Discover the number 1 Marketing Mistake Most Coaches Make
The majority of coaches decide upon their niche based on a need they spot in a group of people, whether that is a group they know intimately or one observed from a distance. Being lazy in our market research leads us to make assumptions about people, and ultimately violates the first rule of coaching – to respect another person’s model of the world.
One of the most common examples of this is assuming that a smoker wants to stop smoking. Many coaches have set up in business to ‘cure’ the smoker without recognising that the individual does not want to stop smoking, they are perfectly happy as they are. It can be easy to assume that with all the negative press associated with smoking, that every smoker is motivated to stop and willing to paying for help. This kind of assumption is the pill of death to any coaching business.
The classic mistake that most Coaches make when starting out in business is assuming that they know and understand their market. No matter how well you think you know your market, without thorough research you’re heading for disaster. Thorough research is the underpinning foundational block, without which your businesses growth and success is limited.
Here are 5 reasons why researching your market will help you succeed:
1. Stops you wasting resources and speeds up your success You’ve probably heard us say it before: the average coach wastes £2-8k on ineffective marketing in their first year. If you don’t understand your market, you can’t know where your clients are hanging out or the best places to find them. You’re clients aren’t hiding from you. If you start speaking their language and solving a genuine pain that they are willing to pay to have fixed, clients will start coming to you. Advertising costs money and you don’t want to waste it placing ineffective ads in the places your clients don’t look.
2. It helps you prepare a successful marketing strategy If you don’t understand your market, you won’t be able to put together a clear marketing strategy. As you progress you’ll discover new things about your clients and want to incorporate them. When you are clear about your market you can create a website that speaks directly to them, rather than have to re-invent which costs you time and money.
3. When you understand your market you can tailor your message much more clearly As coaches we know the importance of speaking our clients language and using their words. With thorough research we can find out exactly what words they are using and incorporate them into our marketing brochures and conversation, increasing our conversion rate. Denise Molloy who attended Get More Clients Make More Money (GMCMMM) in March 2010 experiences this first hand. When she got really clear with her message and spoke to her client’s needs, she found people began asking to work with her, without any need for giving a convincing sales pitch.
4. Create Packages that meet our client’s needs If we go in blindly and assume what our clients need, there is a high probability that we’ll create packages that are not attractive to our clients. For example, one client who attended our GMCMMM event in March 2010, was marketing group-coaching sessions to her clients. After taking time to research she recognised that this was not an attractive offer for her clientele. Her clients operated in a cutthroat industry and revealing personal challenges and insecurities to a large group was more likely to damage their career than help it. It was counter productive. She had no hope of selling it. However, when she reduced the group size to just 3 people she had many takers for her services, proving just how important it is to understand your market.
5. Your Clients are not Searching for a Solution For many niches it is highly probable that your clients are not searching for a solution to their problem, but yet are motivated to solve it. They just don’t know that they can. This kind of information is absolutely invaluable, as it will help you develop a marketing strategy based on what currently gets their attention and so you can market alongside it. If no one is searching for your solution you need to be doubly clever with your marketing.
As many coaches are proving, getting clients is not hard and it’s not based on the state of the economy. It simply comes down to your marketing strategy.
Your first port of call before getting started is a detailed study of your market. Even if you’ve been going a long time researching your market is important. As the market is always evolving, you should look to conduct thorough research at least twice a year, if not more.
Using the internet, you can find out ample information about your chosen market. You don’t have to have a big list to survey or conduct market research standing on a street corner. You simply need to get savvy about using the world wide web and all the free resources available.
In the Marketing Master class ‘Using the Internet to Research Your Market’ Hannah McNamara, author of ‘Niche Marketing for Coaches’ shows you how to:
* Discover the challenges clients are talking about, the language they are using and tailor your message accordingly
* Understand your clients unique needs and create packages they will buy into
* Ascertain how motivated the client is to create change and how much they are willing to pay to solve the issue
* Discover what your potential clients are searching for online and create a targeted marketing campaign
This class will show you how to conduct surveys, focus groups and create ‘fly catcher’ pages that will show you exactly, how to test your results and what to do with them.
If you’re serious about your business then this the perfect resource. It will teach you everything you need to learn the skills to research your target market and prepare you for building your marketing message and packages.
