You’ve made the life-changing decision to help others. Being a life coach is a noble and rewarding endeavor. But if you’re like most who choose this career path, you’re scratching your head and thinking to yourself “how to get life coaching clients?”
In this detailed guide, I’ll show you the fastest path to building your brand so you attract life coaching clients to grow your business.
Table of Contents
How to Get Life Coaching Clients
There is a lot of competition in the coaching world. With the right mindset and marketing strategy, you can be one step ahead of your competitors. Keep reading to find out how to get life coaching clients!
Listen to a Podcast version of this article:
1. Define Your Target Clientele
If you wanted to add a patio to your backyard, would you feel better about hiring someone who specialized in patios, or a general contractor who also remodeled bathrooms and did all kinds of construction?
The patio installer would know about the latest trends, styles, materials, and design options. They could guide you much better than someone who is a generalist.
Similarly, one of the most common mistakes that new coaches make is trying to help everyone. They think that by casting a wide net, they’ll attract more clients. But in reality, this strategy doesn’t work.
You see, people are looking for coaches who specialize in their specific problem. They want someone who has experience helping others with their same issue. So, the first step to getting coaching clients is to define your target clientele.
Think about the type of person you want to help.
- What are their demographics? Male/female/age/income?
- What are their motivations?
- What do they hope to achieve through your life coaching work?
- Is there a particular aspect or characteristic that can create a niche for you, such as spiritual life coaching, career life coaching, or other focused market?
Honing in on your target life coaching clients is like sharpening your axe before chopping wood. Jumping in with a dull axe will take you significantly longer to chop than if you spent a bit of time up front sharpening the blade.
Once you have a clear picture of your ideal client, you can start to market to them specifically. It will fine-tune your message because you’ll be able to focus on the issues that are relevant to that particular market. You’ll also be able to leapfrog past others seeking the answer to how to get life coaching clients.
2. Follow a Process to Build Your Brand
Your brand is what sets you apart from other coaches in your field. It’s what makes you unique and memorable. So, if you want to attract clients, you need to create a brand that stands out.
A personal brand is all about how you market yourself to the world. It’s how you present yourself online and offline, and it’s what people think of when they hear your name. If you want to build a strong personal brand, you need to be strategic about how you present yourself and what you share with the world.
Here are three tips for building a strong personal brand in your quest to get life coaching clients:
1. Be authentic: People can see through inauthenticity, so it’s important to be genuine in everything you do. Be true to yourself and don’t try to be someone you’re not.
2. Be helpful: Provide value to others by sharing your knowledge and expertise. Whether it’s through blog posts, social media content, or even just casual conversation, make sure you’re always providing valuable insights.
3. Be consistent: Consistency is key when it comes to personal branding. Make sure your online presence is cohesive and that your offline interactions are in line with the image you want to project. By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to building a strong personal brand.
I know that creating content to post consistently can be challenging. Two options to make your life much easier are:
- Looka – create your logo and brand kit to reflect your personality and build awareness
- Canva – design tool that empowers you to make all kinds of social images using templates
- PLR – private label rights content for coaching, which is the perfect option because the content is ready-to-use and all you need to do is post it (BONUS: you can modify it to customize it to your personal brand)
As you build on how to get life coaching clients, your personal brand sets you apart from the competition and allows you to create a loyal following.
Use the simple process of posting educational and motivational content regularly to your social feeds like a Facebook page, LinkedIn profile, or Instagram account. Include location-specific hashtags, tagging your location in your posts, and sharing content that’s relevant to your local audience.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get a following quickly. It takes time to build a brand. The more quality content you post, the more visibility you will get.
3. Use Local SEO to Get on Google Maps for Life Coaching
One of the most effective ways to get clients as a life coach is through local SEO.
Local SEO is the process of optimizing your online presence to reach people in your local area. This can be done through things like creating a Google Business Profile (GBP) listing and making sure your website is optimized for local life coach search terms.
By following these tips, you can make sure that you’re visible to potential clients who are searching for life coaching services in your area.
Claim Your Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile is a free listing that allows you to provide information about your business, including your hours, location, and contact information.
Your GBP is fast becoming better than your home page. The SEO term “life coach near me” displays a map with pins based on the visitor’s location. The closer they are to you, the higher the likelihood of your brand showing up on Google Maps.
This is by far one of the fastest yet underutilized methods on how to get life coaching clients.
Creating a GBP listing is easy and only takes a few minutes. Just go to google.com/business and follow the instructions. Be sure to include as much information as possible and use relevant keywords so that people can find you when they search for life coaching services in your area.
Optimize Your Website for Local Search Terms
Another important step in local SEO is optimizing your website for local search terms. This means using keywords on your site that people are likely to use when they’re searching for life coaching services in your area.
Some examples of local keywords you can use include “life coach + city name” or “life coaching services + zip code.” Including these keywords on your site will help you to show up in more relevant search results, and ultimately, attract more clients.
For easy step-by-step instructions on getting life coaching clients using SEO, including how many searches per month are being done by prospects looking for life coaches, see our detailed free guide:
SEO for Life Coaches and the Ultimate Life Coach Keyword List
(I promise you will love this guide because it shows you what to do so prospects find you quickly.)
Get Listed in Local Directories
In addition to optimizing your website, it’s also a good idea to list it in local directories. This is another way to make sure you’re visible to potential clients who are searching for life coaching services in your area.
There are a number of different directories you can list your site in, but some of the most popular ones include Yelp, Chamber of Commerce, and Business Network International.
You should also submit your address and contact information to citation services to increase your chances of getting found on Google Maps.
4. Create an Automated Webinar Funnel
Automated webinars are a powerful tool for attracting new clients for your life coaching business. By showcasing your expertise in your own voice, you can build trust and credibility with prospects. And by recording your presentation, you can make it available to people who may not be able to attend a live event.
To get started, create a slide deck or grab a prebuilt one from a coaching life content provider like PLR. This will be the foundation of your automated webinar to get life coach clients.
Then, use Zoom Video or other video presentation tool to record yourself giving the video. Record yourself and upload the video to YouTube as an unlisted video, which means that only those with the exact link can see it.
You can use this link inside an automated webinar tool, like EasyWebinar. This is the webinar tool we use at MoreBusiness.com because it makes the process of creating automated webinars very easy. I highly recommend using a webinar automation tool for getting life coaching clients.
You can use EasyWebinar to create registration pages, deliver automated email reminders, and track attendance and engagement. Plus, automated webinars can be easily integrated into your existing marketing funnel to get more life coaching clients.
As you build your roster of webinars, you can use them to create the pinnacle of life coach marketing material: a book. Keep reading.
5. Write a Book About Your Life Coaching Niche
I know it sounds very hard.
Reading the words “write a book” might seem like climbing Mount Everest.
Here’s the thing. A book is a great marketing tool for coaches. It allows you to position yourself as an expert in your field and attract clients who are looking for help.
Writing a book is actually the big mountain it once used to be. Here’s a process you can use to create your book in a few months part-time:
- Transcribe the recordings you made of your webinars
- Pick a weekend edit your transcripts
- Organize the content into a digestible format that makes sense for the life coaching target market you are pursuing
The key to writing a successful book is to choose a topic that appeals to your target clientele. Write about something that you’re passionate about and that will help them solve their problem.
Quick note: you can also get a pre-written life coaching book that you can personalize from PLR. It will give you a big head start and you can add to it as you like.
Next, to get your book self-published:
- Download a free Kindle book template from Amazon
- Format your book’s content accordingly
- Visit Kindle for Publishers and follow the steps to get your book onto Amazon
- Save a PDF version of your book as well for print-on-demand
- Purchase discounted paperback copies to hand out to prospects
There’s nothing like getting a fresh copy of your printed book delivered to your home, opening it for the first time, and seeing your work.
When you get prospects who could become clients, send them an autographed copy.
I used to do this for prospects for my business and it worked like magic. People don’t throw away books and when you give them an autographed copy, they typically keep it on their bookshelf.
While I didn’t make a lot of money from direct book sales, using the book for prospecting generated about $250,000 in consulting/coaching sales per year for one of my businesses.
It serves as an educational brochure that they keep for a long time and is one of my top techniques on how to get life coaching clients.
6. Offer a Free Life Coaching Session
One of the best ways to attract coaching clients is to offer a free trial session. This allows potential clients to experience your life coaching style and see if it’s a good fit for them.
A free life coaching session can be an incredible opportunity for personal growth. First and foremost, it gives your prospect the chance to explore what coaching is and how it can help them achieve their goals.
It also allows you to establish a rapport with you as the coach and get a sense for how well both of you styles blend together. Perhaps most importantly, though, a free session provides access to professional guidance and support that you may not otherwise have. Whether you’re struggling with a specific issue or simply looking to gain clarity and direction, a free life coaching session can be an invaluable experience.
When you offer a free trial life coaching session, be sure to set clear expectations. Let your client know what they can expect from the session and what you’ll need from them. This will help to ensure that both of you are happy with the arrangement.
7. Get Testimonials to Attract Life Coaching Clients
I
f you want to attract coaching clients, you should have testimonials from past clients. These are a great way to show potential clients that you’re an expert in your field.
Getting testimonials can be a great way to build your business as a life coach. Not only do they provide social proof that you are good at what you do, but they can also help to attract new clients.
There are a few different ways to get testimonials. One is to simply ask your clients for feedback after each session. This can be done in person, by email, or even through a survey. Another option is to reach out to past clients and ask if they would be willing to leave a review online. Google Reviews can also help with your local SEO presence.
When you ask for testimonials, be sure to specify what type of feedback you’re looking for. Prompt your life coach clients with these words, which will help prospects see you in a very positive light:
- transformation
- results
- happiness
- relationships
- productivity
- growth
- visibility
These words, when mentioned as part of a glowing life coaching testimonial about you, will paint a picture of the impact you can have on a prospect’s life.
Include these testimonials on your home page, not just in a separate section of your website.
For an example, see my SEO Coaching page to view how I incorporated testimonials into the description of my coaching services.
8. Advertise Life Coaching Services
Investing in advertising is a great way to attract life coaching clients. It allows you to reach a large number of people and get your brand in front of prospects who are in the market for services like yours.
You should start by setting up landing pages for specific packages or even webinars. This way, you can direct people who click your ads to long-form pages that explain the benefits of what they can get.
Then, use Google Ads to create text ads that link to these landing pages. Make sure to use relevant keywords in your ads so that they show up when people are searching for life coaching services.
You can also use Facebook Ads to reach a wider audience. These can be very effective, especially if you target your ads to people who live in your city or town. You can also target your ads to specific Facebook segments and look-alike audiences. For example, if you know of another advertiser whose audience could be a good fit as your clients, you can target people who follow them so your ads are seen by their market.
When creating your ads, be sure to focus on the benefits of working with you as a life coach. Explain how you can help people achieve their goals and make positive changes in their lives.
9. Participate in All Kinds of Podcasts – Or Start Your Own
Podcasts are a great way to attract coaching clients. They allow you to reach a large audience and build relationships with potential clients.
With so many new podcasts going live each week, you can find several that reach your target market. Again, this is where focusing on a niche client base will be useful because you can identify which podcasts they might listen to and reach out to be interviewed.
As you build a social following, podcasters will be interested in having you as a guest because they know they can expand their reach to your followers. It’s a win-win scenario.
Another option is to start your own life coaching podcast. This can generate quite a few leads for you, especially if you talk about problems that others may have and approaches to solving them.
Sprinkle stories throughout your commentary so listeners can relate to your message. Be sure to close with a call-to-action, in other words, how can people reach you.
Put Life Coach Marketing Into Action
A life coach marketing plan is only good if you follow through the tasks you put in place.
Now that you have a solid plan, it’s time to put it into action. The best way to achieve success is to block time on your calendar, perhaps an hour a day or more if you’re just embarking on how to get life coaching clients.
Reach out for our life coaching SEO services to help you get traction fast. You’ll quickly see how to get life coaching clients to build your brand and business.
Author: Raj Khera is an Executive Business Coach, a former 3x CEO, and publisher of MoreBusiness.com
