If you didn't get a chance to check out Tuesday's webinar with online marketing funnel expert Shannon McCaffery, we have got you covered.

Being a coach herself, Shannoon understands the frustrations that come along with it. The biggest frustration is worrying about where the next client is going to come from and the struggle with having a steady flow of new clients coming in, although there are other issues that come along with that, including:

• Being a victim of advertising - being sold on advertising and not seeing any return

• Being beat up by your competition - there are so many coaches

• Being "commoditized"

• Cold calling

• Wasting time with people who have no intention of buying

• Price resistance and objections

• Reinventing the wheel

So, how do you overcome these barriers? Shannon shares three ways you can can gain more clients and grow your coaching business, plus some bonus marketing strategies to try.

1. Know your client inside and out  - Pick your niche

Shannon explains that the first way to gain more clients is to really know them inside and out. She stresses that having a specific niche is an essential part of the marketing plan. She says that while it's great if you are able to help a wide range of people, it makes more sense to narrow it down.

"A niche will help you narrow down your market so you don’t have to spend so much money trying to find them," she explains.

When you're narrowing down your ideal client, you want to focus on a few different things and really know a lot about them. She suggests you look at the following things:

• Demographic - age, gender, profession, living arrangement, career, family life, neighbourhood
• What is their biggest fear or frustation? What keeps them awake at night?
• What do they want to achieve? What do they desire?

Exercise - Talk to one potential client everyday for the next 15 days and ask them these questions. Write down all of the emotional hot buttons you hear like, I’m stressed out, exhausted, have no time, etc.

2. Know the business you're in

The second way to get new clients is by really looking at your business as a whole, not just what you do as a coach, Shannon explains.

"You’re not in the coaching business, you’re in the business of marketing yourself. Don’t get lost in your skill and forget to market yourself," she advises.

"Have really clear goals and expectations and marketing benchmarks - What is it that I want to accomplish this year? Reassess your business every quarter."

She also suggest that you focus on strengthening your strengths and outsourcing your weaknesses.

"If you spend time trying to strengthen your weaknesses, you’re going to be miserable. Often times the weaknesses we have are our weaknesses because we aren’t passionate about it, we don’t like it and we aren’t really go at it.”

3. Best type of marketing to use

Shannon says the best method of marketing yourself and your coaching business is direct response marketing - a strategy that evokes a specific call to action resulting from a client's direct response to you.

"My business cards have an action item on it. I tell people to turn my card over and go to my site and download my free report to help with their marketing," she explains. "What is really is is going out there and asking someone to respond, whether it’s getting something free from you (like a report) or a free consultation."

She says it's important to always ask for a response and suggests you look at anything you have in your assests/toolbox that you could offer. Things like:

• Webinars
• Ebooks
• Training videos
• Mind maps
• Worksheets
• Career assessments/quizzes

When it comes to using direct response marketing, it's important that you first focus on building your list and creating relationships with them before you try to sell your services.

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Build your community first, build a relationship with them first before asking for money. It’s like going to the bar and asking them to marry you when you first meet them, you don’t want to do that."

The right message

When it comes to effective direct response marketing, Shannon shares a proven formula to get the most out of it.

"You need to have the right message with the right market using the right media," she explains, the right message being one of the most important parts.

So, how do you create the right message, also known as your unique selling proposition (USP)? Shannon says you need to answer this question: "Why should I (prospective client) choose to do business with you instead of any other coach?"

Uncovering what your specific skill is and differentiating yourself from the competition is key to creating your USP.

If you're interested in working on your USP, Noomii cofounder Stephan Weidner created a simple "fill-in-the-blanks" worksheet to create your own USP.

"If you aren’t totally positive, I encourage you to test it on friends that know you well," Shannon suggests. "Reaching out to like-minded people and running your ideas by then can be really helpful. Having core people to help you look at something objectively and aren’t emotionally attached to the business can see things a lot better than you can sometimes."

She says it's a good idea to include your feature and/or your benefit/result in your USP, meaning what you offer as a coach and what the benefit of working with you is. The concrete results from your service is known as your value selling proposition (VSP).

Shannon says that the ingredients of a powerful marketing message include:

• Unique selling proposition (USP)
• Value Selling Proposition (VSP)
• Risk reversal - Guarantees
• Direct Response Offer - Call to action
• Proof - Testimonials (but call them success stories, reviews)

When it comes to testimonials, Shannon stresses that they are the most underused and the most powerful selling tool of all.

“What they say about it 1000 times more persuasive than what you say about you, even if you are 1000 times more articulate and eloquent,” she remarks.

She also explains that a truly great marketing message typically uincludes a unique personal story, which is one thing that is absolutely immune to your competition.

Bonus strategies to get new clients

• Offer your current clients something new - a special VIP offer

• Ask current clients for referrals - the BEST place to get new clients (even offer them an incentive - eg. gift cards)

• Go after your lost clients - reach out to them with a new/current offer

• Speak at events - Local Chamber of commerce, Meetup.com, BNI, ICF, etc.

• Conferences - attend conferences and make connections

• Referrals - create a referral program “If you found value in what I am offering you, the best compliment you can give me is by referring a friend to me because I want to help more people like you.”

• Online - social media, your website

Listen to the full webinar and view the slides below:

About Shannon McCaffery

Shannon McCaffery is a marketing coach who focuses on building and creating proven online marketing funnels that bring prospects, leads and profits. Her ideal clients are coaches and other "wellness" entrepreneurs and business owners.

Got any questions for Shannon? Write them in the comments!