How to Get Coaching Clients: 13 Proven Strategies to Try

You’ve hung your shingle as a coach, and you’re ready to take on more coaching clients. You’re in the right place!

In 2022, the average coach practitioner had about 12 active clients, according to the ICF Global Coaching Study. If this number makes you feel like you’re behind, don’t fret: we’re about to go over exactly how to get coaching clients whether you’re a personal finance coach or building a life coaching business.

For the online business coach or anyone who does online coaching, we’re pulling back the curtain and giving you advanced tips that 7-figure coaches are using today to get more coaching clients.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• What is digital coaching?
• How to get coaching clients online 
• How to market your coaching business 
• How to scale your coaching business

What is coaching?

Coaching is a partnership between a coach and a student. The coach teaches and identifies areas where the student is weak. The student works with the coach to learn new skills and shore up their weak areas.

Coaching is done one-on-one and in group settings. Often, a coaching relationship has components of both — group sessions where the coach teaches a lesson and one-on-one sessions where the coach helps the student apply that lesson.

Since the beginning of time, coaches have offered supervised learning where students receive support and guidance as they learn new skills and transform their lives. But technology has opened doors to new ways of working together and globalization has removed barriers to working with anyone we choose. 

As a result, a new type of coaching has evolved. It’s called digital coaching, and it’s perfect for today’s digital entrepreneurs and course creators.

What is coaching?

Coaching is a partnership between the coach and student. The coach teaches and identifies areas where the student is weak. The student works with the coach to learn new skills and shore up their weak areas.

Coaching is done one-on-one and in group settings. Often, a coaching relationship has components of both — group sessions where the coach teaches a lesson and one-on-one sessions where the coach helps the student apply that lesson.

But technology has opened doors to new ways of working together. And globalization has removed barriers to working with anyone we choose. 

A new type of coaching has evolved. It’s called digital coaching, and it’s perfect for today’s digital entrepreneurs and course creators.

What is digital coaching?

Digital coaching is an approach to coaching that’s scalable and independent of geography and time zones. Like traditional coaching, it encompasses training, coaching, mentoring, and peer groups. 

The difference is that digital coaching is delivered remotely, via technology. And because it’s digital, it encourages and supports self-learning.

Digital coaching can replicate traditional coaching in many ways. Simply set up a Zoom call with cameras on, and it’s almost like being in the same room together. But technology can also be used as an enhancement that drives self-learning. 

This is key to digital coaching. By providing an always-on multimedia experience, it gives the student a richer, better learning experience. 

Lessons are delivered asynchronously via video, graphics, and text. Live lessons may also be offered as an enrichment. Together, a multisensory environment is created that encourages students to learn, practice new skills, and gain confidence.

In the book, The Digital Coach, Stella Kanatouri suggests that the need for coaching is higher today than ever before. Globalization and technology are changing the way the world works. Professionals must stay up to date to remain relevant — and they need coaching to do that.

According to Stella, digital coaches “accompany individuals and groups in their reflection process, helping them solve their own problems and develop. In other words, helping them help themselves.”

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How to get coaching clients online: 13 strategies to try today

To find online coaching success, you need to have paying clients — bonus points if they also promote your services to other potential coaching clients. 

The key to getting clients is to get in front of your ideal audience and market your services. You must let people know what you do and how you can help them transform their lives. 

Whether you’re new to digital coaching or want to scale your business to the next level, let’s look at 13 ways you can get new coaching clients today.

1. Build a website

Before you can attract coaching clients, you must look like a credible resource. Potential clients will look for you online, and when they do, your professional website is a great way to get in front of them. 

Coaching websites need to serve multiple functions. In addition to sharing information about you and your business, your website must:

• Attract your target clients by speaking to their needs and goals 
• Clearly explain how you can help them achieve their goals
• Host landing pages where clients can sign up for your strategy sessions, coaching, and courses
• Include ecommerce capabilities so you can sell your coaching programs
• Provide a learning platform where your coaching clients can access lessons and resources

Essentially, your coaching website is one part portfolio, one part ecommerce site, and one part learning platform. The challenge is integrating all of these features into one seamless experience. If you don’t yet have a website, you have a couple of options you can use to build one. 

Your first option is to buy a third-party tool and website host to build your own website from scratch (or from a template). Building a standalone website is a good option if you want complete customization. Custom websites are great for established coaches who already have a full pipeline of clients and want to maintain a strong online presence. 

The second option is to use an all-in-one platform with everything you need to grow your coaching business. Kajabi, for example, is a complete toolset for creative entrepreneurs. It offers website hosting, a landing page builder, email marketing, a shopping cart, a funnel builder, and the ability to create and market courses. 

Here’s how the life coaching business Nu Futurist uses its website to support multiple offerings:

Platforms like Kajabi make it easy to operate your coaching business, even if you’ve never considered yourself “techy.” You don’t have to worry about building or fixing your tech stack. Instead, you can focus on attracting and keeping your best clients.

2. Optimize your website

Once you have your coaching website set up, the next question to figure out is: What do you need on your website? Here’s a short list of the essential elements and pages to include on your website to get more clients:

• About page 
• Services or Programs page 
• Contact page 
• Members page 
• Blog or resources page 

First, focus on your home page. Make sure you clearly explain what you do, who you do it for, and what your clients will achieve when they work with you. 

If you need inspiration for how to do this successfully, here’s how creative life coach, Jay Émme set up her coaching website homepage:

As soon as potential clients land on her website, they’ll know what she does and who she works with thanks to the clear header and the description beneath it. 

Your second priority is a “Coaching” page. This is where you’ll describe your coaching program, how it works, and how to get started. Your coaching page should not only provide an overview of what clients will learn or take away from working with you, but also help them understand the long-term value. 

You’ll also want to create an About page, a contact page, and a blog with free resources potential coaching clients can use if they’re interested in working with you or learning about your coaching style.

3. Create a unique brand

When creating your website, you may be tempted to look at other coaching websites and imitate what you see. But hold on! That’s the last thing you want to do.

To get more coaching clients, you need to stand out from the pack by creating a memorable brand. Your brand can include:

• The look and feel of your website (and you)
• Your story and why you do what you do
• The way you interact with your audience 
• The transformation you promise
• The way you work with your students
• Your success rate

Here’s a quick look at how successful coaches are branding themselves today:

If we take another look at Jay Émme’s coaching business website, we can see that her brand focuses on taking an “alternative, outside-the-box, neurodiverse approach.” This is a clear offering and brand that will attract the right clients to her business.

Here’s another example from Avery Smith, a data career coach and the founder of Data Career Jumpstart. Smith’s brand colors are consistent throughout the website, with the accent color making the CTA buttons pop against the dark background.

Smith also displays key data points about the business to further emphasize his business’ growth and students’ success, which ties into the overall data-industry brand. 

When coming up with your brand and how to communicate it on your website to get more coaching clients, put yourself in your client’s shoes and consider the following: 

• Who do you serve? 
• How do they talk? 
• What color and tone will communicate your brand personality?
• How can you send a strong message that you “get” them?

4. Share testimonials

Another effective method for getting new clients is to provide social proof on your website. Social proof is the concept that people are influenced to try something if they’ve seen other people do so. 

You can provide social proof for your business by displaying business logos of companies you’ve worked with, or through client testimonials or reviews. 

Here’s a testimonial featured on life coach Jay Émme’s website: 

If you offer private coaching, you can ask your clients directly if they’d be willing to provide a testimonial about their experience. If you offer group or self-paced coaching services, send an email to your group email list or make a post in your online community or Facebook Group requesting testimonials.

5. Share your expertise online

To attract new clients, they need to know you exist. Once your website is built, you need to take your message and brand online, on social media, and wherever your ideal clients will see you.

Tap into online communities where your target audience is already hanging out. LinkedIn, Twitter (X), and Slack are good channels for reaching clients in the B2B, or business-to-business, space. Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok are good options for B2C, business-to-consumer, coaching. 

Once you’ve found your audience, you need to provide value for them. Post as often as you can, sharing stories, tips, and insights that will establish you as an expert at what you do and a potential resource for them. 

You can even start your own podcast, like teacher-turned-entrepreneur Chynell Moore did. Chynell started a podcast to share tips for teachers who want to create and sell their teaching resources online to earn extra income.

As you can see, sharing your expertise doesn’t have to be dry or boring. Post an entertaining video. Tell a story from your own life. Give a quick tip. Answer a question you’re frequently asked.

The key is to turn your post into a learning moment, speak directly to your target audience, and engage with them. Do that consistently, and you’ll build a network of people who are good prospects for your coaching business.

6. Create lead magnets

The posts you share on social media are going to build your audience, but you also need to publish content on your owned channels. Having resourceful content on your website will build your expertise, answer questions, and give your prospects a taste of your coaching services.

The first piece of content you need to create is a lead magnet. A lead magnet is a freebie that you give away in exchange for a visitor’s contact information. It should relate to your coaching offer, give people a quick win, and introduce them to your style of teaching.

For example, let’s say you’re a business coach who works with small business owners. You could create a short, free ebook that covers simple strategies small business owners can use to scale their business. This ebook would serve as your lead magnet. Visitors would land on your lead magnet landing page and enter their email to download the ebook for free. 

Another creative lead magnet example comes from life coach and founder of The InnerWork Life Coaching Certification + Business Academy, Michelle Lagaly. She created a free five-day challenge to encourage people interested in her life coaching program to join her Facebook Group to learn more about the program.

By offering your lead magnet for free, you set yourself up as a credible source for transformative coaching. It also helps you build a list of people who might benefit from your coaching services. 

Once you have an email list, you can engage your leads with emails that link to other valuable pieces of content. This brings us to the second type of content you need to create.

Regular content published on your website — often blog posts or podcast episodes — gives people a reason to visit your website. In this content, you can give visitors useful information, some quick wins, and your own branded wisdom. The challenge is creating content on a regular basis, especially if you’re a busy coach. 

If you’re feeling stuck, take advantage of AI tools for your content creation. While you shouldn’t rely on these tools to create all of your content from scratch, they can help you create a framework for what you want to say.

7. Increase brand exposure

Up until now, we’ve been focusing on basic marketing tactics. These strategies establish you as an expert, send traffic to your website, and help you drive interest in your coaching from potential clients. 

If you want to take your marketing to the next level, you have to increase your exposure. To do that, you need to get your name and ideas on high-traffic sites that your audience visits regularly. 

You can get exposure on high-traffic sites by writing guest posts on industry-leading blogs, landing guest appearances on top podcasts, and securing slots at speaking events. The more organic exposure you have, the more potential clients will see you as a credible resource and expert. 

To get started, make a short list of media outlets that your ideal client consumes. Which blogs or podcasts would give you instant credibility in the eyes of your target audience? Study their content and come up with content ideas that they’d likely want to publish. Pitch your idea to the host of the podcast or the managing editor of the blog. Introduce yourself and share your ideas. It’s that simple.

8. Write a book

Another way to boost your credibility is to write a book. As a coach, you have a story, a message, and a method for achieving transformative growth. You just need to put it together in a long-form piece of content that people can reference for years to come. 

Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer, don’t let the idea of writing a book scare you. As Kathryn Aragon, founder of the Author-ity Book Coaching Program, says, “If you can talk, you can write.” Plus, you can always work with a book editor or ghostwriter to help you get your ideas on paper. 

Today, books don’t have to be 200-plus pages. Your book can be 50, 75, or 100 pages and still be considered a book. Publish it as a Kindle book, and boom, you’re now a published author. 

If you need topic ideas, you can also repurpose and expand the content you’ve written on your blog or in your email newsletter. 

Here’s a book that Dominique Broadway, personal finance expert and owner of Finances Demystified recently wrote:

As the author of a book, you have instant credibility. And the book becomes a lead magnet that directs people back to your coaching services.

Here’s how to tackle a book-writing project:

• Clarify your message. What will your readers learn, and how will it help them? (This should be very similar to your coaching program.)
• Create a rough outline: the sections of your book and/or your step-by-step process.
• Write or dictate the chapters.
• Make your final chapter a call to action. Promote your coaching and include a link to your website.
• Get an editor to clean it up for you.
• Publish on Kindle.

9. Get active on social media

Social media remains a powerful platform to get in front of thousands, or even millions, of people. You can use social media to grab the attention of potential clients and introduce them to your coaching business and brand. 

While your social media audience isn’t an owned audience, you can use these channels to drive traffic to your owned channels like your email list or membership platform. 

Here’s an example from time management coach, Anna Dearmon Kornick.

To grow your following on social media and draw more potential clients to your coaching business, consider creating short and entertaining videos on TikTok or Instagram Reels. Short-form videos are an engaging way to capture people’s attention and participate in trends. 

Some video ideas include sharing quick tips, a behind-the-scenes look at a day in your life, or other topics that your audience can relate to. You can also create longer explainer videos on your own YouTube channel if it aligns with your brand and content style.

10. Ask for referrals

One of the best ways to get new coaching clients is through your existing clients. That’s right — sometimes it’s easier to get new clients if you already have strong relationships with your current ones. 

Word of mouth continues to be a powerful form of marketing. One report found that verbal referrals had the highest conversion rate compared to other referral types like email or social media. 

If you want to increase your referrals, there are a couple of ways to do this. As you wrap up a project or coaching session with a satisfied client, let them know that you’re taking on new clients if they happen to know anyone. This is the most direct way. 

Another way is to incentivize the offer. Let your current clients know that if they send referral clients your way, they can receive a discounted session, a gift card, or a free strategy call, as examples.

11. Launch an affiliate program

Similar to referrals, an affiliate program allows you to get more clients through other people. Rather than starting from scratch, you can use existing client relationships to connect with new people. 

An affiliate program is when people (this can include influencers, UGC creators, or former clients) promote your coaching business for you, usually by sharing a link to your website. When a new client signs up for your program using the affiliate link, the referring person will get a small commission. 

You’ll need to set aside a budget for your method, but how much commission you decide to pay affiliates is totally up to you.

12. Offer free consultations

Give potential clients a preview of what it’s like to work with you by offering free consultations or strategy sessions. These free calls not only build trust but help convert potential leads into paying clients. 

Here’s how business coach Brian Dixon frames his free offering on his homepage:

Put your sign-up forms on the pages where prospects are most likely to convert such as your contact page or services and pricing page.

13. Diversify your services

According to the most recent ICF Global Coaching Study, 93% of coaches offer other services in addition to coaching. 

Offering additional services for your business is two-fold. For starters, it can help you diversify your income by creating multiple revenue streams. And second, with every new service, you can also reach a new set of clients. 

There are plenty of income streams you can create as an online coach. Additional services you can offer include creating an online course, starting a membership platform, or offering consultations. Just make sure you have an all-in-one platform to seamlessly manage all of these offerings and streamline your business.

How to market your coaching business

Even after you’ve set up your coaching website and secured your first coaching clients, you must continue marketing your services if you want to scale your coaching practice. 

By creating both an organic marketing strategy and a paid marketing strategy (and even exploring offline methods), you can cover all of your bases and reach the most amount of people. 

Here are a few ways to market your coaching business both online and off.

Search engine optimization

While we briefly mentioned earlier how to use SEO, or search engine optimization, to set up your coaching business website, you can also use it to market your coaching services. 

SEO helps you get your coaching services in front of potential clients who are searching for services like yours. To show up in their search results, you can write blog posts that answer their questions. 

Start by making a list of keywords and phrases that you want to target. You can do this by conducting searches that you think your potential clients are searching. 

Once you have a list of keywords that you want to target, you can write blog posts that address these common keywords and questions. For example, if you’re seeking life coaching clients, your potential clients may be searching for phrases like: 

• What is life coaching?
• Who is life coaching for?
• What are the benefits of life coaching?

Using social media platforms

Social media content should be part of any coaching business marketing strategy. While your social media audience is a borrowed audience, in a sense, platforms like Instagram or LinkedIn help increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your page, or help people get to know you as a person. 

If you want to attract new clients, stay active on the social media channels where your ideal client hangs out most. 

Let’s say you’re a business coach. Your target audience probably hangs out on LinkedIn. In this case, you’ll want to write posts that exhibit your industry knowledge and coaching expertise. Or, if you’re a life coach for young adults, you may want to build your presence on TikTok to get in front of your target demographic.

Offline marketing strategies to get more coaching clients

While we’ve mainly covered online methods for marketing your coaching business, we can’t overlook the value of in-person interactions. 

You can market your coaching business and get in front of new clients through traditional offline methods. Attend networking events, speak at a conference, or volunteer your services to local organizations and communities.

Paid advertising to get more coaching clients

It’s no secret the online world is busier than ever. This makes it challenging to cut through the noise organically. If you have the budget and resources to spend on marketing, consider paid advertising. 

You can invest in paid search ads such as PPC (pay-per-click) or social media ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

To find success with paid advertising, the key is to create highly targeted ads on the platform your ideal client spends the most time on.

How to scale your coaching business through Kajabi

The best way to grow your business is to focus on the tasks that will attract more coaching clients and get them to buy. Here are some quick and dirty ways to do that.

Fill your website with high-quality content

We touched on this earlier, but for knowledge entrepreneurs and coaches, content is one of the best ways to spread your message and get noticed by your best prospects. When your prospects are looking for answers, they need to find your content. And that content needs to be on your website.

You can publish content in any format that works for you, including:

• Blog posts
• Podcast episodes
• YouTube videos

Once you start publishing content on your website, it’s important to maintain consistency by publishing regularly. You can publish content on whatever schedule works for you — just be sure to choose a frequency that you can manage without sacrificing quality.

The frequency of your content also depends on what type of content you’re creating. If you’re going to write blog posts, which are typically long-form, try to publish on your blog at least once a month to keep your website content fresh. For podcasts and YouTube channels, aim to create one episode or video per week. This cadence gives your audience something to look forward to on a regular basis. When it comes to social media posts, they usually require less time and resources to create than long-form content. This means you can post content on social media several times a week or even on a daily basis depending on which platforms you’re active on.

As we mentioned earlier, your content should demonstrate your expertise and provide value for your potential clients. This usually means offering free advice and actionable tips you’ve gathered from your own industry experience and coaching style.

If you need help coming up with content ideas, go straight to the source: your clients. What questions do your clients frequently ask during your discovery calls? What questions are potential clients searching on Google? Address these topics in your content to speak directly to your client’s challenges and desires.

Email automations

As you build an audience, you want to capture prospects’ contact information so you can send them messages that speak directly to their interests and desires. To do that, you need to get them to join your email list. 

If you’re a Kajabi user, you can use the built-in email software to easily add forms to your landing page, tag people based on their behavior on your website, and trigger email automations that turn them into super-fans.

Email automations are email sequences designed to be sent to people when they perform a “trigger event.” A trigger event may be:

• Joining your email list
• Clicking a link
• Visiting a page on your website
• Opening an email
• Not opening an email

When your subscriber performs the action you set up as the “trigger,” they’re added to an email sequence that informs, entertains, and encourages them to take the next step with your business.

Setting up marketing automation like this helps you provide a personalized experience for every client and grow your coaching practice in the background so you can focus on your day-to-day work.

Funnels that attract your best clients

Funnels are similar to email automations, but they’re designed to turn visitors into subscribers, and subscribers into clients. To do this, they use email marketing, combined with landing pages.

‍Funnels are one of the most powerful marketing strategies being used today. But they’re notoriously time-consuming to build.

That’s why using software that includes funnels is essential. Simply choose the funnel that fits your objective, and tweak it to fit your brand and voice.

For instance, you might offer a lead magnet (an opt-in offer). When people sign up, they’re added to a marketing email sequence. They’re given a freemium (free offer). Then they’re sent to a sales page to learn more about your coaching offer.

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Funnels shorten the sales cycle by quickly teaching prospects who you are and what you do, and by building trust that you can deliver as promised.

Create courses

Coaches don’t always have to work one-on-one. By offering blended coaching and self-coaching options, you can scale your coaching business without having to add hours to your work week.

Prefer to work one-on-one with your clients? Adding a course to your coaching program allows you to give supplemental training at scale. Rather than teaching the exact same lesson to every client, you can assign different lessons to each client, based on their interests, challenges, or growth stage.

To deliver your course, you need a learning management software that allows you to quickly build intuitive, easy-to-navigate courses. You need assessments to make sure your clients are learning. And you need analytics to be sure they’re not getting stuck.

Your goal: to always be at least one step ahead of your clients. So you can continue to support them along their learning journey.

Ready to get more coaching clients?

To get coaching clients, you have to have a deep understanding of your offering and positioning. You also have to understand where your target clients spend their time online. 

Having a clear idea of what you offer and who you’re targeting will help you build a solid pipeline of clients to help you scale and maintain your coaching practice for years to come. If you’re ready to grow your coaching business and get more clients, Kajabi’s tools can help. Sign up for your free 14-day trial today!

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