If you want to become an expert, and a successful coach, it’s going to take more than just staying up to date on the best training principles and getting your clients results. The one thing they never taught you in school or throughout any of your certifications is the multiple roles you will hold as a coach. Many of you will also be an entrepreneur, run the finances of your business, as well as be the head of marketing and sales. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are as a coach if you don’t have clients. Which is why building a personal brand to get your message out is pivotal to your success as a coach.
It’s 2020, and we are fully in the digital age. Regardless of whether you coach in person, online or work for a corporation, it is beneficial to build an online personal brand. I’m going to share the top 5 easiest ways to start implementing this and build some traction around your brand.
1) Get Clear On Who You Are And What You Do
Before you get started with posting or creating content you need to ask yourself some questions:
Why do you exist?
What do you want to be known for?
What problem do you solve?
You need to get clear on who you are, so it is obvious in your messaging and people know exactly what they are getting from you if they were to work with you. The more specific you can be, the better.
It can be helpful to write a “Marketing Mission Statement”, which can also be included in your social media bio. You will essentially answer three questions:
Who do you help?
What do you help them do?
How do you help them do it?
For example:
“I help women lose weight through nutrition coaching.”
That’s a good start, now let’s be more specific. The more detailed you can be, the more clarity you will have for yourself and your audience.
Something like this would be more accurate:
“I teach stay at home mom’s how to lose weight through habit based nutrition principles.”
This now becomes clear on who you help: stay at home mom’s, which is a very specific target audience. How you help: by teaching habit based nutrition principles. Which is important, because if someone wants a meal plan or to count macros they know you are not the right coach for them. Lastly, what you help them do is: lose weight. Once you get clear on who you are, you can move onto the next step of creating content to reach the clients you want to work with.
2) Create Top Of Mind Awareness
Now that you are clear on what you do and who you help, then you need to pivot yourself as the expert at what you do. I know many coaches who struggle with posting on social media at first because of the “Imposter Syndrome”, saying “who am I” to do this. The first step is realizing that in order to help someone you only need to know more than they do. Secondly, if you believe you provide value and can help people, you need to view this as an obligation to get your message out and tell people what you are up to!
This means posting regularly and specifically about what you do. You want to become so well known at what you do that people are recommending you who haven’t even worked with you. This means posting regularly about what you offer, who you work with, and success stories of your clients.
Just like anything in life, it is about getting the reps in. The more you start to do this, the better you will get. In order to create the top of mind awareness, you need to put out content consistently and regularly. Even if people don’t always engage every time you post, that will still have a lasting effect. That way when they, or someone they know, needs your services you will be the first one they think of.
3) Create An Avatar Of Your Favorite Client
One obstacle that stops most coaches from posting regularly and getting their message out is they don’t know what to post. We are going to solve that problem very quickly. You need to be posting what your clients would want to read, not what you would want to know.
I want you to think about your favorite client and answer the following questions:
What’s their name?
What do they do for a living?
How old are they?
What’s their family like?
Why did they start training with you?
What are their pain points or struggles?
What type of training do they do?
The next time you go to create content, you are going to think about this favorite client, and write specifically speaking to them. Think about what questions they have or problems you are helping them solve. Because when you create a video, or write copy specifically to them, it’s going to speak to more people who fit in the category of your ideal client. Now you have a very specific message to speak about on a regular basis.
4) Stick To Your Strengths
When it comes to creating content, focus on doing so in a way that you enjoy and you are good at. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. If you aren’t the type of person that’s great in front of the camera, don’t force yourself to mimic videos of people you see, who seem to be crushing it in the industry. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do videos, but if you are not naturally a high energy person on screen, don’t force it. Something like YouTube can be a great platform IF it is done well. After all, people hire you for you, so the more authentically you can be yourself the more you will attract the right clients.
The same goes true for writing blogs or longer form content. If you don’t love writing and it takes a lot of energy away, then you don’t have to use this medium. You can focus on shorter written content and spend more time building your brand in a way that is natural for you. Just because someone else is doing something with success doesn’t mean you need to do the same thing.
5) Take Or Pay For High Quality Photos And Videos
You need to imagine your online personal brand as your digital storefront. How do you want people to feel when they first come to your profile? What do you want their first impression to be? Just like walking into a store for the first time, seeing your profile will create expectations of what they could be receiving from you in terms of value.
If you are posting photos that are grainy, blurry or with bad lighting, it looks less professional. Which is going to diminish your value in their mind. Whereas if you have professional looking photos and videos, it automatically positions you as successful in their mind. After all, who would you want to work with if you were in their shoes? Someone who seems successful or someone who seems less expensive?
All you need is a good phone to take quality photos. Spend time learning what makes a quality photo, how to set it up and some simple editing skills. If you really want to level up, get some professional photos taken. Think about this as an investment in your future. The return on your investment will be new clients and making more money.
If you can start implementing these ideas, you will quickly grow your personal brand and start attracting more of your ideal clients. Taking action is the most important step, so focus on one thing at a time. Because little by little, a little becomes a lot. So if you can focus on doing 1% better every day, you will reap the benefits in just a few short months.
Want more information on social media engagement? Here you go.
Practical concerns and issues in building a personal brand have been very nicely covered in the article. Enjoyed reading!
Very interesting read. Sums up the reasons to build a personal brand effectively.