By far, the three questions I am most often asked when I first tell people that I am a life coach are: What is life coaching? Do you have a business card? and finally "Do you have a web site?". While these are definitely important, they are but three of many more things you can do to promote your coaching business. Let everyone know you are a coach and watch your business grow.

  • Business Cards: If you are just starting out and on a rather tight budget, checkout VistaPrint for free business cards (just pay the shipping). I am often asked what the catch is for the business cards, after all, they look great and seem to be of high quality. Well, in exchange for providing you with free business cards, on the back of the card they include a small line advertizing their services. It's really a win-win arrangement.
  • Web site: This is a huge topic on it's own and so I have dedicated a separate article. Visit the section on Web Sites for more information including some great tips.
  • Create a blog or post articles on your web site. Not only will you be helping others, but your articles may even end up becoming content your book down the road. Here are some great examples:
  • Add an RSS (Real Simple Syndication) link on your web site. This is a feature that allows people to subscribe to your web site and become instantly notified of any changes such as a new service, newsletter, article or a new entry on your blog.
  • Create and conduct Teleclasses
  • Create and publish eCourses
  • Create and publish an eZine (electronic magazine).
  • Sample Coaching Sessions (also known as Complementary Coaching Sessions)
  • Contact your immediate relationships. This may include current and past business associates, family, friends, colleagues, religious institution, current and past clients, associations you belong and organizations you volunteer for, Alumni groups, to your butcher, your banker, your baker, and yes, even the candlestick maker. You get the idea. Pretty much anyone who also has ever sent you an email. Warning: For e-mail, only do this once. Otherwise you might tick them off and you DON'T want that to happen. To expand your list, consider hosting a pot luck event. Except instead of bringing a dish, ask everyone to bring two friends.
  • Attend self-help events. Think about it, besides helping yourself, what kind of people do you think might attend these types of events?
  • Write an electronic newsletter or get articles published on the web or your local newspaper. It doesn't have to be local but you might feel more comfortable. What could you talk about? Each time you have a conversation with someone, think about what was being discussed. I am not suggesting that you break client confidentiality however you can consider how strategies might be applicable to people in general and write about that. Another great place to find great material might be from your own life. Think about experiences you have gone through in the past, what you did to find balance in your life, took control of your life and your health, how you attracted your ideal mate, your hobbies, found a job, tell the story of your recent experiences, etc.. Now I can hear some of you right now saying "wait a minute, how are my hobbies related to coaching?". You are right, it's not. But it might be related to your potential clients. Nobody said that your articles had to be published in a coaching related publication. No matter where you get your articles published, always be sure to include contact information such as a link back to your web site, your email address or even your phone number. If people can relate to what you write, they may feel you are the right coach to help them out.
  • Get yourself a web site. People are always asking me for either a business card or my web site address.
  • Consider exchanging links with other coaches. For example, include a link to someone else's web site in your newsletter in exchange for them doing the same for you.
  • Get yourself listed on social media web sites including:
  • Volunteer to do speeches for various organizations. If you aren't comfortable with public speaking, consider joining a local Toastmasters club to learn and gain experience in both public speaking and leadership.
  • Start collecting and publishing endorsements. Few things speak louder when you are trying to choose a coach than an endorsement from someone else. And please, don't make them up just so that you have something to show. You are trying to foster a relationship of trust with your clients. Don't start the relationship off by deceiving them.
  • When introducing yourself to others, be sure to include the name of your company in addition to your name. For example, my name is Michael Milette from TNGConsulting.ca, especially in a teleclass. If people like what you have to say, they just might go visit your web site to learn more about you.
  • Record your teleclasses. The value of these recordings is incredible.
  • Conduct interviews of people who has inspired you, someone who is a great teacher. If you recorded the interview, make it available on your web site so that they can inspire others too. You can build your credibility by associating yourself with other credible people.
  • Finally, when you are doing sample sessions with people, if you feel that they are a good fit for you, invite them to hire you as a client by saying something like "Would you be interested in moving forward with some coaching?".

Exposure tip: Send me an message to contribute your ideas on how to gain more exposure to the above list. Not only will you be helping other coaches, but if I include your suggestion, I will mention your name as well as a link to your web site thereby increasing your exposure. Please note however that I reserve the right to be selective about which suggestions appear on this page.

Contact me if you would like to discover how you can increase your exposure as a coach while remaining congruent with who you are. Together, we can make it happen.

With warmest regards,

Business Life Coach Michael Milette
www.TNGConsulting.ca

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