Newsletter Marketing for Life Coaches

You know how to maneuver through life but do you know how to amplify your coaching brand to attract new clients steadily? It might be surprising, but compared to social media, 60% of respondents say that marketing emails have influenced their purchases. Emails are the best way to sell coaching services and grow a community. Millions of people have email addresses and the numbers are always on the rise making it the optimal marketing strategy for coaching businesses. Email marketing is 40% better at converting customers compared to other strategies. Low-cost and effective, email marketing provides access to powerful tools that can skyrocket your life coaching business. Newsletters are a direct and personalized communication channel to connect with subscribers, nurture leads, foster long-term client relationships, and establish yourself as an authority in your field.  

Price Point

For businesses, email marketing is consistently a top marketing channel for converting clients. For those starting their life coaching business, newsletter marketing is even more appealing because it is budget-friendly with a high return on investment giving you an ROI of $42 for every $1 spent. While social media is free, you have limited access to the core marketing tools which give you a leg up. Life coaches are fighting against ever-changing algorithms in the hope of garnering views and engagement. On the other hand, email marketing has dozens of powerful tools that elevate your marketing strategy and you own your mailing list–– with the right email service provider, email marketing is truly a bang for your buck. There are many providers but if you’re looking for a platform that has affordable pricing, an intuitive interface, powerful tools, and superior customer support, Buttondown might be your match. Buttondown offers plans starting at just 9/mo. 

Ownership

Life coaches know well that there is only so much you can control in your life, the same is true with social media marketing. Social media is unpredictable and constantly evolving. On top of working with clients, you have to worry about Instagram’s algorithm. Will X stay around long enough to justify the time you invested in nurturing leads into clients? Will your feed posts even land on your targeted audience's timeline or is the algorithm pushing video content? What happens to your following if you get hacked? Meanwhile, you own your newsletter mailing list. Email is a consistent long-term platform that offers direct communication with established and potential clients. Professionally, newsletters position you as an authority figure in your niche coaching field while allowing you the opportunity to be authentic. It’s a journey of building trust and establishing your reputation as a coach. Building and cultivating relationships is key. Sharing your values and beliefs in your newsletters can help you reach a wider – yet still focused and aligned – audience. Newsletters offer long-term security and autonomy when it comes to your life coaching business’s journey

Automation

Automation is a core email marketing tool that drives engagement, conversions, and overall performance. Compared to manual campaigns, automated campaigns have a 75% higher open rate and a 114% higher click-through rate. This highlights the power of automation in driving engagement, conversions, and overall campaign effectiveness. Automating emails, like “welcome” emails saves you time. Email sequences are automated series of emails that must meet the set criteria to be delivered, usually immediately after triggered. If someone sign-up to your newsletter they will immediately receive a greeting. More than 80% of people will open a welcome email, generating 4 times more opens and 10 times more clicks than other types of email. Capitalize on this opportunity by including your best content, resources,  products, or upcoming events. Engaging with subscribers immediately is the best way to stay on top of their minds and earn their trust. Automation might be a life hack.

Testimonials

In life coaching, reviews sell. Testimonials engage potential clients by offering insights into your coaching achievements. Highlighting testimonials in your newsletter is crucial as they are a form of social proof of your quality service. Client stories boost your business’s visibility while simultaneously delivering valuable feedback that will improve your business. The best way to acquire client testimonials is to include surveys in your newsletter. Keep the questions concise with a focus on their journey under your coaching. Ask about their previous experiences with life coaches and what made them request your services. Ask them about their personal growth during coaching and their final thoughts. Would they refer you to a friend? You can get a good sense of your achievements as a life coach and what areas need improvement for your business to succeed. With permission, client stories are an easy way to increase your brand awareness. Testimonials are powerful because they could be that extra nudge that turns leads into conversions.

Analytics

There is always room for improvement, especially in business. No marketing campaign is perfect. Marketers learn from experimentation, analyzing, and adapting the campaign to achieve optimal success. Metrics provide key insights into what aspects of the campaign are doing well, and which aspects need small adjustments. Data like open and click-through rates can inform you on what subject line, content, and promotions produce higher rates. Perhaps content-heavy emails produce more engagement than others. This is an indicator that you might need to include coaching content in every newsletter, creating a lead magnet. Content to include could be:

• Journal prompts
• Templates
• Affirmations or meditations
• Coaching video content
• Professional development workbooks
• Coaching podcasts
• Free e-books

Continuously testing new approaches is essential to effectively marketing your coaching business. Checking email data is the easiest and fastest way to ensure that your marketing efforts are delivering the desired results. 

Conclusion

Creating a newsletter for your life coaching business might seem overwhelming but it's the easiest to manage of all marketing channels. Newsletters are an extension of your passion for helping others and a space to showcase your creativity. Try to remember that successful marketing goes beyond just selling your services. Showcasing your authentic self and niche coaching approach provides the foundation for meaningful connections and growth. Buttondown provides powerful core email marketing tools that will transform your business.

 Buttondown is trusted by multiple life coaches, including:

Blackmill, a technology-focused coaching company made of tech leaders and practitioners. The members have decades of combined experience in software engineering and leading teams in renowned organizations including Atlassian, Culture Amp, Envato, Fairfax Media, Fastmail, GitHub, LookSmart, Microsoft, News Limited, Ninefold, Sausage Software, Sydney University, and Thoughtbot. Blackmail works exclusively with technology companies, startups, and scale-ups to develop processes and practices that allow them to excel.

Everything Changes with Mandy Brown, Mandy Brown (she/they) has led resilient, diverse, remote-first teams across the tech and media industries. She coached people up and down the career ladder and in a variety of roles—from engineers to designers, product and project managers, researchers, community managers, and writers and editors. Mandy brings a wealth of practical experience alongside a reader’s ability to listen closely, an editor’s knack for shifting the narrative, and a product manager’s skill for managing change.

Andy Polaine, an independent design leadership coach, consultant, educator, trainer, and writer who helps clients build and grow their own design and innovation capability to transform their organizations and themselves.