12 Affordable Marketing Ideas For Life Coaches

The difference between a skilled coach and a successful coach is the latter is able to make a living from their coaching.

This is why learning how to raise your profile and market yourself as a life coach is so vitally important if you want to make life coaching your career. 

Not all of them will be for you but I hope at least one or two will inspire and resonate with you to research and try.  

 Marketing for life coaches doesn't have to be expensive!

New coaches, even experienced ones, often don't have a big marketing budget. You'll find the following ways to make yourself more visible to potential clients can do the job for very little outlay.

I'll now give you a brief outline of 12 marketing ideas to consider some of which really worked for me. Not all of them will be for you but I hope at least one or two will inspire and resonate with you to research and try.  

You'll find help on how to go about each idea successfully by following the links below this short video summary. 

1.  In person and social media networking tips and tricks 

Making new and reinforcing existing connections by networking, whether face to face or by social media, is one of the most effective marketing strategies you can adopt. 

My How to Network page has lots of tips and tricks to help you get the best from both social media connections and face to face networking.

You'll can also learn how to master creating your "Elevator Speech". That is the 30 to 60 second description that captures who you are, who you help and how you help them. It's an invaluable asset to use in conversations when asked "what do you do?" and even in any promotional material you create such as business cards and brochures.  

Networking also gives you great opportunities for forming useful alliances with other coaches or with complimentary professionals who can refer clients to you.  You can read more about How to form these strategic alliances for life coaches and how to set them up so they really work for you.

2. Testimonials from delighted clients is the "gold" of life coach marketing

Whatever you choose to say about yourself,  what really matters in atracting client is what your clients say about you. This why testimonials are one of the most powerful ways to market yourself by showing how others have benefited from your coaching.

Having testimonials on your brochure, website or FaceBook page are free and really endorse how good a coach you are.

However, asking client for them can sometimes present challenges for both the coach and the client.

You'll discover some simple strategies for easily getting those great endorsements from delighted clients when you read my:  How to get life coaching client testimonials that rock!

3. Set yourself up as an expert in your niche

Being known as an expert in a specific niche is an invaluable point of difference from other coaches and very effective for attracting those clients in your target market. If you have some work skills, personal life experience or special interest that can positions you as an expert - use it to promote yourself.  

Some coaches know and are confident of their niche right from the start. For other new coaches identifying and clarifying what their niche is can be challenging. 

You'll find lots of information and sensible guidance on of Life Coaching Niches and Specialties and the many choices available here. 

4. Make your business card memorable and keepable

Even in these days of online connection with potential clients, there can still be value in investing a physical business card to hand out as part of your marketing strategy.  

But how can you make sure that your business card really gets your message across and is kept for future reference rather than ending up in the bin, or worst still, leave the recipient later wondering "who was that?". 

Check out these creative business card idea and tips so you can be sure that your card will "work" for you and make you memorable to the people you meet at networking functions, a party, or anywhere there is an opportunity for a get to know you chat. 

Your website can also be your online business card, so be sure to read how to make that website "work" for you from the link in marketing idea No. 8. 

5. Writing a book can open many doors

Writing a book centred around your life coaching niche and expertise is a fantastic way of raising your profile and establishing yourself as an authority to attract clients.

Becoming an author is one of THE top proven marketing ideas for a coach I know and have experienced.

Your book, if it gives true value, will give you status and credibility, not to mention extra income. 

I attracted many quality clients through my first book Ready Set Goal and have recently rewritten it specifically as a guide for coaches as Mastering the Art of goals Coaching.  

My eBook How to Easily Write and Publish A Book About Your Life Coaching will show you what it takes to get started as an author as well as information on different way to get published. You can preview and get a good taster of the content here.

 6. Presenting - in person and online

When you speak at conferences and networking events, in person or online, to talk about some aspect of your coaching and demonstrate the issues it can solve, your credibility as a coach will grow and the rewards will be huge.

I know from experience that being a guest speaker at events and conferences is a really effective marketing strategy. 

In my eBook How to Use Speaking to Promote Your Coaching I tell from my own experience tips on how to get started as a presenter or guest speaker. I also share hints on overcoming speaker reluctance and confidently creating a presentation that will really engage your audience and have them wanting more. 

I also discuss how to make the planning and logistics of your presentation, whether in person or online or a webinar, run smoothly so you know what to do to avoid the stuff-ups that can ruin even the best prepared talk. 

7.  The free  introductory life coaching session - is it a good marketing idea?

Many coaches offer a free 'try before you buy' session as one of their marketing strategies. They sometimes call it a 'discovery session' or 'free assessment'.

The rational behind the free session concept is that people don’t always understand what life coaching is and so need to experience it and the coach, before they make a decision.

On the surface it's a good plan and it worked well for me until it didn't! However, there are two schools of thought about this and here I cover the pros and cons of the introductory free life coaching session.  You can also preview my eBook guide on Mastering The Coaching Discovery Session, which I'm happy to say has had some great reviews on how it helps with getting quality committed clients. 

8. Make sure your website "works" for you as a marketing tool

Having a website that looks pretty and gives lots of information about what you do and how you coach is just the beginning. Having a website that is easily found by the search engines when people are looking for a coach, simple to navigate and is written in such a way that it attracts and engages prospective life coaching clients can be something else.

You'll find lots of helpful information for your coaching website and tips on making sure it will do it's job in attracting clients in Life Coaching Websites.  

And do have a look at Website Mistakes, for 14 things NOT to do when creating your website.

 9. Guest blogging and commenting

Being a guest blogger, writing articles for or commenting on someone else's blog, can be a creative way of getting known and recognised as a life coach who has something worthwhile to say.

Your post will usually allow you to include a link to your website which can earn your extra visitors and even clients.

However, there are (of course) traps you need to be aware of if your words of wisdom are to enhance rather than inhibit your reputation - not to mention your standing with Google and the other Search Engines. 

Read my Guest Blogging Guidelines for both posting comments and accepting contributios to your blog to make this marketing idea work for you and you get the results from your time and efforts.

10. Life  coach advertising ideas with Google Adwords

Sometimes it really does pay to advertise! Basically, how Adwords works is that each time someone clicks on your AD, it goes to a website or landing page designated by you to promote your coaching. This is intended to encourage people to contact you for more information or to take the action you want, such as signing up for an introductory or discovery session. 

You pay for the times someone clicks on your AD. How much you pay is your choice depending on your budget.

I found Google Adwords the best life coaching advertising idea once I got the keywords right. The key to a successful Adwords campaign is to choose wording that will ensure that Google places your Ad on the best pages to attract the visitors and prospective clients you are after. I found it took a bit of experimenting to get it right but then it really did work for me. Google has lots of information to help to you with this.

11. Get known through social media forums 

There are lots of forums for life coaches on Facebook and LinkedIn where you can start a discussion or comment on someone else's post and promote yourself as a coach. 

Beware! Not all forums will be useful to you as a marketing idea.

Some will have been started by other coaches or marketing consultants with the sole purpose of promoting themselves and their offerings. Others will be poorly moderated and so overloaded with uncensored promotions that you will find it hard to find an opportunity for a sensible discussion or comment. I know I've joined and quickly left several of these.

The key to an effective and valuable coaching forum is how well it is moderated so it encourages useful coaching conversations and controls excessive promotions.

12. Outsourcing your marketing.

You only have to murmur that you need help with your marketing and you'll attract a bunch of self-appointed life coach marketing gurus promising to teach you this or that fail-safe magic bullet to get your lots of clients (sometimes at great expense). Unfortunately many of these marketing people have no understanding or idea of how to market life coaching.

If you are thinking of outsourcing your marketing and engaging a marketing consultant, do check that they have successfully worked with coaches. Check that the marketing method they teach is something you enjoy, or at least find a pleasurable challenge, rather than one that may cause you stress and may not get the results you need. One size definitely doesn't fit all when it comes to a life coach marketing plan.

Read about the research I suggest you do before engaging a marketing coach or consultant to help with your life coach marketing plan. It could save you stress and lots of $$.

So there you have it. I hope you find some of these coach marketing ideas appeal to you and help you get results. Of course, as I said at the beginning, not all marketing ideas for a life coach on this page will resonate with you. You may have to experiment todiscover what  is your best fit to get results. I'd also suggest that you only focus on one or two at a time otherwise you may become overwhelmed and scattered.