What Kind of Online Marketing Help Will I Get As A Business Coaching Franchise?

Today I want to answer another frequently asked question we get from business coaches around the world, which is: what kind of online marketing help will I get as a business coaching franchise?

Especially in a time of such uncertainty, like the Coronavirus pandemic we’re facing now–where you can’t even meet clients face-to-face in many cases!–you can’t afford to invest in a franchise that won’t deliver online marketing results.

Obviously, what you get varies from franchise to franchise, but most business coaching franchises will give you a primitive, templated looking website. Now, I think this is a problem because things have radically changed over the past decade or so.

When people come to your website and see a cookie-cutter, template website, they’ll be unimpressed with the statement you’re making about yourself as a business coach. I have yet to see a business coaching franchise that gives their franchisees a quality website that complies with the 21^st century website design best practices.

Not only that, in some business coaching franchises, you are actually prohibited from putting up your own squeeze pages, videos, and opt-in forms.

Why? Because the business coaching franchise model is set up based on a geographical restriction.

How Business Coaching Franchisors Make Their Money

Let me explain: business coaching franchisors make their money by taking a map and cutting it into pieces. Here in the United States, territories are based on states and parts of states. Business coaching franchisors basically sell real estate. They have a limited amount of inventory–the geographical areas where you can franchise.

But what if you don’t want to be geographically limited? What if you want to market to a specific niche because you have a good background in that niche? That shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Actually, it is a problem to business coaching franchisors, because if you put up a website that draws across geographical areas, you’ll be stepping on the toes of another franchisee.

It’s a big limitation. Here at The Coaches’ Coach, we believe that niches are one of the most powerful ways to grow your business coaching practice–and that you should be able to market to your niche anywhere in the world. What’s more, the best way to do it is through online marketing.

Six Steps to a Fantastic Online Marketing Presence

So what should you do instead?

Here are six steps to an effective online marketing strategy.

1. Round up the players. You need a team of people, including a web developer, designer, copywriter, and preferably someone who can help you create videos.
2. Target the right keywords. Choose a domain name based on the niche you want to pursue.
3. Drive traffic. You can do this through search engine marketing and other paid traffic sources as well as social media interaction, blogging, and email marketing to your list. You can even drive traffic with direct mail.
4. Give away great content. On your website, give away high-quality educational content. Invite users to watch a video, download a report, or enroll in an e-course in exchange for their name and email address.
5. Follow up with webinars. Continue to market to your growing list with high-quality content. Eventually, they’ll start to love you and they’ll come to your webinars. There, you can get their phone numbers as well.
6. Close the sale. With their phone numbers secured, you can build relationships with them and ultimately close them as a business coaching client.

What else should you consider before purchasing a business coaching franchise? Download our Business Coaching Franchise Buyer’s Guide for all the due diligence tips you need to make a smart, informed decision about buying a business coaching franchise.