“How to Attract Clients with Content—and not “Give Away the Farm”

Part 6 in the blog series “How to Save Time & Money Launching your Coaching Business

It’s a double-edged sword.

On one hand, it’s critically important to establish your niche expertise by offering valuable content. I discussed this with regard to your website in a previous article, but it goes far beyond your website.

Everywhere you market, the most effective strategy is to offer valuable information (content) and “free tastes” to establish your expertise in your niche and to get the word out there: talks, teleseminars, discovery or strategy sessions, audios and videos are some of the most common avenues.

On the other hand, you don’t want to “give away the farm,” either. Most coaches and experts I see who are new to the content marketing game are either afraid to give anything away, or, they give too much away and their market isn’t motivated to pay them for more substantial offers.

It’s an art, plain and simple. And honestly, not everyone agrees on “the right amount.” There are some coaches out there who promise a lot and appear to offer very little when it comes right down to it—until you pay them.

There are others who offer good content and value, then offer even more in their paid offers.

What everyone does agree on, however, is that it’s a much more effective way to get clients to offer free content than to simply advertise or pass out brochures. These days, people want to “test drive” your services first. And when you’re launching a coaching business, it’s the most cost effective way to attract clients.

So, how do you know how much to give away, and what to keep for your paid offers? Here are 3 tips to help you make that determination for yourself:

1. Often explaining what the challenge is and why it’s important to solve it is a lot of eye-opening information for people. You can start there and then save the “how to solve it” for your paid offers. Or, you might add one simple tip on “how to solve it,” and then let them know you have much more in the “how to” realm if they’re interested.
2. Decide what your paid offer is going to be first. Then look at what would be a nice amount of valuable information to give that will be helpful, establish your expertise, and whet your audience’s appetite for the specific offer you’ve chosen.

   For instance, in my “Nail-Down-Your-Niche” free teleclass, I give a lot of valuable information away, because my paid offer is one-on-one coaching and mentoring with me to find your niche.

   If my paid offer was a group program where I gave everyone more information and exercises on how to find their own niche, I probably would give less away in the free teleclass and save it for the group program. So a lot depends on the paid offer you want to promote.

3. Decide if you want to take a “sample platter” approach, or a “one-dish” approach: the “sample platter” approach is where you share a little bit about a lot of things you have to offer, and then if people want more they can take advantage of a paid program.

   This 7 part series I’m writing on how to save time and money when launching your coaching business is an example of the “sample platter” approach.

   A “one-dish” approach is when you give them a lot of information on just one thing that you offer, and then if they want anything else, they can take advantage of a paid program. The Nail-Down-Your-Niche teleclass I mentioned earlier is an example of the “one-dish” approach.

One final thought I want to leave you with: You need to honor your own boundaries and integrity when it comes to what you give away. Regardless of what anyone else says, coach or otherwise, in the end be sure you do what feels right to you.

Read our final tip here.

If you missed an article – start here.