Life Coach Marketing|13 Ways to Promote Your Business and Get New Clients

Being a life coach, your professional expertise is one of your biggest assets. Successfully establishing and running a life coach business takes a lot more than just being a field expert.

If you’re not able to bring in new clients regularly, your business may not reach the heights you wish for!

So how do you establish your presence as a credible coach and target the right people, at the right time, through the right channels?

The answer is simple: life coach marketing! 

Put yourself out there and see how your game changes. The major point of difference between life coach marketing and marketing for any other business is that you’re not trying to promote a service here, you are trying to promote yourself!

With that in mind we have outlined 10 ways through which you can build a brand for yourself and succeed as a life coach.

1. Define your target audience
2. Provide free sessions
3. Make an appealing program package
4. Attend workshops and other events
5. Differentiate yourself from your competitors
6. Organize events
7. Use social media to establish a strong presence
8. Have a clear brand identity
9. Create cross-industry partnerships
10. List yourself on online directories

Stick to the end for the 3 bonus tips 😉

Before getting started

We’ve divided the 10 tips to market your life coaching business in this blog into two categories:

1. For life coaches who are just starting out
2. For life coaches who have some experience in the industry

While the first five tips will probably be more relevant to life coaches who are just starting out, the second part can be read by experienced as well as new life coaches. 

Here are the tips that should help you if you’re just starting out as a coach and want some know-how about bringing in those first few clients. 

1. Define your target audience

Life coach advertising begins with selecting a niche and sticking to it. Being known as an expert in this industry can help you stand out, which will most likely attract clients who will benefit from your knowledge. Those coaches who take on a niche and establish a brand around a very specific problem may have a higher chance of being more successful than the others.

Why?

It’s best to focus on a certain niche and offer a coaching package that’s tailored to deliver your target clients the specific outcome they’re prepared to pay for. This allows you to stop wasting money on inefficient marketing methods which target the wrong audience or fail to communicate the benefits of your program in a way that attracts a suitable clientele.

2. Provide free sessions

People don’t always understand what life coaching entails, so it’s natural that they would want to test the waters before making any decision.

As part of your marketing strategy, you can provide a free ‘try before you buy’ session, usually termed as a ‘Discovery Session’ or ‘Free Consultation’. 

Reach out to your friends, colleagues, even relatives, and invite them to a session with you. Here is a sample message for your reference:

Hello everyone, I am inviting you all to a free workshop on “Problems while starting a new business”. If you’re searching for a session like this, I believe this may be a fantastic opportunity for you. Please forward this mail to your friends and family who might be interested. Looking forward to meeting you all!

Why?

Keeping such sessions can be a very resourceful part of your life coach marketing plan as it can help you to boost your client traffic. Also, having an interactive session with other people is a good way to market your life coaching business. That’s because, through these sessions, you will be able to single out those who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer.

This can be done periodically, say every month, and you can slowly decrease the frequency of these sessions as your clientele increases.

3. Make an appealing program package

You should be creating a plan which appeals to your potential customers. It must have a defined objective and a rough timeline that can be based on your past clients’ experience with you.

Clarity is key. Your clients should have a fair idea about the sessions which they would be a part of. Your program package should have an overview that can answer questions like:

• How long does a typical session last? 
• What will be the frequency of these sessions?
• Will you be meeting in person or online? Will your clients be able to choose their preferred mode of sessions?
• What has been the average duration of the entire program for previous clients?
• What other benefits will your clients have? 
• How much would your clients be charged? Would it be on a session-to-session basis or do you have monthly packages as well?

4. Attend workshops and industry events

Your competitors do not have to be your enemies 

Attending workshops and events where professionals like yourself come together and interact with each other can be highly beneficial for you. You can make connections with your competitors and leverage that to your advantage.

It can also help you enrich your knowledge and skills to provide better coaching to your clients in the future. 

Why?

You do not cover every aspect of coaching, and neither do other coaches. If you make the right connections, you can start referring clients to each other. This can help you expand your network and increase your client intake.

Another benefit of attending social events is that you will have the opportunity to meet a variety of potential clients. Engaging with other attendees can be as simple as having a one-to-one chat or giving a brief talk about yourself and your area of expertise. This will help others to learn more about you as a coach, which in turn helps you to get high-quality leads.

5. Differentiate yourself from your competitors

Your ultimate goal should be to attract and have a growing intake of clients, and that can only be possible if:

• You are better than your competitors,
• Or, you offer something unique to your customers.

In this industry, there is no such thing as “being better than other coaches.” Everyone has their own ideals, strengths, and experiences to talk about. How YOU are able to stand out from the crowd is what matters.

How?

Your marketing should be effective and your pricing strategies should be appealing to your potential clients. With customer-friendly prices, you can have additional benefits like guides, e-books, free sessions, etc. to create a pull towards your coaching. 

The next 5 tips will probably be more relevant to those who have some experience in this industry and are looking to expand their client base. But it is a good idea to make yourselves aware of these marketing ideas even if you’re in the initial stages of your business. 

6. Organize events

You can organize events and workshops to bring your current & prospective clients to a single platform. These events will help you have an interactive session with your audience where they can get to know you and vice versa. This can be an excellent opportunity to market your brand as well.

The majority of people who approach you during these events will be quality leads, who will have the highest potential to turn into clients. So engage them with relevant topics and show how you can be the right coach for them.

Giving a visual, interactive online workshop that gives value and promotes your message as a life coach, is one of the most effective ways to attract a larger audience. So you can also consider hosting webinars using an online scheduling software which can streamline your administrative tasks and make it easy for you to connect with a larger audience across the globe.

7. Use social media to establish a strong presence

Despite being a crucial part of life coach marketing strategy, building a social media profile is quite simple and its maintenance costs pretty much nothing. They can help you build an organic online following while allowing you to communicate with your audience. 

The social media traffic you generate can also be directed to your life coaching website or blog site, which can help you increase sign-ups. Once they’re aware of you through your engaging content, they are more likely to trust you and schedule a consultation/session with you later.

You can then invite these people via email to various events and free sessions where both you and your potential clients will be able to evaluate your compatibility and discuss your client’s expectations and goals.

Simplifying your client’s booking experience by having a book now button on Instagram and Facebook, or maybe a small widget on your website that can directly take visitors to your booking portal can be very useful. It makes it easier for visitors to book a session with you. Various wellness scheduling software, like Appointy, can help you integrate these features into your website or in your Instagram handle.

8. Have a clear brand identity

According to the writing Guru, Wendi Weiner –

Attracting the right clients is all about knowing your brand and being able to convey it the right way. 

Identifying and distinguishing your values so that your clients can recognize them easily is of utmost importance while marketing a life coaching business.

Your website and profile on social networking platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn should convey a clear and consistent message about your life coaching.  A message that is real and relatable, will most likely pique your target audience’s interest. Your branding should have a clear answer to the following questions:

1. Who is your ideal client?
2. What can you do for them?
3. What is the topmost problem of others which you want to solve?
4. Why you? What makes you the best coach for this audience? 
5. How are you different from all the other coaches that offer help?

The answer to these questions would help others to gauge if you are the right coach for them. So make sure your profile reflects your intent the right way. 

Apart from your social media handles, you will find that your booking profile will probably be the most viewed segment of your online presence. It should be aligned to your website & social accounts, all of which should convey your value proposition bang on with a sense of comfort and make you seem approachable. 

How?

You should have the flexibility to customize your booking portal the way you want it to look and it should be intuitive enough to make the end customer’s booking journey hassle-free. There are many wellness scheduling software for coaching services, like Appointy, which can help you to create your desired look and feel for your booking portal.

9. Create cross-industry partnerships 

When it comes to client acquisition, referrals are very important. They can be a medium for people to reach you without your direct involvement.

Find professionals who would be willing to recommend you to their clients, friends, or contacts. In turn, you could do the same for them. These professionals can be from any industry. 

Say you get in touch with an accountant. They can refer you to a business owner to help them be focused and be on track with their work as their company expands. In return, you can suggest one of your clients to the same accountant who can help your contact manage their finances better. It’s a win-win situation for everyone!

10. List yourself on online directories 

Directing organic traffic towards your business is crucial to maintain a steady client intake. And in order to successfully do that, you need to have your business right in front of those looking for a life coach.

And how do you do that? Google it! 

Google My Business is a brilliant way for your customers to find you via the Google search engine. According to a study, customers are 70% more likely to visit a business that is listed on Google.

Also, you can take bookings directly from Google search using Reserve with Google. To get listed on RwG, you will need an online scheduling software that is an official Google Reserve partner.

Other online directories like Life Coach hub and the International Coaching Federation maintain high visibility for coaches through public relations, publicity campaigns, inbound marketing, and the Coach Referral Service (CRS).

The CRS is a widely renowned, independent system that connects coaches with clients who are looking for their services. Hundreds of coaches from all around the world list their practice and even provide links to their websites. The CRS draws a lot of media attention and gives members a lot of exposure. To maximize your chances of getting new clients, make sure you register as a life coach on these portals.

Bonus tips, as promised 😀

It doesn’t matter if you are a veteran or a new player in this industry, there are a few things that will help you throughout your journey of becoming a successful life coach. Here are the 3 bonus tips which can be very beneficial for your business-

1. Write a Book

This is probably one of the best ways to leverage your experience. Your book could be about how you have reached where you are in life right now. You can write about your life skills, your experiences, the kind of problems which you faced in life and how you were able to overcome them. 

These can be very informative for a lot of people and can be a really good way to get life coaching clients, specifically, simply because you’ll also be promoting your business through your book.

These books/guides will establish your expertise and reputation. It’s something which you can promote and sell at various events and workshops. Also, listing and promoting your book on Amazon and other similar e-commerce sites can be a useful extra source of income.

2. Guide the wrong ones, the right way

Many people will approach you during your seminars or other meetings/workshops which you attend. As you get to know about their problems, you might come to realize that you may not be the best coach for them. 

How do you let them know that they’re not a good fit for your coaching?

The answer is very simple – just be truthful. Tell them what you are an expert of, and how you’re not the right person for their case. 

Instead of blatantly turning them away without any answers, try offering alternatives like referring them to other coaches. This will build a positive rapport and also expand your professional network.

3. Use client reviews to your advantage

When it comes to getting clients, it’s not what you say about yourself that matters, but what others say! When your customers, people who are quite similar to your prospective clients, speak well about you, potential clients are more likely to believe.

Testimonials on your brochure or website are completely free and serve as an endorsement of your abilities as a coach. Having a separate testimonials page on your website or distributing them throughout your material is a great approach to back up the coaching services you provide.

There are a few ways through which you can ask your clients about how they have benefitted from your coaching:

1. Ask your clients if they would be willing to give a brief review about how your coaching may have helped them.
2. At the end of each session, ask the client about what they have learned and how they think this session can help them. Keep notes.
3. Send a review mail at the end of a series of sessions as a feedback form to see how your clients benefited from your program and analyze your scope of improvement.

Conclusion

As you can see, life coach marketing is not just about attractive deals and programs. Having the right client persona defined and approaching them correctly is essential. 

The more you interact with other people and gauge their needs, the better you will be able to market yourself as a coach.

We hope these strategies will help you in making your business successful. If you think we’ve missed out on something, do share your thoughts in the comments section below. 

Good luck! 

About Appointy

We at Appointy, help business owners grow and run their businesses with our online scheduling software. This blog was a part of our ‘Manage your Business’ category, where we provide expert tips, and resources, or simply talk about the challenges that small and medium businesses face every day. 

If you have any thoughts on this blog or would like to chat about your business struggles and achievements, let us know in the comments below. 

We love a good talk!