e149 2025 Marketing For Coaches What Actually Works
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[00:00:00] Welcome, welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm your host, Gill Moakes. Thank you so much for joining me again. Another Monday, another podcast. So, this one has been brewing for a while, actually. And it's because I really want to address something very important. And that is that marketing in general has changed.
It's changed a lot and marketing for coaches has changed exponentially. Okay. And so in today's episode, I want to give you a really Watson or picture of what marketing needs to look like in 2025 for coaches. Who want to find, attract, [00:01:00] enroll their ideal clients. I'm going to really cut through the noise on this one.
This might be one that you want to get a pen and paper for and take some notes because I'm going to give you a real breakdown of what I believe you need to be doing to market your coaching practice in 2025. Let's dive in.
Welcome, welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm Gill Moakes, and I am obsessed with cutting through the noise when it comes to growing your business. Each week, via intimate coaching conversations and inspirational stories, I share what it really takes to get the results you want, in a way that feels right to you.
I am all about attracting higher ticket opportunities, building authentic relationships, and creating the abundant, full fat version of your dream business. I mean, how many of us have [00:02:00] beavered away creating a light version of what we really want? The thing is, I honestly believe when you're outstanding at what you do, there is no limit to what you can achieve.
So, Are you ready to put our heads together and make it happen? Let's go. So
first of all, let's really call something out. You know, there was a marketing fairy tale a few years ago. You could get away with posting some really lovely feel good content, you know, a few inspirational quote tiles on Instagram, perhaps. Add to that using the right hashtags. And you know what? You could do really well.
The right clients would, you know, somehow find you and start conversations in your DMs. And of course there were fewer coaches, right? The algorithm [00:03:00] was friendly back then. And, and here's the big one, people back then were much more impulsive buyers. But you know what? That is done diddly undone. We are not living in that fairy tale anymore.
It's not enough. And there's a few reasons for that, you know. So, most platforms that we use now, and it's not just Instagram either, I'm probably a bit mean to Instagram, but certainly Facebook and Instagram better, and Maybe LinkedIn will go that way too. Social media really is a pay to play arena now, unless you're running ads or going viral, then the algorithm kind of is just dampening, sitting on your reach.
You'll have seen it yourself. You know that, you know, you're looking at LinkedIn that used to perform really well for you. And no matter how thoughtful your posts, their reach is so [00:04:00] low and we can't keep. Whining and saying, Oh, it's so unfair. And you know, the algorithm is ruining everything for me. We have to accept that that's the way it is.
We've had it quite good for a long time. Social media has been free marketing for a long time. One of the only ways to market your business that's free. So I think it's still important, but it is going far more towards pay to play. So that's one of the things, that decline in organic reach, massive. And also the other reason is that there is way more competition.
We say it all the time, you know, the coaching space is crowded. And if you're just relying on really generic content, you know, you will disappear in a puff of smoke. That is the truth. And of course, don't get me wrong, the fact that the coaching space is [00:05:00] crowded, that's actually really good news for great coaches.
Because one thing is for sure, it is not crowded with really outstandingly good coaches. It's crowded with At best, mediocre coaches, at worst, if I'm being very cynical, it's crowded with people who are just calling themselves a coach, don't know the arse end of coaching and trying to make a living doing that.
So on the one hand, it looks like there's way more competition because of the space being so crowded, but actually it's not real competition. If you are a really outstanding coach, you actually have quite a low amount of competition. But the secret is you have to let people know that you're an outstanding coach.
So you're still fighting the algorithm, right? And the other reason why this fairy tale just doesn't exist anymore is that social media. It's kind of like a like [00:06:00] economy and that doesn't pay your bills. So engagement on a social media platform does not equal sales. You can have 10, 20, 50, 000 followers and still be completely broke.
If you don't actually have a real business building strategy, a real client attraction strategy. Something else that's so true now is that shallow content. Doesn't really convert anymore. I mean, you know, the days of creating beautiful visual content so that your nine square grid on Instagram looks lovely, pretty much meaningless now.
Honestly, pretty posts, surface level inspiration, those things are not establishing. Trust and they're not bestowing on you authority and coaching clients are looking for [00:07:00] depth, for expertise. Something I really want you to remember is that when I talk to you, when I teach about marketing, whether that's here on the podcast or in the coaching business academy, I am teaching it from the perspective of a coach.
I'm a coach first and foremost. So I know what works for coaches. If you are following the gurus out there who are marketing gurus, right? They do not understand the level of no like and trust that has to go into securing a coaching client because it is way more than most service providers. Um, trillion times more than any product offer.
And so I think if you focus your attention on the big marketing gurus, you're actually getting a slightly warped idea of what [00:08:00] works and what doesn't work when it comes to marketing. And my commitment to you is to really deliver to you what works for coaches. Think about this. People in general are skeptical now.
And there's a lot of reasons for that, but clients are savvier than they've ever been. No one is jumping into a high ticket coaching based on a inspirational Instagram post. Fact. They want proof. They want credibility. They want deeper connection with you personally. They want a face to the brand. And if you've been just endlessly posting.
And you're still wondering why you're struggling to sign up clients. It's probably not you. It's the outdated strategy method playbook that you're following. That is what's letting you down. Because for me, everything starts with [00:09:00] unearthing your edge. And I talk about this all of the time. I'm running a three day series of masterclasses.
On this Tuesday, the 11th, Wednesday, the 12th, Thursday, the 13th of March. So if you're listening to this before that day, do sign up for this masterclass. Cause this is going to be your foundation to creating a marketing strategy. That works for coaches. So I'm going to put the link to sign up in the show notes of this episode.
I think this episode will be coming out the day before the masterclass. So there will be time to sign up. All right. So do really pay attention to who you are consuming advice from when it comes to growing your business. Coaches need to follow a strategy that is very special. So what is it that actually does work for coaches?
Well, I can tell [00:10:00] you one thing for absolute certain, and that is that there are two aspects to attracting and enrolling coaching clients. Number one, build your thought leadership. Number two, pay attention to building relationships over algorithms. All right. So let's look at the first one, building thought leadership.
This is a form of content marketing that is so much more than the aesthetic, beautiful Instagram grid. You need to position yourself as a bloody expert in your niche. First, you've got to have a niche. Another reason to sign up for the masterclass next week. The first day we're going to be talking about unearthing your unique edge.
The second day, we're going to be talking about refining your niche. And the third day, we're going to talk about nailing your messaging, which is something else I'm going to talk to you about. But this is so important to remember generic [00:11:00] content, copycat content, sound the same content, none of that is working anymore.
So this is the first thing new rules for 2025 generic content does not work at all. You are wasting your time putting out generic surface level content. So if you are a coach, you need to be creating. Deep dive content, opinionated content, authority building content. You need to have your own plat and that should either be, I'm going to be specific here.
I am. It should either be a blog, a podcast or a YouTube channel. Everyone's going to come at me and say, but I do this and it's working great for me. Brilliant. But honestly, I want you to have an own, your own show, your own platform where you [00:12:00] can. Be unignorable where you can consistently put out your thought leadership and gain a tribe of followers who are learning from you, who are really embracing your style, your way of talking, your way of writing, your way of whatever, you know, method you're using, who are really embracing That is what I want for you.
So top of the tree of those is YouTube, because YouTube is a huge trust builder because you cannot feign someone looking you in the white eyes and actually seeing you talk. So for coaches creating YouTube content, platinum standard, after that I would put podcasting. Now you are gonna be saying, well, Gill, why do you podcast?
Why don't you have a YouTube show? Trust [00:13:00] me. If I could right now find the bandwidth to consistently put out really good quality YouTube videos and build up my YouTube channel, I would. I don't. I'm coming out the other side of the first three cohorts of the Coaching Business Academy. We're into the fourth evergreen version of the Academy now.
I am an established podcaster. This is a top 3 percent ranked globally podcast. Thank you very much. Hello. Yes. That's my impression of the sound effect for the crowd roaring. Um, you know, so podcasting, I'm just a little bit in love with it. I really love just putting in my headphones and talking into this mic.
So. This is a personal thing. I'm not saying that because I do this, it's the best thing to do. I actually think the radically authentic edge [00:14:00] to YouTube video creation is, is really unmatchable, but podcasting also great. You know, you're hearing my voice. This is me talking and we are in. A trust desert at the moment where no one trusts the written word.
This is the problem we've got. AI has taken the trust out of writing. I'm really sorry. Am I sorry? I'm sorry. And I'm not sorry. One thing that it does do in AI is it makes some tasks in our business so much easier and quicker. Yeah, it's not a bad thing. I'm not saying AI is a bad thing. But what it does also do is it means we don't trust what we read.
So for coaches again, I'm bringing this back to coaching. Remember marketing for coaches, very bespoke, very important to get it right. And it needs to be right for a coach. Not just any old marketing strategy is going to work. There are [00:15:00] some. Service providers, product business owners who will find they can use AI and it's not going to dent in any way their lead generation, but for us as coaches, it will because trust is the biggest Trust.
Trust. Piece of the puzzle when it comes to attracting and enrolling clients, coaching clients. So if we struggle to trust the written word, cause we're just always thinking, is this AI generated? Then podcasting suddenly becomes. A really good way of getting trust. Creating video, really good way of building trust.
All right. So when we think about building your thought leadership content, this first piece of modern marketing for coaches, as far as I'm concerned, is around creating your own platform, showing up consistently on it, creating in depth opinionated. Content that really represents you as a coach and the way you think about [00:16:00] things and allows you to position yourself as a recognized authority in your niche.
Right. That's the first piece. The second piece is relationships. Only second in terms of how I'm listing them, because really relationships beat everything. Relationships trump everything when it comes to building your business. Actually, they always have, and actually they always will. This is not a new thing.
So think about how you enroll clients. It comes from real conversations. It comes from networking. It comes from referrals, collaborations, community building. So your number one job as a coach is to talk to people. Whether that is in direct messaging, whether it's via voice notes, whether it's real conversations, whether it's in real life, whether it's virtually.
Your number one job is to talk to people and you have to stop just waiting for clients to find you. Okay. One of [00:17:00] the most important things, I think, one of the most important messages that I give my clients over and over again, which is just have conversations and make offers. That's all you've got to do.
Marketing is about how do you get yourself in a position to have more conversations and make more offers. I want to have a word now about why we do all these things, particularly from a content marketing perspective. I'm zipping a little bit to and fro, so I'm going back from relationships now, back to content marketing.
So building your thought leadership content, the reason that we do that. Is because in my opinion, email is still top of the tree. If social media completely disappeared tomorrow, would you still have a way to reach your audience? And if the answer to that is no, then you don't have a business. It can be taken away from you so quickly.
Whereas if you are [00:18:00] consistently building your email list with potential ideal clients, then you're giving yourself an opportunity to nurture those leads to deliver value. Over longer term and build longer term relationships. The longer someone is on your email list, the more they're getting to know, like, and trust you until they're ready to buy from you until they're ready to click that button that says, book a call with me.
And we know that, you know, if we follow what I teach you about discovery calls or breakthrough sessions, as I call them, then we know that actually our conversion is going to be so high. Our main job is just get them onto that call because once we get into a position where we can give that person a taste of how it feels to be coached by us, we know our job is done then we know that if that is the right client for us, they will say yes.
So can you see how email marketing [00:19:00] as the goal of your content creation? So building this thought leadership content, it does two things. It gives you the opportunity to invite people onto your email list, and it gives you the opportunity to get people thinking they already know you so that it's easier to get in conversation with them.
For those of you who I've never spoken to in real life, I have this feeling that you probably feel like to some extent, you already know me because I'm in your ears each week for the precious, precious regular listeners. Thank you so much. You know, I'm in your ears every week and you feel like you already know me.
If you were to book a call with me and I'll put a link in the show notes for this as well, but if you were to apply for a. Breakthrough session with me and we get on a call together. You're going to already feel like, you know, me, you, you won't get any surprises because with me, you know, [00:20:00] what you hear is what you get.
I was going to say what you see is what you get. And then I remembered, yeah, this one isn't going on YouTube. So what you hear is what you get. There's not going to be any disconnect. You're going to feel like you already know me. You're probably going to trust me and open up to me because you feel like you already know me.
That's what having your own platform does for you. It allows people to start building the relationship with you before you even meet in real life. Okay. So one thing I want to say, if you don't have an email list, if you're listening to this and thinking, yes, I always hear people talk about email lists, Gill, but you know what, I just want to work one to one with a handful of clients.
I don't need an email list. Please, please change your mind. Start an email list today, put a handful of people on it that you have permission to email and start with them and start emailing them every single week with valuable content bonus points. If you also start your own [00:21:00] platform and start sending them a link that might be a blog post, whatever it is, just start emailing your email list every week and building a relationship with them.
The other part of this that I want to talk to you about in terms of modern marketing for coaches and what is working in 2025 for selling your coaching service. I think we have to accept that we've got to sell with depth now. It's not about the hype, you know, that era of, you know, just manifest everything that is done.
So, and so is buy this now before the price goes up. Right? All of that kind of thing is just a little bit done and coaching clients, what they really want is they want proof. So they want to see testimonials. They want to hear from other people who have worked with you. They want. Marketing to be [00:22:00] personalized for them.
They definitely want to speak to you and really get a feel for what you're all about before they say yes. So I think we have to move on. This is the whole message of this podcast episode is that we have to move on from what used to work because it doesn't work anymore. Okay. And I feel like it's a good thing.
Cause I think there were many moving parts before to marketing. Now I think I can probably sum it up pretty quickly. Number one, cultivate relationships and have real conversations with real people. Number two, create thought leadership content on your own platform every week. Number three, add calls to action.
To that content, like for example, link in the show notes and do that every week. So that every week [00:23:00] you are inviting people to join your email list. If you want to share that original content on social media, knock yourself out. If you don't, you don't have to. And then grow your email list. Keep growing your email list.
Focus on growing your email list because that is where you can actually. Sell to people because you've earned the trust. You've earned the right, actually, because you're delivering value to them week in, week out so that every now and then you've earned the right to then sell to them, to invite them into a sales call, which is really what a breakthrough session is.
I don't like calling it a sales call because as coaches, we don't need to sell what we do. We just need to give potential clients a taste of how it feels to be coached by us. And I sound like a broken record with that one. I know that. But it's because it's so true. And that's it. That is it. That's us.
Complicated as it gets. Have conversations, [00:24:00] make offers, have a robust strategy that gets you into more conversations so you can make more offers. There's no magic bullet, there's no magic pill and there is no amount of ad spend for coaches that will ever replace building know, like, and trust. So I hope this has landed with you and I hope it has made you think.
Ah, okay. Well, what actually is my marketing strategy at the moment? So action number one, do a little mini audit of your marketing strategy. What are the actions you're taking to get into conversation with more people so you can make more offers? What are you doing to do that? Action number two, start building your email list, create a beautiful lead magnet.
Start collecting emails, invite people onto your email list, give them something valuable so they sign up for it. For example, sometimes on this podcast, you'll hear me say, I have a reflective workbook called claim it for [00:25:00] coaches. I'll pop a link in the show notes. I have a money mindset book for coaches.
I'll pop it, link in the show notes next week. I'm doing unearth your edge, which is my three day masterclass. I'll pop the link in the show notes. These are all ways that I position myself as someone who wants to get in conversation with more people so I can make more offers. So think about a shift here over the next seven days.
I want you to think about a shift from posting to connecting. I'm not even that bothered about whether you post or not on social media. The number one priority is the connecting piece. So spend more time in messaging people. Spend more time in actual interactions, in supporting their content. See what happens and please give some thought to, you know, developing your primary platform where you're going to create your thought leadership content every week, podcast, YouTube, blog, [00:26:00] whatever you decide, it will be a big, big step for you to do that.
Okay. All right. Well, I would love to hear how this episode has gone down with you. Would you do me a favor and let me know? So, one thing I really like to do, just kind of drinking my own Kool Aid. It's the American expression. That sounds terrible from an English person. I would love you to send me a DM on LinkedIn, because I want to prove that not all DMs are so crap.
You know, all of the ones, like, I can't even bring myself to add a connection message when I connect with someone new on LinkedIn, because I just think there is just no way to do what that initial message without sounding like you're trying to be so contrived. It's just horrible. But I'm inviting you to DM me.
I would love you to DM me, connect with me on LinkedIn, [00:27:00] DM me and tell me that you heard this podcast and tell me which action you're going to focus on. Are you going to audit your marketing strategy? Are you going to start on your email, building your email list, really focusing on it? I mean, are you going to develop your primary content platform?
What are you going to do? All right. Well, I hope you've enjoyed this episode and of course, do sign up for the three part masterclass when this comes out. It's tomorrow, which is the 11th of March. Tuesday, the 11th of March is the first one, which is unearth your edge. So it's about uncovering your unique edge as a coach.
The second day is the Tuesday. The Wednesday rather is refine your niche. So it's all about, you know, why niching is so important and how to really niche down and how to create a niche statement that is going to become the North star of your coaching practice. And then the third day, we're going to really go into the part of marketing.[00:28:00]
That makes or breaks everything. And that is your messaging. So when you're thinking about that thought leadership content, you know, when you're thinking about creating a podcast episode, for example, it's all about the messaging. I can't create a good podcast episode for you if I don't know what your pain points are, what your desires are, how my coaching could be the bridge between those two things.
I need to know all of that. To be able to create good content that you actually want to listen to. So that's what we're going to learn in day three. All right. I will see you same time, same place next week. Have a fabulous week. Bye for now.
I hope you enjoyed this episode and that getting our heads together this week has filled your mind with what's possible. If you love the show, would you do me a massive favor, please? Would you leave a five star rating on Apple Podcasts? It would really help you put more heads together, [00:29:00] reach more ears, and expand more minds.
Until next week, bye for now.
