WHY YOUR COACHING-BUSINESS MARKETING WILL NEVER WORK

(A devastatingly honest note for coaches who do not coach other coaches)

Most coaches aren’t struggling because they’re bad at coaching. They’re struggling because the marketing they’re using has been designed to work on them – not on their potential clients.

Read that again.

I’m speaking to coaches whose clients are Jo Public (not other coaches). If you coach coaches, this will be less relevant. If you coach regular people, read every word.

The Trap (and why it’s invisible when you’re inside it)

You’re posting your heart out on social. Showing up, talking about your work, your methods, your offers. You’re getting likes, comments, DMs…mostly from other coaches.

That’s the telltale sign you’re in the depths of what I call ‘The Coaching Bubble’ – a cleverly designed echo chamber where:

• Coaches just sharing content on social media talking to other coaches in coach language.
• Working with business mentors who sell to coaches and teach strategies that only work on coaches (aka not Joe Public).
• Implementing marketing strategies that are making those business mentors rich, and that were designed to work on YOU, not on your actual clients (aka Joe Public).

From inside the Bubble, it looks like you’re creating momentum. From outside, Joe Public doesn’t even know you exist, and if by some miracle she does find you – she doesn’t understand a word you’re saying.

Why this keeps happening (and who’s perpetuating it)

• Mentor incentives. When business mentors who sell to coaches talk about the strategies that work for them, they’re talking about playbooks designed to convert coaches who have businesses (ie YOU). Then they teach those same plays as universal truth without realising they simply won’t work on your target audience who aren’t neck deep in the coaching world and don’t have a business.
• Hall-of-mirrors proof. Case studies, screenshots, “I did a 50k launch” posts – almost all from within the business-mentor to coach-with-a-business market. It proves the strategy works…on coaches who have a business. Then you try to use them and wonder why they don’t work.
• Algorithmic herding. Social platforms surface who engages most – which is coaches with a business to grow. So you see more coach-to-coach content, follow more mentors of coaches, and the loop tightens.
• Language drift. Terms like embodiment, expansion, regulation, activation, alignment and even 5-day challenge, mastermind, high-touch mentoring mean something in the Bubble. Joe Public hears jargon.
• Survivorship bias. You see what worked for visible voices (selling to coaches) and assume it’s replicable for your very different audience. It is not.

No villains. Just misaligned ecosystems and incentives.

And (if I’m being completely honest), a whole lot of business mentors who haven’t stepped back enough to gain the clarity to see that they should not teach-what-they-do unless their clients work with business-owning- coaches too!

What happens when you fall in

• Wrong buyer, wrong message. You refine content that impresses peers, not the people with the problem.
• Hamster wheel marketing. Constant posting replaces building real discovery pathways.
• Expensive experiments. You buy courses and templates that were never built to work on your actual target audience.
• Erosion of trust. Your trust has worn to a little steamy nub of annoyance and you’re talking a language your potential clients mistrust, so they bounce.
• Compounded self-doubt. You conclude “maybe I’m just not cut out for this” when the truth is you were sold the wrong map.

Impact on your business: slow lead flow, high acquisition cost, low conversion, inconsistent revenue.

Impact on your potential clients: they can’t find you, or when they do, they can’t recognise themselves in your message – so they find someone else to work with.

How to know if you’re stuck in it (a quick diagnostic)

• Your best engagement is from other coaches.
• Your last three investments were from mentors who teach strategies they use that work on coaches with businesses (aka not Joe Public).
• You use phrases like regulation, embodiment, quantum, activation, codes, containers, high-touch coaching in public-facing copy.
• You measure success by views, likes, and shares more than search hits, email signups, reply rate, consults booked.
• Your target audience asks, “So…what do you actually do?”
• Most of your testimonials are from coaches (or from before you fell into The Coaching Bubble!!).
• Your messaging strategy came from someone whose clientele is business-owning-coaches.
• You’re posting daily but can’t point to a single search-optimised asset bringing you leads.
• You don’t know the top 10 Google-search phrases your ideal client uses in their own words.
• You feel busier online, but your pipeline isn’t moving.

If 5+ land, you’re in The Coaching Bubble.

Translate-to-Real: what Joe Public actually hears

Coach speak → Plain speak that converts

• “Regulate your nervous system” → “Sleep through the night without 3 am sweaty panic.”
• “Find your purpose” → “Wake up knowing exactly what to do next to make your life better.”
• “Embodiment & self-trust” → “Stop second-guessing yourself at work and at home.”
• “Activate your magnetism” → “Walk into a room and be taken seriously without over-explaining.”
• “Expand your capacity” → “Handle more without burning out.”

If your copy can’t survive this translation, it won’t land with Joe Public.

The way out (a concrete path out of The Bubble)

1) Re-anchor to the right buyer

• Build a Message Map: their words, not yours. Interview five past or ideal clients. Capture exact phrases for: symptoms, stakes, desired state, blockers, moments of search.
• List the top 25 questions they Google. Answer them verbatim in search optimised content ie blogs on your website.

2) Move Beyond Social® to where Joe Public searches

• Create long shelf-life assets: search-optimised blog posts, YouTube how-tos, podcast guest spots, Pinterest pins, Google Business Profile (if relevant), directory listings.
• Prioritise channels with intent over infinite scroll.

3) Build a simple, high-intent acquisition path

• One problem-specific lead magnet (“How to stop 3 a.m. anxiety in 10 minutes”), delivered on a fast page.
• A short, plain-language welcome sequence that answers “Why me? Why now?”
• One conversion event (clinic, Q&A, workshop) with a clear next step.

4) Turn social into proof, not the engine

• Post client stories in client language, FAQs, before/after narratives, clips from your search assets.
• Stop building your house on borrowed land. Use social to point to your owned assets and email list.

5) Change what you measure

• From: views, likes, followers.
• To: search impressions, email opt-ins, reply rate, consults booked, conversion per 100 visitors, time-to-first-sale.

6) Build your evidence engine

• Collect outcome-focused case studies: “Before/After/How We Did It” in the client’s words.
• Publish a quarterly “State of Results” post. Credibility compounds.

A 90-Day Re-Route (use this as your playbook)

Weeks 1-2: Real client interviews, Message Map, translate top 20 phrases from coach speak to plain speak.

Weeks 3-6: Publish two flagship, search-optimised guides and one lead magnet; install a 5-email welcome sequence.

Weeks 7-10: Launch a monthly clinic; pitch five podcasts; set up Google Business Profile (if relevant); create one partner referral loop (therapists, HR leaders, school counsellors, GPs – whoever your client already trusts).

Weeks 11-12: Host clinic, collect proof, iterate copy based on questions asked; review metrics (opt-ins, reply rate, consults booked, conversions).

Do that and your pipeline will start reflecting the market you’re actually meant to serve.

The uncomfortable truth (and the invitation)

If you’re buying a strategy from someone whose clients are coaches-in-business, assume it was designed to work on you (unless they make it clear they don’t teach-what-they-do they teach-what-works-for-you…like I do!) That doesn’t make it bad. It makes it misapplied.

Your job as a professional is to step out of The Coaching Bubble, speak human-to-human, go where intent lives, and build systems that meet Joe Public in her world.

Take a breath. Pull back. Audit who you’re learning from. If their proof is mostly “what worked for me” within The Bubble, adjust your course.

This is the gap I’ve been closing for years. Not with louder posts – but with clearer language, better pathways, and strategies that respect how real people actually find help.

If you felt a thud of recognition reading this, good. That’s your way out calling.

And if you’re ready to work with a Business Mentor that teaches a simple and sustainable approach to reaching your actual target audience and converting them into self-qualified paying clients 24/7 – it’s time to send me that DM.

Just write to me saying ‘Sally – Let’s Get Sticky’ and I’ll guide you toward the next steps.