The more people who know about you, the more likely you are to get hired. One way to let more people know about you is to be an expert. This might sound counter to coaching since a foundational premise of coaching is that the client is the expert, but even then, you are the expert about coaching.

You may or may not need a platform, such as a blog, webinar, podcast, video channel, email drip, or some other way to get in front of lots of people, usually on the internet. I know many successful coaches who don’t do this. Instead, they are out there directly asking people to become their clients. But if you want a platform, I have some advice that might be helpful.

1. Love your platform – I remember when I started the CAM podcast a few years ago, Cliff Ravenscraft, the Podcast Answer Man, said to celebrate when you get to ten episodes. Getting to ten is harder than getting to hundred. No matter what format you pick, you will want to quit. For me, I love to podcast. I love the audio equipment. I love editing the WAV file. I love interviewing a guest. I love talking about coaching. Usually, when I have a repetitive task with a deadline, I usually finish a little late. Writing this blog post for instance, I’m a week past the deadline. With podcasting, I’m actually 3 months ahead!
2. Give helpful advice — The problem with most advice is that it isn’t helpful. Most advice feels more like a complaint. “If you would only do it this way, I would feel better about it.” But when somebody narrows in and gives me good advice that fits my context and skill set, I instantly put that person in special reserved category. I love it when the advice is freely given and left to me to decide what to do with it.
3. Give hopeful encouragement — Encouragement usually is hopeful, and it is even more hopeful when the encouragement challenges me to do something hard. We all have our own obstacles, and hopeful encouragement says, “Not only can you scale the obstacle, you need to.” Hopeful encouragement is loaded with truth.
4. Make it excellent – It doesn’t have to be perfect but it’s imperfection will be a reflection on your competency. If the writing is poor or the audio is bad or the video is blurry, the consumer will judge your ability to coach in the same way. Your posts won’t be great when you start, but every week, ask yourself how it can be a little better. This will require a time investment.
5. Hire an editor – A good editor can make your media twice as good in an hour. Your first thought might be, “I can’t afford an editor.” I found an editor who was willing to barter for my coaching. She made my product better immediately. As I watched her edits, I became a better writer. (Note: This post has not been edited, but I can hear my editor in my head saying to make these points similar length and grammatically parallel.)
6. Market your post – When you finish producing your post or episode, you are now half done. It’s only valuable if people see it. Don’t just hope people will find your post. Put it on Facebook. Email it to everybody. Ask friends to share it. Be creative. Mention your posts in conversations or when you get the chance to speak to a group.
7. Analyze what works – After 100 episodes of our podcast, I can tell you our number one topic is “Questions.” If the podcast is about how to ask better questions, almost twice as many people will listen to it. The marketing experts I listen to say you cannot guess what people want. You must try lots of subjects, see what works, and then repeat it.

No matter what format you use to promote yourself, be sure that you still ask people to hire you as a coach. There is a secret hope in us that someone will notice how wonderful we are and ask us to be there coach. It does happen occasionally, but if you want a full calendar of clients, you still have to be the one to ask. BTW, if you’re interested in hiring a coach, let me know!