If you’re a coach (life coach, health coach, how-to-not-kill-your-indoor-plants coach) and you’re marketing your business online, you know that email marketing for coaches is where it’s at.
And yet, as a copywriter who works with small businesses, I talk to a lot of coaches who are intimidated by email marketing.
It’s the classic case of blank page syndrome: you sit down at your computer, open up a Google doc or Flodesk, and when it comes to actually writing your dang emails, you end up using the backspace button more than your brain.
Sound familiar?
Let me take the pressure off: you’re most likely making email marketing for your coaching business too complicated.
So, let’s talk about making things simple, actionable, and primed to move the needle in your coaching business (i.e. make some money $$$)
Email marketing for coaches isn’t like most email marketing out there
First, let’s get this out of the way: email marketing for coaches is not like email marketing for other businesses.
If you’re a coach, you’re not going to be sending out the same kinds of emails that Skims or Michaels is doing.
(Although, I do not mind the constant stream of coupons and deals Michaels is sending my way each day, lol)
There is quite a different sales process you have to take to get someone to buy your coaching vs buying a knickknack or trendy bra. You have to hit different points of desires, pain points, and opportunities to grow and transform.
Basically it comes down to trust.
People need to trust you as a coach before they buy from you.
It’s a much higher threshold for getting a sale. Luckily, email marketing is an ideal way to achieve that trust.
To get this trust with your email list, let’s break your email marketing down into two goals: 1) Growth and 2) Monetizing.
Here are the 4 things I recommend coaches do for their email marketing.
#1 – Growth: Lead Magnet or Freebie
First thing first, you actually need to have people to email if you want to use email marketing in your coaching business.
Using a lead magnet or freebie is the perfect way to get potential coaching clients on your email list. This blog post here tells you exactly how to create a freebie that grows your email list.
In general, here are some popular lead magnets you can use as a coach to get people on your list:
- Webinars
- Checklists
- Templates
- A PDF guide
- Quizzes
- Shopping lists
- Recipes
- Calendar or timeline
- Printables
- Light versions of digital products
- Mini email course or text course
- Workbook
The key to creating your freebie or lead magnet is that it needs to be something that your ideal client is interested in. All you need is a bite-sized portion of your expertise to entice them into giving up their email address.
If you’re trying to decide what lead magnet to create for your ideal client, here are some questions you can ask yourself:
- What does my ideal client Google or look for on social media? Solving a single Google search for them with a freebie, guide, quiz, or checklist can help draw in more ideal coaching clients for your business.
- What quick win do my current clients experience when they work with me? Look through your testimonials, reviews, or client notes to see what some of their fastest results are. Brainstorm some ways you can deliver some of that instant gratification to them in the form of a freebie.
- What is something I really want my ideal client to know before they work with me? Since you’re an expert coach in your industry, or you have a unique take with your approach to coaching, think about some ways you can introduce people to how awesome you are in the form of a freebie.
- What gaps in my coaching space can I fill with my freebie? Maybe every other health coach does a recipe book freebie. Perhaps you can switch things up by giving them a shopping list instead. Make things easier for them by taking the guess work out of a problem they have to face every week (grocery shopping.)
Once you get into a rhythm of thinking of freebies, you’ll find there are dozens (if not, hundreds) of lead magnet ideas for your coaching business. Choose one at a time, and start promoting it everywhere to grow your email list.
#2 – Growth: Exclusive Newsletter
I could be wrong, but I don’t think anyone has ever opted into a newsletter simply from seeing you post “sign up for my newsletter!” You’ve gotta entice them, that’s part of the appeal of lead magnets.
Let’s clarify this: there is a difference between having a newsletter and having an email list.
Perhaps you already know this, but I just want to make sure you know the Venn diagram is not a circle.
Although you can do email marketing without having a newsletter, I would highly recommend taking the newsletter approach.
Why? I’m so glad you asked:
- Newsletters are predictable: You can send out your newsletter weekly, monthly, or quarterly, whatever works for your workflow. The predictability of it primes your audience to hear from you. You become familiar and trustworthy to them.
- Newsletters are branded: Branding your newsletter can help it become an *experience,* not just a list of updates about you and your business. It becomes a true extension of your brand and the world building you’re doing every day.
- Newsletters are easy to write: Since they are predictable and branded, you can follow the same format every time you write a newsletter. If you know roughly what’s included in every newsletter, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you want to talk to your list.
- Newsletters can be exclusive: Unlike Google or social media, people have to opt in to hear from you. This can create a much more private experience for your readers, allowing you to speak more directly to them and truly give away your best insights to your most loyal audience members.
And it’s that last point, the exclusivity, that I want to focus on the most.
Because, you can sell exclusivity. It’s bougie.
How to create your exclusive newsletter:
- Decide on a name: My newsletter, Wired & Inspired, is a caffeinated, creative extension of my brand. You get that experience within the newsletter content as well.
- Decide on your newsletter segments: For example, I share my “inspiration of the week” for each edition of Wired & Inspired. It’s basically whatever random interest (music, TV show, book, etc.) I’m really inspired by that week.
- Preview the content you’ll talk about: This is probably the most important part of creating an exclusive newsletter – you’ve gotta preview the content your readers won’t be able to find anywhere else! For me, I talk about marketing, copywriting, and creativity. My hot takes cannot be found anywhere else on the internet.
- Create an opt-in page for your newsletter: You need to have a page on your website that you can easily sent people to so they can opt in to your newsletter. You can have a minimal subscribe page like mine, but I actually prefer the one I wrote for my client, VM Interiors, which previews everything you’re getting when you opt in to her newsletter.
Now that you have an exclusive newsletter, people will feel like they have an IN with you when they subscribe.
Isn’t that so much better than a basic “sign up for my newsletter” spiel?
#3 – Monetize: The Ultimate Nurturer
OK. Now that we’ve outlined the 2 ways coaches can grow their email lists, let’s talk about MONETIZING your email list.
First off, one of the best ways to make any sale is to make sure your leads are properly warmed up.
Psychologically, your email subscribers are simply at a hotter temperature than your social media leads. Part of this is because they’ve consented to hearing from you directly within your inbox. This gives you more direct access to them.
Here are some great ways to nurture your email list for making sales:
- Write welcome sequences for your freebies: We talked about creating a freebie, yes, but you should also have a welcome sequence for each freebie you have. Basically, this is a series of about 5-6 emails that fire off the first week or so after someone has opted in to your freebie. This helps get the lead more familiar with you, your brand, and the value you can offer them.
- Stay consistent with your newsletters: Ah yes, consistency is the one thing many busy business owners have a hard time staying on top of. But if you can make sure your newsletter subscribers know when they’ll hear from you, and actually show up in their inbox that often, they’ll soon see you as a reliable and value-packed presence in their lives.
- Start a series: This can either be for your newsletter or an independent email sequence, but starting a series can be a helpful way to get people on your list excited to hear from you, but it also cuts out the decision-fatigue you get from planning a newsletter each week. Start a series about your particular brand of coaching (such as “healthy eating during the holidays” or “how to negotiate a higher salary”) and your people will be excited to hear from you.
- Prep your list prior to a launch: Similar to a welcome sequence, you’ve gotta have a series of emails firing off prior to your launch to get people excited and ready to buy. Sales emails are a whole other blog post, but in general, there’s no such thing as emailing your list too much during a launch (because they can just opt out or delete if they don’t want to read them.)
The point of nurturing: get people familiar with hearing from you and get comfortable selling to them! You don’t have to do hard hitting sales emails every time you email people (please don’t actually) but don’t be shy about engaging your list.
They consented to be there, you can talk to them.
#4 – Monetize: Sell Passive Offers
As a coach, your coaching packages are typically what you’re trying to sell, but if you can create some low-ticket or passive offers, these can be great for monetizing your email list as well.
Your email list is THE PLACE to sell your low-ticket and passive offers because, as we established, your email subscribers are the most likely people in your audience to buy from you.
This might seem obvious to you, but a lot of coaches tend to forget that if they have passive offers, simply spending a day prepping emails for a sale or firing off a flash sale email can be extra money in their pocket for very little work on their part.
Also, it’s a good idea to diversify the different types of offers you’re selling to your list. If someone isn’t ready to buy a higher-ticket package from you, a lower-ticket or passive offer could be just the thing to get their foot in the door and find out how amazing you are.
*Steal this hack: if you have a bunch of different passive offers, you could feature a different one in a section of your newsletter each week. If you match what you’re selling to the subject you’re talking about, that could be extra sales for you each week with very little effort on your part.
Whew! Sounds like a lot, right? Luckily, I can help you get *expert* email marketing for your coaching business within a single day
Ok, I get that setting up your email marketing, newsletter, or nurture sequences can feel like a lot.
And let’s not beat around the bush: it is a lot.
Knowing what to say, let alone saying it in a conversational, empathetic way, is a tall order. For something that is so effective for coaching businesses, it pays to get it right.
Luckily, when you book a Copywriting VIP Day with me, we can tackle an entire nurture sequence, lead magnet, or newsletter planning within a single day.
This is the fastest, most effective way to set your email marketing up for success that you’ll be benefiting from for months, if not years.
Take a look here if you want to learn about Copywriting VIP Days, or Inquire here to get on my schedule.
