Marketing for Coaches: 5 Tips for Success

Becoming a coach often means becoming a business owner

So you’ve decided to become a coach. Congrats! Being a coach can be one of the most fulfilling jobs.

And… you’ve entered a growing coaching market … meaning there is even more competition in the coaching space.

Once you become a coach, you may quickly realize that you’ve also become a business owner! As a business owner, you’ll need to learn the key skills to start, operate, and grow your coaching business; one of which is marketing.

Marketing for coaches: “If you build it, they will come” is not a strategy

As I’ve said before, “If you build it, they will come,” does not apply to coaching businesses (and most businesses, for that matter!)

So in order to grow your coaching business, you’ll need to learn how to market your coaching business.

In this post, I’ll discuss 5 tips for marketing for coaches, so you can serve more clients and do what you love — COACH!

Many different ways to market a coaching business

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing as:

The activities and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

Basically, marketing refers to activities you do with the purpose and intent of attracting and serving clients.

These activities can include anything from posting on Instagram to doing a free webinar to being a podcast guest or writing a blog post.

The good news is that there are sooo many ways to market your coaching. (And the best way to market your business is based on your strengths — take this free quiz to find yours.)

Effective marketing will help you grow your business, build your brand as a coach, and connect with potential clients.

But there are certain things you want to have in place to make marketing your coaching business effective.

Marketing for coaches is different than marketing for other types of business

Marketing a coaching business is different than marketing another product or service. That’s because as a coach, you are marketing YOURSELF!

This can bring up a lot of apprehension for many new coaches, who often don’t expect to have to learn marketing when they decide to become a coach.

In order to market yourself as a coach, you need to know what you do well, understand how to differentiate yourself, and get clear on how exactly you help your clients.

Because at the end of the day, your client isn’t just purchasing coaching. They’re deciding to work with you as a coach, which is a very personal decision.

Marketing for coaches: 5 tips to market your business

1. Marketing Tip #1: Know your niche.

To market your coaching business effectively, you must have an idea of your niche. Now, you don’t have to know it 100% (whew!), but you want to know as much as you can and refine as you go. The most important thing to consider is who your ideal clients are and where they’re hanging out on and offline, so you can show up and connect with them in those communities. 

2. Marketing Tip #2: Define your core message.

You want to have a clear message that explains what you do as a coach, who you do it for, and how you help — in words your clients understand. You don’t need to over-complicate this! When you’re just starting, focus on developing that singular clear core message that you can use anywhere you go. The simpler, the better. (Messaging is a key part of marketing, and without it, you simply won’t attract and convert the right people.)

3. Marketing Tip #3: Understand what makes you different.

Even though there are tons of coaches out there, also competing for marketing space, YOU are different. The key is being able to identify what makes you different as a life, career, or relationship coach, and articulate how that benefits your coaching clients. Once you know that, marketing yourself as a coach becomes much easier.

4. Marketing Tip #4: Create a compelling coaching package.

Many coaches start out thinking they need to have a suite of offerings. The truth is, you can start with one package! You want to create a  coaching package that suits the needs and desires of your ideal clients and allows you to do what you do best. One simple coaching package can be all you need to start attracting clients. (You can even add “Custom packages available” to attract those who might not fit the needs of your single offering!)

5. Marketing Tip #5: Do the inner work of marketing and visibility.

As a coach, you know how important it is to do the inner work. Your mindset and your energy play a HUGE role in your success, even when it comes to marketing.  Addressing common challenges like imposter syndrome, the fear of failure, and even the fear of being seen can stall your progress. This is why coaches can benefit from hiring a business coach who can work with them on both the inner and outer parts of growing their business.

Marketing a coaching business can be challenging

The reason that marketing coaching can be so challenging is because what you provide to your clients (the outcomes or results) are often intangible and hard to describe, even though the results are big and transformational.

The key is really understanding and being able to clearly articulate the benefits of working with you as a coach,. As a certified holistic business coach with a marketing background, I help coaches like you market your coaching business in a way that reflects your values, attracts your clients, and showcases the transformational work you do. 

Want support with your marketing?

If you’d like to learn more about how we can work together to market your coaching business, let’s chat! Sign up for a free consultation here.