Our job as coaches is to help people change their lives through coaching. We want to help them overcome their challenges, solve their problems and reach their goals. The problem is that many people have not even heard of coaching let alone know what it can do for them.

When it comes to marketing many coaches need to step back and pretend that they are a client who needs coaching. Many coaches tend not to take action when it comes to marketing their own coaching business.

Step back from your coaching business and pretend you are coaching a client who has this business. What would you do to help that client? How would you support that client as they came up with possibilities? How would you lead that client into a course of action?

Take a look at your own business and examine the marketing possibilities available to you and determine the options that fit you and your coaching business. Then take action and implement those options.

Create eCourses- Creating an eCourse is simple if you have an auto responder system. Just take a related group of articles or an eBook and divide it up into 5 to 10 emails. Input those emails into an auto responder and you have an eCourse. People will pay to get your eCourse or you can use it as an opt-in bribe. The great thing about an eCourse is once you have it set up you don’t have to do anything else.

Workshops- Workshops are a form of public speaking where you don’t have to stand there and talk the whole time. You can use any topic that is of high value to your target coaching niche and find the three biggest challenges your clients face. Have them develop a strategic plan to overcome those challenges and you have a workshop.

Brag About Your Other Clients- Brag about the successes large and small that your other clients have had while working with you. Make sure to emphasize that the success was due to the client’s hard work and dedication. You can even share some of the challenges and failures and how the client overcame them. It is always helpful for people to hear about someone else who has done what they are trying to do because it makes the possibility of success a reality.

Paint a Mental Picture- Speak about the benefits of your coaching by painting mental picture of what overcoming challenges and reaching goals looks like and feels like. Use words and language to help your potential clients feel the success they desire and that will make the far more motivated to take action.

There are many more steps you can take to market your coaching business. These are just a few suggestions. Brainstorm as many possibilities as you can think of then begin to take action on those that work best for your particular coaching business.

The four pillars for creating a thriving coaching business online are article writing and marketing, blogging, social networking, and teleseminars. I have built my business online using those four pillars and I make sure I do something involving at least three of them each day. Here are some steps to get started marketing your coaching business in a systematic fashion.

Set your intention. You must set your intention for your business, income and lifestyle firmly in your mind in order to make it real. Your results will be far better if you have an intention set in your mind and you can visualize the results of that intention. Take time to visualize achieving your goals and feel the feelings you will feel when you have accomplished each step of the way before you actually reach the goal. This will help to manifest your desires and goals.

Create an irresistible offer. What are you going to offer that is of value to your potential coaching clients in exchange for their contact information? This irresistible offer is also a way to give before you ask while letting potential coaching clients get to know you and how you approach coaching. Think of this offer as a sample of you and your coaching. You would not walk up to a stranger and ask them to coach with you right off the bat and you don’t want to do that on the internet either.

Begin searching for the words potential clients will use to search for you or a solution to their problems on the internet. Keywords are the words someone types into a search engine when they are looking for someone to help them with their specific problem. These words are very important and will be used in your articles, titles, blog posts, business name, and website URL if possible. Keep a list of these keywords in sight so you can use them when you are writing blog posts and articles. Knowing and using your keywords is crucial to the success of your online business.

Once you have completed these steps you have set the foundations for a great marketing effort. You have a goal and intention, you have an offer for potential clients, and you are making your site easier to find because you are using the keywords that a client will search for. Now that you have the basics cover you are ready to begin to market to your target coaching niche and get more coaching clients.

Coaches are great at coaching and usually have to learn how to market their coaching business. Marketing is not one of the skill sets that most coaches possess.  Advertising is one strategy in a complete marketing plan. Advertising is crucial to most businesses yet many coaching business owners don’t take the time to study how to do it effectively and the result is wasted time and money for the coach.

Lack of Consistency

Many coaches get all excited about their advertising and jump in with both feet expecting immediate results. When the immediate landslide results do not materialize immediately they quickly give up and stop their advertising efforts. Then a few months or a year later they have another great marketing idea or inspiration and try again and when there is not an immediate rush of clients they stop before the advertising has a chance to produce a result.

Advertising takes time to be effective. Prospective coaching clients must be exposed to your message many times before they will comprehend that message. Getting a potential client to take action may require a large number of exposures to your marketing message over time so you must stay consistent with your advertising efforts.

Create a solid marketing plan and stick with it. Make sure your results are measurable and adjust the plan as the market dictates to maximize your efforts. Choose a method of advertising such as ads on Google, in trade magazines for your target coaching niche, on websites related to your target coaching niche, in publications,then develop a plan to use that advertising medium and evaluate your results. Next is another mistake coaches often make with their advertising and promotion.
You have to make yourself easy to find on the internet. Today’s market requires that you not only be on the internet but you must make yourself easy to find. Make sure that you have used some search engine optimization techniques to get a higher ranking in the search engines.

Take actions that will bring your rankings up like writing articles, blog posts, and doing blog talk radio. If you don’t have a site then you must get one right away. You cannot afford not to have a sizeable internet presence in today’s market.

The easier you are to find and the better your site the more money you will make, period! Get a site on the internet and make sure to get someone to do your SEO or study up then do it yourself.

To be successful in marketing your coaching business you must stay ahead of the competition and continue utilizing a consistent marketing and advertising strategy.

The idea is to earn more money with less time and effort and to even earn passive income. Coaching is a demanding profession and is limited to some degree by the number of hours in a day and the amount of time you can coach. Essentially you are trading hours for money with one on one coaching.

I think it is important to add multiple streams of income and to mix up the activities in your business day because of the emotional toll from a long day of one on one coaching. You can add relief and variety to your work day and dramatically increase your earning power by creating coaching products.

Group coaching is one product that you can offer to increase your rate per hour. Group coaching has many advantages for you and for the clients. As a coach you are able to reach many more people when you add group coaching and you are able to earn more per hour of coaching.

Coaching clients can pay a lower rate for group coaching and they also benefit from the input of the collective group. There is an electricity and a wonderful group dynamic that is created when people who are trying to deal with similar issues, challenges and goals come together to find solutions. I feel the benefit for everyone increases with well done group coaching.

It can sound like people are speaking a foriegn language when you hear all the different words like tweet, tweeting, follow Friday, hash tag, and direct message. Twitter has grown to be a huge social media tool. Even CNN has a "Twitter Board."

Twitter is a great social media tool and it can be your most valuable marketing tool if you use it right. You can reach many targeted users and share your knowledge while attracting them to your coaching business. This article will cover the basics of Twitter and how you can use it as a marketing tool to grow your coaching business.

Twitter
Twitter is a micro-blogging network. You can post brief 140 character messages on Twitter. This makes you become a great copy writer because you must get down to the core elements of every thought if you have to get your point across in 140 characters or less.

On twitter you have followers and you follow people. The first challenge is figuring out who you want to follow. I suggest finding a few leaders in your target niche and following them. The next step is to go to their page and see how many other people are following them. It is very likely that a successful thought leader in your niche will have thousands of followers so you can begin by following the people that are following the thought leader. Soon the people you have followed will follow you back and your list of followers who have an interest in your target coaching niche will begin to grow.

Perfect Your Profile
Make certain that your profile is set up to attract potential coaching clients and direct them to your blog or website. Your profile on Twitter is a crucial part of building your reputation and your business so you want to be very deliberate about what you include in your Twitter profile.

Always
include a photograph. This is social media and people want to know what
you look like so they can get to know you. Make sure that your
photograph is professional and that you look happy an to others. I see too many photos that look like a mug shot rather than an invitation.

Make sure your profile includes your unique selling proposing or branding statement. Include an offer and where someone can take you up on your offer. Send them to your opt-in page so they can get whatever you are offering and you can get their name and email address.

There are many places that you can find interesting Twitter backgrounds that allow you to promote your business and provide information as a part of the background. Just search for Twitter backgrounds and you will find many resources.

Like any group Twitter has its own language so I want to give you a few terms and definitions used on Twitter. Tweet is a message on Twitter. You can also suggest people for others to follow and Friday is the traditional day to suggest people for others to follow. Twitter users call this "follow Friday" and use a hash tag or pound symbol to classify a follow Friday tweet. When you see #FF or #followfriday you will know that that is a way of placing that message in a specific group.

Suggesting that people follow others is a great way to gain rapport with Twitter people and it is a great way to spread your message virally. Another tradition on Twitter is to re-tweet a post that you think is especially good. You do this by using the persons Twitter name and typing RT in front of their Tweet. Re-tweeting will quickly win you fans on Twitter.

Try to tweet your own original content rather than constantly tweeting quotes from others because you are promoting you and your business. An occasional quote is fine but not too many.
Twitter is also a wonderful resource for doing research in your target coaching niche. You can ask questions and ask for opinions on Twitter and get instant feedback.

There is literally hundreds of Twitter applications that do all sorts of thing here are a few. Tweetlater.com allows you to schedule tweets for the future. Friendorfollow.com helps you look at who is following you and who is not. Tweetdeck.com does all sorts different things. If you Google Twitter applications you will find many. I have to wonder if you need an application to deal with your Twitter account then are you spending too much time on Twitter and not enough time producing income.

If you want to use the internet to get coaching clients then you must attract potential clients to your site and build a list of contacts. Not many people will hear about your offer and sign up for coaching on the spot. Most people have to get to know you and see how your coaching is going to help the solve a problem. This process takes time and requires communication. To do both those things you need to capture names and email addresses so that you can begin to communicate.

Writing articles is a great way to let potential clients know who you are, direct them to your site, and to provide valuable informaiton so they can get to know like and trust you. I want to share some template that are easy to follow and can help you write client attracting articles quickly and easily.

Check List to Success
Everyone loves the idea of a check list because it simplifies a complex process and breaks it down into manageable steps. Readers love checklist articles and checklist articles are quick and easy to write. If you need to write an article fast then write a quick check list article and your readers will flock to it.

Begin your article by telling your reader why you have created this check list and how using it is going to benefit them. Make sure you use keywords in the title of your article and in the name of your check list. The keywords will draw the search engines to your article.

Next, give the reader the steps in the check list. Tell them

Staying in communication with your prospects and providing value is the key to getting more clients and growing your coaching business. Get the secrets to making timely and valuable offers that will attract clients to your coaching business like crazy.

If you want a growing contact list and coaching business you want to stay in contact with your clients by offering them high quality products, services they desire, and provide added value on a consistent basis. Always deliver more than the client expects.

The key is to provide value on a consistent and regular basis so that your services and products will remain top of mind with your clients and potential clients. The best way to do this is to have a schedule of regular marketing activities.

Consider all of the following elements when setting up a schedule for your marketing.

What is the main message you want to deliver to your clients?
I suggest that you decide on a message theme for each month or every couple of weeks. Write articles, blog posts, and deliver added value pertaining to the same topic. So if your topic is life balance then you could communicate topics like meditation, visioning, good nutrition, and rest.

Develop a schedule for delivering your communication and offers.
Use a calendar to schedule your promotions and offers. How often will you schedule articles, teleclasses, product launches, and newsletters. The frequency you use to contact your potential clients will depend on your target coaching niche and what you judge appropriate.

I suggest that you communicate with your target coaching niche at least two times per month using different modalities. Don't be afraid that you are bothering them because you will be offering information they are interested in and they always have the ability to unsubscribe from your list.

Determine what products and services you are going to offer.
Once you have determined a topic then you can decide what products you want to offer. You can offer the same product that relates to several topics, you can offer several products relating to the same topic or you can offer a specific product for each topic. Products can include special reports, audio recordings, teleseminars, webinars, videos and workshops.

What will you charge for your product and what will you give away for free?
Let's talk about client attraction and giving great value for free. You should always let potential client sample your products or services by giving away valuable free information. I suggest that you give a free report or do a free teleclass at least once a month.

Determining what you will promote what you will give away and what you will sell and scheduling them to reach your target coaching niche on a regular basis will ensure that you gain top of mind awareness as a valuable resource to your clients and prospective clients.

Staying in communication with your prospects and providing value is the key to getting more clients and growing your coaching business. Get the secrets to making timely and valuable offers that will attract clients to your coaching business like crazy.

Find a Person Who Has Done What You Want to Do and Follow Them
Years ago people who wanted to learn any skill or trade would follow a person that had spent years perfecting their practice of that skill by becoming an apprentice. An apprentice watches a master as they perform their art taking advice from that master and closely following their instruction.
Apprentices do this because they have respect for the time the master has invested in perfecting their skill and the apprentices realizes that to attain that level of skill they too will have to invest time and effort. 

Does that mean that all the work done before reaching the level of mastery are without value? No, absolutely not. They have a great deal of value and the apprentice is paid according to the level of skill he or she has achieved. 

The same is true of coaching! At first, you may not feel comfortable charging hundreds of dollars per session for your coaching. You may not even feel comfortable charging at all and that is fine.
Just start coaching and you will soon

You are the core of your coaching business so how you present yourself is how others will see your coaching business. Be conscious of how you are perceived by clients and potential clients and how that will reflect on their decisions to use your services. There is no need to be manipulative or calculating in how you present yourself and your business but you should be aware of the image you project and you should make sure you are projecting the image you desire.

Self Confidence
Self confidence can be a difficult area for new coaches. The best way to gain confidence in your coaching is to coach a lot. I suggest that new coaches try to coach 100 sessions in three months even if that means coaching for a super low fee like $10.00. This will build your experience and confidence while getting the 100 coaching hours required by the ICF for certification. "Coaching Business Blast Off" helps new coaches have confidence starting a prosperous coaching business.

Experience
New coaches don't have a ton of coaching experience to talk about but all coaches have life experience. Most coaches have a valuable life experience that often is the thing that brought them to coaching in the first place. Tell people about your experience and how that relates to your coaching business.

I can tell people all sorts of wonderful things
about my coaching and give them many reasons to coach and when I add a
testimonial from another person I give the statements credibility. When I add
several strong testimonials with website addresses and photos I give the
statements a lot more credibility.

If you do not have testimonials on your website you
are cheating yourself and your potential clients. You will get more clients
when they see that you have helped other people and those people want to tell
others about you and what you can do to help them. There are many ways to