© 2024 Melanie White
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Are you worried about what you’re promising in your coaching promotions and feeling like you can’t deliver?
I want to explain a few basics about messaging, what coaches do, and how to describe your services in a way that is congruent, transparent and authentic so that by the end of this dialogue, you feel clear and comfortable with what you are promising.
A lot of coaches tell me they are worried about making big promises that they can’t keep, or about giving people the wrong idea.
Some coaches also feel they aren’t a good enough coach to help the person get a result, so they are worried about being able to deliver.
Today, I am going to help you to clear up these myths and solve these challenges once and for all, so you can promote your services confidently and authentically.
Let’s start with a reminder of what coaches do and don’t do, some promotional messaging basics, and then talk through some examples so you can be clear on what you ARE promising, and what you are NOT promising. Then we will finish with an explanation of what health and wellness coaches do.
Firstly, and before we break down the marketing copy, remember that as a coach, you are not treating or administering any therapy to a client that would make you responsible for their result.
As a coach you are helping people to create the time and space to focus on developing habits that will get them the result they want. And that’s very different.
Please keep that in mind as we proceed with how we help people.
Also, remember that your promotional messaging is NOT about what you do or how you do it. You need to know how to answer that question if asked (and I will cover it at the end), but your promotional copy is ALL about your niche client.
Let’s dive in.
I think part of the reason that coaches struggle with their advertising is that they don’t know what to say to attract clients and then explain what they do to these prospective clients.
The foundations of good promotional messaging are built on trust, rapport and relationship.
Good messaging creates these things by focusing on three foundational points.
Right now, I’d like you to imagine a triangle that has those three points
Your advertising needs to speak to those three things.
I think where a lot of coaches get caught up is in describing the problem and solution. When they do this, coaches feel kind of responsible for fixing the problem and creating the results.
No, no, no.
This is the first myth I want to clear up.
The reason you describe the niche clients’ struggle and success is so that they recognise you as someone who understands their specific needs.
They can recognise themself in your words, so you become visible and attractive to them.
Here’s a really bland example. It’s like me saying – are you wearing a red shirt and white sneakers, but wish you were wearing a fancy black tracksuit?
In this example, it’s clear that I’m not going to give you a tracksuit! I am calling out anyone wearing a red shirt and white sneakers who wishes for something more stylish!
So that’s the first point – speaking to their struggle and success to show that you understand them. Your marketing copy needs to cover these two points in the triangle.
The next bit is explaining how your solution fills the gaps.
Note that this is not describing WHAT your service is – it’s explaining HOW it will help them.
Let’s break it down so you can get clear on what your role is in their journey, and how to convey it.
When describing how your solution helps, you need to be clear that you are helping people to follow a process to get to the result they want – you are NOT promising the result itself.
Your clients are the ones who are responsible for doing the work, not you. You can’t follow them home and make it happen.
But you CAN help people to get a result by helping them follow a process.
It’s very clear that we want people to be attracted to the outcome that they want to achieve.
And you were going to speak to that outcome, but you’re not going to promise to deliver it.
You are going to show them the technique and the process for getting there and you are going to hold them accountable to doing that work. And that is the difference.
Let’s use a fairly benign example to illustrate this point – dentistry.
Let’s say you are a dentist who is also a coach and you are doing a promotion for your services.
You know that you have to make the service sound really appealing and so you want to talk to the results that people are going to get. Then you’re going to walk them through how they’re going to get that result so that it’s clear that you are not responsible for the result but they are.
Let’s say that your program promises to help clients achieve clean, white teeth free of plaque and holes, following a proven, three step process.
Sounds good, right? So what is the three-step process?
Well, firstly the dentist is going to make sure that you’re accountable to brush your teeth every day three times a day following his recommended method. He’s also going to make sure that you are accountable for flossing your teeth twice a day following his recommended method and at the right time in relation to brushing your teeth.
And thirdly he’s going to recommend that you use a specific toothpaste and mouthwash at the time that you’re brushing your teeth.
So as you can see it’s a very simple three-step process that anybody can follow.
The problem is that most people don’t follow the method or aren’t sure about the best way to do it, or they lack the commitment and self-responsibility to keep doing it.
And that’s why coaching is so important. If the dentist was a coach he would be helping you to figure out how to make those daily habits happen so that the result would follow.
Let’s say that your program promises to help clients lose weight by developing a healthier relationship with food, based on two proven strategies.
Sounds great. What are the strategies?
You might decide that managing portion size and mindful eating are two techniques that are especially useful.
So your program might include discussion and resources on managing portion size and how to eat mindfully.
Your clients may choose to implement these (or not) in addition to their own weekly goals.
Your program helps them to develop habits that are linked with weight loss, and that if done consistently, should see weight shift. The weekly goal-setting and review process helps to create accountability and navigate obstacles.
As you can see, in this case, the client may or may not have their own tools, but they might like to learn and implement ideas on portion size and mindful eating that will help them to slow down, manage portions better and effectively lose weight.
The accountability around the action is the secret sauce here!
As you can see, it’s very important to be clear about using your client’s own words in the promo copy for your program.
If asked, you should also have a clear and simple explanation of your role as the coach.
There are many ways to approach this and it’s a whole separate podcast, actually.
But for now, let’s assume you want to position professionally and give some info on the benefits to the client. That is the ‘rough’ formula for your statement of what you do.
The Coaching Psychology Manual by Moore and Tschannen-Moran discusses the fact that coaches facilitate client-directed neuroplasticity – in other words, forming new habits that change the brain.
Words to this effect, and/or discussion of coaching psychology and/or positive psychology are relevant to set the scene around what you do.
In addition, remember that we help clients develop their own foolproof process for change, that they can enjoy and be consistent with so that the result can be realised.
Coming up with a simple statement is important. Make it relevant to your audience, but it could be as simple as something like this:
Marketing is all about your ideal client and it needs to focus on their story.
It’s easy to get lost in explaining coaching services or being plagued by the thought of promising what you can’t deliver, or simply underdelivering.
As you can see, the things clients are stuck with are not WHAT to do, but HOW.
Therefore, your job as a coach is to explain the process by which you help them, in words that they understand, so that your scope of practice is clear and that your offer is mouth-watering!
Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.
Learn more here:
© 2024 Melanie White