Coaching businesses are relying on social media to win clients
In recent years, we’ve seen a wave of coaching businesses appearing on the internet. In today’s economy, it’s not “stuff” that’s in short supply – it’s knowledge. People are desperate to find out how to live a good life, and they’re looking for others to help them.
Coaching businesses, however, are usually small – perhaps just a single person. And that means that their advertising options are limited. They could go down the conventional PPC route, but many are choosing social media instead.
This choice actually makes a lot of sense for coaches. That’s because, in most cases, customers are already looking for help on social media platforms.
Take, for instance, somebody who wants to get healthy. They might start their journey watching videos on YouTube, trying to learn more about what they should eat and how much they should exercise. After a while, they might get some ideas that they can practice in their own lives, but they may still be lacking the real information that they need.
That’s where coaches come in. They’re using social media activity data to advertise to individuals who seem interested in what they’re doing. In this way, they’re able to capture people while they are at the peak of their interest in a particular subject, and direct them towards their site (and, hopefully, payment).
People seek out individual coaches because of their specialist expertise and knowledge in a particular field. Therefore, in many cases, the person providing the coaching is the only one who can do so. For this reason, coaching companies don’t usually expand the say way as, say, an accountancy firm. Financial firms can simply hire more people to their ranks able to complete the same tasks, but that’s not true of some coaches.
Of course, if coaches do decide to sell online, they often enlist the help of a social media marketing agency. Many coaches attempt to gain large audiences on various platforms. However, most fail because they don’t understand how they work. They think that all they need to do is produce high-quality videos, but that’s not always true.
The real skill is to use storytelling to connect with your audience. The goal here is to create a narrative for why your coaching is so valuable. The story doesn’t have to be particularly original, it just has to appeal to your audience. So, for example, if you’re selling business coaching, the story needs to be something that tells clients how they can succeed with the right knowledge.
Some industries are more amenable to stories than others. For example, if you offer weight loss coaching, you might promise to help clients shed their excess pounds without deprivation or calorie counting. People love stories like these because they tell them what they want to hear. Plus, when you connect with your audience on social media, they are in the frame of mind to consume your content.
So, in summary, coaching businesses are becoming more reliant on social media. And that’s a good thing, because it serves their niche more than other forms of outreach.