Ep #90: How to Effectively Market Your Coaching Business

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast episode number 90.

Welcome to The Life Coach Business Podcast, a show for coaches who are ready to up-level their business and take their impact, leadership, and results to a whole new level. If you’re ready to start taking powerful action and become the leader your business needs in order to grow and thrive, this show is for you. I’m your host, Amanda Karlstad, certified life and business coach, and entrepreneurial leadership expert.  Now, let’s get down to business.

Hello and welcome everyone. So glad to have you join me today. I hope you’re having an amazing week. Before we dive into our episode today, I want to give a special shoutout to Meggie Lee Calvin who recently left a five star review of the podcast. She said, “Beyond equipping! There are entertaining podcasts out there, and then there are those where the content is very informative, then there are those rare shows like this one with Amanda Karlstad that are both.

“The Life Coach Business Podcast is equally entertaining as it is highly informative. The tips, tricks, and tools that I’ve learned from her show have taught me that while talent is one thing, an effective coach also needs a sustainable strategy in order to scale well. That is exactly what each of her episodes provide. If you’re a coach who wants to become unstoppable in your service to others, subscribe today.”

Meggie, thank you so much. I want you to know I truly appreciate your review. I am so glad to hear that you are finding so much value in the podcast. I have to say that I agree with you. If you’re a coach who does want to become unstoppable and you do want to be of service to others and to your clients, I also agree. Subscribe to the show. So thanks so much Meggie. It truly does mean a lot.

By the way, for those of you who do listen to the show and maybe for those of you who this is your first time listening to the show, welcome. If you find value in the show, I want to ask a favor of you. If you’re finding value in the podcast, if it has been helpful to you, which I really do work hard and hope that it is. I want to encourage you to also leave a review.

Reviews, if you aren’t familiar with how they work. Reviews really are the currency in the podcast world. So it’s a way that as a podcaster, you can help really grow the show. It’s a way that as a client you can also help other fellow coaches to really get the tools, the strategies, and the mindset shifts that they really need so they can build their practices. So I would love for you to leave a review. I would love to give you a shoutout on the show. It really is a way for us to get the show out to more and more coaches. I would be so grateful.

So if you haven’t already, and you’re finding value in the podcast, I really want to encourage you to head over to wherever you listen to this podcast and leave a review. I would love nothing more than to give you a shoutout. All right. So let’s dive into today’s show.

So today we’re going to talk about something that I haven’t really dived very deep into. We’re going to talk more in detail about strategy. So it’s something that I haven’t really talked in depth about recently, but it’s also something that I’m feeling really inspired to talk about. I think it’s because of work that I am really doing with all of my clients, but it’s also something that I’ve been observing a lot lately with what’s happening in the industry. I think it’s a really important topic.

So what I want to talk to all of you about today is your level of skill, and specifically your level of effectiveness when it comes to marketing your business. Now, there is so much that I could talk about and teach you as it relates to marketing your coaching business. So this is something that I go very in depth with all of my clients. It’s a huge area of focus in my programs, and it’s really something that I approach wholeheartedly in my business. It’s something that I approach with great care. It’s something that I approach every one of my clients in a very customized way.

So because of that it’s something that requires definitely time. It requires definitely energy. I want to talk to you all about today some things that you can do today, some things that I think every coach no matter where you’re at in your journey of building your business. Something that I really believe you need to be thinking about and even more importantly to be working on to master in your business.

What really prompted today’s episode was I recently did a workshop training for one of my group cohorts. It was specifically on this topic. It was specifically on marketing. It was a master class that I delivered that was above and beyond the core curriculum in my program. So like I said, we go extremely in depth with marketing in my program, but it was an additional workshop that I decided to deliver.

The reason that I did that is because one of the things that I love doing is being able to constantly keep my clients up to date on what’s happening in the online marketing world, and specifically as it relates to marketing a coaching business online.

So something that I spend a lot of time on is staying up to date with and building new and up to date resources with my clients. So this training was one of those resources. One of the things that I talked about in that training was your relationship with your marketing. Really understanding how to unpack what that is, how to really understand how to build a solid relationship, and what that really looked like for them. I have to tell you, there were so many great takeaways and so many really profound insights that my clients got from this training. It was really, really great.

But after delivering that training and really thinking more about it and thinking about the overall message and the content and all of the teachings that I do and the work that I’m doing with all of my clients. Even my own work in my own business. I really started to think even more deeply about just how important it really is to be able to market your business effectively today, and the difference that that can really make in your business.

So that’s what I want to talk to you all about today. It’s really this conversation is going to be about your level of effectiveness as it relates to marketing your business.

The reason that I think this is so important is this. The truth of the matter is is that you could be a phenomenal coach, right? You could literally be the best coach there is, right. Pick your favorite coach that’s out there. You could be the best coach that there is. But without proper marketing, without being able to effectively reach and market your clients, the truth is is that it’s very hard for clients to even know that you can help them.

I think this is one of the hardest places to be in as a coach is knowing that you have so much to offer. Knowing that you can deliver so much value. Knowing that you have so many tools to really help your clients solve their biggest and their most painful problems, but you’re not able to teach those clients. Those clients aren’t able to see you as the solution.

I think this is really something that can be painful, and it’s really something when you’re in this place can be extremely difficult. I know that this happens so often. So your most ideal clients even though you, again, could get them phenomenal results. The truth of the matter is this. Unless you have an effective marketing system in place in your business, there is no way that your ideal clients are even going to know that you can help them. That really is the truth.

So what I see happen very often and the reason that I decided to do this episode is because as coaches, as you are trying to build your business, there is an extreme learning curve. There is so much to leave. What happens so often is that unless you are being guided and you have a proven system that you’re working from, unless you have some level of high level support, it’s typically extremely difficult to build your business to the level that you want.

I can speak from this from my own experience. So even as someone who holds an MBA. Even as someone who’s worked in marketing and sales throughout her entire career. So we’re talking 20 years plus at this point. There is still so much to consider and so much that unless you are, again, really working from principle, really understanding marketing at a very intimate level, really understand how that plays into the market today, it can be a really difficult road.

So some examples that I see is this. So to take one of my clients, for example. Recently I was helping one of my clients implement a brand new marketing funnel in their business. The idea of this funnel was that a potential client would see the ad that this particular client was running. They would sign up for a webinar. Then they would set up a call with this coach. So this is a pretty straightforward funnel. It’s a pretty straightforward strategy. It’s a strategy that works extremely well for coaches. It’s an overall great strategy, in my opinion, for coaches.

However, I will say this. Even within a straightforward strategy like this, even though on paper, even if we were to draw this out, this particular strategy is fairly simple in comparison to other strategies that are out there. I’m a big believer in keeping things as streamlined as possible. The reason why is because of this. Because there are so many landmines that come up as you start implementing these things in your business.

So things like how to even start to put together an effective webinar, for instance, right. How to even ensure that you’re speaking to the right type of client, right? There’s real intricacies in the same, what you might think as your ideal client, but as we really look deeply into this, a lot of times what I might find is that there are so many more layers on how we can really speak even more directly to your most ideal clients. Knowing the type of message to communicate, right? These are just some of the examples.

Then there’s also the technical side of things. So things like okay, now that we have all of this content, now that we have this built out, how do we actually get it out to the market? How do we actually promote this? What are the channels, what are the ways that we’re doing that? What does that actually look like in the day to day?

So for my clients, I will say that the majority of them are using some type of paid advertising. It’s something that quite honestly, I have an entire curriculum inside of my program that’s focused just on paid advertising, which is how to effectively set up paid ads literally from start to finish for coaches. Things like how to properly target the right clients, what type of ad budget to use, how to read data, how to interpret results, how to tweak things, how to set up things from a technical side. There is so much in there. So how to actually deliver something like this from start to finish, it’s a really, really long list. That’s something that, again, I go very in depth on.

But it got me thinking with this one client in particular on just how important especially now more than ever it is to not only understand this from a conceptual level, right. To not only understand the strategy, but also how to effectively implement that strategy and do it with consistency and in a way that is actually getting results. I’m just seeing that this is becoming more and more important.

So it really is equally important to not only understand the strategy, but also how to effectively implement the strategy in the first place. Because there’s something that I’ve learned, again, in my own business journey. Now that I’ve been able to help so many coaches on their journey and build their business, I’ve really learned that being able to effectively market your business is a skill. It’s a skill that you have to develop. It’s a skill that you have to learn, and you have to continually be learning. It’s also an art.

I will also say that it’s not something that tends to come naturally to people. This is why it requires real expertise. Because, again, the truth is this. Real strategy will always work. Great marketing will always work. What tends to happen is it’s in the implementation that things tend to fall short, right? So it’s in so many different areas in that implementation phase that if you’re not hitting the mark on certain things that the whole thing has a potential of not working, right?

So I was talking to one of my groups recently about this. It’s almost like a recipe, right? So if you think of like your favorite cookies, for instance, or maybe it’s a cake that you love or a dessert. Maybe it’s a pie, right? Whatever that is, there’s a real structure to that recipe, right? It’s very specific in terms of, okay, this is how much sugar you need. This is how much butter you need. This is how much flour you need, right? Like depending on what you’re baking, there are absolutely, right?

The idea here is if you think about this, it’s like literally equivalent. Like if you were going to the grocery store and you were getting your ingredients for whatever it was that you were about to bake. Let’s just say that you maybe forgot the butter, right, or maybe you were a little light on sugar, right.

It doesn’t matter if you bake those cookies or you bake that bread or that cake or that pie perfectly in the oven, if all of those ingredients don’t match up perfectly, it’s probably going to taste a little off, right. It’s probably not going to be as good as it is when you really nail the recipe, right? When you really nail all the ingredients. The same is so true in your marketing and in your business, right?

So things like the actual delivery of your webinar matter. Things like how you’re actually setting up your ads really, really matter, right? So it could be the level of consistency, right, in how often you’re actually putting this in front of your audience. So there’s so many things when it comes to actually implementing this, actually baking this into your business that we have to really nail all the different pieces of this, right?

So there’s just so many things that can and that, by the way, do go wrong in his process. Which is why it’s so important that you’re in a container in my opinion and why you’re getting high level support. Because unless you know what you’re doing, unless you are working with someone who really knows what you’re doing, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to navigate. There’s a lot of reasons for that. I’m not going to go into that today, but there’s a lot of reasons that the market is becoming more difficult to navigate.

Here’s what else I want to say about this. As a coach, typically when you go out and you invest time and energy, right. So I know for many of you, you have gone through certification programs or maybe you’re in a certification program right now. Maybe you’ve been out for a while. The fact is that you’ve invested your time and energy, and I’m assuming some amount of money into becoming a good coach, right?

For those of you that haven’t, that’s okay. You’re probably investing in other ways. You’re probably investing your time. You’re probably consuming a lot. You’re probably really invested in learning as much as you can, developing your skill as much as you can through the channels that you have, right?

In a lot of cases either way whether it’s a certification program or whether it’s something that you’re really taking on yourself, the truth is is that it can be a really intense process, right? But after that’s done, after you either have that certification or you’ve put in a significant amount of time, and you’ve developed your coaching skills to a level where you’re really at a point where your skill level is ready to take on clients.

The truth is is that you’re faced with them. How do you actually build the business around this, right? How do you actually enroll clients? How do you actually make money? It’s an entirely different skill set than being a great coach. It’s something that I see almost every single one of my clients struggle with. It’s something that I see almost every coach struggle with.

I will say this. If you feel like you are resonating with what I’m saying, I want you to know that number one, you’re not alone. So that’s the good news on this. I also want you to understand that it’s also part of your responsibility of being a business owner to grow and develop your skills as it relates to marketing your business. As it relates to the actual implementation of your marketing strategy in your business.

I want to be clear here that I’m not talking about tactics, okay? I’m not talking about things like social media strategies or tactics that aren’t truly a strategy. I’m talking about real marketing in your business. I’m talking about real marketing that implements systems and client funnels in your business where you’re really in control with the marketing. There’s a level of consistency with it. There’s a level of predictability with it.

So a strategy, in my opinion, a real business strategy is one that encompasses real business principles, right? So it isn’t built on the latest shiny objects, or it’s not built on the latest social platform, but it is built on business principles, okay? This is a really important distinction because the truth also is this. The sustainability of your business is really dependent on that, okay. The sustainability of your business really is dependent upon you having established a strong foundation in your business.

So this is why I’m so passionate about the work that I do and working with my clients at the level that I do so that we can implement the systems, the client funnels. All of the things that we need to install in their business which ultimately helps them grow and scale their business in such an accelerated way. It’s why so many of my clients experience such rapid results, and they experience such high levels of results that quite honestly are not the norm. The reason for that is because we’re working from business principle, okay?

I want you to know that all of this requires a very high level of skill. All of this requires a different way of thinking, right? It requires thinking on a whole new level. Being able to navigate the industry today and being able to navigate the marketing side of things does require a certain level of expertise. So I want to share with you some of my own personal experience as it relates to this.

So I will share with you all that recently I was working on building out a new client funnel in my own business. So I was working on building out a funnel that is something I’ve wanted to do for a while. It’s a funnel that, by the way, I’ll be sharing more details about that very soon. It’s really been something that I have wanted to do for quite some time.

So as I was working through this recently, as I was going through quite literally very much the same process that I take all of my clients through, it was such a great reminder for me to understand, again, going back and building that out just how important it is to be working from principle, right. Be working from a system, be working from a process. To have a blueprint to work from. It was also such a reminder on why it’s so important that as a coach, as a business owner, that you’re learning these things. Why it’s important to not build from tactics, but why it’s really important to build from solid business principles, right?

So as I was sitting down and as I was working through and building out different parts of this funnel, it really brought me back to just how important this all was and really how important it is from an implementation standpoint to be nailing the different parts of this, right? And I will say how helpful it was to really create the content, the level of content that I was able to create in such a short amount of time, and really understand how to put all the pieces together, right? Like that knowledge is really, really valuable.

So it brought me back to when I was first starting out when I didn’t have the level of knowledge that I didn’t have today, when I didn’t have the tools and the resources that I have today, and what that was like. So during the process and even after now that I’ve launched this new funnel and I’m just thinking about that process, I’m so grateful that I really took the time to learn these things. I’m so grateful that I really continue to be a student of these things. That I really took the time to develop my own skills when it comes to marketing.

So being able to lean into this industry, to really gain as much knowledge as I could and that I continue to do on how to really grow and scale a coaching business, there is so much value in that. The great thing now is that I’m able to translate that knowledge. I’m able to take that wisdom. I’m able to take everything that I’ve learned essentially and compress it and really help my clients make tremendous progress in such a short amount of time, which really is a cool thing.

So helping them make quantum leaps in their business both from an actual business strategy but also from an inner gain perspective. It’s really been just such a great reminder of just how valuable this really is and knowing how to effectively market your business really is and the difference that it can make in your business. So it really got me thinking about you all listening to this podcast. It got me thinking about the work that I do with clients, what I teach in my programs, and just how really truly valuable that is not only for you right now, but over the course of your business.

So when you don’t understand how to do these things, when you don’t understand how to actually implement these things in your business, there are just so many landmines. Even when you do know how to do these things, there’s so many landmines that you have to be navigating. So depending on your level of effectiveness, depending on your skillset really as it relates to all of this is going to determine how quickly and how well you’re able to navigate these landmines.

So this is why it’s very, very important to me that one of the results that every single one of my clients gets through working with me is really building their business acumen. It’s building their business acumen as it relates to growing and scaling a coaching business. This is true no matter if you’ve built a business before, even if you’ve had success in your business. There are so many things to navigate. There are so many new levels that come up as you do grow your business, right?

So it’s really important that not only are you learning these things, but are you really leaning into them as you’re implementing them? As you’re really working to become more and more effective, right?

So I really encourage you that if you’re not learning these things, if you’re not implementing something like this in your business, I’m just going to be honest. You’re missing the boat. It’s really important that you’re doing this work. So understanding how to effectively market your business and also implement that in a way that is smart and in a way that is holistic and that’s supportive of your business growth is so essential.

So to help you today, I want to offer you a few questions, right? I want to offer you these questions so that you can really start to evaluate where you’re at today and where your level of skill might be at and what that really means for your business.

So in order to answer these questions, I want you to really take a look at where you’re at today. So look at where your business is at. I want you to look at where your current strategy is at, right? So look at your current marketing. I want you to really assess whether or not your current marketing strategy is working.  So really get honest about this. Really get specific about this. Really ask yourself, is what I’m doing actually working?

The second thing that I want you to ask yourself is when I look at my marketing, when I look at what I’ve implemented in my business, is it actually supportive of my business growth? Is it actually supportive of the level of growth that I really want? If it’s not, I want you to really dig into that. I want you to get really clear and start looking at your current gaps. Get specific about what’s not working.

Then I want you to take a look and ask, “Am I actually investing my time, my energy, my resources into growing my skill level with marketing? Or am I being too reliant on the latest tactics? Am I being too reliant on the shiny objects versus real authentic tried and true marketing for my business?” Ask yourself if you’re looking for shortcuts, right. If you’re looking for shortcuts, this is usually a telltale sign that you’re too reliant on tactics. You’re too reliant on shiny objects. Really look at whether you’re doing the work of building a true foundation in your business.

So I also want you to consider the effect of not doing the work of growing your skill in this area. Not doing the work of growing your skill so that you’re truly operating as the CEO of your business. Really think about the effect of this on your business a year from now. Think about it from three years, a three year perspective. What does that mean for your business three years from now?

These are all really big questions, and I encourage you all to look at this for yourself. I will leave you with this. No matter how you answered these questions, here’s what I know. I know that every single one of you listening right now are 100% capable of building a highly successful business. And I also know that your business is capable of going to a whole new level with a solid and proven marketing strategy that’s implemented in an effective manner.

So I really encourage you to evaluate your business, evaluate what you’re doing right now, and really assess if it’s actually capable of getting your business to where you want it to go. If it’s not, I want to encourage you to think instead from the result that you want to create. Think like a true CEO in your business.

Start considering the fact that you have a huge opportunity to not only build but also grow and scale a highly successful practice. I really encourage you to treat the role of being a CEO in your business just as important as being a great coach in your business. Because your business will always be a reflection of you.

All right my friends. If you know you’re ready to take things to the next level, if you are ready for a quantum leap in your business, I want to encourage you to apply to my upcoming cohort of The Mastermind. That’s my business accelerator program where we go deep into all of this, and we implement it in your business. We do it very, very effectively.

So if you are ready to finally create the momentum and create a foundation in your business that will serve your business from wherever you’re at to wherever you want it to go, go to amandakarlstadcoaching.com/apply. We’re going to link that up in the show notes as well. I really encourage you to apply as this is a process that I’ve honed over the last several years. It’s a program that I know produces results, and it’s the level of coaching that I know can change everything for you. All right everyone. Have an amazing week. I will talk to you all again very soon. Take care. Bye, bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of The Life Coach Business Podcast. If you want to learn more about how to build, grow, and scale your business and accelerate your results visit amandakarlstadcoaching.com.