Online coaches: 8 Ways to Grow Your Audience with New Ideal Coaching Clients. As an online coach, nurturing your audience is important. But it’s equally critical to grow & fill your pipeline with ideal coaching clients.
Strategies that ATTRACT the right women into your audience; &
Strategies that NURTURE, EDUCATE, and SELL to the women who are *already* in your audience.
——-> And you need both – to get booked and make a consistent income coaching.
In many of the Facebook groups where I hang out (the online water coolers of the coaching set!), there is a lot of discussion about relationship building and the “like, know, trust” factors that must be built if you want sales… But I sometimes feel like we don’t talk enough about consistently bringing NEW women into our audiences.
Now, nurturing your existing audience is important, no doubt! But it’s also important to have systems in place to regularly attract new women in your fold (especially if you want to have passive or leveraged income offers like courses or group programs in the mix).
So, I decided I wanted to do some research and write a post about audience — e-x-p-a-n-d-i-n-g — strategies that work for online coaches, course creators, and service providers.
To get the insights into what’s working in 2020, I turned to some of my favorite experts and educators in online business. I asked them for inside info on their best strategies for getting in front of new audiences. And I’m so excited to round up their best tips here in this post!
Now, before we dive in, one caveat… I am not suggesting that you implement #AllTheThings outlined in this post! Nope. You just need one or two of them – and to do them consistently – to be sure you’re always bringing new people into your audience. (And, btw, this is not an exhaustive list! There are so many possibilities. 🙂
(I also suggest you choose one or two strategies to automate or systemize the nurturing of your current audience, too, of course… but that’s a blog post for a different day!)
Ready? Let’s hear what these brilliant women had to say about growing your audience with NEW people on the regular…
Audience-Expanding Strategy #1:
Website SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Search engine optimization (SEO) of your website is one of the best ways to consistently get found (on Google, Lovely!) by people who are brand new to you – and are searching for “your thing.” 🙂
At first, SEO may sound like a fancy or complicated endeavor. But I’ve learned that it can be simple – and feel quite natural and fun! And I learned this from my friend and SEO Expert, Cinthia Pacheco – so she’s out first expert!
Here’s what Cinthia recommends if you’re an SEO beginner (or if you want to get back to SEO basics.):
From Cinthia…
“So many times I see online business get overwhelmed by SEO because they don’t know where to start with all the tasks and small tactics. That’s why starting small and creating a manageable SEO plan that you can be consistent with for at least three months will get you more traction. This means getting specific on:
How often you will blog, using keywords
The length you want each blog post to be
Your marketing and sharing strategy for each blog post
How the blog post is tied to what you are currently selling and to your funnels
Getting super clear on this BEFORE reading any SEO tips, posts – or even starting to write – will set you up for success and help you get results faster for all the time you spend on each blog post.
Make sure to create a plan you can sustain for at least three months. If you are able to do that, then you can add to it going forward.”
About the contributor…
online coaches grow your audiences – Cinthia
Cinthia Pacheco is an SEO Expert for health and wellness entrepreneurs. She helps them attract clients with non-spammy SEO strategies – so they can get found on google and heal more of the world.
You can learn more about creating your own manageable SEO plan at: digitalbloomiq.com/seo/plan.
Online coaches: 8 Wyas to Grow Your Audience with New Ideal Coaching Clients. As an online coach, nurturing your audience is important. But it’s equally critical to grow & fill your pipeline with ideal coaching clients.
Audience-Expanding Strategy #2:
Teach What You Know at Online Summits.
Virtual summits have been quite rewarding for me – and a great way to position myself to get known by NEW people!
One of my best summit experiences was organized by Marketing & Launch Strategist Andrea Longcrier. So, I asked her to share her thoughts about how to maximize your participation. Here’s what she had to say…
From Andrea…
“Participating in a virtual summit can also be a fantastic way to reach a new audience – and promote your paid offers! Here are three ways this strategy can benefit you and your online business:
1. Get discovered by NEW people!
Not only will the summit host be promoting the event to their audience, the other speakers will also be promoting the event to their audiences as well. Since you’ll be a speaker, this will allow you to not only be discovered by new people but to share your expertise with them through your presentation or interview.
2. Build your network.
In addition to being discovered by a new audience, you’ll also have the opportunity to grow your network and connect with the other speakers participating in the summit. Reach out to the host and other speakers and ask them to be a guest on your podcast, write a guest blog post, or do a mini-training inside your Facebook group. When others are sharing their expertise in front of your audience, they’re likely to share about it on social and invite their audience to check it out too … which leads to more new people discovering your amazingness.
3. Be seen as an expert.
Being a speaker in a summit will help to establish you as a go-to expert on your topic. When someone asks you to be a part of their event, it immediately signals the know, like and trust factor. They know, like and trust you enough to be a part of the event and share with their audience, so their audience automatically likes you and assumes you to be the expert in your area since the host invited you to be a speaker at their event.”
About the contributor…
online coaches grow your audiences – Andrea
Andrea Longcrier offers launch strategy and support to help coaches, course creators, and entrepreneurs have easy, profitable, feel-good launches. You can connect with her on Instagram at @andrealongcrier.
You can also download her free LAUNCH Roadmap that’s based on her signature LAUNCH Method Framework at oceansmarketing.co/roadmap.
Audience-Expanding Strategy #3:
Be a Guest on Other People’s Podcasts.
No conversation about getting in front of new audiences would be complete without a mention of podcast guesting. (I have personally hired at least two experts in the last year after hearing them guest on one of my fave shows!)
And Publicist Kristi Dosh (CEO of Guide My Brand) is my go-to resource for pitching, landing, and making the most of show appearances. Here are Kristi’s tips:
From Kristi…
“In my experience as a publicist, being a guest on other people’s podcasts can be ideal for getting in front of your ideal client – and for generating leads!
First, you’re speaking to a warm audience because the podcast host already has a level of know, like and trust with their audience. By having you as a guest, the host is essentially endorsing you. You can grow your own know, like and trust factor with them much faster than you would with a cold lead. You’ll often get exposure to hundreds or thousands of people who haven’t heard of you previously.
And here are some pro tips:
Most podcasts allow you to offer a free gift, which means you can grow your email list from podcast interviews. This allows you to continue growing that know, like and trust factor and re-market to that audience.
Ready to pitch? The easiest way to get started is to already have in mind one or two podcasts your ideal client listens to. Now, go to each podcast’s page on iTunes and scroll down to “Listeners also subscribe to.” That’s where you can start finding similar podcasts and build out a list of podcasts to pitch!”
About the contributor…
online coaches grow your audiences – Kristi Dosh
Kristi Dosh is a Publicist and CEO of Guide My Brand, a boutique PR agency, helping entrepreneurs and nonfiction authors establish themselves as an expert in their niche.
To learn more about Kristi’s top tips for pitching, landing, and making the most of podcast guest opportunities, you can start with her article: 4 Reasons Podcasts Are a Powerful PR Strategy.
Audience-Expanding Strategy #4:
Host Your Own Podcast!
While guesting on podcasts is a tried and true way to get discovered by new audiences…
Starting your own podcast can also be a great way to get discovered. People are listening to podcasts a LOT… and there are more ears looking 😉 for new podcasts – than there are active shows. (So it’s far from being a saturated medium.)
I checked in with Podcast Consultant Britany Felix to get her tips for expanding your audience using this strategy. Here’s what she said:
From Britany…
“Podcasting helps you connect with your ideal client in a way no other medium can because it allows you to be a part of their daily life. You’re with them while they’re working out, driving, walking their dog, washing the dishes, meditating, etc.
With 104 million Americans listening to podcasts on at least a monthly basis and less than 700,000 active podcasts, there are almost twice as many people listening to podcasts as there are shows for them to listen to. (Compare that with the 31 million YouTube channels and 500 million blogs out there and it becomes clear that podcasting isn’t nearly as crowded as the major content platforms!)
The even better news is that is really doesn’t take all that much to utilize a podcast for an online coaching business. While there are some pretty technical parts in the process of starting a podcast, all you actually need to create your first podcast episode is:
a decent microphone that plugs right into your laptop (like the Samson Q2U)
free recording software like QuickTime or Audacity, and
Some amazing content that your ideal client will resonate with or learn from.
About the contributor…
online coaches grow your audiences – Britany with Podcasting for Coaches
Britany Felix is a Podcast Consultant. She helps coaches and consultants host and produce podcasts as a way to build brand awareness, establish themselves as an expert in their niche, gain new business opportunities, network, and generate new leads for their business.
If you’d like to learn more from Britany, you can listen in on her podcast, Podcasting for Coaches. A great place to start is with Episode 02: How a Podcast Will Bring in New Leads for Your Coaching or Consulting Business.
Audience-Expanding Strategy #5:
Capture New Leads with a Lead Magnet (& a Powerful Title)
When you have the opportunity to get in front of NEW audiences, it’s crucial to have a “Yes! I need that!” lead magnet – so you can capture those names and emails, and then begin to nurture them.
When I reached out to Sunu Philip, The Lead Magnet Lady, she knew what she wanted to contribute. She said that your lead magnet title will be the make-or-break factor with new audiences. (So smart!!!)
From Sunu…
“When you’re using your lead magnet to attract NEW people to your content and offers, it’s absolutely key to have a killer title! Use this formula while crafting yours:
Feature + Benefit + Outcome + ICA
Feature: What you’re providing in your lead magnet
Benefit: How it will help the person accessing it
Outcome: What they’ll get as a result of going through it
ICA (Ideal Client Avatar): Who it’s specifically for
(You can play around with the four aspects in the formula. It doesn’t have to follow the same positioning or order!)
Here’s an example: The 5 Step Guide for Coaches to Book Clients Online Using Pinterest Strategically
Now let me tell you why this works: When you share about your lead magnet, the title is the first thing that captures the attention of someone who’s otherwise not familiar with your work. A headline that specifies who it is for, speaks to their need, and provides a solution, essentially calls them out and becomes perfect way to get their attention.
A title that follows this formula becomes the perfect hook – because it addresses all the aspects that matter to your ideal client.
Even if they haven’t heard of you before, your lead magnet headline has hooked them in. And they know they want what you’re offering!
Bottom line: While lead magnet ideation and content development might take some time, you must spend time on framing the title as well. This is the hook that attracts people – draws your target audience in and gets them to check it out.
And, here’s more advanced “bonus” tip:
Create two variants of the lead magnet title and do A/B split test. This is an advanced tip for those who are in a position to play around a bit. Create two versions of the lead magnet title and perform split testing to see which resonates better with your audience. This kind of split testing will tell you which title gets more sign ups – so you can use that insight for future interactions with your ideal client.”
About the contributor…
online coaches grow your audiences – Sunu the lead magnet lady
Sunu Philip is The Lead Magnet Lady! She helps coaches grow their lists with done for you lead magnet design and set up.
For more information on how to identify a lead magnet idea that would bring in more sign ups, you can download her free lead magnet ideation planner at theleadmagnetlady.com/free-lead-magnet-planner.
Audience-Expanding Strategy #6:
Run a Free 5-Day Challenge.
Speaking of lead magnets… One of my favorites is the classic “5 Day Challenge.” I wanted to include it in this round-up, and I knew that my Facebook friend and Marketing Tech Expert Shweta Dawar is aaaaallll about them!
I reached out to get her best tips and this is what she gave me… (So juicy!)
From Shweta…
“Maybe you’ve run a free 5-day challenge at some point – or been a part of one?
Free challenges are the perfect way to grow your Facebook group, email list and messenger bot list. And, they offer the added benefit of helping you become expert and omnipresent for your audience in a short amount of time.
Free challenges actually shorten that funnel and generate sales faster – since the live component gives us a chance not only connect with our audience, but also build trust and authority in a relatively short amount of time.
The best way to run a free 5-day challenge is to use an actionable topic that is related to your paid offer.
For example, topics like “5 days of Clean Eating & Looser Jeans” or “How to Add 100 Email Subscribers to Your List in 5 days” work really well. But be sure that they naturally lead in to your paid offer – for those who want to go deeper and continue getting the results.
My #1 tip on using free challenges to reach a new audience? Ask your current audience, and/or those who have already signed up for your challenge, to share the challenge with their friends and their audience. People we spend time with often have similar goals and interests. And since your audience is recommending your challenge you others, there’s a built-in level of trust for the new people who join your challenge!
About the contributor…
online coaches grow your audiences – Shweta
Shweta Dawar is a Marketing Tech Expert. She loves helping coaches, course creators, and online experts to launch with ease with gamified free 5-day challenge funnels!
To learn more from her, check out her awesome blog at
marketingtechschool.com.
Audience-Expanding Strategy #7:
Run Facebook Ads to Colder Audiences.
Facebook ads were actually the first thing that came to my mind when I decided to ask some experts for “new audience” expanding tips.
And I knew that Marketing Coach & Facebook Ads Expert Cheryl Oliver would be able to help us out! Here’s what she offered about using them to get discovered by new (cold!) audiences.
From Cheryl…
“In 2020 there is no better way to get your offers in front of strangers than Facebook Ads. And not just any strangers, perfect strangers. 😉
Can you tell that I am a big fan of Facebook Ads? I hope so!… They have leveled the playing field for small business owners and given us the ability to reach our exact ideal customers.
And the key component in reaching the right people is building great audiences.
With Facebook ads you can build three different types of audiences. And since you asked about getting in front of “new” people, I’m going to concentrate on the two types of audiences you can use to reach cold audiences.
1) An Interest based audience. You create one by targeting people based on their interests, age range, job title… and pretty much anything else you can think of.
With an interest based audience you can target someone who is female, 25 – 38 years old, lives in the UK and is interested in yoga. (Isn’t that amazing?)
In order to talk about the second type of cold audience you can create, I need to tell you about Custom audiences. You can use these to target people who have interacted with your Facebook Business Page, your Instagram account or your website in the last 30, 60, 90 up to a maximum of 120 days. These are to target people that are already familiar with you, or your warm audiences.
Once you have your custom audiences set up you can then create the third and most awesome type of audience…
2) A Lookalike audience. These are audiences that Facebook creates for you based on your custom audiences.
What happens here is Facebook takes a look at all the people that have interacted with your business in some way and creates another audience that looks like them. In other words, people that are of the same age range, have the same interests, etc.
Lookalike audiences can be really powerful if your ideal client is already interacting with your social media accounts and your website. But they do take some time to build up and get right so you can’t use them straight out the gate. And Facebook can only create them for you once it has a certain amount of data so you would need to be running your business for a few months at least before you created your first once unless you were getting a huge amount of traffic already.
So those are the types of audiences you can build to get your offers in front of cold audiences (and warm) with Facebook ads.
The number one tip I can give you to get your Facebook ads right is this:
Don’t be afraid to play with them. You might not get it right the first time, but keep trying. Test different images, different copy – and especially different audiences!”
About the contributor…
online coaches grow your audiences – Cheryl Facebook Ads for Coaches
Cheryl Oliver is a Marketing Coach. She’s an expert on funnels and Facebook ads, too! She helps new coaches and course creators grow their lists + passively sell out their programs.
To learn more about getting fully-booked with clients – with Cheryl’s support, check out her Automate to Accelerate program at cheryloliver.co/automation-to-accelerate.
Audience-Expanding Strategy #8:
Market Your Coaching or Service Business on Pinterest!
Last strategy! And this one is about Pinterest – so no guest expert here. Just me! 😉
My clients and students are often surprised to learn that Pinterest marketing falls into Category #1 – Strategies that ATTRACT the right women (a NEW audience!) into your audience.
But, it’s true! Pinterest is not social media. So, it’s not very social! 🙂
It’s not really a place to nurture and educate. And most of the people who see your pins there see them in their searches and smartfeeds – and they are not usually already your followers (like on social media).
Pinterest is a place to get *discovered.* Its job is to get your content and offers found by women who are searching there for:
The topics you teach about.
The problems you help with.
The solutions you offer – through both your free and paid offers.
The best part about Pinterest marketing for online coaches and service providers? Once you set it up strategically – it’s not “another social media platform” you have to spend hours and hours on. It’s low-maintenance and works in the background – even when you’re not working.
So, it’s a highly-valuable lever you can pull for your coaching business… one that —e-x-p-a-n-d-s— your audience!
About the contributor…
online coaches grow your audiences – Jana – Pinterest for Coaches
<——– Hey! That’s me, author of this round up blog post!
I’m a Pinterest Marketing Strategist. I teach online coaches, course creators, and service providers to set their Pinterest profiles up to attract ideal clients – and to set themselves up for easy, sustainable, lead generation and long-term business success.
If you’d love to use Pinterest to automate your NEW audience growth and to get discovered by women who are *already searching* there for the things you offer, I’d love to teach you how! So, keep reading…
My FREE Masterclass is the perfect place to start. In it, you’ll learn…
The 5 Secrets For Putting Audience Growth on Auto-pilot
& Getting Clients – Using Pinterest
You’ll walk away from the training, knowing how to:
Ditch the overwhelm that comes from aaaaaallll the Pinterest advice you’re hearing.
Know what to focus on – and what not to waste your time on – so you can generate a steady stream of quality, targeted leads for your offers.
Set yourself up for long-term, consistent sales – and even for success with those passive income offers you’re planning!
Figure out what your ideal clients are really searching for – and get them to pay attention to you – on Pinterest!
Ready? Sign up here – for FREE! 👇 (Add your info and I’ll get the link to your email tout suite!)
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Free Pinterest for Business Masterclass for Coaches
