Best Coaching Tips and Tricks of 2017
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Throughout the year, we have shared a ton of great business and marketing advice from business coaches, marketing experts, SEO strategists, former CEOs and other professionals who have covered everything from digital marketing strategies and social media marketing to website design and content development.
As the year comes to an end, we decided to take a look back at some of the best coaching advice we've shared this year. We hope you enjoy it!
Take your business seriously
In her post, 6 Lessons I’ve Learned Being a Coach Solopreneur, career coach Mary Kruger shared a few things she has learned over the years being a coach. The first of which was to take her business and herself seriously. Of course, you would think this one goes without saying, but often new coaches aren't confident in themselves and their abilities in the beginning.
"A lot of voices can be heard in your head when you are running your own business," she explains. "Mine include: 'You aren’t any good at this', 'You are just playing at this business.' and 'Get a real job!”
As a coach she recognized that these as the voices of the inner critic/gremlin or saboteur. And, once recognized, she was able to begin countering the voices. Affirmations can help – saying positive messages to yourself, such as, “I am an entrepreneur, I own a successful business and I am a good writer” have helped me counter the negative inner voices.
The results? Once I started taking myself more seriously and believed I was a real business owner, others did too and the clients followed.
Proper SEO is important
Having a great website is a vital part of their business and one of the key components to great websites is its ability to rank high on search engines like Google and Bing, according to digital business consultant Sam Wheeler.
In his post, 9 Crucial SEO Tips for Entrepreneurs, Sam explains the importance of proper URL structure, title tags, keywords, links and meta descriptions.
Social media is your friend
Social media makes for a perfect promotional platform for those with a coaching business. It’s a great way to reach your target audience, growi your influence as a coach and share your expertise. In her blog post, Lilach Bullock shares her top tips for how to use social media to promote your coaching business successfully.
Not all social media is created equal
Online marketing expert Gene Sower explains that social media is a great way for businesses to communicate with prospects, clients and customers in his post, How to Curate Content for Social Media. However, he warns that when it comes to using social media for direct sales, it’s a bit of a mixed bag and when it comes to coaching, it isn't a very effective way to generate direct sales.
Still, using social media can help you inspire people and share your expertise with potential clients. It also helps to cement your status as an expert and confirms your position as an authority in your niche. And it’s a great way to boost your relationship with existing clients by continuing to reinforce your messages and creating opportunities for two-way engagement.
If you are planning to use social media to market your services, it is important to identify the appropriate outlets for your particular coaching practice. In his post, Gene explains the different social media platforms and how you can use them to your advantage.
Creating a coaching services package can be simple
Career development practitioner and certified career strategist Christine Cristiano shares some invaluable insight on how to create a coaching services package - a task that can be daunting when coaches first start out.
According to Christine, setting up your services and internal processes is just that—a process. You will enter into your coaching business with some specific ideas in mind, but chances are those ideals will change and be refined as you gain more experience in running your own business and working with a diverse group of clients. Creating your services is a common challenge that business owners face when trying to create and market their services. Christine breaks the process down into 10 steps, making this challenging task a lot easier.
Having a coaching system is the key to growth
According to The Startup Expert ®, Bert Seither, creating a formalized coaching system will help you grow your business, earn more money and increase client satisfaction.
Bert says that if you keep your coaching system locked in your head instead of mapping it out, your business will remain small. You won’t be able to replicate your results by hiring other coaches or create automated coaching systems for your clients to work with when you’re not there - meaning each session that you do ends up being harder to put together than it needs to be. Basically, you are leaving money, customer satisfaction and huge growth potential on the table.
Read his post Brain Drain: How to Formalize the Coaching System You Have Locked in Your Head and learn how to map it out, put it all in writing, make it look good and integrate it into your coaching sessions.
Webinars rock!
According to The Startup Expert ®, Bert Seither, the most powerful pieces of content your coaching business's website can possess; the webinar.
"People love to watch experts who can help transfer information into actions that inspire them to accomplish the goals they are trying to reach. As a coach, the opportunities for webinars are obvious! By inviting your leads to participate in a short webinar, you not only have the chance to get your lead excited, you also have the chance to show leads exactly who you are and why working with you is a great idea."
Read his post, The Power Piece of Your Website Content: Webinars to learn the basics of hosting a great free webinar.
Invest in the right marketing strategies
Marketing director Dan Scalco knows that business owners are constantly debating which marketing strategies are actually worth investmenting their time or money. Some strategies pay off in the short term, while others take years to prove their efficacy. If a strategy fails, it’s difficult to prove whether that’s because the strategy is inherently unhelpful or because it wasn’t executed properly.
With that in mind, he put together a list of seven marketing strategies that are worth the investment.
Include the right pages on your coaching website
Designing a website for your coaching business should be at the top of your list when you start up a coaching practice. Understanding what needs to be on your website, and what doesn’t, to ensure your potential clients to have a successful user experience is important.
In her post, marketing expert Nicole Stelmar explains that there are five essential pages every coaching business website needs and how you can optimize them.
Quality content is king
In his post, "Why Quality Content is the King of Online Marketing," entrepreneur Anurag Gupta explains why content was, is and will always be the king of online marketing.
"Quality content is the material that not only satisfies search engine standards, but also satisfies the needs of users. It sounds complex, but it’s not. Any content that is meaningful, informative, quip with related facts and data, written in interesting style with no grammar errors is quality content," he explains.
Not only does quality content rank higher on Google and bring more traffic to your coaching website, it engages your audience, encourages loyalty and adds value to your business.
Not sure what to write about? Click here for five tools you can use to help you decide what to blog about.
Client testimonials are essential
In his post, 5 Reasons to Include Client Testimonials on Your Website, marketing expert Dan Scalco explains the importance of including testimonials on your coaching website.
"No matter how you look at it, including testimonials on your website is a smart business decision that can enhance your coaching practice and lead to substantial growth," he says. Not only do they legitimize your expertise, help alleviate anxieties about initiating the coaching process, highlight your distinct strengths and meet prospective clients’ expectations - they can be repurposed in other marketing materials.
There are various techniques for closing the sale
As a coach, it's important to take techniques for closing the sale seriously because they can make or break the business. They define the final decision determining if your efforts will amount to a profit or nothing, meaning that mastering various techniques is critical to your success.
In his post, Techniques for Closing the Sale With a Coaching Client, writer Michael Gorman shares five different strategies you can use to close the sale with a prospective coaching client. From the traditional 'summary close' to the 'sharp angle,' Michael offers techniques for every situation.
About Kristen Moran
Kristen is the editor and community manager at Noomii.com and the Noomii Career Blog. Kristen's desire to ask questions and share information with others led her to pursue journalism. While she has worked at various publications, covering everything from municipal politics to local restaurants, it was her love of self-improvement and sharing inspiration with others that made Noomii the perfect fit. Connect with Kristen through Twitter.
Check out these related articles:
- 4 Key Questions Coaches Must Answer Before Deciding to Scale Up Their Business
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- 5 Marketing Tools to Make Your Work Easier
- 5 SEO Concepts All Coaching Business Websites Should Implement
- Mastering The Close: A Perfect Example For Business Coaches
- 7 Easy Techniques To Help You Close More Sales From The Startup Expert ®
- Affiliate With Awesomeness: 3 Steps That Boost Back-to-School Revenues
- What is Personal Branding and How Does it Fit into My Coaching Business?
