Starting your own coaching business can be rewarding, profitable and life-changing. Defining your coaching niche will help you stand out in a crowded market and attract your ideal clients. You can focus on life coaching, wellness, specialty or my favorite, business coaching.
Business planning and strategy are mission-critical for your success. Create a business plan that outlines your goals, target audience, ideal clients and marketing plans.
You’ll also want to choose the right legal structure, banking relationships and open your merchant accounts so you can take payments from clients.
Marketing may be the most important aspect of your coaching business. I have a coaching business that helps clients get funding from sponsors and I get a lot of calls from people who are starting coaching businesses. When I ask them about how they will get the word out, there is a long silence on the phone.
Develop your brand, create a website that’s professional with personality and utilize social media and traditional marketing. Become known as the celebrity expert in your field by writing books and doing media interviews. When you’re the thought leader in your space, clients come to you.
Elephant vs Octopus Marketing
Don’t do Elephant Marketing, which is using only one way of getting the word out. Instead, use Octopus Marketing, which is a multi-tentacle approach to promoting your business. It includes, social media, email marketing, videos, press releases, media interviews, events, public speaking, print radio and television.
Traditional Media is not Dead
Traditional media such as direct mail, print, press releases, public relations, radio and television can get you clients. Inc. and Entrepreneur did articles about me and I get many clients from this traditional print media. These magazines are authority websites and the articles live on the internet, so they are a great source of leads.
Key Takeaways
- Define your niche in coaching to attract the right clients.
- Build your brand and identify your differentiator.
- Market and promote your business continually.
- Create celebrity expert status by writing articles and books.
1. Define Your Coaching Niche
Choosing your coaching niche is essential for standing out and attracting the right clients. This involves understanding your target audience and analyzing your competition to find where you can offer unique value.
Don’t be a generalist or a me-too business. Stand out from the mediocre middle by creating your niche and attracting your ideal clients. Research and understand your target audience. Analyze your competition to find out how you can offer great value.
2. Understand Your Target Audience
When you’re identifying who you want to coach, think about your client’s age range, profession, goals and challenges. My focus is on entrepreneurs who want to fund and grow their businesses. To get clear about your target market, you can interview prospective clients or do some pro-bono work to get your toe in the water.
Your Ideal Client
In addition to the hard data, you’ll want to identify the psychographics of your prospective clients. When I got started in coaching, I worked with anyone with a pulse. Then I became more selective about who I wanted to work with.
My ideal client sees the value in coaching and invests in themselves regularly without guilt or apology. They are smart, respectful, goal-oriented and appreciate the advice I give them. I don’t tolerate rudeness and have fired clients with abrasive personalities.
Analyze Your Competitors
Check out the other coaches in your niche. Look at their websites, social media and client reviews. You’ll see what they offer and where there are gaps that you can fill.
Identify what makes you different. There may be generalists that offer career advice, where you can offer specific advice for people in tech industries. Keep an eye on industry trends to stay ahead.
3. Your Business Plan and Strategy
A well-thought-out business plan and clear goals are critical for the success of your coaching business. You’ll have a solid foundation, get a leg up on funding and have a clear roadmap for what you want to achieve.
Painless Business Planning
Starting with a business plan is essential. You need to outline your vision and mission, define your coaching niche, and identify your target audience. It’s important to detail your services and pricing strategies.
Your business plan doesn’t need to be a dry and dull document. It could outline your dreams and be aspirational. Identify your vision, mission, niche, financials and target audience. Detail your services, team and fees.
Key Elements of Your Business Plan
- Vision and Mission: Let your dreams run wild and identify what you want to achieve.
- Coaching Niche: What’s the problem that you are the answer to?
- Target Audience: Who will benefit from your services? Identify your target audience and ideal clients.
- Pricing and Services: Effective description of services and pricing is key to your success.
Include a marketing strategy to reach your potential clients. Also outline financial projections including startup costs, revenues and profit margins.
4. Developing Your Brand
Creating a strong and memorable brand for your coaching business is about your business name, logo, tagline, audience and integrity.
Choosing Your Business Name
Finally, test your chosen name with a small group of people. Gather feedback to understand if it’s appealing and easy to remember.
You need a great name for your business. It should reflect your coaching style, resonate with your target audience and let the public know about your benefits.
Start by brainstorming names that align with your niche and core values. Research the popular keywords in your niche and incorporate them into your name if possible.
Make sure that the domain is available for your website. A matching domain makes it easier for clients to find you. Claiming domain names is inexpensive, so you may want to register a few names with different extensions such as .com and .net.
Also, register the way people may misspell your business name and your personal name. I’ve registered. The correct spelling of my name is Linda Hollander and I’ve also registered the domain for Linda Hollinder.
Develop Your Brand Identity
Your brand identity includes your logo, fonts and brand colors. It should reflect your coaching philosophy and attract your ideal clients.
Decide on the tone of your branding. Will it be inspirational, friendly or authoritative? The best type of branding is professional with personality.
Integrity is Part of Your Brand
Your brand is more than a gizmo, logo, or character. When you’re starting out, your reputation and credibility are everything. Be there early to meetings and get information to your clients promptly.
You always to what you say and your word is your bond. I learned this from my father. If he said he would call you at 2:00 pm, you could set your watch to his call.
5. Market Your Coaching Services
To grow your coaching business, master digital marketing, social media, content creating and SEO effectively.
Digital Marketing Strategies
Digital marketing is vital to getting clients, retaining customers and creating revenue.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is great for relationship-building with existing clients and attracting new ones. Offer free resources such as books, courses, webinars and trainings. It’s not up to your customers to remember you. It’s up to you to remind them of the brilliant solutions you provide.
What Social Media Platforms Should You Use?
Use the social media where your clients are hanging out. This could include Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram. If you have a local business, you could consider NextDoor.
Create a business profile and make sure it’s visually consistent with your website and online marketing. Share valuable content regularly to engage your audience. This establishes you as the authority in your field.
Social media is also great for storytelling. Show people that you’re a real person they can relate to with photos of your hobbies, family and pets.
Consistency is key so post regularly and never complain on social media.
Content Marketing and SEO
Content marketing includes blog posts, videos, and sharing success stories on your website. This showcases your expertise and improves your search engine optimization (SEO).
6. Sales and Pricing Strategies
Selecting the right pricing structure and knowing sales techniques are critical for your success in business. It’s easier to sell to people with money, so don’t be afraid to do premium pricing for your services to let clients know that you provide quality and value.
Determine Your Pricing Structure
When I first started in my coaching business, I priced my services low and I attracted clients who didn’t value my work and were price shoppers. Many of them were high-maintenance. Eventually, I resented my clients because I was working for slave wages.
When I raised my prices, I attracted a higher caliber of clients who were willing to invest in themselves, came to appointments on time and gave me rave reviews.
Hourly pricing is an antiquated model and I don’t recommend it. Trading dollars for hours can also hinder the growth of your business.
You can charge by coaching session, but I recommend value-based pricing, where you charge for results.
Research your competition, but don’t get caught in the trap of being in the mediocre middle. Be a trailblazer who follows your own pricing and values. Your company will reap.
Effective Sales Techniques
Sales techniques include creating an engaging website with a call to action, such as booking a free consultation with you. Use the consultations to demonstrate your value and how you can provide benefits for your clients.
7. Technology and Tools
Selecting the Right Software
Look for software that saves you time, effort and can grow with your company. You can use technology for payment tracing, managing deliverables to clients, scheduling and customer relationship management (CRM).
Online Technology Platforms
Online coaching programs offer various features to help manage tasks, client interactions, marketing and hitting benchmarks. Think about video conferencing tools, programs for webinars and creating online courses.
Make sure you choose a platform that tracts performance, results and engagement. Make sure that your technology is mobile-friendly.
Growing Your Coaching Business
Delivering high-quality coaching and measuring client success will help you grow your business.
Measuring Client Success
When you start working with a client, determine milestones for their success. Celebrate when they reach these goals. Regularly review and adjust your client’s benchmarks.
When I start working with a client, I show them a document called the Roadmap, so they know the process of how we will work together and what benefits they can expect.
Expanding Your Offerings
Pay attention to the questions your clients ask you. This could be the kay to knowing what services to add to your offerings.
You can offer group coaching, courses, webinars and events. For the high-end clients you can offer private retreats and masterminds. Building Your Team
By expanding your offerings and building a team, you set your business on a path to sustainable growth and scalable success.
To scale your business and get you out of overwhelm, hire qualified people to help you. These could be employees or independent contractors. For instance, a virtual assistant may be running their own business and take you on as a client. Virtual assistants can help you with admin tasks such as data entry and scheduling.
Marketing professionals can skyrocket the growth of your business and you can also hire other coaches with specialties that fill in gaps and add value to your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the essential steps to launching a successful coaching business?
The first thing you want to do is define your niche by identifying a problem you can solve and the benefits you’ll offer your clients. Write a business plan and conduct market research to understand your target audience. Do high-tech, low-tech and no-tech marketing such as networking to attract and retain your clients.
What coaching business models are most effective for new entrepreneurs?
Consider one-on-one coaching to get started. This helps you understand what your clients are looking for and hone your skills. Then you can add group coaching for time empowerment and consider subscription-based pricing to give you continuous recurring revenue.
How can I create a profitable coaching business?
The most important thing is to have your finger on the pulse of your target market. Then offer various packages for their client needs. Create valuable content to showcase your expertise and always be marketing to get the word out about what you do.
How do I market my coaching business to attract clients?
To attract clients, use borrowed credulity. This means partnering with influencers so that they give you referrals and you also introduce them to clients and offer revenue sharing. Also have a strong online presence including your website, and social media and focus on unique ways to provide quality and value.
Final Thoughts
You’re now in the life-changing business. Your coaching business can be started with minimal investment and maximum results.
The emotional rewards of seeing the life transformation in your clients are amazing. Your business also gives you lifestyle freedom and financial independence.
Starting my business got me out of the poverty trap and an abusive relationship. Deciding to strike out on my own was the catalyst for the good things that happened in my life. I was able to travel the world, buy my first home as a single woman and create transformational events.
I went from being a victim to being the architect of my own life.
If I can do it from my kitchen table with just an idea, so can you. Start your coaching business and live your life of dreams. I’ll be waiting to hear your success story…
Deckard & Company.