Need a sample marketing plan + life coaching template? We’ve created a sample marketing plan template for life coaches that’ll help them create their own marketing strategy quickly. It is designed to ensure you’re thinking through all the important facets of marketing a coaching business.
A marketing plan is a comprehensive document or blueprint that outlines a business advertising and marketing efforts for the next quarter or the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame. A marketing plan also includes a description of the current marketing position of a business, a discussion of the target market and a description of the marketing activities that a business will undertake to achieve its marketing goals. This sample marketing plan + life coaching template has a formal structure but can be used as an informal document which makes it very flexible.
It helps you:
- Define what makes your coaching product or service different from the competition and understand why that matters to clients.
- Set specific goals, like increasing sales by a certain percentage or reaching a new target audience and decide on a strategy for achieving those goals.
- Determine where your brand fits in the market—what are the needs of your target audience and how do you meet them?
- Keep your brand consistent across all marketing platforms—does everything reflect the same mission, vision, and values?
Sample Marketing Plan + Life Coaching Template: Main Components
The five key components of a life coaching marketing plan are:
- Value proposition
Value proposition is the part of a marketing plan that explains how the company will provide its product or service to its clients.
In the context of a life coaching company, the value proposition answers the question: “Why should I trust you with my most important and personal goals in life?” No matter what the product is for a business, the value proposition typically addresses its quality, price, and convenience. In a life coaching marketing plan, it is particularly important to explain how your coaching will be high-quality, affordable, and convenient.
Another component of the value proposition is differentiating yourself from your competition. Make sure you know who your competitors are and how you are different from them. If you are not different enough, figure out how you can tweak your program or course so that it is better than your competitor’s.
- Marketing Goals + Objectives
Goals are how you know your business will be successful. They are not just dreams, but defined targets that you set for yourself and then actually reach.
The first step in goal setting is to determine what you want from your life coaching business. Do you want to coach a certain number of clients? Do you want to be able to take a specific amount of time off each year? Do you want to earn a certain amount of money by a certain date? All of these are valid goals.
- Target market
Your target market is the group of people that you want to sell your coaching services to. They are the people who will be interested in what you have to offer and will be motivated to pay for it.
To identify your target market, you’ll want to think about who you want your clients to be. What are their demographics? What are their lifestyles like? Do they have challenges or goals that you can help them with? How do they find information about life coaching services?
The more precisely you can define your target market, the better able you will be to tailor your coaching business marketing plan to meet their needs and interests.
- Marketing Activities
Once you have determined your target market, the next step is to detail the specific activities that you will undertake to achieve your marketing goals and objectives.
What steps or activities will you undertake to achieve your marketing objectives? These may include print advertising, online advertising, sample lessons, mail-outs, giveaways, media releases, events, developing a website, creating a blog, getting active on social media, public relations, branding and artwork, or publications.
As you create these activities, keep referring to your target market—it will help you to assess which activities are worth the time and effort to implement.
- Budget
You will need to create a budget and stick to it. The more thorough your budget is, the better. You will want to itemize all your expenses, including costs for things like your website, marketing materials, client acquisition, and more.
It’s also a great idea to set aside some money for emergencies that you didn’t think of. For example, set up a rainy-day fund for unexpected expenses like car breakdowns and last-minute trips on short notice to see clients and family members who are having emergencies. It’s important to set aside some money for situations like these.
Once you’ve sorted these five things out, always remember, all plans in a marketing plan should remain flexible (and adjustable) as you are often working with assumptions. The more planning you do, the better you will become at predicting who your clients are and what they need. However, as you are learning the needs of your market—it is fair to say that some of your assumptions are going to fall short of expectation, therefore continue adjusting your plan until it works for you!
SPECIAL BONUS — If you would like step-by-step blueprints for generating a massive income from high paying coaching clients, I invite you to claim your FREE ACCESS to the “Life Coach Salary Secrets” video toolkit. Go HERE to get it FREE.
Jeannie Cotter
Editor/Writer
Writer, Coaches Training Blog community
Speak Your Mind