How to Build an Online Coaching Brand

You know you are an excellent coach, and you are making a difference in peoples’ lives. Coaches and mentors become a significant part of peoples’ growth and success. It is a relationship based on trust and authenticity.

What do you think of when you think of a ‘brand’? Most people think of color schemes and a logo, but it is much more than these.

Because of the intimate nature of the coaching/client relationship, many coaches do not think of themselves as a ‘brand’. This is understandable because what you do is much bigger than a product or commodity. However, being mindful of your messaging and your brand identity is a key aspect of the success of any coach, particularly in the online community.

Taking Your Coaching Business Online

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, most businesses are prioritizing how the communicate and sell online. With a service like coaching, you may be having difficulty mapping out how you can effectively coach in the digital world, especially if you are accustomed to in-person relationships.

This is where fully understanding your brand comes into play. How you communicate your principles and core values online is key to attracting and securing new clients. It’s vital that your unique approach and personality are reflected in your messaging, your content, and all your online communications.

How you interact with your clientele is also key. Thanks to advances in technological platforms, there are a myriad of ways to directly communicate with clients, face-to-face, without meeting them in person. There are dozens of applications out there to help you build your community effectively, whether it is to meet one-on-one or hold webinars, classes, or offer other resources online.

Know Your Niche

Who is your ideal client? In what areas do you really shine? To differentiate yourself from your online competition, it’s vital to understand your target audience. Tools like social media are not all about the numbers. It’s better to have 100 fully engaged and committed followers than 1,000 followers that aren’t involved in your community and don’t become clients or potential clients.

When it comes to online marketing, you can’t be all things to all people. Your brand will get lost in the fray and you won’t attract your ideal clients. Determine your essential messaging. Coaching can encompass a lot – what’s your specialty? Who do you love to work with? You brand is your opportunity to clearly define this in all your content and communications.

Define Your Core Beliefs

Core beliefs are essential to your coaching brand. Core beliefs are not personality characteristics, like “honesty” and “authenticity”. Core beliefs are your core principles. They are the code you live by and the foundation of the work you do with your clients. Drill down to identify those core principles that are interwoven throughout the work you do. What are you helping your clients aim for? Is it living with acceptance and gratitude? Do you help people build mindfulness to change behaviors? Are you an expert in healthy boundaries?

Write down the messages you consistently share with your clients that are effective in your business. These core beliefs must be consistently present in all your messaging and content, so your audience really gets to know who you are and what you stand for.

Be Clear on What You Promise

Once you understand your core beliefs you can develop your core promises. What can clients achieve by working with you? Are you helping them with leadership skills? Are you helping with confidence? Self-esteem? Know what ‘problem’ or source of ‘pain’ you are helping people overcome. To reach your ideal audience online, you need to incorporate your ‘solution’ into all your messaging so people know exactly what they will achieve by working with you.

Think of the difference between telling people “I’m a great coach” versus telling people “By working with me you can overcome negative self-talk and achieve your dream”. Who would you rather work with? By narrowing your promises, you are also eliminating interest from potential clients who aren’t in your sweet spot. This builds a loyal clientele.

Images, Messaging, and Content

The word ‘content’ is thrown around a lot, but what does it mean to you? Content is anything you put out there online, whether it’s a video, an image, a class, or an article. Sure, you need to have a logo and color scheme that reflect your brand, but your messaging is what attracts the right clients Try to shorten your core messaging to a short sentence or four or five words. These can be slogans, ad copy, and/or bylines, and you can work this messaging into all your core content, courses, and articles.

Focus Your Marketing

You have your core values, your core promises, and your core messaging, and you’re ready to broadcast them to the online world. As exciting as this is, it can also be overwhelming, so focus is important. Which social media platforms work best for your brand? Create a short list of marketing tasks and tactics to start. You don’t have to be on every social media platform, for example. Start small and build from there. You may want to incorporate an email newsletter, but how are you going to get emails for your potential market? Does your website have resources that encourage people to provide their email to access? Are you effectively encouraging your followers to communicate with you?

Effective marketing is fuel for sales. Start by nurturing and building a core online community that is interested in your values and brand. These engaged followers will turn into prospects over time. At the start, however, it’s important to focus your efforts so you don’t get overwhelmed and discouraged.

Ask for Feedback

Even the best-laid plans can be ineffective. Listen to your audience. Ask for feedback. If your brand isn’t growing like you hoped, be inquisitive and flexible to figure out where the sticking points are. If you aren’t reaching your ideal audience, revisit your messaging to reach the right people. Be ready to pivot depending on what works and what doesn’t.

eLearning is Key

When moving from in-person to coaching, it’s essential to think through how you will instruct and interact with your clients. You may have print materials or workbooks that now need to be available in an interactive eLearning course.

While this prospect may seem daunting, it’s easier than you think! Digital Content Creators works with coaches to build engaging, interactive, and effective eLearning courses that directly reflect your unique brand. We can work with your existing materials, or help you create it from scratch.

eLearning courses are much more effective than passive videos on platforms like YouTube. Online courses require user interaction and engagement, provide direct feedback to you as to how your clients are progressing, and help benchmark a client’s progress.

Let us help you make the switch to impactful online coaching. Contact us to set up a free consultation to get started!