Internet Marketing

The First Step to Getting Noticed: Internet Marketing for Coaches, Pt. 3

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Read Part 1 and Part 2:

Have you ever been intimidated by the sheer size of the internet?

Even if you’re not new to marketing your coaching business online, it’s easy to feel like an incoming freshman in a big high school… in a town you just moved to. Getting noticed and gaining acceptance can be a struggle.

But there’s another challenge. Imagine this school is for extremely near-sighted people—no one will see your striking good looks from across the cafeteria. If you’re not right in their faces, they may never see you.

So, how do you overcome the faceless anonymity of the online world?

Over 99% of the time, this is a multi-step process. It usually takes work! There are no silver bullets or red Easy Buttons.

Marketing yourself starts with who you are. Before you start thinking about tactics, concentrate on developing your unique value proposition. You actually have to be the person you’re trying to attract clients to.

Presenting yourself as something or someone you’re not is not a good plan. Neither is promising or promoting something that you can’t deliver.

There are two absolutely indispensable characteristics coaches must possess: expertise and trustworthiness. Of course, you already have both of these traits by the bucketful. The first battle in your war with anonymity is putting them on display for the people you want to reach to see.

Simply stated, the first thing you have to accomplish to defeat anonymity is what Aristotle would call ethos: to be worth the attention you’re asking for.

Robert Collier once said that There is just one reason why anyone ever reads a letter you send him. He expects a reward. That is the key to holding his interest. The only reason anyone will visit your site, buy your product or hire you as their coach is the expectation of reward.

What reward are you offering your desired audience you want? There should be something about your character/personality that makes others confident that you have something relevant and valuable to offer them.

On the internet, that probably starts with providing helpful information

Thats the reason you call a doctor when you’re sick or a plumber when your pipes are clogged. Or why you call a friend when you feel down in the dumps. You know they are specialists in areas you need help in right now.

Expertise and trustworthiness go hand-in-hand. People trust experts. What are you doing to show off your brilliance?

  • Write detailed articles dealing with specific issues that the people you want to reach care deeply about or are very interested in. Solving specific problems they’re actively looking for relief from is always a good one.
  • Blogging is can be very effective. You still have to concentrate on rewarding your readers with valuable insights, resources they can use, etc. It’s your blog, but it should not be about you, per se.
  • Audios and/or videos: interviews, podcasts, on-demand presentation recordings. On top of being quality content, people connect more deeply with you when they can hear your voice and see your face.

The common thread here is content. You want to recreate who you are as a person and as a coach online. You can’t jump into the computer and live on a server, but you can share some of what you know through content.

When it comes to establishing on online presence, people think about a lot of stuff which is secondary in importance. Start by building a strong foundation on the unique value you can add to the lives of those you come in contact with. Worry about tactics later.

In the next installment in this series, we’ll discuss ways to get in front of your target audience, who we earlier likened to extremely near-sighted students. You won’t want to miss it.

—> Get a free copy of the special report “4 Trends that Will Challenge Ability of Coaches to Sustain and Grow Their Practices in 2012.”

Marketing Mindset Traps: Internet Marketing for Coaches Pt. 2

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Don’t miss Part 1>>

Coaches have a moral obligation to market their services and products.

That’s a strong statement to make, but it is 100% true.

If a doctor discovered the cure for cancer, wouldn’t she be morally obligated to share her discovery with as many people as possible? Not doing so would be irresponsible and harmful. No matter what trepidation she may feel, she shouldn’t hold back.

As a coach, you have special gifts that are meant to be shared with people in need. Marketing yourself is the way you get the word out so you can help as many people as you possibly can.

Here’s an excerpt from a comment I recently made in a group discussion on LinkedIn:

“Coaches are by nature focused on others, so self-promotion sometimes feels out of place. Also, when developing coaching skills, marketing is rarely among the top priorities.

“…You can be the most amazing coach, but no one will ever benefit from what you have to offer without good marketing.

“In that way, you OWE it to the people you can help to learn how to market your services.”

Marketing is essential for the business aspect of your coaching. If you’re reluctant to do it, you’ll need to get over it.

The fact that coaches are others-focused is what makes you uniquely suited to be a good marketer. In a day when everyone is a vendor, it can feel like the only reason anyone exists online is to sell something.

You’re different.

Sure, you’re selling your services and/or products, but your sole purpose is not to separate people from their money. You are providing value. You use your skills, experience, etc., to improve the lives of those you come in contact with. (For that, you deserve to be compensated.)

What seems to be working in internet marketing is not as effective as you might think. “Squeeze pages” with miracle cures and pie-in-the-sky promises are so common because most marketers are just copying what they’ve seen others done. But hype-filled hardselling is not what’s working these days. Education is.

Like anything else in life, successful online marketing is largely dependent on your mindset. That being said, let’s briefly examine 5 myths that can sabotage your efforts if you buy into them.

1) Marketing = Manipulation

You may have heard the saying that “all marketers are liars.” That is not the case. Many individuals and businesses have abused their platforms to deceive customers and rip them off. But that is not what marketing is about.

Marketing is giving people reasons to buy or do something that will give them something they want but don’t have or get rid of a problem they have but don’t want. There may be a thousand solutions available. Marketing is demonstrating why yours is the best option.

2) “Build it and they will come”

There’s a reason the title of the movie was Field of Dreams. It would never happen in real life.

If you’ve spent any time at all online, you’ve noticed that it can be incredibly difficult to get noticed. There are literally billions of websites, services and products. Setting up shop on the internet is no guarantee that anyone will ever see you – no matter how awesome your website is.

You may build it and visitors never come. You need to drive traffic to that site by marketing. There are many methods to do this.

3) Quantity vs. Quality

Many teachers of internet marketing will tell you that it’s important to get as much material on the web to increase your visibility. More content on your site makes it more attractive to search engines. More articles on directories put your name in front of more potential clients.

While those statements are true, you should spend more time and energy producing high-quality content rather than focusing on sheer quantity. You want every article, blog post, podcast, whatever, to be so compelling that the reader/listener wants to know more about you. Being “everywhere” will not help if you are unremarkable.

Quality trumps quantity every day of the week.

4) Under-promise and Over-deliver

Never promise more than you can deliver, but why promise less?

Don’t be scared to make big claims, as long as you can back them up.

The idea of under-promising seems to make sense, but it will hurt you. People are searching for the best answers to their questions, the best solutions to their problems. If you promise less than what you can deliver, you’re not telling potential clients all the benefits they’ll receive from working with you. Again, being unremarkable is not helpful.

Over-delivery is great. Under-promising can be suicidal, especially these days, with so many sales messages begging for our attention. What can you say that will stand out?

Be all that you can be, and don’t downplay your greatness in your messaging.

5) Selling Without Selling

Most coaches don’t like “selling.” Believe me, I get it. If you fit that description, you may be interested in the increasingly common idea of “selling without selling.”

Here’s the fact: selling can’t be done without selling. But selling doesn’t have to come out of the used car salesman guidebook. In fact, you should never sell or market in that stereotypical way.

When I’m talking about selling, I’m speaking of the ability to make your offering attractive. That doesn’t require high-pressure tactics, deception, or any kind of sneakiness.

If you tell a prospect all the ways past clients came enjoy their lives better after hiring you, you’re selling, even though it doesn’t feel like it.

When you tell stories that engage, instruct and entertain, you’re selling!

The issue is not how to sell without selling. It’s getting beyond sales tricks and becoming a master attractor. You can sell without being obnoxious. That’s the key.

When your honest intentions are to lead others into success in life and business, and you have the know-how and tools to help them do it, you’ve got the perfect foundation to build a great internet marketing base for your coaching practice.

Read Part 3 of this series>>

Get a free copy of the special report “4 Trends that Will Challenge Ability of Coaches to Sustain and Grow Their Practices in 2012.”

Is the Internet Working For You or Against You? Internet Marketing for Coaches Pt. 1

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There’s an old proverb that says “Don’t speak unless you can improve upon the silence.” There is wisdom in that sentiment, but the fact is that silence is one of the rarest commodities on the planet.

Today, if you want to succeed, you have to be able to improve upon the noise. You also have to be distinct from all of the other voices screaming for attention online.

How will you be heard over all the chatter?

Over the next few days,  well be looking at ways to ensure that the internet is working for you, not against you.

Rather than assume anything, lets cover the bottom-line basics first.

Your Website

There are people who say you can earn a great living online without a website. Naturally, most of them are trying to sell you some underground secret training product to teach you how to do it. In some cases they’re right.

But as a professional business, executive or life coach interested in using the internet to grow your practice, you must at least have a simple website. Believe me most of your peers do. And nearly all of your potential clients will use the internet to search for, research and select coaches they intend to hire. You need your own website to form the foundation for your online presence. Without it, you’re fish food for the competition.

Purchase your own professional domain and email address. Gmail and Hotmail may be convenient for personal use, but what does using them say about a professional coach? Would you hire a lawyer who uses a Yahoo email account? Exactly.

There are places to get free basic websites, but you face the same problem of appearing amateur-ish. Using subdomains such as mycoachingsite.wordpress.com broadcast to your audience that you are using a free service. You’re actually forcing prospective clients to wonder if

  1. you’re not successful enough to afford to buy a $10 domain,
  2. you’re not very serious about your business, or
  3. you’re stingy rather than generous (not a good characteristic for a coach).

Perception is everything. Strong positioning and posture are invaluable.  The expense is minimal; its a tiny investment in your business.

You don’t want to depend on other websites people/organizations websites, either. Doing guest articles or writing a column for someone else’s site can be terrific for promoting yourself and establishing yourself as an expert, but you don’t have autonomy in those situation. You cannot fully control how or when, or even if your content is displayed. You cant guarantee that the relationship will last forever.

What Should Be on Your Site

Even though it is your property, creating a truly compelling website requires that you focus on your desired visitors, not yourself. Even when you’re speaking about your own experience, skills, etc., make it relevant to your audience. Why does your education have to do with the reader? How does it help her?

That being said, your website should have the following components:

  • About You: Whats your signature story? What makes you different from other coaches? More suited to assist your visitors reach their goals than anyone else? Remember, you’re speaking about yourself, but your readers are thinking whats in it for me?
  • Articles: Provide valuable content to help your audience right away and demonstrate your knowledge at the same time. Teaching is a powerful tool to attract followers and keep them coming back for more.
  • Testimonials: Let your current or former clients toot your horn so you don’t have to. This gives proof that your services make a difference in peoples lives and businesses.
  • Contact information: Let people know how they can hire you. Or at least connect with you on any social networks you use. The more points of contact, the better.
  • Products: Have you written a book? Do you sell CDs or DVDs with your messages on them? Make it easy for interested parties to purchase them.
  • Subscription/Sign up for Updates: Getting traffic is great. Getting people to give you permission to stay in touch with them is even better. There are plenty of services that provide sign up forms and email marketing services to deliver high-quality content directly to those who opt in.

In the next installment of this series, well get into more advanced internet marketing concepts you can use to grow your business online.

The truth is that what has worked in the past is not nearly as effective today. And much of it wont work at all in the near future. Set yourself up for success by digging in and getting to know how this game will be played in the coming months.

Read Part 2 of this series>>

Get a free copy of the special report 4 Trends that Will Challenge Ability of Coaches to Sustain and Grow Their Practices in 2012.