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Running a coaching or consulting business can be a tricky venture. You need to find ways to bring in leads and build your client list, but how?
You might think about jumping into ads right away, but hear me out before you do! If you don’t get the fundamentals right, you could end up wasting your money on ads that don’t bring as many leads as you may have hoped. Worse, they could even damage your brand.
So instead of diving head-first into ads, consider content marketing as the ideal lead-generation process for coaches and consultants – it’s reliable, cost-effective, and can bring in high-quality leads that are actually interested in what you have to offer.
In this blog post, we’ll go through the content marketing lead generation process for coaches and consultants – so you can start bringing in leads without having to spend a lot of money on ads – at least not yet!
We’ll talk about common lead generation processes, why content marketing is the best option for coaches and consultants, where to start with content marketing, and how you can do it in stages.
Ready to learn the content marketing lead generation process for coaches and consultants? Let’s go!
Video Transcription:
[00:00:00] Yvonne Heimann: I often get the question, how do I even get clients in the door? All of my coaches and consultants out there, no matter if they’re starting or maybe referrals are just drying up. You have taken care of all of your clients and the clients of your clients. So how do we get clients in the door? What’s the process behind it and what are we using to do that?
[00:00:24] Yvonne Heimann: That’s what we’re gonna talk about today to make sure you don’t ever run out of people to help.
[00:00:34] Yvonne Heimann: So, for all of my coaches and consultants out there, let’s start in the beginning. Before we are diving into the whole process and all the nitty gritty behind the scenes, I wanna lay the land and make sure you have a good understanding of all the terms and all the things I’m talking about. So as coaches and consultants, if we don’t have a client, we can’t coach and consult, right? And my community is often, in [00:01:00] the beginning, they are one or two years in business. They have just figured out what they wanna do when they grow up, or do we ever know what we wanna do when we grow up, right?
[00:01:09] Yvonne Heimann: It’s always kind of like adjusting and all the things. And then you go look out there and you are supposed to run ads and you are supposed to do freebies and cheap offers, and this is the process and you are supposed to do this. So many things you are being told is the best lead generation process for us coaches and consultants.
Lead generation process for coaches and consultants
[00:01:31] Yvonne Heimann: And then you try this and this doesn’t work, and you try that and it doesn’t work and tries that and it doesn’t work. So what is that lead generation process that you should start with if you were a coach or consultant? Organic content marketing. Now what is content marketing? And I’m gonna explain also why this is the one you need to start with and how to lay out the process for it.
[00:01:55] Yvonne Heimann: So we are working in stages in this video. So by definition, [00:02:00] content marketing is a marketing strategy used to attract and engage, as well as retain an audience by creating and sharing relevant articles, videos, podcasts, or other media. So what you are watching here right now is my content marketing.
[00:02:19] Yvonne Heimann: That’s how I talk to you. That’s how I engage with you. That’s how I show you I know what I’m talking about. This is content marketing. Now, why do I say start out with organic content marketing? You are building your content and you are sharing it out there. You are not putting any ad money behind it or any kind of that. Simple. Ad money?
Should you do ads?
[00:02:43] Yvonne Heimann: Once you actually figure out your messaging. You should know at least halfway what you wanna do when you go up, right? You got your offer. ClickUp coaches, Dubsado consultants, you are all out there. We know what we wanna sell. [00:03:00] That doesn’t mean you know how to talk about it. So, if you do not have that messaging right, and you are hitting those pain points of your clients and you are speaking their language, then you’re not gonna get anywhere.
Where should you start?
[00:03:16] Yvonne Heimann: Your ads are not gonna bring anything in. You’re not gonna be able to pay your bills if you have a freebie or a cheap template at 29 bucks because you’re gonna have to sell so much to pay your bills, but you always gonna be able to sell so much if you have your messaging right. So, organic content marketing is the thing. Meaning, I always recommend start out with creating video.
[00:03:43] Yvonne Heimann: It is often easier for us to talk. If you can’t talk to a camera like I’m doing, and it took me a while to get here. We literally did the trick of cutting out a face of somebody and putting it behind the camera like you are getting used to looking at something and it [00:04:00] doesn’t look like a camera. But when you do content marketing and you start with video, it also gives you way more possibility to repurpose your content.
[00:04:14] Yvonne Heimann: And now we are starting to get into that process, into that process of content marketing to get your leads in. So, you need to have your messaging right. This is why we do organic. You don’t need to put money and ad budget into something that you haven’t proven yet. Putting yourself out there. Testing new language.
[00:04:33] Yvonne Heimann: Testing your delivery. Working on looking good on camera. Awesome. We got that down. Now, we wanna do the most and get the most out of our content marketing to really grab that lead and turn them into a client. So what is the process behind it? If you don’t wanna do it like me and you wanna do recorded videos and hire an editor and do all the things, go [00:05:00] live. Seriously, just go live.
[00:05:02] Yvonne Heimann: You always can delete it. You shouldn’t because we all grow. If you look back at my YouTube channel, the first videos look like crap. Let’s be honest. Start with lives. I started with lives. You don’t have to start with recorded YouTube videos. My first ever YouTube video was a Facebook Live, recorded crappy picture, uploaded to YouTube.
[00:05:23] Yvonne Heimann: I’m telling you, start with video. When going live, pre-announce your live, already tell people, hint what you’re gonna talk about. What are you gonna teach them? Invite them. Use an Instagram Story with a timer and make sure people are reminded to show up. Do live or publish your YouTube video. The process is the same.
[00:05:45] Yvonne Heimann: Show up. Show them you know what you’re talking about. Just talk because it also shows you, you are a human. Yes, my stuttering is getting edited out of this video. Don’t edit that out. Thank you. Lives are so much more [00:06:00] engaging, especially when you are starting out. Invite a friend if you don’t feel comfortable, and then repurpose your content.
[00:06:08] Yvonne Heimann: We wanna get the most out of your content. So what is that lead generation process? Again, we are starting with messaging. Ask your clients what’s the goal? Why are they working with you? Get those language, get those words out of them. Then start publishing content. Start going live. Just talk about it. And then repurpose it.
[00:06:29] Yvonne Heimann: Now, we are doing this with live video, Shorts and YouTube videos. So here is where you get the first look of the actual behind the scenes process of building out that content marketing. And this is all focused around for coaches and consultants. It applies to other professions too, but specifically coaches and consultants, because the market is so big nowadays and there are so many out there.
[00:06:54] Yvonne Heimann: You really wanna show people you know what you’re talking about and you’re not just gonna take their money and run with [00:07:00] it. Happens too often out there. We’ve all seen it. Now, let’s look right at my ClickUp. This is my content plan because I know, I know, I know. I know. You’re gonna be like, Yvi, you want me to do a Short and a live and then repurpose and all the things.
Work in stages
[00:07:15] Yvonne Heimann: Work in stages. I started out with just a YouTube video. Those Friday videos that you see right there are my YouTube videos. This is prerecorded and edited educational content as you are watching right now. Wednesdays is the podcast and my micro-content Stories, Reels, that is Monday. Now, I have chosen YouTube as my primary platform for video content for the long-form video content.
[00:07:47] Yvonne Heimann: Yes, we are publishing short form too, but we build up on this. So the process here is decide on a schedule and do the thing. If you say you’re gonna do it, you [00:08:00] better do it. This video, this Short leads into this video. The whole month has one topic and subject to go with. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
[00:08:14] Yvonne Heimann: You literally can take this recorded video and grab a snippet, grab an aha bite, and turn that into a short form. Now, I specifically record the short form. That’s my choice. You don’t have to. With the podcast, it is a great way to have a guest on show, not having to talk to the camera by myself and bring somebody else in to have this conversation.
[00:08:40] Yvonne Heimann: As well as having 30 minutes of content that you can plug into Descript and have a VA just pull out nice little snippets. And there you have your social media content. Now, if you’re a visual person, I do have a video specifically on how you can create this calendar. We’ll get it linked. You’re also gonna see it [00:09:00] in the end, so no turning off yet because here’s why you do not see any social media content in here.
[00:09:08] Yvonne Heimann: When you are starting out, your content creation is the big thing. The repurposing and creating that micro content is a big thing that takes a lot of time. Now, in this process, what we have done to cut down on “social media sharing” of all of this content and it not just being sent out in the ether, we take a full video, plug it into the blog.
[00:09:37] Yvonne Heimann: That blog then funnels into MissingLettr. And for the next 365 days shares that blog post. That’s where the podcast audio is in. That’s where the YouTube video is in. That’s where all of that is, and I don’t have to worry too much about creating all of the posts and the [00:10:00] content for social media. So what you are doing here for this lead generation process, means you are talking to people. They get to meet you.
[00:10:10] Yvonne Heimann: They get to hear that if you are cursing or not. They see you, especially if you have an accent like me. They’d be able to understand you, better get a feel of how it is to work with you. Create that content around that, and then you start sharing it out. That’s how you make friends, especially with a podcast.
[00:10:30] Yvonne Heimann: What better way to be like, hi, you are a potential client. Wanna be my client? Who? Who wants that? But if the podcast is positioned right, you can invite potential clients as guests and start that conversation to make your life easier. So here you have a full on lead generation process for you as a coach or consultant using content marketing.
[00:10:56] Yvonne Heimann: And if you really are ready to [00:11:00] optimize your whole content marketing, the project management behind it, as well as your understanding, I have a full on playlist for you right here where all of the videos are easily and readily available for you to binge. So click it because I’ll wanna see you in the next video.
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