Without clients, we have no income. With no income, we’re not able to eat, play or pay rent. We’re not able to grow our businesses, either. I hear from so many of you that your #1 business challenge is finding clients. Or even getting leads and inquiries from potential clients!

So where are they? Hiding online? Maybe searching for someone just like you, but they don’t know you exist? Or perhaps they’re in your backyard and hanging out where you should expect them to? That’s what we’re going to chat about today.

8 Ways You Can Find New Clients For Your Business

Today, I’m going to breakdown some of the top ways you can find new clients for your business, whether you’re just starting out or you’re already up and running. We should never stop looking for clients. Even if you’ve gotten to the point where you’re getting clients by referral or word of mouth, you want to keep marketing yourself and your business.

I recorded this *free* training video for you on how to find your ideal clients online, too! Check it out here:

I had this hilarious “aha!” moment when I started my own health coaching business a couple of years ago. For months, I worked so hard on my website, business cards, social media pages, etc. One day, I looked up from my computer and noticed that despite my beautiful site, posts, and cards, I wasn’t hearing from anyone outside of my immediate social circle. No matter how good my web design might have been, it didn’t magically market me to anyone (not even with all of the search engine optimization in the world – imagine the nerve!).

I thought to myself, “I don’t understand – I got everything up and running. Why aren’t people knocking on my inbox’s door?”

And then it hit me. I’d spent so much time building the business and its systems (which is, no doubt, important!) that I’d forgotten all about networking and marketing it to potential customers. As an attorney, I loved loved loved networking and marketing, so I knew exactly what I needed to do to kick it into high gear and begin to build trust in my customer base. Now, I just needed to do it.

So here’s a mixture of what I did then to kick my coaching practice into client-getting mode and a few things I do now to market my business online (spoiler: you don’t need to hire a fancy marketing agency to get started!).

IN-PERSON MARKETING STRATEGIES

I like to focus on BOTH in-person + online marketing and networking to your target market for a well-balanced approach. That way, if some online platform that was once really popular or favorable to you and your business goes kaput, you’ll have another client source (in-person) waiting in the wings. And if your in-person business drops off or you’re traveling, you’re still cultivating that online presence for just these types of occasions.

AKA. Balance. I believe in balance in eating, fitness, and, yes, business. Entrepreneurship and building small businesses is risky enough. Let’s hedge our bets a bit, shall we?

1 // Offer Workshops

Offer a workshop or seminar-style meeting at a local cafe, library, business, office, etc. that caters to your target audience. When I was building my health coaching practice, I contacted a local plant-based cafe owner and teamed up with her to offer a monthly workshop series on Thursday nights. Over time, it really built up and had great attendance!

But the reason it worked for client development was simple: the same people who went to her restaurant were the same people who would be interested in working with a health coach. Although you might be inspired to offer workshops at a fast food restaurant so you can help people adopt healthier habits, that’s not likely going to happen.

Remember, as they always tell us as coaches: our goal is to meet people where they are and take them where they want to go. You have a greater chance working with someone who’s already interested in getting healthy, working out, or changing some other area of their life than someone who you’d have to convince.

2 // Referral Partners

Find businesses or practitioners in an area related to your space where your services are complimentary to their business. For example, if you’re a health coach, partner with a local physician, hospital, chiropractor, nutritionist, or personal trainer.

Make them feel comfortable referring people to you by…

• spending some authentic + organic time getting to know them
• treating them to coffee or lunch (to accomplish the above)
• offering them the opportunity to see you in action (at a workshop – see #1!)
• putting them in touch with current or former clients for testimonials

3 // Drop Cards

Drop off cards, flyers, or handouts at places where your ideal client hangs out: the coffee shop, yoga studio, cafes, fitness studios, etc. Make sure you ask the owner, of course! You’d be surprised how many clients or referrals I got this way.

4 // Plan a Meet Up

Whether it’s free or paid, plan a meet up in your area on some specific topic (gut health, thyroid issues, becoming a vegan, etc.). Advertise it through Facebook events, Facebook ads, meetup.org, Craigslist, and all your other social media platforms. Contact your friends and family to ask them to attend and to let at least 2 other people they know who might be interested. That’s how you build up a crowd!

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ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES

1 // Valuable Content, Shared in the Right Places

Create valuable (aka. helpful) content and then share it in the “right” places. Don’t just market it to other coaches or online business owners in your space. Market your content where your ideal customer hangs out.

The key to creating content is that it solves a problem your ideal or potential client has. Like this post, for example. I hear from so many of you that you have trouble generating new clients or client interest. So this post is all about giving you some ideas and tips on new strategies to try out to solve the challenge of finding new clients.

One of the biggest mistakes new coaches make is just writing about things that interest them (or in a way that interests them). On the one hand, if something interests you, it’s highly likely that it interests someone else, too. You just want to make sure you’re writing in a way that’s helpful to others and the problems they’re facing. Keep the ultra-personal stuff to a journal-style blog.

I also found it really helpful to establish a relationship with other bloggers so that I could write a guest post here and there to get my name out to a wider audience.

2 // Webinar

Host a webinar and market it to your email list, social media feed, and friends. Again, pick a topic that helps solve a problem and market it as a potential solution to that problem. Not only will you add people to your email list (which helps with building future client relationships), but you’ll establish yourself as an expert on that topic.

3 // High-Value Freebie

Create a high-value (aka. great content, helps others, solves a problem) freebie or opt-in and put it in several places on your website. This freebie should directly relate to what you do and how you work with people. If you’re a health coach who specializes in gut health, giving out a meal planning calendar probably won’t cut it. Put together a resource that lists gut-healthy foods, gives a few gut-healthy recipes, and some educational info about lifestyle changes you can make if you have gut issues and want to improve your gut health.

Everybody loves something for free, so once you get your foot in the door that way, it’s only a matter of time before that person either buys something from you directly, or refers you to someone else who might be interested. It’s a real domino effect!

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4 // Go Live

With the ever-changing social media landscape, I always recommend to my clients that they prioritize their email list. That doesn’t mean you should ignore social media, though! It can be a great tool to meet new friends, establish confidence in public speaking and authority, and attract new clients.

Social media platforms seems to be rewarding those who go “live”. So think of what you can do (intentionally) to market yourself this way. You could go live on your Facebook page once per week, go live on Instagram another day, and post a video along with one blog post per month (did you know you can even host blog posts on your LinkedIn Profile? So handy!).

So for example, you could post new blog posts on Monday/Wednesday, and go live on Facebook or Instagram (or both!) on Tuesday/Thursday. That way, you could promote your post (aka. drive people to your website) and talk about the topic of your post in your live video. That would be a great cohesive way to drive traffic, establish yourself, and generate new client interest.

There are so many ways to find new clients both in-person and online. You really don’t know until you try. I’ve gotten clients out of situations that I least expected it, and gotten none where I thought it was a sure thing.

I’ve learned one key lesson: be authentic, be myself, and be helpful, and they will come. 

So will you try any of these suggestions? Have you tried any of them before? What else are you doing to market your business both in-person and online? Tell me in the comments or reach out to me!

xo – Sam

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