Life Coach Training
Lesson 36
Marketing
Soon you will come to the point when you have completed this course and you are ready to share your coaching skills and services with clients who can benefit from them. How do you connect with the clients who are a match to you? In this lesson we will address how to market yourself as a coach and your coaching services.
Before we look at specifics, there is an underlying principle that pervades marketing and all of life: The Law of Attraction. Applied to marketing, the Law of Attraction stipulates that you will draw unto you people and situations that are a match to your intentions and vibration. If you have a strong intention to coach lots of people and make your coaching business a success, that will happen. If your intentions are mixed, such as when part of you wants to have a coaching practice and part of you doesn’t; or you believe in yourself somewhat but not fully, you will get mixed results. If your intention, belief, or vision are weak, you will get little results.
As we journey through various marketing techniques, remember that the methods are only as powerful as the energy behind them. Before engaging in any marketing campaign, get as clear as you can about your intentions. Are you ready to present yourself as a coach? Are you clear about the kind of clients you want to attract? How much time are you ready to commit? Does your family support you in your coaching vision? Are you at peace with the fee you will charge? Will you transition fully to coaching from your former position, or go full-time? We have been addressing these questions throughout our course, and there is no better time to answer them than before you start marketing. The clearer you are about your answers, the more readily you will attract clients who match your intentions.
Once you are lined up with your true intentions, you can take steps to market your coaching practice. Here are some specific actions you can take:
1. Business Cards
You can have lots of fun designing a business card. There are all kinds of cards, and a good broker or printer can illuminate your options. You can make them simple or ornate, and print them for a low cost or invest more in a higher quality presentation. Let your business card represent your personality and approach, since people will feel your essence through your design. You might simply want to have your name, title, and contact information, or you can add a phrase to indicate the kind of coaching you do. On the back of your card you might one or more specific themes or client populations you like to coach, or possibly place this or more information on a bi-fold business card. Study the cards of other professionals and see what elements and styles appeal to you. Let the colors, fonts, designs, and words you choose speak for you so your potential clients get to know you before they even sign up for an appointment. Keep a handful of cards on you at all times; you never know when or where you might meet someone interested in your service. Look for bulletin boards in local stores and centers frequented by the population to which you want to appeal, and place your cards generously. (Some previous coaching grads recommend www.vistaprint.com)
2. Brochure
Print a small brochure outlining your services. Like your business card, your brochure should represent your style, taste, and energy. Indicate clearly to whom you want to appeal, and the subject areas of your coaching practice. Don’t be shy about listing your credentials and accolades. Even if you have degrees or experience not directly within the field of coaching, but potentially related to it, list them. List your telephone number (not your home number, but your cell or office; you may want to install a line at home that you use strictly for coaching); email (designate one specifically for coaching); website; and any other contact information. Include a good headshot photo of you (it may pay to have one taken by a professional photographer). You may want to list your fee schedule, so people have an idea of what you charge before they contact you. If you are presenting an introductory offer, note that too. A quality grade paper can add to your professional presentation. Leave your brochures (ask for permission) at local stores, restaurants, or centers that appeal to your desired population of clients.
3. Website
An attractive website can introduce you to your clients more thoroughly than a brochure, and give you access to many potential clients that a brochure would not reach. Your website can be as simple as one page. Find a web designer whose work you like (as you observe other sites). If you see a site you like, ask the owner who designed the site, and contact that web designer. Websites can be very inexpensive or very expensive, so be clear on a price with your designer before you begin. Be sure you and your web designer share a similar vision of the style and content of your site. Discuss with your web designer key words related to your business, so search engines will pick them up. Add some attractive photos to your site, not just of you, but images that represent what you will be doing in coaching. Include testimonials from clients or peers who respect your work.
4. Social Networking Media
Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, and other social networking sites can offer a venue to reach clients who may not find your website. You can create a coaching page on Facebook and send out blurbs. If you include uplifting quotes, stories, or recommendations, you will serve you clients rather then simply selling to them. If you are not adept or interested in orchestrating social media yourself, you can hire a professional to help you.
5. Blog
Many coaches use blogging as a way to connect with clients and build their mailing list. Blogging also gives you a venue to creatively express your philosophy and insights and share your experiences with readers. Some sites like wordpress.com offer easy blogging tools.
6. Free Gifts
If you offer your readers a free gift such as an inspirational article, or your 10 tips for self-empowerment, or a YouTube of you explaining the tips, they will get to know you. The more that potential clients can learn who you are, feel your energy, and get to know what you stand for and the niche you would like to work with, the easier it will be for you to connect with clients who match you.
7. Post your Profile on the FHLC Website
The Foundation for Holistic Life Coaching offers a menu of coaches which viewers may peruse to choose a coach. You may post your profile on this site, including lots of information about how you coach, who you coach, your fees, etc. The specific page is https://holisticcoach.org/find-a-coach/coach-search/. Upon graduation you will receive information about how to post.
8. Local Print/Web Advertising
Consider what newspapers and magazines, print- or web-based, professional or public, may be read by the kind of clients you want to attract. You can take out a classified or display ad targeted specifically for the magazine’s readership. I don’t recommend paying a lot for this kind of advertising, as you may receive a greater return for your investment in the other venues mentioned above. But a small well-placed ad in a target-population specific publication can give you some exposure and draw some clients unto you.
9. Word of Mouth
Tell your friends, family, and business associates about your coaching practice, and ask them to be open to possible clients and send them your way. Personal referrals are more credible than a public ad.
Ultimately your best advertising is to give quality services to your clients. A satisfied client will return to you and recommend her friends. Behind all the venues listed above, or any others, the Law of Attraction operates flawlessly to connect you with appropriate clients. Be a vibrational match to your coaching practice by aligning your practice with your true intentions and serving you clients in the deepest way. Then you draw unto you all the right clients through the most interesting channels, without struggling.
10. Visualization and Prayer
Each day take a few minutes to meditate and visualize your ideal clients coming to you. Send a message to the universe that you are open and ready to receive those clients who can best benefit from your services, and see them coming to you. Visualize until you get the feeling it is already done. And so it is.
Exercise:
1. Are you aligned with your coaching practice so that you are open and ready to receive clients and the fees they will pay you? Consider the questions in the third paragraph at the beginning of this lesson, and stay with them until you feel clear about your intentions.
2. Which of the above marketing venues feels the most comfortable and right with you?
What can you do to take a marketing step in the venues that most appeal to you?
3. What other marketing ideas occur to you that you would enjoy doing?
4. Whose marketing methods do you respect and feel aligned with?
How might you employ these methods to your own advantage?
5. Explain how the Law of Attraction underlies results in marketing:
Affirm:
Clients come to me who can most benefit from my services,
and from whom I can most benefit by coaching.
My clients come easily and joyfully in wonderful synchronistic ways.
Clients are happy to pay me well for my services and I am happy to receive their support, financially and spiritually.
I succeed though my conscious action supported by the Law of Attraction.
The material in this lesson © by Alan Cohen is proprietary for the education of students enrolled in
Life Coach Training Program by the Foundation for Holistic Life Coaching.
Using for any other purpose without permission is strictly prohibited.