How To Market A Life Coaching Business (With Examples)

In this article, you’re going to learn the three ingredients you must have to successfully market a life coaching business.

This is the blueprint to a predictable, client acquisition system for any life coach. It will take some time but if you implement these marketing ideas, you will be able to attract ideal clients and build a highly profitable business.

Firstly, we’re going to look at how to get attention. No business can survive without attention. It’s absolutely essential to your marketing.

Then you’re going to learn how to position yourself as a highly credible expert. When your clients see you as an authority, you can raise your prices and still get more clients.

Finally, you’ll learn how to optimize your website for sales and leads. Most life coaches go terribly wrong with this and it costs them thousands.

We’ll also cover…

• How to write a clear, compelling offer in your advertising
• Shortcuts to positioning yourself as an expert (even if you’ve been a life coach for less than 6 months)
• 4 things your website must have to get clients
• Profit-killing mistakes to avoid on your website (most life coaches are making these mistakes)
• Examples of real life coach advertising campaigns

Getting Attention & Traffic

To get more clients, you must have a way to get attention on your business and traffic to your website.

If nobody knows about you, there is no way you’re going to attract new clients. Even if you’re the best life coach in the world.

Advertising is the fastest way to get attention on your life coaching business. In this section, I’m going to explain the two biggest and most powerful digital advertising platforms in the world – Google and Facebook (Meta).

If you’re on a tight budget, don’t worry. You can start running ads on these platforms for as low as $5 per day. But if you don’t want to spend anything on advertising, I’ll also give you some other options.

Running Ads On Google And Facebook

If you’re looking for a way to get clients quickly, online advertising through Google and Facebook are two of the best options available.

Both Google and Facebook ads are relatively simple to set up and they both are very flexible. You can start with a low budget ($5 per day) and you can pause your ads whenever you want to.

On Google, ads run based on search keywords. For example, if you search Google for “life coaches San Francisco” you will likely see ads for life coaches in San Franciso.

The ads appear within the search results, like below…

Google ads are great because you can show your ads to people who are actively searching for life coaching. If someone goes to Google and searches for life coaches, there is a good chance they want to start working with someone.

With Google Ads, you pay each time somebody clicks on your ad. If your ad shows up on a search, but nobody clicks on it, you don’t pay anything.

See 5 Examples Of Highly Effective Google Ads In This Article

Facebook Ads on the other hand work differently. Most Facebook Ads will show up in the Facebook newsfeed but you can also target other placements, like Instagram, Stories, Facebook Marketplace and videos.

Facebook allows you to target your ads based on demographics, behaviors, interests and other factors.

For example, you might target females aged 25-55 in your city who are interested in self-development and spirituality.

Whether you’re running Google or Facebook Ads, I recommend promoting a very clear and specific offer. To make this point clear, here are a few examples of vague offers and clear, specific offers.

Vague Offer Examples

• “London Based Transformation Coach – Call Now To Get Started”
• “Experienced Life Coach – Change Your Life Now”
• “Qualified Life Coaching Professional – Get Started”

Clear And Specific Offer Examples

• “Sydney Based Transformation Coach – Complete The Form On My Website To Claim Your FREE 30 Minute Discovery Session”
• “Top Rated Life Coach – Download My Free E-Book On How To Change Your Life In 60 Days. Click Below To Get Started”
• “Looking To Upgrade Your Life In 2022? My 6 Week Coaching Program Is Designed For Working Women Looking For Rapid Transformation. Click Below To Watch My 15 Minute Video About The Program And See If It’s Right For You.”

The vague offer is what most life coaches do on their websites and in their advertising. It’s not compelling and there is too much uncertainty.

Your potential clients want to know exactly what to expect if they fill out your form. You need to tell them exactly what to do and what will happen after they do it. And make it sound exciting!

If you’ve decided on an offer to promote but you’re unsure how to present it in a clear and specific way, try ChatGPT!

I went to ChatGPT and asked the following question:

Obviously you can tailor this question based on your offer and where you want to promote it.

When using ChatGPT, always try to provide as much detail in your question as possible to get a better response.

This is the response I received from ChatGPT:

You can then take these ideas from ChatGPT and adapt them to your own business.

See 4 Compelling Facebook Ad Examples In This Article

Other Ways To Get Attention On Your Offer

Besides online advertising, there are many other ways to get attention from potential clients.

If you don’t want to spend money on advertising yet, you may prefer to use some of these other methods…

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

It’s possible to attract thousands of visitors to your life coaching website every month by applying SEO techniques.

SEO is optimizing your website in a way that search engines like Google will favor and rank you higher in their search results. The higher you rank in Google, the more attention you get.

Unlike Google Ads, when your website ranks in Google through SEO, you don’t pay anything when someone clicks on your website. That means you can potentially get thousands of visitors from Google for free!

If you have a website, I recommend at least learning about the basics of SEO.

Social Media

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter can be a good place to build a following. You may look at LinkedIn if you’re targeting a more professional market. Be aware that it will take a lot of work if you want to reach a lot of people on these platforms.

Consider using short form video content like Instagram Reels and Facebook Reels, which are currently getting a higher reach than other content forms.

Blogging

Blog posts can be picked up by search engines like Google and become a source of free traffic to your website. I go into more detail on blogging later. However, blogging is a long term strategy and requires a lot of work.

Guest Blogging

Search for other blogs in the life coaching niche and contact them offering to write a post on their blog. They don’t even need to be life coaching blogs, anything related to personal development or careers could be a good fit. If the website has a large audience, it’s a great way to get more exposure and potentially attract clients.

Online & Live Events

In-person live events or online webinars can be promoted through platforms like Eventbrite and Facebook. If done correctly, an event can really help to position you as an expert as well.

Referral Programs

Your existing clients can be the best ambassadors for your business. But clients generally won’t go out of their way to promote you, unless given an incentive. Referral programs give them the incentive needed to spread the word.

Interact In Forums & Facebook Groups

Posting comments and replies in a relevant forum or a Facebook group can help bring attention to your life coaching business.

Make sure you’re aware of group rules and don’t post anything too promotional. Rather, contribute to the groups by answering questions and offering valuable advice. Other group members will quickly start to notice you if you’re providing meaningful contributions.

Building Trust And Credibility

Your potential clients want to know that you can actually help them. They want to know that you’re credible, knowledgeable and trustworthy.

If there is any doubt about this, they won’t hire you.

One of the best ways to establish trust and credibility is by giving people a free taste of your expertise. In this section, you will learn exactly how to do that.

Create A Blog

If you enjoy writing, creating your own blog can be one of the best ways to establish yourself as an authority.

One example is from life coach Mandy Napier. Her blog contains articles on self-development and success topics.

A blog is a perfect way to demonstrate to your potential clients that you’re an expert with good ideas. It’s a way for potential clients to get a feel for your style and see if it resonates with them.

Starting a blog could also open up many more opportunities for you as a life coach in the future.

When you write a blog post, it can be picked up by search engines like Google. If you write about a popular topic and your post makes it to page 1 of Google, you could potentially get thousands of visitors to your website for free.

For example, this article by Brian Tracy about the subconscious mind gets over 3400 free visitors per month from Google in the US alone.

Imagine what it could do for your business, having thousands of people who are interested in self-improvement topics coming to your website every month for free.

Some of them could become life-coaching clients of yours. But it would also open up other monetization opportunities..

You could start selling online courses about self-development. If you have enough visitors to your website, you can make money by placing ads on the blog. Or you could make extra money by promoting other people’s products (affiliate marketing).

If you’re interested in learning more about blogging, I recommend reading this article about how one blogger grew her blog to over $1 million per year.

Publish Your Own Book

Having a published book creates instant trust and credibility.

If your potential clients see that you have your own book, they will perceive you as being more knowledgeable. Many clients will want to work with you, simply because you have a book.

I recommend getting a traditional, physical copy book published rather than an e-book. An e-book alone doesn’t create the same perception as a traditional book. Although, there is no reason you can’t do both.

Once you’ve published your book, be sure to promote it everywhere! It should definitely be on the home page of your website…

And also promote it all over your social media channels. I recommend getting some photos of yourself holding a copy of the book to use on your website and social media.

Don’t expect to make much money from book sales. This is merely a marketing exercise designed to position you as an expert in your field.

Other Ways To Establish Trust & Credibility

What if you’re not a writer?

There are still other ways to position yourself as an expert, even if you don’t enjoy writing. These are some of the best options.

Testimonials & Reviews

Ask happy clients to write testimonials for you and then publish these on your website, as well as social media. A few good testimonials is one of the most effective ways to boost your perceived expertise.

Videos

Short (or longer) videos talking about topics that are relevant to your clients are a perfect opportunity to position yourself as an expert. You can publish these videos on YouTube, your website and social media.

Seek Out Media & PR Opportunities

Journalists, bloggers and major media sites are often looking for experts to provide content to their readers. If you’re able to get featured in a media publication or major website, be sure to promote this on your social media and your website.

Optimizing For Lead Generation

You’ve now got ways to establish yourself as an expert and you know how to get attention.

But you can still come unstuck if your sales funnel is not optimized for lead generation. In this section, you’re going to learn how to design your website to ensure your ideal clients are actually becoming leads.

What You Must Have On Your Website

Your blog, YouTube channel and events are where people go to get information.

But your website is where people go when they’re ready to buy. So it needs to be built for sales.

Most life coaching websites are not optimized for sales. And it can cost them thousands every year.

A sales-optimized website for a life coach should contain the following…

1. A clear offering (eg. a 30 minute free consultation)
2. An easy to complete contact form
3. Well written, persuasive copy
4. A clean, modern design
5. Compelling benefits of working with you

Most life coach websites look something life this..

They contain big blurbs of uninspiring text. There’s no clear offer (maybe if you go searching for it). And there’s no form to fill out for potential clients.

You have to design your website for the person who is itching to get started. Think of the person who wants to have their first life coaching session tomorrow.

If you don’t give that person a clear offer and if you don’t make it really simple for them to get started, they will go somewhere else.

See this example below from Bob Proctor coaching. Bob Proctor is one of the most known names in the personal development space.

He would have spent millions of dollars in marketing over the years to promote his programs and coaching.

Right at the top of the page, he has a simple to complete form with a clear offer. Visitors to the website instantly know what is on offer and what to do next.

I also like that he has included a video of himself for an extra personal touch. Your potential customers want to get a feel for your personality before they begin coaching sessions. Having a video on your website is a great way to quickly give people a sample of your personality.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the text is fairly simple to read, it’s direct and it’s focused on benefits for the reader. It’s still not the greatest copywriting I have seen. But it’s much better than the copy on most life coach websites.

Focus On Benefits

Your future clients want to know what they will gain from working with you.

Presenting clear, compelling benefits in an effective way is one of the best ways to improve your website.

There are two steps that I suggest you take here:

1. Make A List Of Benefits

Create a list of all the benefits of working with you as a life coach. Some of these benefits will be generic benefits of working with any life coach. For example..

• More accountability
• Improved decision making
• Personal growth

But other benefits will be more specific to you. This could include:

• The benefits of a unique coaching method you use
• Benefits specific to your area of specialization

Highlighting both the more generic benefits of working with a life coach and also the benefits more specific to you are both important.

2. Add These Benefits To Your Website & Marketing

Once you’ve got a list of benefits, you want to add them into your marketing. Your website is a good place to start.

But you can also sprinkle these benefits throughout your social media, email, advertising and other marketing channels.

I’ve written a detailed post about how to effectively communicate your benefits to customers. I’d strongly encourage having a read of that post.

Summary & Next Steps

By following the tips in this article, you can create a flood of new leads and clients in your life coaching business.

You don’t need to do everything in this article. But make sure you have at least one way to get attention, one way to build trust and credibility and everyone should optimize their website for lead generation. You can build your entire marketing strategy around these foundations.

Ready To Take On More Coaching Clients? Book A 60 Minute Digital Marketing Consultation To Get A Personalized Strategy For Your Business. Learn More Here.