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Today, the online world makes it so easy to connect strategically with potential high-paying clients. Long gone are the days of having to go to in-person events to pass out business cards. You have the ability to connect with people that need your services right from the comfort of your own home. 

Don’t get left behind…

Here are the online marketing strategies to attract high-paying leads.

1) Ocean to Pond Marketing Strategy

For coaches and consultants, the first strategy I teach is a concept called “Ocean to Pond” strategy. Your ideal clients as a coach or consultant are located all over the world and they’re interacting in a variety of places online. You need to go to the places where they hang out and build your influence.

This might be the “Ocean of Facebook,” the “Ocean of LinkedIn,” or even the “Ocean of Instagram.” They might even be in the “Ocean of iTunes” if they’re downloading podcasts. It’s important that the first coach and consultant’s marketing strategy is to understand where your ideal clients are.

Coaches and consultants hire me because they want to sell and scale high-ticket programs in the 5- to 6-figure range. For this, I personally love LinkedIn. A lot of people dismiss it, but LinkedIn is the most powerful place to connect with high-paying clients. 

Did you know over 60% of LinkedIn users in the United States have an annual salary of $100k and up? And 41% of all millionaires are on LinkedIn. 

When you find out where your ideal clients are at, that’s where you want to focus your attention. 

Focus Your Attention

One of the biggest mistakes a lot of coaches and consultants make is they try to be everywhere all at once. They try to create omnipresence right from the beginning. But this makes it hard to gain traction. There’s no way you, as a solopreneur, can build a following and create quality content using optimized marketing strategies on each and every platform.

So pick one or two platforms where your ideal clients are and start to build your credibility and authority there. And make sure it’s a platform you actually enjoy spending time on. Don’t try to be a Gary Vee or a Grant Cardone. Remember these guys have huge teams that are able to churn out a ton of content on several different social platforms.

Once you’ve built your following and mastered that platform, only then can you expand to other platforms.

Fill Your Pond as a Micro-Influencer Coach or Consultant

In this “Ocean to Pond” strategy, you’re going to go to those proverbial oceans and start pulling people into your pond.

This is your network.

And with your coaching and consulting network, you’re going to nurture and educate them. You will start to build a relationship with them and eventually to pull them in deeper so they are eager to buy your products and services.

I call this “becoming a micro-influencer.”

You’re not trying to compete with 8-figure coaches and consultants spending 6-figures a month on advertising complex systems and a team. You’re pulling your ideal clients from the oceans where they hang out to your little pond. You build your rapport and become highly relevant to the people that matter.

Now, you’re the big fish in your small pond. And when you’re ready to make an offer, you have a pond full of fish to catch.

Become an Expert In Your Field

Typically, most new coaches and consultants start to fall into the trap of a Generalist or “Jack or Jill of All Trades, a Master of None.” This is where you’re trying to be everything to everyone. But you end up being no ONE to the one person that matters. 

The optimal marketing strategy is to ascend up the “Ladder of Influence” to Specialist. Then Specialist to Expert. And ultimately, Expert to Thought Leader. 

I break down this concept in my free 30-page guide called “The Ladder of Influence.”It’s a thought-provoking process that will help you assess where you’re at, understand the challenges of why you may be stuck, and show you the path for ascending up the ladder to grow your influence and income.

2) Build Credibility with Content Marketing Strategy

The second strategy to attract clients online is to create expert content. A lot of coaches and consultants resist this process, but it is absolutely essential to creating a solid pipeline of quality leads flowing to you.

When you’re starting your coaching and consulting business, no one knows who you are. Only your inner circle or the people in your rolodex. And if you’ve never poured energy into the online world, it means no one in the online world knows who you are. 

If you want them to know who you are, you have to build credibility online. And you can do that through expert content. 

Quality Over Quantity

Now remember: you are not Gary Vee. You do not have the capacity to put out 100 pieces of content a day nor do you need to try. It is about quality over quantity.

There is a ton of noise in the online space. You are trying to compete with Leonardo DiCaprio memes and cute cat videos. It’s really important you say something that stands out.

You’re better off pouring your energy into creating one great piece of content rather than five subpar pieces of content a day.

The Purpose of Content

When brainstorming your expert content, think hard about the purpose behind it. As a coach or consultant, you should absolutely showcase your credibility, your experience, your background, and your client’s results. And you should also create content that shows your ideal that you understand the problems that they are struggling with and what their goals are. 

Furthermore, create content to educate them about your solution. Forge a clear path that tells them you understand where they’re stuck, where they want to go, and that you’ve got the perfect product or service that can help transform their situation.

You can also use content to inspire and motivate your ideal clients. Want to take it further? Here is a controversial marketing strategy, don’t be afraid to trigger them through your content. 

My highest-converting content pieces are the ones that speak to deep-seated truths. 

These are their innermost thoughts – the uncomfortable things that someone experienced. Make them say, “Wow! I literally went through that same experience you’re describing in your post. It resonated with me so much, I’m here to book a call.” 

Start the relationship, build the rapport, educate them, and nurture all of these things with your content.

Consistency Is Key

If content is king, consistency is queen. If you’re going to create content, build a schedule that you know you can commit to and do not deviate.

So often people get their content machine running and then they’ll disappear for 3 or 4 weeks. I can promise you one thing: this marketing strategy absolutely kills your engagement.

If you want to build a relationship with your ideal clients, you need to stay consistent. To stay consistent means you stay top of mind. Because if you’re not top of mind, your competitors are working hard to replace you. 

3) Showcase Your Coaching and Consulting Clients’ Results

The third and final online coaching and consulting business strategy to get more clients is to showcase your client results. This is one of the most overlooked and underutilized aspects of building a coaching and consulting business. 

You’re in the business of serving others. You work with your clients and you get results. So why not leverage those results to inform the online world about you? Use those results to let people know that you can help them with your services, too. 

I built a successful coaching and consulting business because I was really focused on serving my clients. I made sure they got great results. I focused on building an audience and educating that audience. I wasn’t shy about teaching and sharing to my heart’s content. And I was always showcasing the incredible results I got for my clients. 

My brand reputation as a coach and consultant grew, along with the excitement and demand for my services. 

The old adage is true: the more people that you help, the more will want your help.

So don’t be afraid to own your client’s results and to share them with the world. This is really important, especially in the first few years of building your coaching and consulting business. 

You have to become your own biggest cheerleader. You need to shout to the world, “This is who I am. This is what I do. This is how I can help you.” And a great way to show that is to share your client results.

Capturing Video Testimonials

For coaches and consultants, the most powerful and effective way to show off client results are with video testimonials. These can simply be captured in the comfort of your client’s home with their iPhone. 

Have them tell a little story about what it was like working with you. To take it further, you can even hire a professional videographer to capture this story so you have a nice, higher-end production to showcase. 

But that’s not necessary. The medium is less important than the message. 

Ask yourself, what’s the message that you’re trying to convey? What kind of results did you help your coaching and consulting clients attain? And keep in mind who needs to hear this message and build their desire to want those kinds of results.

Written Testimonials

Coaches and consultants, you can also feature their written testimonials. These are not as effective, but they’re still just as powerful. 

Don’t be afraid to ask for LinkedIn recommendations. Ask for reviews on your Facebook page or whatever social media platform that you’re using. Ask your coaching and consulting clients to write something nice about you and get their permission to feature it on your website. This might be the simplest marketing strategy but can also be the most impactful.

The Power of Case Studies

You can also take your coaching and consulting client’s results and turn them into in-depth case studies.

If you’re curious what an in-depth case study looks like, check out a case study that I created. It features a business coach who was stagnant at just over a quarter million dollars for three years and how we were able to successfully move her to 7-figures – in just one year. 

What’s even cooler is we repeated that result just 9 months later. 

So if you’re ready for the result above, answer this in the comment: what is your income goal? Then check out my case study on how I too can move your coaching and consulting business upward.