Wish Your Valuable Content Reached More of Your Dream Clients? Avoid 6 Old Mistakes

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Meet Hilary, an ambitious solo entrepreneur, juggling tasks to grow her life coaching business. She’s working on improving her website, services descriptions, and social media updates.

But there’s one essential task she can’t ignore: creating client-focused content for her website and blog.

She knows it’s a time-consuming process, and her calendar is full. But she’s determined to get her voice out there, so future dream clients can find her services.

Plus, she’s not a fan of self-promotion. Can you relate?

Hilary made an impactful decision. She decided to treat herself like she treated her clients.

She committed to a consistent content creation schedule.

Like Hilary, decide to commit to a schedule for your marketing + content

 

Hilary knew she had to commit to a schedule for doing all the marketing and content things. 

She decided to stop letting weeks go by, before working on fresh marketing content. Maybe you’ve been there? Truth is, we’ve all been into content creation avoidance.

Our hero, Hilary, determined she’d become intentional, make a plan, and set appointments with herself so she could…

• Choose content topics that would make dream clients feel empowered (and she’d be excited to talk about)
• Create her remarkable, one-of-a-kind marketing content 
• Power-up actions that would enable her to grow her email list 
• Show up to share her terrific content on social media
• Devote time to making openhearted connections with potential clients on social media

Hilary admitted to herself that she was probably making a few (okay, maybe several) marketing mistakes. 

Like avoiding “time blocking” to create content and deciding who was her dream client. Plus, creating an engaging lead magnet (a free resource packed with actionable info) to encourage future clients to subscribe to her email list was also on her to-do list.

But that was all okay, because she now had a plan! And if she followed through with it, then eventually her dream clients would find her and hire her for life coaching services. How cool is that? 

Hilary’s super excited to get started on this new adventure and can’t wait to see the connections she’ll make with her marketing and content efforts. If Hilary can do it, and I can do it, you can too!

 

If you want to reach more dream clients with your valuable content, avoid these 6 all-too-common, old school mistakes 

 

Mistake #1) Treating your marketing content as an afterthought 

 

Newsflash: if you’re a life coach, health coach, consultant, any flavor of entrepreneur, you dear reader, are (also) in the content creation business.

Every smidgen of content you post online boosts your credibility as an expert. Your website pages, social media profiles, the golden emails to your list – each post, email, social update–it all contributes to growing your know-like-trust factor. 

For example, as a life coach your purpose is to help clients overcome huge hurdles, finally go after a dream they’ve had for 20 years, and so much more.

The purpose of your content? It’s to connect with clients who want the kind of transformations you help folks achieve!

And we know what increased know-like-trust with your readers brings you, right? The opportunity to build relationships with soon-to-be clients. A chance to develop deeper client connections. Doesn’t that all sound awesome?

What do do instead: 

All of this means, you guessed it, content creation must be the #1 business-building action that you schedule on your calendar each month. 

If you haven’t been calendaring time to do your own business building projects up to now, here’s an idea to help you move closer.

Have you heard of *time blocking*? It’s a term describing a way of planning your work day that many swear by.

According to time productivity expert, best-selling author, and professor, Cal Newport,

“A 40 hour time-blocked work week, I estimate, produces the same amount of output as a 60+ hour work week pursued without structure.”

— Cal Newport, Author of Deep Work

 

And the wonderfully informative website, ToDoIst.com explains time blocking this way,

“Time blocking is a time management method that asks you to divide your day into blocks of time. Each block is dedicated to accomplishing a specific task, or group of tasks, and only those specific tasks. Instead of keeping an open-ended to-do list of things you’ll get to as you’re able, you’ll start each day with a concrete schedule that lays out what you’ll work on and when.”

Source

Why’s time blocking important for you as a coach adjusting your life/time to accommodate growing your business? 

Because, you don’t want to wake up and realize, eek! It’s been weeks (months) since you posted fresh content on your website. 

 

Right, there’s social media to contend with

 

The truth is, whether you love or hate social media, your dream clients are thumbing through their newsfeeds, scrolling for answers/ideas/inspiration. All. The. Time.

You and your remarkable content simply can’t be absent online.

Because, creating and sharing incredible content about how your potential clients can take baby steps toward their aspirations, is how you can become the extraordinary expert. 

You can be the coach who provides those glorious aha! moments your struggling dream clients are scanning Facebook to find. 

Dream clients. You know, those wonderful folks who are floundering for help with the exact kinds of problems you solve. 

Only problem is, they don’t know you yet. So let’s fix that with a steady stream of your wise, experience-packed content!

Why is this important, again?

It can take a minute to build your credibility. 

Your words of hope and inspiration (in blogs, videos, podcasts) are the magic way loads of future clients discover you and get to know, like, and trust you.

Whatever you do, please don’t leave content creation to chance! 

If you’re stuck deciding what to talk about in content, this blog post helps you conquer topic confusion:

Related: When You Become a Life Coach: How to Create Website Content (Even if You Don’t Know Where to Start)

 

 

Mistake #2) Last-minute social media scrolling for inspiration when it’s time to create your own update

 

Be honest, have you ever panicked when you realized you’ve ghosted your social media followers for a month? (You’re not the only one.)

And, did you find yourself rapidly thumbing through your Facebook news feed? Doom-scrolling? Hoping a bolt of inspiration would strike? How’d it go? 

I can tell you how it works for most people: Zippo. Zilch. Nada.

What to do instead:

If you want a jumping off point from influencers in your market for content creation, that’s perfectly fine. Do this: set a timer for 15 minutes to scan through your business besties, heroines on Instagram, and check out a few folks with large, engaged followings. 

• Jot down a couple of themes your dream clients seem to ask about 
• The instant the 15 minutes are up, close social media! 
• This is the important part: stash your phone. 
• Next, open a fresh document on your computer and start writing.

I promise, if you commit to focusing on writing for 45 solid minutes and just keep typing new content, you’ll make massively more progress than endlessly scrolling through other folks’ Instagram feeds. Your 45 precious minutes are way better spent on writing than scrolling.

Here’s the reality:

You want to pull your content creation insights, ideas, and inspo from your own beautiful brain. 

When you create content from the seeds of your phenomenal life and professional experience, it’s magical. Tons better than only riffing off of what everyone else is posting. 

 

Mistake #3) Failing to update your dream client story after every client session (and conversation) 

 

You won’t be surprised, I’m committed to every woman entrepreneur writing her dream clients’ story. And keeping it up-to-date!

What’s a dream client story, again? 

It’s everything you know about the person you most want to serve. Your dream client story captures all of the…

personality traits	wants
characteristics	desires, dreams
attributes	problems
values they hold dear	challenges

…that your ideal clients have in common.

What’s the value of writing down your dream client story? 

For starters, a few marvelous benefits are:

• It’s empowering to tap into her mindset as you create content
• When developing new services, you don’t have to start from scratch
• You have a treasure trove of ideas when you want to write a blog post
• At your fingertips, you have a blueprint to design your group coaching package

 

What to do instead:

All you have to do to create your dream client story is, open a fresh document and describe your favorite clients. You can begin typing phrases describing the traits and problems of your most successful clients.

• Fill in everything you know about them, in whatever format you like. Tell your dream clients’ story, however it suits you
• Include characteristics of clients who took action based on your coaching
• Describe friends and family that you’ve coached successfully
• Don’t feel like a storyteller or writer? No worries. This is a resource for your use. You don’t share it.

 

Haven’t had many paying clients yet? Also, not a problem. 

• Picture your practice coaching clients

• What do people who took your coaching advice to heart have in common?

• Put all of this into your dream client story.

Remember, your client story is a business marketing asset. No one sees it. Happily, if you’re often stumped about what content topics to create next you can pop open your dream client story document! 

 

 

Mistake #4) Forgetting to add a “do-this-next” (call-to-action) to every piece of marketing content you create

 

Now please don’t ever tell me that your dream client story is confined to a few sticky notes!  

However, it’s perfectly fine to put this on a sticky note reminder…

> > > Add a *Call-to-action* to every blog post, web page, social media post, lead magnet, and more.

 Remind me, what is a call-to-action (CTA)? Glad you asked…

Your call–to–action is how you invite a new reader (new follower) into your world. It’s how you connect with followers so you can build relationships with folks who join your list. 

 

• Requesting a discovery call
• Attending your upcoming masterclass
• Registering for your monthly webinar 
• Enrolling in your group program
• Subscribing to your email list 

 

Remember, calls-to-action are powerful ways to make meaningful connections with potential clients who have just found your content on social media. Or your website, from your blog post or your podcast.

Because you want to pack your list with potential clients, when someone first encounters your content and they don’t know you yet, you want them to stay connected, don’t you?

The beauty of asking readers to join your email list, is that once they become subscribers, you’ve earned the time to form a relationship with them. 

How? By sharing unique content with them each week. Content that talks about the exact problems your dream clients are  looking to solve.

Related: 9 Ways to Improve Your Blog Writing Skills (So You Can Engage Coaching Clients)

 

Mistake #5) Not. Being. Consistent.

 

Let’s agree on this, consistency is key to your marketing success. You’ve heard this a ton, but it’s still true. 

When you show up consistently each week, in your future clients’ inbox, your message will stand out from the noise.

Let’s look at some ways you can help yourself stay on track to be consistent…

1. Treat your business with the same intention you show to clients
2. Decide what day is  your ‘Create Terrific Content Day’ (time blocking)
3. Calendar it 

Next, keep your commitments to yourself by turning off all distractions and sitting down and creating content.

Are we good? I’m so glad you’re going to schedule and post your content each week, because your clients are out there looking for you. For your dream clients who are ready to make the transformations you offer, you are the best coach to help them.

Don’t let yourself down. Don’t let your future clients down. 

Once you get in the rhythm of creating and publishing new content each week, it will feel natural. Imagine, you’ll get into the flow of writing down what you want to say to future clients so you can help them feel empowered, hopeful, inspired!

 

Mistake #6) Squandering your precious time on non-client-producing actions

 

Let me take a wild guess: like many of us, is having enough time the reason you aren’t creating content on the regular?

My friend, we’ve come to my fave foolproof action to win yourself back some time. Here’s the fastest way to find more time in your day…

> > > Dump all business actions taking up your time that don’t attract clients.

If you find you still need those tasks done, delegate them to a virtual assistant.

 

Final Thoughts 

 

Whew, are you energized to consider if you’re making any of these old marketing mistakes?

If you’re new to using your amazing content to boldly ramp up your ability to establish the know, like, and trust factor with future clients, start with the practical blog post. 

Here’s the deal: choose whichever form of content you’ll create consistently. That means, weekly.

With each piece of meaty content you create and share, you establish trust and credibility with readers of your website, blog posts, videos, and/or podcasts. 

Don’t forget about those delightful future clients who’ll find your content on Instagram or LinkedIn. You want to show up and share the wonderful content you’ve just created!

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