Marketing for coaches: 4 simple tips for busy coaches

Being an amazing coach is central to having a successful executive coaching business. Another essential part? Making sure everyone knows just how insightful and impactful your coaching sessions are. 

The only way to increase that awareness is through marketing. 

Marketing for coaches is no easy task because you’re probably busy with a million other things. That’s why we created this guide — for the busy coach who needs to get the most bang for their buck when it comes to marketing and growing their business. 

This guide will walk you through four of the best marketing tips and show you how to implement them with the least amount of effort, so you can focus on your clients. 

1. Stay active on LinkedIn and other social media

Social media is probably the most important space to market your business. Sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram represent hundreds or thousands of potential clients — more than enough to turn a fledgling business into a booming success. 

However, creating posts for social media and interacting with people in your industry can take a lot of time and effort. Here are a few ways to get the most out of social media without hiring a social media marketer or spending too much time on this yourself. 

• Pick one social network: There are several big social networks out there, and you don’t have time to create tailored content for all of them. Instead, find the network where your clients hang out and then focus on that one specifically. Then you can cross-post on other secondary networks if you have time. 
• Use AI: AI is becoming incredibly good at creating social media posts. Tools like Heyday allow you to generate original LinkedIn content in your authentic voice based on your notes and calls. This way, you can post frequently with content that reflects your work without investing hours and hours into crafting each post individually. 
• Post user-generated content: One of the most important ways to use social media is to provide social proof for potential clients. User-generated content (UGC) is one of the most effective ways of accomplishing this task. Not only do you not need to create it, but posting it can be a powerful signal to clients that they can trust your coaching business.

2. Invest in your website

Your website is not just a place to keep some odds and ends about your business; it is perhaps your #1 marketing tool. It can help you in a number of ways, from bringing interested prospects in through search engines to converting visitors into clients with testimonials.

Plus, since it’s your website, you own it. You don’t have to worry about one day having your main source of income cut off by an algorithm change from an internet giant. 

Here are some simple ways you can improve your website for sustainable marketing growth.

• Make it professional: Your website is essentially the face of your business online, so spend a little time making it look professional. To do this, either pay a web designer to build an amazing site for you or use a website builder to create one on your own.
• Create content worth reading: A genuinely insightful article is a powerful marketing tool. It can bring in organic traffic, be shared across social media, and encourage people to return to your site again and again. But, creating these pieces takes time you may not have. Save time using Heyday’s AI to outline your latest blog post so you can go from ideation to finished product with minimal time and effort. 
• Optimize for conversions: At the end of the day, a website's most important role is getting potential clients to reach out or book a session. You can increase the chances of this occurring through conversion rate optimization (CRO). With CRO, you can see that even small tweaks to your copy or CTAs can produce powerful results. If you don’t have the resources to hire an expert in this field, consider learning the basics to see how you can make your website work for you. 

3. Leverage larger platforms

Instead of investing all your time in building clout, one of the fastest ways to market your coaching business is to gain access to other, larger platforms. For instance, instead of just posting on your social accounts, which may have only a few followers, try to partner with larger brands to amplify your message to a broader audience.

The hardest part about this tactic is finding a platform that’s willing to collaborate. Here are some tips to get you started.

• Look locally: You don’t necessarily need to work with the New York Times to get a big boost. Try contacting your local paper or alumni association to see if they’d like to interview you for a feature.
• Write guest posts: Major websites are always looking for more blog content, especially if you can bring an interesting story or unique angle. Reach out to your favorite coaching websites to see if they accept guest posts, and then pitch them your best ideas. 
• Try podcasts: Podcasts are a great choice for busy coaches because they usually have a large, dedicated listening base interested in hearing what you have to say. Plus, the entire engagement may only take an afternoon or so of talking. Here's a great resource that can help you get your first booking. 

4. Experiment with your audience

The truth is: no two audiences are alike. Depending on who your target coaching market is, they may respond to some marketing techniques but not others.

Try experimenting with some of the more popular marketing tactics to see what works best for your business and audience, then pour your energy into that one. 

• Try email campaigns: An oldie but a goodie, email campaigns are still highly relevant in today’s marketing landscape. Start by building an email list, then drive more coaching business with an email newsletter.
• Test paid advertising strategies: Paid advertising allows you to place ads directly on search engines or social media platforms. This works well because you can get in front of your target audience fairly easily. However, each ad or click costs you money, so it can get expensive if you don’t optimize it correctly. 
• Try networking at different venues: Digital marketing is convenient, but in-person marketing for coaches can be highly effective. Attend different types of business conferences, find popular local hangouts, or reach out to former colleagues to find potential clients.

Make marketing your coaching business easier with Heyday

Unlike a lot of other AI tools, Heyday has been specially developed to address the everyday pain points leadership coaches face.

We’ve worked directly with executive coaches to ensure that our platform has AI tools that can help any coach grow their business. This includes features that summarize calls with clients, create blog post outlines, generate LinkedIn posts, and more.