14 blunders coaches make in marketing their coaching business; what clients actually want

Marketing your coaching business effectively ensures you continue to have leads and clients flow into your coaching business so you change more lives. However, many coaches establish their coaching business, register a coaching company, open their shops… but they aren’t able to attract good clients.

And that’s because often their sales and marketing strategy has errors. By understanding and avoiding these following mistakes, you can create marketing strategies THAT WORK, build a stronger personal brand, and reach your target audience at low cost.

This guide features top 14 marketing mistakes coaches make and provide actionable tips to avoid them so you create a successful and sustainable coaching business.

This post is going to be a hard-hitting post. So take it with a pinch of salt. Plus, good thing is I’ve made all of these mistakes.

Let’s address the elephant in the room.

#1: Considering sales and marketing as the same stuff

Before we dive deep into the marketing for coaches – I’ve realized that many coaches were never told about the difference between sales and marketing.

And this sales and marketing confusion cause coaches, a lot of (avoidable) headaches and emotional pain… apart from business loss.

Whereas sales is about nurturing the prospects – ultimately closing and converting leads into buyers. Marketing is about creating awareness and generating interest in your coaching business.

Ok what’s more important? Sales or marketing?

Both. Sales solve every business problem. Nobody ever complained, “they’re getting too many sales”.

Having said that Marketing is what brings people to the shop. No marketing means no leads. No sales. No cashflow. No lives changed.

I know sales without being sleazy is something you might be wondering however, in this guide we’ll stick with how to avoid blunders in marketing a coaching business.

One of the most effective tips for marketing your coaching business is to use perception.

#2: Sharing quotes – not personality

STOP sharing quotes.

Sorry for all caps there.

But if you want to gain clients and change their lives – you must stop sharing quotes. Right now.

Why?

First, quotes don’t impact the way you can. Yes, I’m talking about you – a real person, a real coach can impact them, nourish them, support them — but if you hide your coaching superpowers behind quotes then it helps nobody.

Here’s an important piece of data:

According to ICF research, 58% of clients engaged the first (and only) coach they contacted who meet their criteria.

Clients don’t care about quotes – they care about engagement. If you can engage them – they’ll fly toward you.

Here’s are some of the questions you would want to ponder:

• How do you engage potential clients without being on social media 24×7?
• How do you create engagement at a large scale?
• How to you connect with potential clients without getting overwhelmed?

#3: Neglecting to Define a Clear Niche

What’s a coaching business niche?

A coaching business niche helps you target your ideal clients more effectively. It helps you establish a strong brand identity.

See the coaching market is overcrowded – there’re plenty of coaches – who have “life coach” or “health coach” in their titles.

If you want to stand out in the industry, then brand yourself attractively to a small audience.

By that I mean you need to make your brand call out to a small niche audience.

Out of these following pitches what do you think has a better chance of attracting a client or a referral:

• “Hi, I’m a weight loss coach”
• “Hi, I help new moms lose baby weight and gain back their old college looks”

Did you notice something?

• By defining specifically whom do you serve – you create a laser targeted messaging for them.
• Your marketing message gets teeth.
• You enhance your impact.

#4: Why clients prefer coaching over therapy or counselling?

According to an ICF global research, respondents receiving coaching said that coaching offered them a way to overcome their limitations with an action plan.

Nobody wants to sit through “childhood issues” (at least early on).

That means you must find ways to offer some kind of roadmap or course of action before you delve into deeper personality or motivation issues.

Here’re some examples:

Coach Type	Example Action Plan	Tangible Results
Career Coach	Step-by-step plan for job search, including resume tips, interview prep, and networking strategies.	Clients feel more prepared and confident in their job search.
Fitness Coach	A 4-week workout routine with specific exercises and nutrition guidelines.	Clients feel motivated to continue.
Life Coach	Outline a personal development plan with daily habits.	Clients experience clarity and focus.
Business Coach	Provide a business growth roadmap with marketing strategies and productivity tips.	Clients see measurable business growth.
Relationship Coach	Design 4-week plan with communication exercises and conflict resolution strategies.	Clients feel better communication.

The moment you offer something actionable you claw your way into their minds and become someone who can bring them success.

#5: Do you use coaching buzzwords in your content marketing?

• “Limiting beliefs”
• “Ambivalence”
• “Metabolism”

Civilians don’t understand coded language.

It makes them zone out. A confused prospect is like a soldier waiting to cross the minefield and they want to know where to put the next step to save their lives.

So use their words in content marketing for your coaching business. Here’s how you can translate code words:

• Limiting beliefs = Mental traps
• Ambivalence = Confusion. Mixed feelings. Delay in decision-making
• Metabolism = the rate at which your body burns fat.

#6: Are you over relying on referral marketing for clients?

What’s the best form of marketing for a coaching business — referral or social media?

The truth is online marketing gives you freedom and scale. It’s about consistently spreading your wonderful content.

Whereas word-of-mouth marketing, is a slow but targeted medium.

The fact is referrals are still the best form of marketing (46%) so absolutely convey your services in your network or past clients. But the next best source of leads is your branded website (20%).

Apart from social media platforms, an optimized website gets attention from Google (SEO) as well.

So focus your time and resources over what works. Your best bet to gain more clients is your network, your optimized website, and your social media channels.

#7: Do you have dozens of coaching certificates but no sustainable marketing system?

According to ICF research, 83% of coaching clients said personal rapport is “very important” to them. And no surprise, just 41% said it’s about certifications.

Of course, coaching certifications give you an edge in your services and boost your credibility. But at the same time, how do you create personal rapport?

One of the ways that work in the offline world is: Mirroring or pacing your prospects.

If they cry – you cry. If they smile, you smile. If they are cool, calm, and deliberate – you be like them. So how can you mirror or pace them online? By creating content pieces that mirror their emotions.

#7: What’s the biggest content marketing error in coaching business?

Are you struggling to gain and keep their attention?

In their book, Made to Stick authors Dan Heath and Chip Heath shared this simple trick to get people’s interest: point out a gap between what they know and what they want to know.

Curiosity.

Legendary Copywriter Gary Halbert opened a very successful 100-million sales letter with this lead: “Do you know that your family name was….?”

If someone tells you that an ancient text mentions a great personality bearing your family name — would you like to discover more about that ancestor?

Absolutely. Curiosity activates the same pathways in the brain which respond to sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

Content Marketing for coaching business is all about creating that kind of mental itch. The simplest way is to create content where you talk about what they want to know… how to lose weight without dieting, exercises for people having knee problems, etc.

#8: selling potential clients too many coaching services

My TV remote came with over 47 buttons and yet I use 7 buttons at most. Over time my fingers know where those 7 buttons are and I don’t need the rest. We, humans, love simplicity and habits.

Simplicity gives you credibility

So when you’re selling something – talk about one thing at a time. Sell them ONE product or service.

If you sell too many things simultaneously – it will confuse them. If you confuse them, they’ll avoid making a decision. And they avoid making a decision, you don’t get a client.

But simple is hard to ignore. Right?

#9: Using books and rationality to create a client

Author Anne Miller in Metaphorically Selling recounted how a CEO who couldn’t secure a $1.2 billion bail-out deal from the US Congress ultimately succeeded when he stopped using the rational term “bailout”.

Instead he started using the term “safety net”. Now politicians can deny a “bailout” but they can’t deny a “safety net” for troubled families. Right?

When he was being ‘rational’, he couldn’t succeed. And that’s because the way human mind is built. We humans want stories. We want to become heroes or sheroes.

And your best bet is using metaphors or stories in your sales and marketing (just like I used above).

#10: Want to create stronger headlines?

Most people don’t read until they spot something interesting and useful – even if within the content?

So how can you attract them? Try these headline strategies:

• Add numbers or power words in your headline
• Add strong emotional words to attract their subconscious mind
• Create headlines that converse with skimmers
• Skim your headlines and make them interesting using Copywriting strategies
• Highlight interesting facts in your content
• If it’s video content, use headlines or captions to build upon concepts

#11: Why coaching is the hardest thing to sell if you’re doing it the traditional way?

Look around. How many cool products can you spot – iPhone, clothes, chair, table, coaching…

Coaching? What?

Did you spot coaching? Nooo…

You can’t see coaching, you can’t touch coaching. You can’t smell coaching.

And that’s the problem. It’s an invisible product.

So how do you sell an invisible product?

No matter how much you love coaching you can’t touch it. And yet you know it’s life transforming.

So what’s the way to sell coaching?

Sell yourself first. People buy from people. You possess what so many people would love to have. Share your journey. Share your emotions, share the sensational life you have had up until now (and are living), and share the new identity you have created. That vibe is contagious.

#12: How to sell coaching by future pacing them?

Nobody buys coaching anyway.

Learn from the trillion-dollar car industry. Cars are expensive. So they invite you to sit inside the car and relax, feel the safety and the ambiance. Move your hand over the leatherwork, smell it, see the craft inside. And when you’re ready you can complete the formalities.

The million-dollar question is how can you give your prospects an amazing experience? Here are some tips:

Paint a future picture for them (future pacing). Compare the present and future. Talk about how they will be able to live once they complete the course. Go into as much detail as you can. Basically, create a gap between where they are and where they want to be.

#13: Admit a negative aspect to boost credibility

Listerine confessed, “The taste you hate twice a day.” With its honesty came the credit that Listerine should kill a lot of germs.

Marketing for coaches is NOT about easy results. It’s about showing your vulnerability. When you show them your wounds – it builds your credibility.

Coaches don’t promise easy results or get rich quick kind of stuff. Right?

#14: How to Reverse Engineer business success

A coaching business is a business. And a business solves problems. There are probably a lot of problems you can solve for the client. But certain problems are more pressing than others.

Your best bet is the one problem that is waking them up at 3 AM at night with tears rolling down their cheeks. Address that one problem because that will bring you success.

How to figure out that one problem?

See what’s already selling in your niche. What’s working? What are people already buying? It won’t take long before you figure that out.

Bonus: Offer them self-reflection

Coaching isn’t cola.

Sure there are people who want that kind of happiness. But when someone comes to a coach, then somewhere deep she wants to evolve her skills and identity.

• Ask about their vision
• Ask open-ended questions
• Ask about their past wins
• Ask about their dream life

Offer massive (but strategic) value for free.

Conclusion: Marketing for coaches needs some tweaking

Marketing, especially online digital marketing for coaches is too important to ignore. Here’s what to do today.

Take a look at any of your marketing assets – your website, the home page, the email funnel, the webinar, the video, or the blog post. And go through these points. Self-reflect to make progress.

Tell me how it goes. There’s no scoring, each point is critical.

FAQs