Over the last two months I’ve been spotlighting nine different marketing vehicles you might want to consider incorporating into your marketing strategy as a coach, solopreneur or virtual entrepreneur. They all are valuable in terms of enhancing your visibility and building connections with prospective clients. If you haven’t seen the past posts, be sure to check out those in podcasting, speaking and also product development.
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Today’s post takes us into the marketing landscape of conferences and trade shows. Depending on who you work with you might consider this one strategy or two.
Trade shows are still very common in larger urban centers and can provide a valuable way to “get out” in front of prospective clients and most importantly have conversations with those who could benefit from your skills.

Trade shows can be an expensive investment for larger events so you might want to consider partnering with others to show case your skills or thinking about another way to provide support. For example, could you sponsor a meal, insert something into tote bags, sponsor a lanyard.

Like other strategies, being clear on your intended purpose – to build brand awareness vs. have conversations with those who you serve - is key for choosing the right vehicle and strategy.

Related to trade shows is one of my favorite approaches – conferences. Conferences are an amazing way to connect with your clients and showcase what you have to offer if you enjoy speaking. Building in time to attend other sessions while you are there can also provide invaluable insights into what is truly important, topical and emerging for your client group.

If you are considering speaking at conferences, consider:

1. Where do you want to speak?  (Think: where do your clients attend)
2. What is the timeframe for submitting a proposal – not some proposals have a 9-12 month lead time?
3. What cost will be associated – consider travel and time out of office?
4. How many people attend? What is the average size of presentation room?
5. What would your clients want to learn about?
6. What do you want to showcase?

​Conferences can also provide the value of supporting your ongoing professional development. Consider how you might cover both off at the same time by attending, and speaking at, a couple of conferences in the next year.
 
As we round out this series, what are your next steps around marketing? What time have you earmarked for this?

Best,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

As we continue along our marketing voyage through section 3 of the Coaching Business Builder’s 9 promotional vehicles, this week we are going to explore lunch and learns, and associations.

Lunch and learns have the benefit of bringing an audience to you, without you having to bring them together yourself. Lunch and learns are usually short, 45 -60 minute lunch time (or breakfast) presentations delivered in organizations or associations on a range of topics. They can be a great opportunity to pilot or trial new content.
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Questions to consider:

• What is the content or program you’d like to bring out to a new audience but haven’t had the opportunity to pilot yet?
• What piece of a larger body of work could you deliver to an organization or association?
• What stand alone content do you have to deliver?

Lunch and learns are a great way to expand your repertoire and connect with new audiences (especially if you are delivering a session for an association). Be aware of the time it takes to develop and deliver. With an engagement in the middle of the day, what else can you schedule if you have to travel?

Associations and Professional Bodies
Associations and professional bodies are another great marketing source. From becoming a speaker at their annual conference, hosting a webinar or attending as a vendor at a trade show, associations are a ready-made community resource of professionals.

Activity:
What are the associations your clients/prospective clients belong to? What events do they offer throughout the year? How might you connect in and add value to their members? Take a look at what associations and organization around you are looking for speakers. What is their deadline for applications?  Pull together a list of possible topics which could be of interest to their audience.

What action steps do you want to take this week around lunch and learns and/or associations? Be sure to check out the relevant exercises in Section 3 of Coaching Business Builder.

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

Each month I share a daily calendar of prompts to support you in reflecting and taking action on  your business.
The August 1BizStepaDay is focused on Systems Check. Systems help us replicate things, and scale. They also leave us time to focus on tasks that require more energy or new thinking. As i explore in Coaching Business Builder, and PlanDoTrack, we may want to develop systems in areas including Marketing, Clients/Customers, Communication, Programming and financial.

As with other months, I hope that you will take 15 minutes each day to review the prompts and get into action around your work.

Download this month's 1BizStepaDay here.

Check out past month's 1BizStepADay posts here


Enjoy the focus,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010), From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching,
Host of the Coaching Biz Growth Lab(TM)  - a coaching group for coaches
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

Another marketing vehicle many coaches may want to explore is that of article writing. Articles can come in all shapes and sizes – from 500 - 700 words to much longer. Articles can be posted on your own website, on collaborative article sites such as EzineArticles.com. You might also consider becoming a contributor to a larger publication.
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What can you repurpose? Part of marketing success is repurposing and when approaching article writing you may not have to start from scratch. What is the content you already have that may be leveraged? Have you done a recent speaking engagement? Is there anything from that, that can be used? Could you weave together a series of shorter blog posts into a longer article?

Who is the audience? Writing with the audience in mind is key for positioning and angling your message. What is it that you want to communicate? What will they find interesting around this topic?

What’s the message? What are the key points of the message? Writing from an initial outline helps to keep an article focused. What are the three to five main points you want to communicate in your article? How clearly are these laid out?

What is your call to action? After reading the article, what do you want people to do? What action steps? What research or dialogue do you want them to undertake?

What are the things people are searching for? Consider key words: It’s one thing to write an article, another thing for it to be found. In creating a title for your article, consider what terms people may be looking for. Are there key words. Is this a How to…. article or a Ways to …. article. Consider what terms people are searching for.

What’s the appropriate length? What’s the best length of article for the audience and publication? Do some research and/or review the submission guidelines. While you won’t submit the same article in different locations, it’s likely you can repurpose some and change the slant of the topic.

What do you want to spotlight in your bio? Articles usually are followed by a short bio. What do you want to highlight in that? What are the items you want to spotlight?

Article writing can be a valuable approach for marketing. As with any of the other marketing vehicles we have been exploring, consider what is going to be a strategic use of your time and energy.

As it relates to article writing, check out section 3 of the Coaching Business Builder for more questions and exercises to gain clarity around your core messaging.

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

​As we continue in our journey around marketing, another vehicle to consider is that of networking. Building relationships is an important part of our work as service providers, particularly as coaches. I often say that coaching is a much deeper conversation than usual. In coaching, we are asking for people to be vulnerable, and to go into the exciting, and sometimes scary, areas of dreams and fears. As such, strong relationships, trust and connection are critical.
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Networking can be an important activity to undertaken regularly, as long as there is a focus and it doesn’t become all consuming.

Questions to help with focused networking are:

• Who do you want to connect with? Is it other business owners or a certain niche group?
• What’s the purpose of attending an event? Take a few minutes before attending an event to consider what you want to get out of the experience. Is it to find a resource, learn something or….?
• What do you want to contribute? Networking is about establishing and building a conversation. Conversations take two people. What is it that you want to contribute to the conversation of the group you are connecting in with?
• What do you want to get out of the conversation? To the dual nature of conversation, what are you hoping to walk away from the conversation with?
• What do you want to leave people with? Is it a business card, a brochure, a post card or other? Moo.com and Vistaprint.com both offer some creative marketing materials.

​Enjoy the conversations!
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

The rate of podcast growth is astronomical. With the advent of Alexa and Google Home devices, audio can go anywhere. From the kitchen, to the car, to our walks.

Whether you are hosting your own podcast, or showing up as a guest on others, podcasting is another important potential vehicle for getting the word out about what you do and what you have to offer. Given that coaching is a verbal modality, it’s also a great way to introduce yourself and let others get to know you.

Some of the questions you might want to consider when exploring podcasting as a possible vehicle are:

• Do you want to start your own?
• Do you want to partner with others?
• How much time do you have to dedicate to this?
• What is your overall goal for podcasting? Raising visibility? Expanding your network? Enhancing brand presence? Offering another connection and relationship building opportunity with your community and prospective clients?

There really is a range of possible podcasting options available. One great starting point to see what’s out there, and who is looking for guests, is to check out the PodcastGuest.com site.

If you host a podcast, let us know what it is, so we can follow. If you need guests, let us know what type so guest you are looking for. I would be more than pleased to drop in for a conversation as well, to talk about leadership, teamwork or business development issues from a coaching or virtual lens.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

As a blogger for more than 14 years now, I am passionate about this as a vehicle for those who like to write and want to be a content creator. Blogging can be a great first step to creating a more regular writing practice.

Blogging is often more informal than other writing approaches, and can be shorter in length, with many blog posts ranging from 300 – 500 worlds. Of course, posts can be longer than that, especially if you post less frequently.

In addition to written blogs, vlogs - or video blogs – have also become a popular vehicle. Vlogs weave together video in delivery the blog message.

From Wordpress, to blogs hosted on your own site, to the old school blogger platform, blogging is a powerful way to become a publisher.

If you are considering blogging as one of your marketing vehicles, reflect on these questions:

• What’s the purpose of the blog? Your blog can become another community or platform hub of your brand or identity. Beyond your website, what are the key themes or focus areas you want to provide information around or content? The beauty of a blog is that it creates what I term a “digital footprint”. That footprint can remain in place for much longer than the lifecyle of other items such as the 24-hour lifecycle of a story.
• How can your blog provide a focus on issues of importance to your audience? Consider your audience and what they find useful. Take some time when starting out, and at regular points, to make a list of what you might write about. Be listening for the questions you get asked, or the resources you are suggested. These can be valuable pointers to possible blog content. Be clear on who the audience is.

​Connect with others who can spread the word about your blog – There is a rich ecosystem of blogs in the blogosphere. In addition to publishing on your own blog, consider connecting with other bloggers in your community who might be interested in linking to your site and/or sharing your content. One of my favorite community vehicles I used to leverage (which still exist more than a decade later!) are blog Carnivals, where a group of bloggers come together to share content around a specific topic. This is a great way to connect in with new readers/followers and other community members in your niche.

If you have a copy of the Coaching Business Builder, or PlanDoTrack, check out the activities in the blogging part of section 3. There are five or six useful questions for you to consider as you go to focus on blogging.

What are the key steps you want to take this week around blogging? Writing and blogging are topics we are exploring at the Learning Lab and Design Studio this summer, and it’s exciting to hear about all the different areas people want to focus on.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

Speaking is a great way to get known, build your network, and show your work in action.
As someone who speaks to groups and organizations more than 50 times a year (mostly virtually), here are five things to consider in creating a WOW presentation:

1. Understand your audience: What is important for them about the topic you are speaking on? Consider the topic from their frame of reference. What are the key takeaways or exploration points they are going to find valuable? In any speaking topic there may be a range of angles/points of view you can approach the presentation from. What’s important for the audience you are speaking with?
2. Connect your audience quickly: We often talk about the WIIFM – What’s In It For Me? Whether we are a leader or a presenter, connecting people to WHY something is important and relevant to their world is foundational for engagement. We usually have a very small window to get people’s attention and keep it. What’s going to make this a valuable use of their time?
3. Open – Body – Close. The structure of your presentation is critical and forms the pathway of moving people through the conversation. In speaking we often say there are three components - the open, the body and the close. If’s often referred to as “Tell me what you are going to tell me” (the open), “Tell me” (the body), and “tell me what you told me” (the close). What are the soundbytes you want to include in the open and close? Are there 2 - 3 main points you want to make sure you reinforce throughout?
4. What’s your call to action? An often-overlooked part of presentation is the call to action. What do you want people to do next? Are you asking them to create an action plan? Do you want them to check out a resource or program you offer? Do you want them to join you at your newsletter or Facebook page? What’s the call to action?
5. How do you want to make people feel? In speaking we often say that people remember how they feel but not what you said. What’s the feeling you want people to leave your representation with:

• Inspiration?
• Motivation to try things out?
• Confidence?
• Clarity?
• Connection?

​Speaking can be a great way to start the conversation with your clients. It can be as interactive and dialogue based, or one-way as you would like. Regardless of whether it’s in person or virtual, I hope that today’s post gets you thinking about some of the practicalities and considerations when speaking.
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There’s more for you to consider around the marketing strategy of speaking in Section 3 of the Coaching Business Builder. If you have a copy of the book, be sure to read through and work through the exercises on pages 77 and 78 of the Coaching Business Builder.

Enjoy your conversations!
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.
A quick reminder that the Coaching Business Builder/PlanDoTrack Facilitator training begins on July 9th. This 18hour virtual train-the-trainer program will equip you to deliver your own training with clients. Grab a last minute spot!

This month we start shifting our attention to marketing. It will take us through most of the summer. Section 3 of the Coaching Business Builder explores nine different marketing vehicles coaches  may incorporate in terms of building relationships, and letting the world know about what they have to offer.
 
While a lot of new business owners think that marketing is only something, they will do during their first few years in business, think again! Most businesses continue to move through growth plateaus as they mature.
 
More importantly, as coaches, marketing goes hand in hand with relationships. A key part of marketing is about fostering support and services for your client (or prospective client) base. Coaching is a high touch service, and most people will want to get to know us (and like and trust us) before deciding to invest in coaching services.
 
Over the next couple of months, we’ll take a look at some of the many different strategies coaches can consider utilizing in building relationships and marketing.
 
As we get started with this topic, a number of things to keep in mind:
 
What’s important for your clients?
What do they want, need and prefer? For more than a decade I’ve shared what I term the Marketing Sweet Spot exercise with coaches who go through the Group Coaching Essentials program. You can read about it (and other marketing tips at the Digital chapter on Marketing Group and Team Coaching from my 2013 From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching Book. Click here to download and use code 4411 when prompted).
 
What’s going to add value?
Going hand in hand with what’s important for your clients (or prospective clients) is considering the question of “what’s going to add value?”. 
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As you consider this question you might also explore:

• What are they looking for?
• What are the issues that they are focused on?
• What approaches will add value – do they want more community and therefore a live program or something that will bring people together, or are they looking for something they can consume on their own time, at their own pace?

 
What do you want to do, consistently?
An old marketing adage is the 7 – 11 rule, which asserts that it may take 7 – 11 touch points before something registers and people even start to hear/notice something you are offering.  Consistency can be as important as anything else, and many coaches stop at 2 - 3 messages about what they are offering. What can you do to seed your message in different ways? Maybe you do a newsletter announcement, a Facebook live, a tweet or speak about it. Many messages take time to take root. What do you want to do consistently over time? What’s going to leverage your strengths?
 
What are the strategies you want to incorporate?
Keeping in mind what your clients want, and what you want to do consistently, what are the strategies you want to incorporate? Starting next week we’ll explore 9 different promotional vehicles you might want to consider leveraging in your own marketing, messaging and relationship building. I include these nine strategies, along with further examples and questions for you to consider, in Section 3 of the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner.
 
Over the next couple of months, we are going to explore nine different promotional vehicles I explore in the Coaching Business Builder – from speaking and blogging, to lunch and learns and partnering with associations. Stay tuned as we move through these areas in July and August.

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.
Want to offer this to your clients? Consider joining us for the PlanDoTrack/Coaching Business Builder Facilitator Training which starts virtually on July 9th.

 Each month I am providing a series of daily action prompts. The Coaching Business Builder suite is grounded in the notion that "Consistent Action + Daily Steps = Momentum". With this in mind, I created this year's 2019 1 Biz Step a Day series.
This month, in July, the theme is Signature Programs!
Also known as our body of work, this might include a program, a book, a process. What do you want your signature program or body of work to be?
This month, I hope you'll follow along with the daily prompts...let us know how it's going over at the Conversation Sparker Zone
I  hope that you'll enjoy this month's Check it Off themed 1 Biz Step A Day. You can download it here.
Be sure to share with a friend, and let them know about the Planner, and associated resources!

Thanks - Jennn

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010), From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching,
Host of the Coaching Biz Growth Lab(TM)  - a coaching group for coaches
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.