Getting away from on-screen connections to personal ones is a handy tool for a coaching business. An online business like coaching might be well structured but there’s nothing like a personal connection, a one-on-one interaction that will help you widen your horizons. When you run a business online, your interactions are quite limited.
That’s the reason why marketing events like seminars and workshops are so important for a coaching business. Seminar marketing is a great way to establish trust between you and your prospective clients. A successful coach is a trustworthy one and I’m sure you won’t find a coach who would say otherwise. Would you do business with someone you didn’t trust? Neither would I.
One of the best lead generation tactics out there is seminar marketing. It’s the platform you need to showcase you and your business to your audience. By meeting them in person, they see the human in you.
But you know all of this, that’s why you’re interested in seminar marketing. You know it’s the most assured way of getting clients and organic referrals. The chances of gaining long-term high ticket clients increase highly with seminars.
Now, the important part: your audience. How do you fill up those seats? An empty audience is not healthy for your business or your confidence and we cannot let that happen to a coach.
The following list is something I have reached into for marketing seminars of my own and used by plenty of coaches all over. These pointers have been in use and have proven themselves as well.
The Target Group
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A specialist coach like you needn’t design a seminar that anybody and everybody could come in for. Your audience should have a reason to find something to connect to or find a solution to a problem with your seminar. If it’s a generalised seminar then it’s not just your time and effort that’s wasted, it’s of your potential client too. This is why it is important to understand seminar marketing.
You wouldn’t want your audience leaving with a tone that says “yeah, but I didn’t find the seminar interesting…”
That’s definitely not what you need as a feedback and you can avoid it by targeting your niche. Your specialisation is what you need to bring into the spotlight, that’s what you have designed this seminar for. You are not just marketing your seminar, you are marketing your specialization, and that’s the point you shouldn’t lose sight of.
Create ads on social media, pay a small fee for your promotion. Social media analytics are designed to be a tool to aid online marketing. They help your ad reach the specific target group, so make sure you have made your event page eye-catching.
Invite friends and family who would be interested. Ask them to bring a friend along. Share the event with your mailing list as well.
It’s all in the Name
Your event is not a boring one, so neither should the name of your event. Think of the target audience and come up with a name that could be catchy, quirky, witty or simple. The name you choose should be able to give an idea of the thoughts and discussions that your event will cover.
You can dip into a dictionary, use metaphors or make a name up. Create fusions of existing words. Rhyme them or make a pun. Your witticism and creativity need to be put on the table. Your audience has more reason to believe in what you can deliver.
Who doesn’t know the music festival Lollapalooza? We’ve all heard of it and we know what it represents. But how many of you knew the actual definition is “something great and/or wonderful”?
You can also be simple and straightforward. State the obvious. But remember, keep it short. Nobody wants to read a long sentence. Your name should convey your brand, an extension of your personality.
Create an Online Registration Form
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Creating a registration form has multiple benefits. It maintains a professional relationship between you and your participants. An online registration form should ask for an email ID, phone number and occupation. Your coaching business now has a bigger database.
An email ID and phone number ensure that you send them thank you forms, reminders and notifications. Also, you have a database of potential clients. The occupation is optional but can help you deliver your seminar with points that can specifically reach out to these sectors. You can create a chance to forge a meaningful connection.
Phone numbers help you ensure you have a form of communication that works. Interested participants might not check their emails regularly; it isn’t the same with phone numbers. A text message has a guaranteed reach. You or your team could call them and confirm their attendance.
Your seminar could gain more popularity by having early bird discounts or giveaways, ensuring more interest in your event.
If you want to learn more about how to grow your coaching business by learning the right coaching techniques, build a six figure coaching business and learn how to get better results for clients in less than half the time, come join my launchpad here!
Here’s the Agenda
A good agenda is a good seminar. This is where your leadership and organizational skills will come handy and also be displayed to your audience. An efficient leader is attractive and that’s what your agenda should say about you. That is the key to seminar marketing.
Your program should be crafted in such a way that it should be worth attending. Create a program that will not take too much time. Lengthy seminars are boring and that is not what you want your seminar to be.
An agenda that has way too much information could be overwhelming while one with little information would waste your audience’s time, ending up with you having lost your business prospects.
Word your event right and if you’re up to it, make it witty. A humorous approach to your agenda will kick the boring idea out of your seminar. Who doesn’t like a laugh anyway? Your audience will see the person you are and the effort you are putting in for them.
Add in bios of your speakers with their general contact details. Your audience needs to know that a coaching business is an all-inclusive space with an environment that aide growth.
And the most important thing: breaks! Everybody needs to stretch their legs and get some fresh air
Pool in Resources with Marketing Partners
Partner with individuals or companies who can gain value out of your seminar and work together as a team, helping you to dip into their resources when needed. You will need the designers, marketers, designers etc., to help you create the event you need.
Marketing partners will also help you target the right kind of audience for your seminar, the ones who find value in what you have to talk about. They would also tap into their networks thus bringing in an audience that will truly matter to you. You gain a territory advantage!
These partnerships could typically have two to three organizations that could use this seminar to speed up their businesses as well. If your partner has a strong presence in the sector then launching yourself on the same platform helps your audience give you the attention you deserve.
You must set clear objectives regarding the benefits all parties get from this seminar. Your growth and theirs must meet similar advantages. That’s the strategy you will need in place here.
Bring your Clients on Board
As a life coach, you will have clients who will end up being more than just clients. Ask them if they would be willing to talk about your product and service. If yes, then take it up!
Client testimonials are a great way to attract prospects, imagine them talking about their experience with you on stage. Their testimonial in person makes a lot of difference. A coaching business is all about establishing trust and here you’re doing just that! With seminar marketing, it’s all about giving yourself credibility
Also, your clients could also use this seminar platform to advertise their coaching business as well. A win-win situation is the best anyone can offer and this is the perfect solution a coach could come up with.
Online Event Planning Sites
Is there anything the internet cannot provide us? After all, your coaching business is thriving because of the various tools that are out there for us to explore and use. Life coaching as an industry boomed thanks to the internet.
As such, there are brilliant sites like MeetUp and Eventbrite that every coach must use. These are event organizing sites which help you to plan and create your seminar. Along with that handy attribute, you can also meet other coaches and create one of the most important tool: Networking.
Social media sites and event planning sites mentioned above have immense potential that everybody taps into. Networking is as much a bread and butter as your website is for your business. Seminars marketed and advertised on social media sites like Facebook gain a lot of traction.
You also have an active database that you can interact with. Your prospective clients have a platform to reach out to you if they have queries. Live interaction sessions online will also help you gain an audience.
The followers that you gain are equally helpful. You must make the most of these tools. If you don’t know how to create events and pages for a seminar, you needn’t worry. There are thousands of kind folks who put up tutorials.
After all, they’ve been using the internet for the same purpose. Watch your seminars fill up, your network and business grow.
Visually Creative and Effective
Your seminar will require presentations and this is your opportunity to get creative! Any kind of presentation will need to carry information that will be effective. From colours to content you can play your ideas out.
Make teasers of the content that you would like to talk about. If you feel you aren’t creative enough then hire a designer to do your work for you. A coaching business always needs a designer and having one on your team is gold.
Share your teasers on social media to give your potential audience a glimpse of what you will be offering them in your seminar.
Edutainment is another feather you can add to your cap. Educational entertainment is adding invaluable information in an entertaining manner. Add in some animation and humour, your audience will be talking about your seminar for days to come. All because you found creative ways to marketing the seminar.
A popular coach is a coach with good business prospects.
Finally, Follow up
The online registration forms, the social media pages and event sites will give you the details to follow up with people. Call, text and email. Be consistent with your follow-ups. Your follow message must be creative and unique, each time.
The same template will only annoy your audience. Give them something to be interested in, you are a stand-up coach after all. Let them see it!
After your seminar, send those who attend a feedback form and value their feedback. You could learn a lot about your audience and yourself from them. Take all these pointers and use it well in your next seminar!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do you say I am fully booked?
If you want to say that you’re fully booked, you can say “I am not taking any other clients at the moment” or “I’m sorry, but I’ve chosen my clients. We are fully booked” or “I’m afraid I can’t offer you my service as I am booked by other clients.”
How do you market to coaches?
Coaches have few resources, so they depend on the internet. They will probably have a website. However, most of the coaches are probably not on social media. And many of them are not interested in making money either. But if you are able to market to coaches using social media, you can find many of them. Some coaches may have blogs and websites, but these are few. There are many forums and communities that focus on coaching. Although they are not coaching specific, you can find many coaches there. You can also focus on coaching-related keywords on search engines. You can also focus on keywords such as “how to coach” or “coaching practice”, etc. Because people who are interested in coaching will search for coaching-related keywords.
Hello there,
To whom it may concern,
May someone please give me a call regarding, a Few thing I would like to communicate please.
Thank you,
Faye
Hi Faye. Thank you for your query. You may book a session here https://go.oncehub.com/ts-davith with our Head Coach 🙂
Your posts are always interesting.