How to Use This Page
This page lists our marketing guides for people who sell their time and knowledge: coaches, consultants, therapists, trainers and creators who sell paid sessions. Each guide is written for one profession, because the channels that bring clients differ a lot from one to the next. An executive coach and a personal trainer usually look for clients on different channels.
Start with the guide for your profession. Then use the channel guides further down for the one or two channels that guide tells you to focus on. If your work does not match any profession below, start with the foundations section at the end.
Guides by Profession
Career coaches
Marketing Your Career Coaching Practice is for coaches who help people change jobs, get promoted or switch fields. It treats LinkedIn as the main channel. It also covers content built from tips, templates and client stories, getting found in search, email for career audiences, career advice on YouTube, referral partners, when to try paid ads, and a 12-week plan you can follow week by week.
Business consultants
Marketing Your Consulting Business is for consultants who sell to companies. It focuses on being known for a specific point of view: LinkedIn, case studies, whitepapers and articles, and speaking at conferences and webinars. It also covers email for business buyers, SEO for consultants, referral and partner networks, when paid ads make sense, and a 12-week marketing plan.
Executive coaches
Marketing Your Executive Coaching Practice is for coaches who work with senior leaders. It explains why marketing to executives is different and how to build a reputation through LinkedIn, articles, podcasts, case studies, speaking and workshops. It has a section on marketing to HR and learning and development departments, plus a 12-week plan.
Life coaches
Marketing Your Life Coaching Business is for coaches who work with individuals on personal goals. It starts with two mindset shifts about marketing, then covers your marketing foundation, content, social media, email, referrals and partnerships, and paid ads once you are ready for them. It ends with a 30-day plan for getting your first posts and offers out.
Personal trainers
Marketing Your Personal Training Business Online is for trainers who coach clients online. It covers Instagram and TikTok, long-form YouTube, the post types it recommends (transformation posts, form videos and tips), email, getting found in search, referral systems, paid ads, and a 12-week plan for new online trainers.
Therapists and counselors
Ethical Marketing for Therapists and Counselors is for licensed clinicians in private practice. It covers marketing within your profession's ethical limits: your website, directory listings, your Psychology Today profile, your Google Business Profile for local search, content and social media with clear do's and don'ts, email, SEO, referral networks, and a 12-week plan for new practitioners.
YouTube creators
How to Promote Paid Sessions to Your YouTube Audience is for creators who already have viewers and want to sell paid calls or consultations to them. It covers mentioning your sessions inside videos, your video description and pinned comment, community posts, cross-posting to Instagram and other platforms, your email list, announcement videos, honest ways to use limited spots, and how to track which mention led to a booking.
Guides by Channel
Each profession guide points you to a few channels. These guides go deeper on one channel each and apply to any profession.
Email Marketing for Service Businesses covers building a list from zero, a welcome sequence for new subscribers, a monthly newsletter, promotional emails that do not read as pushy, re-engaging people who stopped opening, and splitting your list by interest.
Instagram Marketing for Experts and Coaches covers setting up your profile so visitors know what you offer, planning posts that teach and lead to a booking, Reels for reaching new people, Stories for selling to current followers, carousel posts, and hashtags.
Blog, video or podcast
Content Marketing: Blog, Video, or Podcast? compares the three formats and helps you pick one based on your personality and your audience, with advice on starting with one format and adding others later.
Foundations That Apply to Everyone
These four guides cover the pieces every expert needs before any channel will work.
Your personal brand
How to Build a Personal Brand from Scratch walks through what personal branding means in practice, then six steps: define your expertise, pick your audience, write your core message, choose your main platform, post on a schedule, and collect proof such as testimonials.
Your bio
How to Write a Bio That Books Clients gives a formula for your bio, what to include and what to leave out, how to adjust it for different platforms, and 50-word, 100-word and 250-word versions, with examples by industry and common mistakes.
Your website
How to Create a Website for Your Practice starts with whether you need a website at all or whether a booking page is enough to begin. It then covers the pages a service business needs, choosing between Squarespace, WordPress and Wix, writing the copy, basic SEO, and making the site work on phones.
Search
Do Coaches and Consultants Need SEO? explains when search is worth your time, how to find the words your clients search for, on-page basics, content that can rank, local SEO, your profiles on Talkspresso, LinkedIn and directories, and earning links from other sites.
Picking Where to Start
If you are not sure which guide to read first, use these questions:
- Who pays you? If a company pays (consulting, executive coaching), start with the consulting or executive coaching guide. If an individual pays, start with your profession's guide.
- Do you already have an audience? If you have viewers on YouTube, start with the YouTube guide, since you are selling to people who already know you. If you have no audience yet, start with your profession's guide and the personal brand guide.
- Are you licensed? If you are a therapist or counselor, read the ethical marketing guide before anything else. It explains how client confidentiality applies to marketing, including testimonials.
- How much time can you give it each week? Pick one channel you can keep up with. Each profession guide names the channel to start with.
When people start finding you, they need a simple way to book. A Talkspresso page lets clients choose a time, pay when they book, and join the video call from their browser. Free plan, 10% per booking. Pro is $29.95/mo or $299/yr, 0% platform fee.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I decide which marketing channel is best for my expertise?
Start with the guide for your profession on this page. Each one names the channel that fits that profession's clients, such as LinkedIn for career and executive coaches or Instagram and YouTube for personal trainers. Pick one channel you can keep up with before adding a second.
What is the most effective way to build an email list?
Our guide to Email Marketing for Service Businesses covers building a list from zero, including what to offer in exchange for an email address and what to send new subscribers first.
How often should I update my marketing calendar?
Several of the profession guides on this page include a 12-week plan, and the life coaching guide includes a 30-day plan. Follow one plan to the end, look at which posts or emails led to bookings, and adjust the next plan based on that.
When should I consider using paid advertising?
Each profession guide has a section on paid ads that explains when they make sense for that profession. In general, it helps to know which offer and which message already bring you clients before you pay to show them to more people.
How can I measure the success of my content marketing efforts?
Count bookings, not likes. Note where each new client heard about you. The YouTube guide's section on tracking from mention to booking shows one way to do this, and it works for other channels too.
