Coaches are the best in the world at helping others achieve their potential.

However, being a successful coach goes beyond having the knowledge and expertise in your field. It also requires a solid understanding of marketing skills to attract and retain dream clients. 

But what marketing skills should you focus on? And how can you develop these skills to grow your coaching business?

Keep reading to discover:

• What are marketing skills?
• 9 marketing hard skills for coaches to master
• 4 marketing hard skills for coaches to master

What Are Marketing Skills?

Marketing skills are the abilities and strategies that coaches can use to promote themselves and their services effectively. Strong marketing skills can make all the difference in attracting the right clients who want to work with you.

But many coaches have a misconception that marketing is just about posting regularly on social media or sending a weekly newsletter. But it’s so much more than that!

Marketing, at its core, is a way to effectively communicate the value of your coaching services to the right audience. It’s the bridge that connects your services to the people who truly need them. 

When done correctly, marketing should resonate deeply with potential clients and prompt them to think:

“This is exactly what I’ve been searching for!”

With the right list of marketing skills, not only can you reach your ideal clients, but you can also establish lasting relationships with those clients. This will make sure your coaching business can grow or even scale over time.

So, what are some marketing skills examples that you should focus on to land your next coaching client? Let’s get into it.

9 Marketing Hard Skills for Coaches to Master

1. Social media marketing

One of the most powerful tools in a coach’s marketing arsenal is social media. And that’s why we’ve created so many articles to help you develop your social media skills on every platform, including:

• Pinterest for coaches
• LinkedIn for coaches
• TikTok for coaches
• Going viral on Instagram
• Instagram Threads
• Facebook Reels

When you choose the right social media platform that makes sense for your audience and dedicate yourself to mastering that as a skill… your online visibility can explode.

But keep in mind that social media marketing is not just about posting content and hoping for the best. It requires careful planning and strategy to build traction over time. 

No matter your platform of choice, consistency is key. Not only will you consistently grow your following over time, but your engagement will be better when you’re consistent.

Here’s one thing to be careful about when developing your social media marketing skills: 

Don’t fall into the trap of getting distracted by the doom scrolling! The majority of your time spent on social media should be spent creating content and engaging with potential dream clients, not just engaging with random content to pass the time!

2. Email marketing

Okay, as an email coach, I may be biased… But if you haven’t started building your email list or leveraging email marketing yet, start now!

Even if you don’t want to go heavy on email marketing, it’s still worth getting started and developing that skill gradually. That’s because email marketing has an insane ROI – every dollar invested generates $36 on average.

And while social media can be an incredibly useful marketing skill to have, relying on it alone can be risky. While you might not control the platform sending out your email newsletters, your subscriber list is yours and only yours. 

That’s more than we can say for social media followers. If you build a massive following on Instagram and don’t have an email list or a following on another platform, what would you do if:

• Instagram banned your account? (I’ve seen it happen to coaches before!)
• The algorithm changes and severely impacts your reach. (Organic reach has been declining steadily over the last few years.)
• Instagram just… shuts down? 

While that last scenario is unlikely for now, it’s not impossible. And that’s why I always tell coaches to at least dip their toes in email marketing.

The best way to start building your email marketing skills is to start writing emails and develop your voice. It also helps to find other coaches who have email lists and sign up to get inspiration from them!

Oh, and effective emails that sell your coaching don’t have to be fancy. Here is an example of a great email from SaaS coach Dan Martell: 

Notice how:

• There are no images or fancy designs
• The language is simple enough that anyone can easily understand
• Paragraphs are small and sentences are short

In terms of the actual content of the email, here’s what it does right:

• It opens with a specific problem that the audience relates to
• There’s a specific solution to the problem
• You can see proof that the solution works
• The email closes with a single call to action that’s clear and concise

So no need to complicate your life by finding the right design or template. Just pick a problem your audience has, write about it, and call them to action to help them solve that problem.

3. Copywriting

As a coach, you’ve got a unique blend of experiences, insights, and value to offer. When you sharpen your skills to pen compelling copy, you’re not just putting words on a page… you’re crafting a magnetic narrative that draws potential clients right into your world.

And this is why copywriting made it not only on this list of skills needed for marketing but on our list of sales skills, too.

Copywriting isn’t just selling, though. It’s the art of storytelling. It’s weaving the essence of your coaching services into relatable stories that resonate deeply with your target audience. When you nail that, you not only establish credibility but also create a genuine connection with the people who read your words.

You can learn more about ways to hone your copywriting skills by reading this post!

4. Market research

You want your marketing to work? You’ll need to develop your market researching skills. That’s because understanding your target market is a non-negotiable if you want your marketing to attract the right people.

By conducting thorough market research, you can gain insights into your target audience’s needs, pain points, and preferences. You can then leverage that information to tailor a message that resonates with potential clients and differentiate your services from competing coaches.

Let’s illustrate the importance of this skill with an example. If you’re a coach who helps people with stress, you may assume that people would relate to language such as:

• Reduce your stress levels
• Cut down your stress
• Stop stress from sabotaging your life
• Etc.

But is that really the language your dream clients use when discussing their day-to-day lives? Typically, people will complain about the symptoms of stress rather than the stress itself.

Maybe they’re always tired. Maybe they have chronic pain caused by stress. Or maybe they’re completely overwhelmed. 

And depending on who your exact target audience is, those symptoms won’t manifest in the same way. For instance, if your dream clients are career women in their 40s and 50s, it wouldn’t make sense to talk about college stress!

5. Marketing automation

Marketing involves a ton of manual work and tedious tasks. That’s why marketing automation tools can help you streamline your marketing efforts, save time, and increase efficiency! 

By automating repetitive marketing tasks such as email campaigns, social media scheduling, and lead nurturing, you can focus on what they do best – coaching.

Some marketing automation skills can be difficult to master. But you don’t need to be a techie to have a successful coaching business – you just need the right tool.

(Psst: have you checked out Paperbell yet? It just so happens to be the simplest coaching automation tool ever!)

6. Basic design

Visual appeal plays a significant role in capturing the attention of potential clients. 

Developing basic design skills allows you to create visually appealing graphics, presentations, and marketing materials. When you have at least a baseline understanding of design, you can make sure your branding elements are cohesive and visually appealing. This will help you create a strong and memorable impression on your audience.

But just like marketing automation skills, you don’t need to be an expert designer to land coaching clients. You can use tools such as Canva to start developing your baseline skills.

7. Video Marketing

Every year, video marketing gets bigger. For instance, in 2022, 82% of all Internet traffic worldwide came from video consumption!

(Image Source)

That’s why video marketing is one of the most valuable digital marketing skills you can develop. And it’s even more important for coaches.

By incorporating video content into your marketing strategy, coaches can connect with their audience on a more personal level. Whether through live streaming, webinars, or pre-recorded videos, video marketing allows coaches to showcase their personalities, share their faces with their audience, and build trust.

And if you’re camera-shy, know that you’re not alone. I also struggled to show up on video to build a coaching brand  – especially because writing is how I best express myself.

But the best way to conquer camera shyness and get better at video marketing… is by doing more of it. So, I encourage you to start today, even if it makes you a bit uncomfortable first!

8. Content Marketing

Content marketing is actually an amalgamation of several skills. It’s the act of marketing yourself using any type of content, which means it can include previous skills we just discussed, like:

• Social media marketing
• Video marketing
• Email marketing

But it can also include blogging and SEO optimization. 

In truth, mastering content marketing skills will make you capable of succeeding on almost any platform. When you understand how to create content that positions you as the go-to expert in your coaching niche, all you need to do is execute, and you can start generating leads!

9. Paid ads management

While organic marketing skills are important, learning paid advertising can significantly boost your visibility and reach. Developing skills in paid marketing and advertising is also a non-negotiable if you want to truly scale a coaching business.

Here’s the truth about paid ads: an ad is just organic content with money on it. This means you can’t fix content that doesn’t resonate or convert by turning it into an ad.

So, developing your skills with paid ads is eerily similar to developing your organic content marketing skills.

Of course, there’s the technical aspect of how to set up your ads in the ads manager (we cover a bit of this for the Meta platform in our post about Facebook ads). But that’s not the most challenging part.

The truly challenging part is understanding how to craft a message that captures people’s attention. And that’s a marketing skill you’ll need whether you use paid ads or not.

4 Marketing Soft Skills for Coaches to Master

1. Creative thinking

Standing out in a saturated market requires creative thinking. You need to find unique and innovative ways to grab the attention of your target audience… but you’ll also need to think outside the box to stand out from your competitors!

The thing with marketing is that you won’t know what works until you’ve tried it. As such, you need to be testing new things constantly.

But it’s hard to develop new things to test if your creative thinking skills are lacking.

If you want to develop your creative thinking skills, there’s no better way than to start practicing this skill in your day-to-day life. Start asking yourself:

What are some other ways to look at this situation? What alternative solutions haven’t we tried for this problem? 

Reading more books is another great way of developing this skill. You don’t even have to read books on creative thinking – reading any book will help. Even fiction can help you build those creative thinking muscles!

2. Analytical thinking

Marketing is not just about creativity. It also involves analyzing data to measure how effective your strategies are.

By developing analytical thinking skills, you can track and evaluate your marketing efforts, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your marketing campaigns for better results.

Once again, reading more books will help you develop this skill, just like it will help you with creative thinking. Reading will stimulate your brain and force you to analyze your reading.

But you can also play brain games – or get in the habit of learning something new! Coaches should stay up-to-date with their industry anyway, so there’s no harm in learning new things.

3. Adaptability

The world of marketing is constantly evolving. Actually, scratch that – the world is constantly evolving, period. You’ll need to be adaptable to keep up with what’s happening in the world.

For example, consider the worldwide pandemic in 2020. It flipped the world on its head. And businesses had to learn to adapt to the new realities to survive.

Becoming adaptable will help you develop grit and make sure your coaching business has a higher chance of staying afloat even during the biggest of storms.

To improve your adaptability skills, consider trying the following:

• Embrace Change: See change as a growth opportunity, not a threat.
• Be Flexible: Push your boundaries and tackle a variety of challenges.
• Keep Learning: Invest time in courses, workshops, or reading. (seeing a trend here?)
• Seek Feedback: Open up to constructive criticism and adjust accordingly.
• Build Resilience: View setbacks as lessons, not defeats.
• Reflect Often: Evaluate your reactions to refine adaptability.

These are just a few mindset shifts to help you be more adaptable. But this is the type of marketing skill that can take a lifetime to master.

4. Interpersonal skills

Last but certainly not least, interpersonal skills are vital for successful marketing as a coach!

You can put out all the marketing content you want… but at the end of the day, you need to know how to interact with potential clients. Plus, building strong relationships with potential clients and other coaches in your niche can lead to valuable collaborations, referrals, and word-of-mouth marketing. 

I hate to sound like a broken record here, but… the best way to develop interpersonal skills is to do it more simply. And as an awkward introvert, I know that can be a tough pill to swallow. This is a skill I’m still actively working on today.

At the end of the day, your marketing is a two-way street to open up conversations with more people. And without strong interpersonal skills, you’ll struggle to build a true following of loyal people who trust you enough to buy from you.

Build Your Skills in Marketing to Grow Your Coaching Business

Now you know all the skills for marketing your coaching business and why each of them is important. Remember that for many of these skills, the key to developing them is simply repetition.

It’s not fancy, but it’s true. 

And if you want more time to develop your marketing skills, why not try Paperbell? With a free account of Paperbell, you can automate the admin side of your coaching business so that you can focus on marketing yourself and coaching your clients. Grab a free account of Paperbell right here!