Your Guide to Finding the Right Marketing Coach

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Marketing comes with a laundry list of to-dos. You must develop and maintain adequate products or services, clearly understand your target audience, and keep pace with an ever-evolving marketplace. It requires realistic goal-setting, consistent work, practical strategies, and measuring results.

Marketing is a profession all on its own. It’s a college degree. Marketing professionals have full-time jobs devoted to this stuff. What makes someone think they can tackle the job all by themselves ALL the time in their business?

Everyone needs help now and again. Face it: one day, you will reach the limit of what you know and can do to grow your business. When that time comes, recognize it and how to find the coach or coaching program that fits your needs.

​Below, I reveal how to find the right marketing coach for you.

Be wise enough to know when you need help and brave enough to ask for it. Call a coach–a teacher–to help you
through ruts and dilemmas.

​Look for these clues that tell you it may be time to find a marketing coach:

Don’t view the need for a coach as a failure. Many successful people got to where they are because of a coach.

​Asking for help is an intelligent tactic on your pathway to success. Think of coaching services as business tools and use them as needed.

The right coach for you depends on what you want to achieve. A coach will teach you how to approach goals and tasks independently. If you’re looking for someone who can come in and do those tasks for you, you need to look for someone other than a coach–a specialist, manager, consultant, or expert.

​Coaches pass their hard-earned knowledge on to you. It’s up to you to do the footwork to put things in place.

If you plan on working one-on-one with a coach, pick a person you click with. Your initial consultation will give you an inkling of whether you can stand to be around them, listen to them, and take orders from them. Check out their online material to get a feel for their teaching style and personality.

A prospective coach should take an interest in your business. They should ask questions to get to know you and your company better, understand your needs, and uncover your goals. A good coach asks you lots of questions.

I know (and I’m sure you know) plenty of people who have worked with fitness coaches or doctors for health reasons. The coach or doctor lists workouts the person should do independently and provides dietary guidelines for them at home. What does the person do? They take that information and do absolutely nothing different. They don’t exercise according to the plan. They don’t eat according to the restrictions.

Similarly, you could pay for a coach or coaching service and follow absolutely none of their advice. How can you ensure you’re motivated to action?

​Ask your potential coach how they plan to hold you accountable. The better one-on-one services will help you create small goals to achieve by your next meeting. These mini-projects help you adhere to the plan so that you waste no time getting things done.

Pick a coach or coaching service with a proven track record. Look at reviews (understanding that people LOVE to leave poor reviews but often remain quiet about adequate ones). Has this coach helped lots of people?

​Do they have experience in your specific niche or need? For example, if you want to generate more leads for your business, look for an expert offering a lead-generation coaching program. Want to strengthen your business online? Look for an e-commerce or social media coach.

Speaking of results, do some marketing research to know what to look for in a marketing strategy. Pick a coach or program to help you follow through with a proven method.

Direct marketing is a proven method that delivers solid results again and again. A direct marketing coaching program is an excellent starting point if you know you need more robust marketing but aren’t sure where to start.

​Direct marketing can help you bring in paying customers, earn repeat business, build customer relationships, and optimize your offers and ads while measuring results. It’s a classic strategy that never goes out of style.

There’s a coach for everything, but not every coach is for everybody. Determine your goals and what you want and need in an accountability partner to find the right coach or coaching program for your business needs.