaging for them on the call. And it's not a sales call.

I don't sell anything on the call. It's a 100% value-based call. And at the end of the call I ask them, well, do you want me to help you implement that? If they say yes, I move them to a sales call. If they say no, okay, perfect. Good. Go. Go ahead and use what I just gave you and, and it's such an empowering process and it's all tied to that.

It's about creating the need, but from a place of sincerity and not from a place of like, let me fear you into needing me. Yeah,  for sure. Well, so one, if anybody wants to get on your books and take advantage of that 15 minute call, what's the best way for someone to do that?   📍 Yeah, they can go to brand message session.com.

 Cool. And book it there. It is such a, it's a very interesting process because it, it's so funny 'cause I literally just had a call with somebody literally who told me. Fabi. I feel like I just learned more in these 15 minutes than I have in the last two years of my business because it's very personalized.

It's not a a script. It's very much like, I will analyze your message and I will tell you here's how I would rewrite your copy, or here's what I would do instead. And so it's such a value-based process that it's, it's really interesting. So, yeah.

 I love it. Well, this has been an awesome conversation. I would love to talk with you more on this another time because I think it's.

It's such a needed way of, well, one, showing up in the world, um, and showing up for your business. I think it helps you get the right people into your sphere. It feels more authentic to me than a lot of the other, other ways that are out there. So if people are interested in learning more about you. You know, get getting on that 15 minute messaging connecting with you on social.

What, what's the best way for people to get more fabi in their lives?   📍 Yeah, so brand message session.com.  You can also go to   📍 ready to invest clients.com where I have a training where I go a little bit deeper into in terms of talking about power buyers and angle of mastery and all the things we talked about.

 And then you can follow me everywhere   📍 at. Fabi Pini. I know it's not easy to spell. Just find it in the show notes, the show notes, whatever.  But you can find me everywhere at Fabi Pini. I'm most active on LinkedIn. Um, I also on YouTube. So anyways, wherever you wanna find me.  I love it. Well, thank you again so much for being here, Fabi, you have given us so much to think about when it comes to not just marketing ourselves, but owning what makes us truly unforgettable.

 Thank you so much for having me, Katie.

 Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing. I hope you're leaving with valuable insights and the inspiration to lead your market. If you've enjoyed our time together and found today's podcast episode useful, I have a small favor to ask of you. Please hit that subscribe button to stay updated with the latest episodes.

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And be sure to pick up your copy of my new book, the Social[email protected] slash book. Thanks again for tuning in. I'm Katie Brinkley, and I can't wait to dive into more strategies and stories with you on the next episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing. Let's keep on taking your marketing to new heights.