One of the things many health coaches struggle with is their marketing. They just don’t know what will work best to help them get more clients. So I want to show you the #1 health coach marketing mistake I see and how to fix it.
Now most of the time, coaches tell me they’re confused about which marketing tactics to use. So they may try a lot of different things, like advertising on Facebook or Google, holding workshops, podcasting or being a podcast guest, and presenting at live events.
Whatever tactics they choose, many of them are frustrated because they don’t achieve the results they were hoping for.
Well, there’s a good reason why.
Most Health Coaches Market The Wrong Thing
I see this most on their website. This is a big problem because the coach’s website is the 1st place people go to find out more about the coach. So it’s the place where all the other marketing leads to.
The problem is that most health coaches think their website has to focus on them.
If you do a search and look at a bunch of health coach websites, here’s what you’re most likely to see – pictures of the coach, something about their training and credentials, their “story,” their mission or philosophy, and so on.
But here’s the brutal truth. There’s no point in making your marketing or your website about you if no one knows who you are!
So if you aren’t supposed to market “you,” what should you be marketing?
The Best Way For A Health Coach To Market Their Business
The most effective type of marketing is aligned with two things.
First, it’s aligned with how you help people – the transformation you help them achieve. This makes sense because transformation is what people are looking for!
Second, effective marketing is aligned with the way people buy. (More about that in a moment.)
When your marketing is aligned with both of these, it’s both effective and generous … just the way authentic marketing should be. It’s generous because it focuses on what matters most to the person you’re trying to connect with.
This approach isn’t just for people who are new to coaching, either. You even see people who are well-known “brand names” in their industries market this way.
Take Gabby Bernstein, for example. The first thing you see on her site is a picture of her and her name. Then there’s the headline, “Become the happiest person you know.”
It’s similar with Marie Forleo. Yes, she is featured on her site. But the headline copy isn’t about her and her credentials. It’s about the reader. It says, “The world needs that special gift that only you have.”
Then the next bit of copy talks about Marie’s dedication to helping you become the person you most want to be. Notice that even when Marie talks about herself, she does it in a way that makes it about the reader.
And here’s another important thing to notice. Both of their headlines use the word “you.” They speak directly to the reader.
That’s the big takeaway. Your marketing and health coach website should be about the reader … your future clients, and the outcome they want to achieve.
How To Be Aligned With The Way People Buy
I mentioned earlier that your marketing needs to be aligned with the way people buy. And at the base of every buying decision is the belief that the thing they buy will make their life better. It will solve a problem they have … either on the surface or something much deeper, like the desire to feel attractive or valued.
It’s the same thing when a person is considering working with a health coach.
The person looking at health coaches has just one main goal – to find a coach who is the best person to help them solve their problem and give them the outcome they want. They want to know if this coach can help them to … lose weight, reverse diabetes, get 6-pack abs … you get the idea.
That’s why the most important decision you make in your business is deciding what outcome you want to help people achieve. That means you have to get very clear on who you want to help and the problem you want to help them solve. But you have to take things a step further.
Most people are looking for a coach that will make the transformation as easy and painless as possible. That’s because as much as people want transformation, there is often a strong subconscious fear of change.
Change is hard. It often involves a shift in identity … a stepping into the unknown. We’re biologically wired to avoid things like that!
So when you look at marketing to your ideal client, you need to know both the transformation they want to achieve and also what’s been getting in the way of them achieving it on their own, whether they’re aware of it or not. Then your marketing can speak directly to both these things.
I know a lot of health coaches are worried about getting too specific on who their ideal client is. They feel they can help people with many different types of problems, and that will make it easier to find more clients. But actually, the opposite is true.
One of the most brilliant and authentic marketers is Seth Godin. And one of the things Seth says is, “Nothing is important to everyone. It’s important for someone. Find your people.”
That sums it up perfectly. And your people will listen to you when your marketing is about them. That shows you help people just like them get the result they want.
If you’d like more help with this, there’s a free resource you can download called How To Create An In-Demand Health & Wellness Coaching Business. It takes you through the 3 essentials every health coach needs to build a successful practice, including how to get clear on your ideal client. You can download it here.
