Marketing Tools for Coaches

Coaches who are looking for marketing tools often ask us what would you recommend for …..?

We decided to compile a list of our favourite marketing tools for coaches. A question we would invite you to consider before you select a tool is ‘what does this enable me to do?’ What we mean by that is, does this save you time by automating a repetitive task? Does it save you money? Does it make your life simpler/easier? Not just is this a fancy tool that sounds like it will help me.

It’s easy to be drawn in by the sales pitch and it’s even easier to get bogged down in trying to automate everything. Sometimes you just have to do a bit of boring admin, that’s part of running a business. Other times a tool saves you so much time and gives you so many great things you can’t do business without it.

Website builder for coaches

Create.net

Brighton-based website builder that is easy to use and makes great professional websites. The support team are superb and they are one of the world’s only website builders committed to net-zero operations.

“Use the Create Website Builder to design stunning pages and take your idea or products online. Forget about the coding, all you need to do is create.”

They also have a “done for you” service where they will build your website for you – Create Design Services.

Email marketing for coaches

Drip

Send great emails, do clever stuff like automation and workflows. Much more powerful than Mailchimp and less complicated than the other tools. Does one thing well, send emails! If you’re on our email list then you’ll be getting emails from Drip as it’s what we use.

MailChimp

One of the most widely used email-sending platforms. Sends great emails and can integrate with most other marketing tools in a few clicks. The Automation side is not as good as Drip, and costs more. There are also a few technical settings you need to get setup to make sure your emails are deliverable.

Social media content for coaches

Canva

Amazing tool for creating great-looking content for social media, your website and just about anything you need to look good. You can also use it for scheduling your social content. We use it to make and schedule our social content, it saves so much time!

Descript

Editing software for your videos and podcasts. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever used before. The editing is done by simply editing a document, these changes are then applied to your video and audio. You have to try it to believe it. When you start to use it it feels like it is powered by magic.

Captivate

Podcast publishing that integrates directly with Descript and makes the whole workflow super simple. Record, edit and publish your podcast in a few simple steps, let Captivate do the rest for you.

Riverside

Record video testimonials, video interviews or podcasts with Riverside. High-quality video and audio recording is much better than Zoom and allows you to edit each person’s videos individually or combine them.

Lead generation for coaches

VideoAsk

Use videos to ask questions and prompt thoughts and ideas with prospective and existing clients.

ScoreApp (30 day free trial)

Make the process of capturing and qualifying clients more engaging and interactive by asking questions and giving customised responses.

Time management tools for coaches

Calendly

Manage your time and diary, take payment for sessions and let clients book in their own sessions. Sync this tool with your calendar and get yourself organised! We couldn’t run our business without this tool.

Trello

Manage your to-do’s, projects and life admin with Trello. Using boards, lists, and cards and can keep track of everything. We use it for managing and launching our projects and as our CRM.

Password manager for coaches

BitWarden

Use a different and secure password for every site, and only have to remember one password! It’s super simple to use and sync across your devices. It also works with YubiKeys for ultimate security. It’s what Simon uses for their agency passwords.

1Password

Keep your life and business secure with a password manager. Never have to remember a password again. It’s more secure than storing them in your browser or on your computer and syncs across multiple devices.

Online course platforms for coaches

Upcoach

Upcaoch “helps coaches organise, systemise and scale the impact of their coaching programs so they can deliver remarkable results and keep their clients longer”. The Upcoach system takes care of all aspects of your coaching business, including your community. It also does appointments, courses and finances. It is the one tool that does everything you need.

Watch a demo video and see how it all works.

Pros: Everything in one place: coaching, courses, worksheets & community

Cons: You have to fit your business model to they way it works (although this is a proven way of working, so not necessarily a bad thing)

Community: Yes

Thinkific

A great-looking platform with a simple workflow for creating and delivering courses. Has straightforward options to get you started and more complex options for those with a specific business model in mind. Overall a great course delivery system that will give your online coaching courses a very professional look and feel.

Pros: Easy to use (for you and the client)

Cons: Needs external email marketing

Community: No

Ruzuku

“Everything you need to connect with your audience, create inspiring content, and change the world.”

One of the best-designed course platforms, that sticks to what it’s good at – online courses. By removing all the stuff, you don’t need that other platforms have added to make their feature lists longer the team at Ruzuku has made the experience of both creating and participating in an online course a real pleasure.

Pros: Easy to use (for you and the client) hosts your videos files so you don’t need Vimeo

Cons: Only connects with Mailchimp you need Zapier to use a better email marketing option.

Community: No

Mighty Networks

The only platform that really does both course delivery and community. The platform looks great and is super simple to set up, and great for your clients too. You can use it with just the course delivery element and then build a community later, or the other way around. Unlike the other platforms, your community can interact and share content, respond to polls, join groups, and discuss topics they’re interested in. The course delivery is slightly more limited than the other platforms but for the majority of coaches, it will be all they need. The platform has its quirks and limitations (as they all do) but if you’re building a community and selling a course on top, the business model works.

Pros: Simple to use for you and the client

Cons: No waitlist/pre-sales for courses

Community: Yes

Storyprompt

An asynchronous community platform based on video conversations. “StoryPrompt is the easiest way to send and collect personal videos. Capturing stories, testimonials, and updates is as simple as sharing a link.”.

Pros: Great alternative to the normal community for those looking for something more personal and asynchronous.

Cons: Not the workflow/experience many are used to (which might be a positive!)

Community: Yes

If you want more information we have a whole blog post about the whole range of different online courses and community platforms.

Wise

Handle multiple currencies in one palace with very low fees. It works by creating localised currency accounts to accept USD, EUROS, GBP etc in that currency, so you then avoid conversion fees for selling things in those currencies. Great for selling courses in multiple currencies.

Gumroad

Sell anything without needing to make a website or do any coding. With Gumroad, you can sell Video lessons. Courses, Programmes, Monthly subscriptions. Physical products. Whatever! Gumroad was created to help you experiment with all kinds of ideas and formats.

Marketing automation for coaches

Zapier

A magic tool that sends data between your tools. You know when you want to get an email from one tool into another tool? Or you want to add a tag to an email contact when they attend your webinar? Zapier is the tool that does just that. If you need to pass data between two tools then check this out. We use this to a lot of clever stuff. It’s super easy to setup!

Marketing inspiration for coaches

Audible

Get inspired and motivated with the world’s largest selection of audiobooks and podcasts from Audible. Start a free trial and get a free book to get you started.

A marketing plan you’ll actually use

The Reframing Marketing book next to the 6 box marketing plan

The Coach’s Marketing Plan

We believe that coaches already have all the skills they need to get their marketing working. This plan will help you map it all out and stay on course.

The key to making your marketing a success is to make it manageable. Marketing doesn’t work well when it feels overwhelming or complicated. It does work when it feels enjoyable and authentic, which means you will attract more of your ideal clients.

This 3-step marketing plan is written specifically for coaches and it will empower you to work on all the essential areas of your marketing and make a plan that you’ll actually use.

Download your marketing plan