Marketing Your Coaching Business – The 5 Things You Should Be Doing
Marketing is not a spoke in a wheel it is the most important part of your business success. Without marketing you don’t have sales and without sales there is no business.
The term “marketing” covers a lot of different activities all associated with selling your coaching services. Advertising is the most obvious marketing activity but is not the most important. In this post we will guide you through the steps that you need to be taking to give your coaching practice the best possible chance of success.
Why Is Marketing So Important?
We have already agreed that without marketing you cannot make sales or attract your ideal clients. In a fast changing 24/7 information world marketing has grown to be the most vital function within a business second only to delivering the service.
Before the internet, your competition was limited to the service providers in your industry who were in the same geographical location as you. Of course, this is no longer the case.
Thanks to technology you now face competition from every coach in the world with access to a laptop, a webcam and an internet connection. We live in a global community where Skype, Zoom and Facebook have given us access to potential clients from all over the world but it gave them to everyone else too.
The internet is a noisy crowded space and attention is currency, so how do you make sure that you have your ideal clients’ attention?
Make Your Marketing Work For You
1. Identify your ideal client
In order to have your message heard over the din of the internet your voice needs to be clear. Who are you speaking to? Many businesses make the mistake of attempting to appeal to everyone, their message becomes diluted and it is not clear what they do or who they serve.
Get your ideal client avatar nailed down.
- Who are they?
- What is their life like?
- What do they struggle with?
- What do they worry about?
- What lights them up?
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What do they need your coaching services for?
When you know who you are talking to you can tailor every area of your marketing, making sure that your message is laser focused towards them.
2. Focus On The Client
“Your marketing isn’t about you, it’s about your client”
This is true but only to a certain extent. Your marketing needs to attract the people you want to serve so your messaging needs to focus on the things that are important to them.
What are the solutions that you provide? How will you help to solve their problems? How will they feel after working with you?
The answers to these questions will underpin all your marketing and communication but it is also important to include yourself in everything you put out. People buy from people and marketing is as much as about building relationships as it is about securing sales. Show people who you are and why you care and you will attract the type of client who is not only willing to work with you but will get the most from your coaching services.
3. Get Social
Where does your client hang out online?
Are they young and on Instagram or are they professionals who spend their time cultivating their networks on LinkedIn?
Wherever your clients are is where you need to be. Make sure your presence on social media is consistent, in terms of how often you show up and your messaging. Be the same person on every platform.
Use these channels to build your audience and your relationship with prospective clients. Build an understanding of who you are and what the services are that you provide. It should be obvious as soon as someone visits any of your business profiles who you are and what you do.
4. Add Value
All relationships are built on trust and the best way to do this is by adding value.
Show your audience that you are an expert in your industry but sharing your knowledge and expertise. Give people insights into how you work and the methods you use. When people resonate with your message and have those “a-ha” moments they connect with you and your brand.
Providing valuable free content will bring your audience back for more. Creating a free Facebook group and building a community is an excellent way of nurturing prospective clients and moving them along the customer journey taking them from lead to client.
5. Keep Showing Up
Marketing is a high energy and continuous task. As Henry Ford famously said “Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time”.
Marketing is much like exercise in that you only enjoy the benefits for as long as you keep up the activity. Big brands like McDonalds, Coca Cola and Apple are all industry leaders with instantly recognisable brands but they never stop advertising. Every year we know we can rely on Coca Cola to bring out their big red truck and if you are now singing “Holidays are coming” in your head then you can appreciate the power of a sustained and consistent marketing campaign.
Marketing is one of the many important topics we cover in the business mastermind component of the Mindset Coach Academy. We believe in giving you the skills to be an effective coach AND run a successful business. We are proud to have built up an Academy that provides advice, information and support at every step of your coaching business journey.