How to promote your life coaching business? [2023 Edition]

It is rightly said that if nobody knows about you there is a high probability that you may lose the business.

This thing provoked me to promote my coaching business.

I realized there would be so many coaches all around the world just like me. How can I stand out? What things do I need to work upon so that I do not get lost in this crowded marketplace?

What will work best in bringing clients and promoting my work?

The answer was simple I had to find the right marketing method. I knew it was essential for a life coach to remain consistent. Thus, I kept on doing free coaching sessions and workshops to bring in more clients.

However, in my initial stage, I realized the importance of social media platforms. This was a huge platform to influence people and promote my coaching business.

I easily influenced people to follow my journey as a life coach and how beneficial my life coaching business was.

This marketing strategy was a great turning point in my career.

Thus, it is essential to give marketing high priority whilst considering each step you take in building your life coaching business.

Let me take you all to my marketing experience journey. Before that, if you are still trying to figure out life coaching niche then you can choose from 15 life coaching niches that are in high demand.

Once you select your niche it will be easy for you to market your business to the right audience. Remember, marketing a coaching business is very important in order to attract clients.

I will discuss how to promote your coaching business and also share a few life coach marketing formulas of the world’s famous coaching leaders.

1. Begin with a warm audience

Isn’t it easy to let the people who love you know what you are up to?

One of my clients invited all his closed ones with a message: “Hello everyone, I am excited to launch my new life coaching business. I have specialization in dealing with all kinds of business issues related to startups. I have kept a free workshop of an hour on coming Sunday. If you are looking for any such session, I believe this would be a great opportunity for you. Kindly forward the mails to those who are interested. Awaiting to see you all.”

It worked and many people attended the event. Though the number was not huge, it still made a huge difference.

Hence, the major task of bringing people in your free coaching session is simple.

Also, according to Greg DeSimone, Catapult Advisory Group, it is important to help and connect as many people as you can.

Talk to groups through webinars or workshops. Give anyone 15-20 minutes of your time to answer questions.

The more you will be helpful to people, the more you’ll be recognized as a valuable resource.

Once that is achieved, you can analyze who can become your paid client or what package will be best for them.

2. Attend the right type of events for networking

Jada Willis, the founder of Willis Professional Services, once said that your competitors do not have to be your enemies. You should connect with other coaches, and even join a local networking group.

If you make the right connections, you may start referring clients to each other. Your strengths are their weaknesses, and what they loathe, you may like and love.

I got my first coaching client who contacted me in one of the events. I had given a short presentation at the event. In this event, one young gentleman approached me.

He asked a few questions and then I advised him to meet me personally. This is how the journey of my life coaching began.

This way of networking helped me in getting referrals constantly. I learned how growing business through leverage technique works.

This approach will give you high-quality leads. Don’t you feel this is an amazing way to promote your life coaching business? In my case, it gave great results.

3. Highlight your ‘sweet spot’ through effective branding

The famous leader Virginia Franco, Virginia Franco Resumes, said a targeted statement that delineates-

Who is your ideal client?

What can you do for them?

Who are the people for whom you are eager to become a hero or a lifesaver?

What is the topmost problem of others which you want to solve?

Also, you must have answers to these questions- “So what?” and “Why you?”

It will spell out loud and clear who will completely fall for your sweet spot.

All your marketing collateral, website as well as LinkedIn, associated profiles and social media platforms should have this message.

4. Leverage your experience

According to Evan Roth, the founder of Roth Consultancy International, as a coach, you should love to serve and believe how you can serve anyone.

Finding similarities in experiences is a way that has worked to gain clients. Corporate leaders seem to work with life coaches that have been corporate leaders also.

I get many clients by sharing my experience in the events. Clients relate to it and this is how my experience helps in building connections.

5. Partner with others to promote your life coaching business

I know you must be confused here as to why I am asking you to find a partner for your business.

Let me explain to you. For example, If you have a life coach business you can partner with a youth motivational blog writer.

This way your life coaching services get promoted on his page which in turn can get you clients. Without a lot of expenditure, both can get clients.

They are not the competitors but as you have the same target audience, it is a win-win situation for both.

These collaborations will go a long way in building your life coaching empire.

6. Get referrals regularly

You might be thinking about how to get referrals regularly?

Many life coaches have found this as a problem. They do not want to sound as if they are very pushy. So what is the solution?

First and foremost, I keep my tone in such a way that it looks professional and without sounding too pushy. You can ask in various ways like: ‘Is there anyone else you know whom I can guide?’

‘Have you met anyone in recent times for whom my service can prove beneficial?’

‘Are there any friends in your circle who are eager to get my guidance?’

The trick is to use the right words with your contact lists.

7. Use video to attract clients

As said by Elle Ingalls, owner of Pressure-Free Living, videos don’t need to be fancy. Just quite authentic.

We are a screen-fixated society, and when you get featured yourself in a video, it can lend credibility to your practice.

For instance, you can create a short video that shows how your potential clients can benefit from your coaching.

At the end of the video, you can put a message as: “Now that you’ve experienced my life coaching session, are you interested in joining my daily workshops? I have a 2-month package which can help you with your requirements.”

One such person named John Dyan got first coaching clients through video series which he had published on Facebook.

He had announced regarding the program which was not yet created. Next, the program was pre-sold and then the guy built the complete program while taking the people through it.

I believe video is an amazing medium of marketing for life coaches as you can easily connect with the target audience.

8. Create a buzz to promote your life coaching business

To promote your life coaching business, you need to reach out to people. So how can you do that?

There are many ways that I have tried in my initial phase of business promotion.

I posted free and valuable content which could grab the attention. To read more content I gave the option of the premium offer. This, in turn, increased viewership.

Later I even started to provide a free offer on my website to increase the list of contacts whom I could approach. The queries flowed in.

People started realizing the benefits of my coaching practice. These initial years strategies helped me for what I am today.

9. Turn the wrong ones away

Often in this practice of free seminar, many wrong people will approach you. How to tell them they are not fit for your coaching?

Justin Sachs, Motivational Press, said that he notices one of the best practice builders is turning the wrong prospect away. It seems counter-intuitive, but all the time he used to tell a prospect they aren’t a fit for his coaching, three of the right people used to show up.’

This was important as he didn’t want his life coaching business to get wrong reviews. He instead referred them to other coaches.

This strategy helped him to build great relationships with his clients and other coaches.

I always ask my clients a few questions to get clarity of their requirements. You can also use these 12 life coaching questions for your clients.

10. Become the coach which you may select

What kind of business coach you will select for coaching? Which qualities you will look for in a coach?

This is where you need to groom yourself.

Very famous leader Rey Castellanos, Feed Your Wolf, said the best way to create clients is to show up your core values to the world. This means practicing what you preach. It means living truly in line with your values at the highest level of integrity.

Unfortunately, these qualities are very rare today, and those who embody them truly stand out. To make the clients you want, you got to become the coach you would want to hire.

11. Know your brand and convey it

According to Wendi Weiner, The Writing Guru, attracting the right clients is all about knowing your brand and being able to convey it the right way.

For instance, if your targeted clients are youth, your branding statement has to revolve around how you can help them in achieving their everyday goals.

Identify and differentiate your values so that your clients can recognize them very easily.

12. Spend time where your target audience often visit

I have found this as the simplest way to promote any business. This works well in case of promoting life coaching business too.

How?

Some time back I visited cafes too often and found many people discussing their career goals. I interacted with some of them. I realized my specialty.

I explained to them that how through my life coaching sessions they can develop their career.

Kendrick Shope said you should let people know why they need you. I applied this marketing strategy to promote my life coaching business.

This is one example but you can try various other places like organization meetups or seminars.

13. Differentiate – a useful tool to promote your life coaching business

It is often seen that you can do 10 times better than what your competitors are doing or you can just set yourself apart.

If you choose the second one you need to know how you can stand out?

For example, you can price the clients differently or you can give them some extra benefits.

Why Apple is different from other smartphones? It is constantly trying to do something new which it’s competitors have not tried yet. Apple also stands apart in price and distribution. That is what is required in today’s competitive world.

Do take out time to read this article 12 Strategies To Attract Clients To Your Coaching Practice, a very informative article to attract clients.

14. Write an ultimate guide

What does any person require from a life coach? The answer is they need in-depth knowledge of personal goals.

To get the first few coaching clients, all you need to prepare is an ultimate guide.

You must be thinking about how it works?

It is very simple. This is what I did- I created an ultimate guide for my clients as per their goals and visions. This way my clients were successful and they promoted my brand to their network. This way I have established a good client base.

Why this proved helpful?

This is because I shared the concepts in depth and clients started trusting me.

You can publish your content in magazines, newspapers or blogs to grab more attention. It helps in building a life coaching business successfully.

In case you are looking for an ultimate guide to become a life skill coach then don’t forget to read Becoming a life coach: A comprehensive guide.

15. Organize a coaching event

Coaching event is mainly to bring your current clients, prospective clients and their friends at one platform. This event will help you to market your brand.

Offer them a meal or snacks. Have an interactive session on a coaching related topic.

Don’t you feel it is the right time to share valuable information? A larger number of people would witness live coaching by a successful life coach that is you.

16. Build your private pond

Now, what does this mean?

What do you do when you want to purchase a car. You will go to the company which you trust. Right?

The same trust you have to build for your life coaching business.

Build Facebook groups. Create your Instagram page. This the best way to create brand awareness. You can personally get connected with your prospective clients. They will know how you are as a coach and thus, identify your brand.

In my starting phase, I got regular clients through Instagram followers. I earned a good amount which helped me in investing more.

17. Most important – care about your clients

Think of people for whom you would like to work? Why do you want to work with them? Why do you care for them? How do you define them as your best clients?

For instance, I used to care for young professionals. I could understand their challenges and feel them as my own. This gave me a lot of interest in working on multiple projects. Even they connected well with me and this gave me satisfaction.

Hence, to promote life coaching business you need to pick the right audience. You can connect easily with someone whom you care for.

18. E-Mail marketing

Do you think the idea of sending daily emails is quite hectic? No, it isn’t if you do it in the right way.

I used to send mail once a day and that also at the same time every day. Some people ignored my emails. But they were the ones who were not my actual clients.

I just tried to understand how often my hyper-engaged active clients wanted to listen to me. For this, I applied different email strategies.

What content should you include in everyday mail? What should be the word limit? Whether it should be in story form or motivational lessons?

Short motivational stories that can bring professional and personal growth are good for E-Mail marketing. There is no set of rules that you can follow. You need to use trial and error and see what works for your clients.

19. Webinars are simple to promote your life coaching business

Did you notice, reaching people across the world has become so easy? Do you want to promote your life coaching business around the globe?

The webinar is the best option to get clients from other parts of the world. I found it easy to connect with people as it is reasonable for your clients and also saves time.

It is wonderful to interact with people from different countries. Doesn’t that sound amazing? Then do try it.

Webinars have massively helped me in increasing my business credibility.

20. Solution-oriented

Help people. Give them solutions. It works.

As discussed earlier, I used to provide free services. This helped in building my reputation. I made a prime objective to help my client first. It eventually helped in turning my free clients to paid clients.

Solutions play a vital role in the journey of success. It creates a great bonding with your clients. They feel secured as they get a mentor to guide them to find solutions.

If you are still in amidst problems and are not able to find strategies to grow your business then have a look at 4 Steps for Growing Your Coaching Business

21. Invest in branding

Will you buy a car if it didn’t have the features which you are looking for? You need to create a unique brand.

I share the real stories of my clients. Word of mouth is the best way to promote any business. I also update my website, social media platforms pages. Consistent updates always build a chain of clients and help you to create your brand.

You need to answer the below questions for creating the brand.

Who can I help? Who is your target market? What value do I provide?

What groups would most benefit from your coaching? What groups should you refer to a colleague?

After being part of your workshop, what should a client be able to do that he couldn’t do before?

How has his life, career or health improved? How is my coaching style different from my rivals?

When you find out answers to all the above questions, then you will have a strong connection with your clients. This strong connection will help you to grow and brand your life coaching business.

Don’t forget to incorporate the branding strategy on website, social media and all other places.

22. Find a mentor and get coached again

How did you upscale your life coaching business? You had teachers, right.

Now, find yourself a mentor who can teach you again. This time you need to learn how to become the best coach.

Initially, I was stuck in developing my life coaching business. Hence, I approached a few mentors. Identified how they teach and promote their coaching skills. It made me understand my strengths and weaknesses.

For example, if your ideal coaching clients are sales executives, then connect with mentors who are best in mentoring sales executives.

Sometimes you have to unlearn and learn new things from your mentors. So, check out if you need a mentor to upscale and promote your life coaching business.

23. Blogging and Vlogging

Create blogs on your website, and write regular high-quality content, as this is a great way to build your online presence.

Also, create a YouTube channel and create Vlogs. Link your Vlogs to your website.

I used to follow the 80/20 rule. In this, you need to spend 20% of your time writing blogs, and the other 80% on promoting your article via social media.

I even experimented with different media channels, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and more. Also, I tested alternative content formats, including videos, texts, and podcasts, to find out what would work best.

Final Note

Now you have all the major points required to promote your life coaching business. Incorporate these marketing strategies and see your business grow.

You can create a huge client base with the help of effective strategies and the pointers which I have shared.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)