5 Ways to Use LinkedIn in Your Coaching Practice

In the coaching business, finding the right clients who trust in your brand is everything. You need to reach out to people who would be willing to learn from your experiences and expertise. LinkedIn is one the best options you have to connect with young, driven professionals looking for leadership coaching. But simply having a presence on the platform is not enough. To draw the attention of potential clients and sell coaching on LinkedIn, you need to build a strong profile that reflects the value you can provide.

Here’s 5 ways you can use LinkedIn in your coaching practice.

Using LinkedIn to sell coaching

LinkedIn may have started as a platform for professionals to build their resumes and network with people from their industry to find new opportunities. But today it is so much more than just a professional networking site. LinkedIn today is a massive digital marketing platform too. And why wouldn’t it be? It gives you the potential of reaching out to 740 million users worldwide. In such a multitude of users, finding your target audience becomes much easier if you’re doing things right.

To help you find clients for your coaching business on LinkedIn, here are 5 tips that always work.

1. Perfect your LinkedIn profile

The first impression that a potential client gets from your LinkedIn profile is the most important part of this entire journey. A client has to see you as a trustworthy, authoritative figure in the trade that you are selling. In coaching, your authority in the field is of paramount importance. People will only be willing to learn from you if you can make a strong impact on them in the first place.

Here’s what you can do to strengthen your profile.

• Have a friendly and engaging picture

The profile picture is what they see first. Keep it professional and positive. Do not add pictures that look candid or casual. Look at the camera, wear your best formals and try to look authoritative yet approachable. The best way to ensure this is by maintaining a pleasant smile in your picture.

• Add a banner that represents you or your business

Another thing that strikes a visitor to your profile, after the profile picture, is the background. The best idea here is to add a banner that represents your brand. It could be a logo of your business if you have one. Or you could use an image that reflects your brand values in some way. In other words, it should be relevant to the business you are trying to promote.

• Write an impressive headline

Next comes the headline which is what keeps visitors hooked to your profile. The headline on your profile needs to be short and succinct. It should clearly convey what you do or what your business is about.

Avoid jargon, make it easy to understand, and keep it to the point. The standard format is to add a job title (say Executive Coach, in your case), followed by your credentials. Make sure to add all the relevant credentials that highlight your capabilities in executive and leadership coaching. Put the most important qualification/ credential above the others.

• Include a strong and powerful summary

The summary will talk more about how you can help a potential client. Always keep your target audience in mind when creating the summary. Focus on –

• What are the challenges that they face?
• What kind of coach do they need and want?
• How can you fulfill those needs?

Apart from the above, there are three elements that you need to pay special attention to when updating you LinkedIn profile. These are the three things you must necessarily include:

• Relevant accreditations & certifications in the Licenses & Certifications section
• Skills and endorsements
• Recommendations & references to establish credibility

2. Establish your coaching brand through content

Once your profile is ready, you need to start posting engaging content to grab the attention of your potential clients. Though you are trying to sell coaching here, the content should not be straight-out promotional. Make sure to post content that your audience would find useful and relevant. To establish yourself as an authority in your field, the audience has to find your content valuable.

You could also try the LinkedIn Publishing Platform. It lets you write, edit, and share articles on LinkedIn and helps you generate more contacts and conversations around your content.

3. Influence & Engage

Creating your own content is important, but it is equally important to engage in conversation on other people’s posts as well. To build trust in your coaching business on LinkedIn, you have to make your presence felt. A proactive approach, in this case, is necessary.

You can engage with your connections by commenting on their posts and adding something that you know about the topic. If someone has a question related to your niche, you can answer them and add value to the conversation. Don’t pitch yourself or your services in these conversations. People can see through a sales pitch from miles away, and that only reduces the credibility of your comments.

Keep your conversations honest and meaningful.

4. Be active in groups

There are hundreds of groups on LinkedIn that offer an amazing platform to connect with potential clients. Join a few groups that are relevant to your niche and engage with other members actively. Contribute quality content that can add value for other group members. The advantage of being in a group is that you can reach out to a large number of people with similar interests at once. It also gives you a chance to be a part of the community and increase your connections.

5. Find leads and reach out

Lastly, since your ultimate purpose on the platform is to sell coaching to people who might be interested, you have to focus on the sales side of LinkedIn as well. You may not want to pitch your business directly and make it look salesy. But there are still other ways to promote yourself.

Find leads on LinkedIn. Leads are people who have shown some interest in your profile or your content. If someone has shared or commented on your posts, they might be interested in knowing more about your coaching business. Don’t hesitate to send them connection requests. Being proactive and making the first contact is important to your business. One additional connection can open the doors to many others for you.

You can also use LinkedIn analytics to find out people who are often engaging with your content. You can reach out to those people and start a conversation on the topic through direct messages. Gradually take the conversation in the direction of your coaching or consulting business. As there is already context to these conversations, they are likely to feel comfortable talking to you.

In conclusion

LinkedIn is the only professional networking site where you can connect with so many users and influence them to try out your executive coaching services. All you need to do is ensure that your profile and activity on the platform are able to build trust in your brand among prospective clients.

A rock-solid profile, engaging and valuable content, meaningful conversations, active presence in relevant groups, and reaching out to valuable leads are some of the best ways to ensure success.

For more such valuable information on growing your coaching business, follow Global Coach Group on LinkedIn. We are a global leadership coaching organization that integrates coaching with innovative technology for the growing demands of leadership in the modern world.

As part of our coaching certification programs, we also provide access to the Coaching Business Accelerator (CBA) course. The CBA teaches you the foundations of a successful coaching business and how to effectively implement these strategies into your very own practice. Learn more about our coaching certification programs.

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