As a consultant, staying top of mind is vital. However, focusing on the volume of your leads can be misleading and a mistake. Your number of leads doesn’t amount to much unless you’ve set the stage for conversion. So if you want to know how to win in the business and attract more leads, here are 15 effective lead generation strategies for coaches and consultants that you should do.
WHERE DOES YOUR BUSINESS CURRENTLY STAND?
As a coach, you might find yourself in one of these three categories:
- A coach who just started and is currently looking for initial paying clients.
- A coach who has clients but is looking for a system or strategy to attract high-paying clients consistently.
- A coach who has new clients who are coming in consistently but wants to scale their business with online products or by hiring other coaches in their team.
Whichever category that you fall into, you will need clients who will subscribe to your product or purchase your coaching packages or online services. And you don’t want random prospects who will waste your time.
The goal of the lead generation strategies for coaches and consultants that we’ve compiled below is to help your clients understand the value. And it will help them become ready to invest in your services.
The Importance of Lead Generation to Coaches and Consultants
But why do we really need a lead generation strategy?
It’s simple.
Generating leads creates sales and increases your organic customers.
Your current customers are already availing your products and services but that is not enough. You need new people to bring you more growth.
Although there are several other reasons why lead generation matters so much for any business owners.
- A good lead generation campaign costs money but it is quite inexpensive compared to buying billboard, TV, and other advertisements. It’s also timely.
- You can also target your audiences based on different criterias such as their location, pain points, gender, shopping behavior and so much more.
- Your return on investments (ROI) would also increase which is very valuable for small to large businesses.
This is why lead generation strategies for coaches and consultants are very important. Without it, your business will struggle to make sales and achieve growth or expansion.
But let’s just be clear that this is not a get-rich-quick scheme. We are here to get your ideal clients and to do that, you will need to be consistent with your marketing efforts.
15 EFFECTIVE LEAD GENERATION STRATEGIES FOR COACHES AND CONSULTANTS
Here are the lead generation ideas for coaches and consultants that are primarily focused on using content marketing to create their steady stream of inbound leads.
Discover and explore which of these contents works for you. Whether they are written, audio, video or another content medium.
1. HIGH-QUALITY WRITTEN BLOGS
For very specific reasons, content works always works as a lead generation strategy. And they work for very specific reasons.
Content marketing such as blogs is the foundation of your strategy on building relationships with the right people. And by the right people, we mean those who are already interested and likely to convert into leads and customers for your business.
However, before you do decide to write a blog post. You’ll need to determine what it is your motivation for investing in this type of content and how it’ll be circulated or promoted.
Here are some guide questions:
- What problems can I solve for my target customers through these free content?
- How could I provide a better content than my competition? And differentiate myself on these topics?
- Where do my target customers spend time online? Do they even read blogs? Or participate in LinkedIn groups? Search on Google? Or read answers on Quora?
- Would I want to have 100 readers that are all in our target market, or 1,000 readers and only a handful of target customers in that audience?
- Which content medium does my target customers prefer to consume my content in?
- Do I have the core competencies to produce high-quality content? If not, how can we attract and leverage the right people? Should I hire someone to write for me?
To summarize, in order for your campaigns to work. You must deeply care about helping your customers.
If you aren’t helping them solve a real problem in the industry. Or your motivations are only about gaining subscriptions, then the result will remain subpar or unhelpful.
Be a teacher that is invested in the future of your students or in this case, your customers.
Of course, after creating your content. You can’t just let it sit there and let it accumulate dust.
It is important that your target customers can read it and to do that, you’ll need to promote or run ads for your contents.
Other than applying Search Engine Optimizations (SEO) to your content marketing, you can also proactively find potential readers by:
- Engaging Online Communities
- Leverage On Your Current Connections to Amplify Social sharing
- Run Facebook Ads
- Email Marketing
- Reach Out to Relevant People in Linked In
- Repurpose Blog to Circulate on Different Platforms
READ ALSO: The Ultimate Guide to Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
2. EDUCATION VIDEOS
As your customers are more informed than ever with greater access to the information that they need, competing for their attention has become an increasingly difficult task.
But, video ads have always been an ideal attention-grabbing strategy. It is a combination of visuals and a narrative that can introduce your brand and show off your products and help you drive sales.
80% of users have reported that they could always recall a video they’ve seen in the past 30 days.
With social media platforms prioritizing videos over other types of content. Video ads can help brands and businesses build more trust. Here’s why it is crucial to nail your video presence.
- They appeal to the short attention spans.
The digital media platforms are overcrowded. But the good news is that consumers are more likely and are interested to watch videos than read texts or view images.
Video ads have higher engagement rates and are an easy way to capture your audience’s attention.
- You Can Control The Narrative
Instead of betting on your customers to read what you want them to, you can captivate them with a video.
However, we aren’t just talking about 1-minute or more types of videos. If you can create a content that explains who you are and your service in 15 to 30 seconds that would be best.
- Videos Build Awareness
Some of the most impressive social following or subscribers have been built using a video strategy that uses human content or user-generated content.
After all, word-of-mouth has always been the most effective form of advertising. And the power of social proof will most likely help convert your customers.
Also, you can look into and show support for the things that don’t directly involve your business. Afterall, it isn’t just your goal to sell products. it’s your goal to associate your brand with the best in your community.
3. AUDIO CONTENT
Have you tried listening to podcasts? If so, then have you ever thought about releasing your own episodes in order to help you build an audience while helping that community solve their challenges in their business?
If your blogs have already reached a sizable audience, consider giving them the chance to engage in your content on a deeper level. Through your podcasts, they can squeeze the learning on their daily commute, lunch or at the gym.
This will help you build a more meaningful relationship from a simple blog reading. Check out where and when people are listening to their favorite podcasts.
If you notice, there are a lot of chances where you can provide and build your reputation with podcasting.
Also, podcast recordings can help you create great content that you can repurpose into your blogs.
Let’s say an episode has performed really well with your listeners. You can take that conversation to keep your followers engaged. And, you can also explore topics even further with an in-depth blog post.
4. BE INTERVIEWED ON RELEVANT PODCASTS
If you don’t have the time to create a podcast, consider being interviewed on one. Chances are you already have a podcast in mind, all it takes is to reach out and ask the host if he/she wants to explore a different angle for their audience.
5. BOOK AND EBOOKS
If you want to add something to your field of expertise. A great business book is one that’s worth having on your credentials.
Pack it with insider tips, your industry knowledge and everything you can offer to succeed in the industry.
By sharing your professional knowledge with a market that’s crying for insights. Books have become more and more needed.
However, the benefits of these books are more than just raising your profile. It’ll also set you apart as an authority in your industry.
It’ll lead your direct readers to your brokerage and attract the interest from your potential business partners and investors.
Don’t Settle For Bad Writing
If you haven’t considered yourself to be a writer or if you’re worried about your writing skills, there are plenty of writing tools that you can use to help you out. However, the selling point of your book will still depend on the strength of your knowledge.
You’ll also need to think carefully about the platforms where you will distribute your content.
You can opt to use self-publishing sites such as Amazon and Lulu’s. Once you have uploaded your book to the site of your choice. You’ll have to be determined in selling your book.
To do so, investigate which social media platforms your target audience frequent in and create your publicity from there.
Plan ahead and prepare to set up your online marketplace and be ready to take orders. No matter how you choose to publish, distribute and sell your book. Don’t let fear stop you.
6. DOWNLOADABLE GUIDES
When it comes to lead generation for coaches and consultants, we need to treat our guides a little differently than books.
While books tackle a broad topic at length. Your downloadable guides must give you an opportunity to cover a certain focus.
The benefit of guides is that with only 10 to 20 pages in the form of PDFs, it is already a powerful lead generation idea that can be executed quickly.
Here’s what the creation process would look like:
- Check your blog posts that are providing the same subject matter but from different angles
- Quickly paste, and then organize them into a Google Doc
- Arrange them in a logical order, edit, format and fill in any missing gaps
- Use a cover design template that’ll attract leads to read, download and save your document
- Afterwards, you get a downloadable guide that’s ready to launch.
7. ANSWER QUESTION ON QUORA
Lead Generation is all about engagement, building connections, trust and credibility.
And the best way to do that is to reach out to communities where your target audience already exists. And be proactive in providing them with the help they need to solve their problems.
The average Quora answer typically takes from twenty to an hour to write. The word count doesn’t matter but the quality of your answer does.
Quora draws a couple thousand in views and depending on the depth and creativity of your answer. After half a year, you’ll definitely have some traction.
From there, you can build on your network and amplify your reach as your follower count grows. The positive effects of your answers will compound with each day.
8. SOCIAL LISTENING
Social listening is about taking the key terms and phrases that are asked by your target customers.
Creating content is important but you also need to listen to your customers on what they want to learn.
From searching for hashtags and topics on Twitter, interact, drive the discussion and specifically follow those people who affiliate themselves with your industry.
For Facebook, groups are still one of the best destinations for finding prospects. Look for those groups where members are clearly active and check on a particular subject matter that’ll allow you to regularly share and even update your expertise.
However, like all groups on social channels, avoid being overly self-promotional such as offering a ton of links that are only talking about your products.
Leave a great deal of room for genuine interests to drive the flow of the conversation. But learn to understand that there’s actually more opportunities in smaller groups than those with a lot of members.
So learn how to get your offers in front of your leads but don’t overdo it.
9. SPEAK AT INDUSTRY EVENTS AND CONFERENCES
What do you think of those who speak at conferences and events? Do you remember who they are? Do they come up into your mind?
Think about the effect or impact they had on you. What if you were also to do what they did and speak in front of an audience?
One of the best ways to build your personal brand is to speak at local events while working your way up to international conferences.
While yes it is difficult to learn how to speak in public. And it is challenging to calculate the exact returns that you can get from an event, it is clear that there will be a spike in traffic and email subscriptions during a conference.
10. JOINT WEBINARS
Webinars are one of the most effective lead generation strategies for coaches and consultants.
The reason it works is because these events allow you to demonstrate your local market expertise to a large audience which will help you acquire new clients.
Although you can scale this strategy without having to worry about logistics, you’ll need to take note of the following:
Choose the Right Webinar Software
The right platform is critical in making sure that your webinar marketing is a success. Take your time and do your research as the cheapest webinar platform may not be able to provide you with the best reach for your audiences.
Divide Webinar into 4 Key Stages
Most coaches and consultants jump into hosting a webinar by making a sales pitch. Imagine if you were the viewer and you keep hearing a sales phrase in the first 15 minutes.
Not only is this annoying but it will also reduce your chances of getting conversions.This is why you need to divide your webinar into four parts:
- Introduction
- Presentation
- Sales Pitch
- Q&A
- Offer Something Valuable At The End
The question during these online videos is asking how you can make someone stay until the end. It could be a free guide that you’ve made.
Or other offers but keep your webinar short. We recommend 30-45 minutes is the right amount of time.
Promote Your Webinar
Before you launch an event, you’ll need to get the word out. And Facebook Ads are one of the best mediums of promoting these campaigns.
Make sure that you mention what your webinar will be about. Tag or share your ads in your community. And create a registration page for them to provide their emails and contact information for your future events.
11. LINK YOUR WEBINARS DIRECTLY TO YOUR CONTENT
One of the best lead generation marketing strategies for coaches and consultants that we can offer you is make your webinar work in your favor.
We’ve already established that a webinar is a low-cost strategy for you to get a useful message in front of a targeted audience.
But take it a step further by linking it directly to your content. So that your leads can take you more seriously as you have provided value to them before asking them to register in your event.
Remember, you don’t need to be an influencer in order to have a successful webinar. What’s most important is how useful your webinar is to your audiences
12. EMAIL MARKETING
After doing most of the strategies we’ve mentioned above. You must have gathered quite a list of emails and subscriptions from your audiences. It’s time to place them in good use.
Email marketing actually begins with an offer in exchange for an email address from a potential client. This can come from your podcast, webinar, website and downloadable guides.
However, it doesn’t mean that you have their email. You can freely send them just any kind of content.
It is necessary to determine if those products and services are even useful for them. While this is a tremendous opportunity provided to you. You will need to do your research before sending an email.
In addition, you will need to follow-up, stay in touch and remain top of mind for your customers so that when they are ready to convert or make a purchase you can have a shot at the opportunity.
13. USE SUCCESS STORIES TO ATTRACT NEW CUSTOMERS
With this particular strategy, you can use email marketing to link case studies or customer success stories to attract prospects to your business.
A well planned and executed approach can set you up for success. However, you can also think of this as letting your satisfied customers speak for you.
Consumers have always relied on the opinions of others or someone they know to help them make their buying decisions.
But where they can find those opinions and reviews has a lot more reason to do with your strategy.
Make sure that testimonials are easily found by your customers. They are a crucial part of the decision making process for your potential customers. If you don’t have any reviews online, you may be missing out on these customers entirely.
14. ONLINE COURSES
One powerful lead generation strategy for coaches and consultants to look into is to create an online course.
Online courses are a unique lead generation idea today since there are a lot of different formats that you can use in creating and connecting to your audience.
You might want to check hosting platforms such as Teachable as you can skip the complicated part of building your own custom pages on your website.
Coming Up With The Right Online Course Idea
It is normal to have no idea on what topics your prospects would want to learn about. However, creating a course without doing your research is a big mistake.
Get to know your audience as it can help you become more effective and sell your online courses. Take note of the biggest challenges you have with your existing customers and leverage from there.
For example:
- Have they always wondered how Facebook Ads actually work? You can start a course about the best practices in getting high returns with varying social media platforms.
- Are they looking for insights on how to promote their content? Then provide them a breakdown of ten most powerful promotion strategies you can offer.
Just keep in mind that at the end of the day, you’ll need to create a course that will help your target customers solve their most pressing problems.
15. USE LINKEDIN IN YOUR LEAD GENERATION STRATEGY
Can you use LinkedIn for lead generation? The answer is a definite, yes!
But how do you use it? And what are the best ways of generating these leads?
However, before we start. Let’s go with the fundamentals. Think about LinkedIn as your online resume. You need to have a decent profile for people to trust you.
Once you’ve got that, the real trick to getting leads on LinkedIn is by keeping up with your proactive actions.
Here are four main methods to do so:
Connect and Nurture
The “connect and nurture” strategy is a straightforward approach. You search LinkedIn for potential clients and you connect with them using personalized messages that ideally mentions some kind of common ground or interest.
Once you have successfully made first contact. You might want to nurture the lead by sending them a useful article, video or the contents that we have just provided in this article.
Keep the conversation going and ask some questions that at some point may help you to transition towards a phone call or even a face-to-face meeting.
Of course, for this method to work. You need to reach out to high-value potential clients. Or in simpler words, nurture an already interested lead because you’ll be investing a lot of your personal time for these people.
Although this does work tremendously, there are people who aren’t always up for a face to face meeting.
Referrals
The second lead generating strategy for LinkedIn is to use it for referrals.
Essentially, you want to use LinkedIn as a big rolodex of potential contacts. All you need to focus on is that you’ve got to make sure that you are connected to the right people who you feel are confident that will give you strong referrals.
These could be ex-clients or existing ones who would be comfortable referring you as their contacts. But if you do ask them to recommend you, make sure you do it in person.
LinkedIn Content Marketing
Do you remember your blogs, audio, and video contents that you’ve created and still post?
It seems that LinkedIn has an audience that may not primarily go to their newsfeed for social events. But they’re spending their time scrolling through articles and see if there’s anything interesting in there.
A word of advice however, LinkedIn currently favors text-only posts. So if you can write a good post in about 1,300 words where you are able to capture people’s attention, you can start posting those.
Build your way in with the images and videos and links. However, you’ll still need to be connected with potential clients for those content to work.
LinkedIn Advertising
Although LinkedIn is nowhere near as advanced as Facebook Ad, but their ads are largely based on demographics and firmographics such as job titles, level of seniority. So you might want to find your target audience through these means.
DO YOU NEED A DIGITAL MARKETING COACH?
There is no denying how effective online marketing and advertising is in this digital age. But if you are like most coaches and consultants who have a limited range when it comes to digital marketing.
You might want to hire either a digital marketing coach to help you build your foundation. Or a digital marketing agency or team of your own as you currently digest most of these strategies for your lead generation efforts.
Here are signs that you may notice when it is time to hire a digital marketing coach.
- Your Business Isn’t Growing
If your business has stalled or stopped completely. Especially if the reason lies in being unable to grow your client base. Then the only way to grow is to reach a wider audience.
However, if you are new to digital marketing. You’ll need the help of a digital marketing coach to help you cook up well thought out marketing campaigns. As they will be able to help give you a winning strategy with ease.
- Outdated Website
Your website is your online storefront. If you have a website that is outdated, no longer appealing, takes time to load or send the wrong message to your audience about what your business is entirely.
Then hiring a professional to update these concerns is a great idea.
- Your Marketing Campaigns Aren’t Being Monitored
Are you certain that your marketing campaigns are still effective?
With a digital marketing coach, they’ll be able to provide you with real and translated data that’ll tell you which tactics are working and which ones you need to cut or improve.
- You Don’t Know Who Your Target Audience Is
When it comes to marketing, business owners usually use the spray and pray approach.
This means that the business has little information on who they want to talk to. If you are not able to understand who it is you are talking to then your success in digital marketing will be difficult.
But a professional can perform extensive research on your behalf in order to find out who your customers are. And once they have this information, they’ll be able to provide you with marketing campaigns that’ll meet the needs of your audience.
- No Social Media Presence
Having a social media platform is not enough. You need to create, connect and engage with your customers on a constant basis.
If your business has no presence on any social media platforms. then hiring a digital marketing coach is a wise move. These gurus will have no problem finding the ideal voice for your business.
And once it is established, they’ll use it to push your message into the forefront of your target audiences and generate more leads.
ADVANTAGES TO HIRING A DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY
A lot of businesses have turned to outsourcing as the holy grail to their many concerns.
For example, small businesses might prove to have difficulty in creating their own in-house digital marketing agency.
However, with an outsourced on. You’ll have access to the skills you need without having to pay an expensive price.
And, digital marketing agencies are able to retain their employees and with a range of different roles. Which will allow any marketing campaigns to continue without a hitch.
In addition, outsourced digital marketing agencies also work with varying industries. And is usually headed by a digital marketing expert.
With their experience, you might get to learn more about how to develop your own style and apply them to different sectors of your business.
Lastly, digital marketing agencies always meet their deadline on time. They provide your business with the space to grow without making a hole in your budget.
And as your business grows, the agency can respond to these changes. Where you will be free to focus on other efforts such as internal management or client meetings.
CONCLUSION
While you may need some time to find the most appropriate agency for your needs. The minimal financial commitment can be seen as a point to your favor. Agencies are flexible, affordable and are worth exploring when your digital marketing campaigns have stopped working for you.
If you want to learn more about digital marketing or about lead generation strategies for coaches and consultants. Don’t be shy to reach out to ESTRAT Digital Marketing. Drop us a message today!
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