Starting a coaching business is exciting—you’re ready to change lives. But here’s the truth: being a great coach doesn’t guarantee clients. If you don’t market yourself effectively, no one will even know you exist.
The biggest mistake new coaches make is assuming that if they build their practice and get good at their craft, clients will magically appear. They won’t. Marketing isn’t optional—it’s how people find and trust you.
When we started our coaching business, we wasted time. We were sold the idea that everyone wants coaching and that if you provide powerful coaching, referrals will start rolling in by word of mouth alone. There is some truth to this, but the fact is that this kind of marketing takes a long time and doesn’t bring in nearly as many clients as one might believe. In our experience building a six-figure coaching practice that grows about 25% a year, these are the best actions to take:
1. Sell the Dream, Not Yourself
Many new coaches believe they are the product, focusing their marketing on certifications, training, or personal stories. While those things matter, clients don’t hire you because of who you are—they hire you because of what they want.
While you’ve worked hard to earn your certification, clients care less about your education than they care about how good of a job you can do at helping them create a rich and meaningful life. It’s essential to avoid spending too much time talking about why you became a coach, who you’ve coached, or the details of your methods. Instead, focus on what your clients truly want:
👉 A career coaching program that helps professionals land jobs faster and feel confident in interviews.
👉 Executive coaching that equips leaders to make bold, effective decisions with clarity.
👉 Small business coaching that gives entrepreneurs the strategy and tools to grow revenue.
👉 Online business coaching that helps clients scale their businesses with real, measurable results.
Your marketing should highlight the transformation—not just your credentials. The best coaches don’t just talk about coaching methods—they talk about the dream. I find many coaches get uncomfortable with this idea because they don't want to over-promise. That leads me to the question: do you believe you have the ability to help your clients transform their lives? If you do, you need to tell them. And if you don't, then this might not be the right line of work for you. Imagine an auto mechanic who refused to tell you she could fix your car but instead told you all about her training program. You'd hear "I went to school for this but I can't tell you if it has any real world application". Then you'd go to a competitor who told you they could fix your car. Own your skills. If you're an ICF certified coach, you are trained in methods that help people. The key to doing this work is to believe it and to say it proudly.
2. Position Yourself as a Guide, Not the Hero
Clients don’t hire impressive people. They hire inspiring guides. They want a coach because they need help achieving their goals. That means you are not the hero of the story—they are.
Your role is to be their guide. When you position yourself this way, your marketing shifts from “Look how great I am” to “Look how great you are. I can help you put that greatness to work.” Sure, maybe what you've achieved makes you uniquely qualified to help your client get that too. Maybe you've been where your client is going. But that only matters if it can help them get there too.
This is where you can talk about your credentials, but you need to be strategic. The only time you should mention your training or background is when you’re directly relating it to how it helps you in getting your client where they want to go.
👉 If you offer leadership coaching, highlight how your years of management and leadership training experience helps new leaders step up, gain confidence, and make better decisions that drive real impact in their careers.
👉 If you specialize in business coaching in Utah, share how growing up in Utah, running a business there, and understanding the unique challenges of the local business landscape give you a deep understanding of what entrepreneurs need to succeed. Show them how you can help them navigate local opportunities and obstacles to grow their businesses faster, get unstuck, and increase their revenue.
3. Make the Stakes Clear—Why Is Your Coaching Business the Right Choice?
We missed the boat entirely on this when we first started. We were so busy trying to explain what a coach did that we neglected to explain the stakes. If your marketing doesn’t create a sense of urgency, people will put off hiring you. Your message needs to show both the benefits of working with you and the risks of waiting.
Ask yourself:
✅ What incredible things could happen if they work with me?
❌ What could they lose, struggle with, or miss out on if they don’t?
👉 If someone is searching for how to grow a coaching business, they need to see how coaching will help them get clients faster, increase their income, and avoid common mistakes—not just a vague promise of support.
👉 If you are a relationship coach, you'll need to paint a picture of what it could be like to finally find a meaningful relationship. They also need to understand that if they don't hire you, they could be destined to remain stuck and lonely.
When people feel what’s at stake, they’re far more likely to take action. And remember, this should NEVER violate your values system. Don't overpromise. But also don't be afraid to highlight the potential consequences of failing to act. Your clients are coming to you because they want to avoid pain. They already have the worst case scenario in their heads. It's ok to remind them that you can help them find a different path.
4. Make It Incredibly Easy to Work with You
Your website will grow as you build your offerings out but when you start it only needs one page. It should tell people what you do, how to get it, and how they will benefit (see items 1-3). That's it. The how to get it piece should have no more than three simple steps that make it clear how to work with you. If a potential client lands on your page and has to think too hard to figure out what to do next, they will leave.
Make it obvious:
1️⃣ Book a free intro call (clear scheduling link)
2️⃣ Talk about your goals (quick intake form)
3️⃣ Start coaching & get results
And here’s the most important part: Your website must have a BIG, OBVIOUS button that tells them what to do.
That button should say:
✅ “Book a Free Call”
✅ “Start Coaching Now”
✅ “Schedule Your First Session”
This button should appear multiple times on your website. No distractions, no extra steps—just one clear action that makes it easy for them to move forward. Take a look at our website. Within 2 seconds you should know what we want you to do next. When we first built our website like this, it felt corny and over the top. Like we were building a big neon sign with an arrow pointing at our front door. But guess what? Business doubled. Then it tripled. People need big over the top gestures to find you. They're busy. They're thinking about a million different things. And having a very clear and obvious path to working with you saves them mental bandwidth.
Make it so easy and obvious what you want them to do that a 2 year old could accidentally book a session if they were put in front of your website. That means multiple ways to get to the booking page and no extra links leading to other places unless they're absolutely necessary. All roads should lead directly to the first step in your sales process.
5. Set Up Google My Business—It’s the Best First Step
There are two big mistakes that I see new coaches making:
1) They don't set up a web presence because they were told they could rely on referrals.
2) If they do have an online presence, they put it into social media.
These mistakes could completely cannonball your dream of having a flexible and lucrative business; it almost did for us.
We worked hard to build our referral networks when we first started. And while they are gaining momentum, it's taken 5+ years. Meanwhile, 80% of our business finds us through google. It was shocking to learn that. It flew in the face of everything we were told about the coaching industry.
We also worked hard on social media content. We'd seen many successful coaches with online presence through instagram and tik tok and thought we could do the same. We learned quickly that creating content takes a lot of time and without professional help, the quality tends to be low. In other words, competing in the social media space is really hard and time consuming. Secondly, when you're an influencer, you get paid in likes and shares and it's very rare to make a good living there. Why? Because of a thing called buyer intent. People on social media are there to waste time and be entertained. You need to find people when they're ready to buy from you. And when people are looking to buy, they go to google.
Sof you want to get clients fast, the best thing you can do is set up a Google My Business profile and start collecting reviews.
When people search for a life coach in Salt Lake City, Utah, or business coaching in Utah, Google prioritizes local listings with strong reviews. If you don’t have a profile, you’re invisible. But if you can get a dozen reviews, your business and all the wonderful things people have to say about you are suddenly showing up on the first page of google when people look for these services.
Here’s what to do today:
✅ Create a free Google My Business profile
✅ Fill it out completely—add photos, descriptions, and services
✅ Start collecting reviews ASAP (ask past clients, colleagues, or friends you’ve helped)
Gut check this: Who would you rather work with? A roofer with a lot of social media posts but no reviews, or a roofer with no social media and 40 reviews from people talking about how they sleep better at night knowing their roof isn’t going to leak anymore? The same logic applies to coaching. A strong Google presence with authentic client testimonials builds trust and makes it easier for potential clients to say yes.
Online reviews are gold in today's marketplace. Because no matter how many great things you can say about yourself on your website, it's human nature to verify. If someone else is willing to say something good about you, buyer confidence goes through the roof. The more reviews you have, the more trust you build—and the more likely you are to get discovered by potential clients.
The Fastest Way to Get Clients? Make It Easy to Say Yes
If we could go back and do one thing differently, we’d focus on client dreams, clear messaging, and a simple path to getting started.
Here’s what you should do today:
🔹 Refine your messaging—sell the outcome, not yourself.
🔹 Simplify your website—three steps and a giant “Book a Call” button.
🔹 Set up Google My Business—get reviews and start ranking in search.
🚀 We specialize in helping coaches navigate certification while focusing on the business side of things. Clients who prioritize this early on often see strong client numbers and revenue within their first year. Those who don’t? Many end up like countless other coaches—earning a fancy certification but ultimately having to give up the dream and return to a traditional job just to pay the bills. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen to you. Book an intro call today, and let’s create a marketing plan that works for you.
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