FOR LIFE COACHES
What should a life coach say in a welcome video?
A simple structure for a homepage welcome film that feels like the first minutes of a discovery call, with UK notes on captions, embeds and claims.
A practical, step-by-step guide for UK life coaches: choosing a niche, building trust, using referrals, social media and email, and staying within the rules.
How to get life coaching clients in the UK comes down to two things: making it obvious who you help and with what, and building trust before anyone books a call. In practice that means a clear niche, a website that shows your face, your approach and genuine testimonials, one social platform you post on steadily, and a simple route to a first conversation. Referrals and personal networks usually bring the first clients; content and ads build on them.
Imagine a week where your diary fills without you chasing anyone. A former client mentions you to a friend, someone who has watched your reels for months books a call, and a stranger writes to say your workbook put words to something they had felt for years. Each discovery call starts warm, because they already know who you help and how you work.
Life coaching is bought on trust. Someone is about to tell a stranger about their confidence, their career or the part of their life that feels stuck, and pay for the privilege. Before they book, they want to know you are real, that you understand people like them and that you are safe to talk to.
So most coaches don’t have a tactics problem as much as a clarity and trust problem. The steps below are in the order that tends to pay back, whether you coach face to face in Leeds or entirely over Zoom.
Three reasons come up again and again. The offer is vague (“I help people live their best life”), so nobody recognises themselves in it. The coach is invisible, posting now and then without a face, a voice or a point of view. And there is no clear next step, so interested people drift away.
Posting more won’t fix them. Deciding what you stand for, then saying it consistently everywhere, will. Our page on marketing for life coaches shows how the pieces fit together.
A useful niche names a person, a moment and an outcome. “Confidence coaching for women returning to work after maternity leave” is easier to find, recommend and buy than “confidence coaching”. So is “career coaching for teachers thinking about leaving the profession”, or “coaching for people rebuilding life after divorce”.
A niche feels as if it shrinks your market. In practice it usually does the opposite, because it gives friends a sentence to repeat and tells you what to talk about. Test it with one question: if a stranger read your Instagram bio, could they name someone they know who needs you?
For most independent coaches, early clients come from people who already know them, or know someone who does. Content and ads tend to work later.
| Channel | How quickly it tends to work | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Personal network and referrals | Quickly | A niche people can repeat, and the confidence to ask |
| Talks and workshops | Medium | A short, useful session for employers or local groups |
| Partnerships | Medium | Professionals who already see your ideal clients, such as HR teams or personal trainers |
| Social media | Slowly, then it compounds | Consistency, your face and a point of view |
| Search (Google) | Slowly | A website with genuinely useful pages, plus a local listing if you meet clients in person |
| Paid ads | Quickly, once set up | A proven offer, a good landing page and careful wording |
Do two or three properly rather than all six half-heartedly.
Choose the platform your clients already use. For many life and wellbeing coaches that is Instagram or Facebook; for career coaches working with professionals it may be LinkedIn. One platform done steadily beats four done in bursts.
What works is rarely polished. Short videos answering the questions clients ask in sessions, the thinking behind a turning point (with permission, and anonymised), your honest view on popular advice in your niche, and a regular, low-pressure invitation to book a call. Post as yourself rather than as a logo. Our guide to Instagram for life coaches covers what to post, and if keeping it up is the hard part, social media for life coaches can carry it for you.
When people search for “life coach near me”, local listings appear. But a Google Business Profile is only for businesses that meet clients face to face: Google says a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, and it lists online-only businesses as ineligible. If you see clients in a room or run walking sessions locally, set one up and ask happy clients to review you. If you coach only online, put that effort into your website instead.
A life coach website gives every search, referral, post and ad somewhere credible to point. At minimum it should say who you help, how you work, how pricing works and how to book.
Yes, if you will actually write to it. Email reaches people who aren’t ready yet, without depending on an algorithm. In the UK you generally need someone’s specific consent before sending them marketing emails, and every message must give them a way to opt out, according to the ICO’s guidance on electronic mail marketing.
The “soft opt-in” lets you email past clients, and people who enquired about working with you, about similar services, provided you gave them a clear chance to opt out when you collected their details and in every message since. It is unlikely to cover someone who only downloaded a free guide, so ask for consent there. Sole traders count as individuals under these rules, which matters if many of your clients are self-employed.
Coaches often help people through hard times, so be careful with health language. CAP guidance says claims to treat or advise on conditions such as depression, eating disorders or addictions can only be made where the treatment is supervised by a suitably qualified medical professional. Talk about what coaching does (clarity, confidence, direction, accountability) rather than conditions it treats, and know where to refer someone who needs more than coaching.
Results claims need the same care. “Clients double their income” or “find your purpose in six weeks” are claims you would need to prove, and a glowing testimonial doesn’t count as proof on its own.
Once people who find you through referrals and content are booking, ads can bring more of the right people to the same page. Before that, they mostly buy clicks from people who aren’t convinced yet. Start small, send ads to one clear page, and judge them on booked calls rather than likes. Our guide to Facebook ads for life coaches explains how.
Picture the calm of a diary that fills while you are busy coaching. Our team started out behind Jack Cartwright, a USA Today bestselling author, joining up the social media, videos, ads and website that introduced him to readers. For coaches, social media for life coaches keeps you visible without taking over your week, and photography for life coaches shows people who you really are. A clear brief, scope and fee are agreed before any creative work begins.
It varies with your network, niche and how actively you ask. Coaches who tell people they know exactly who they help often find early clients within weeks. Clients from social media or Google usually take months, because people need to see you consistently before they trust you.
You can coach anyone, but it is much harder to market “anyone”. A niche gives people a reason to choose you and friends a simple way to recommend you. Many coaches start broad, notice which clients they love working with and get the best results for, then narrow towards them.
It helps some clients feel safe, and some employers and organisations ask for it. It rarely wins clients on its own, though. Accreditation from a body such as the ICF, EMCC Global or the Association for Coaching works best alongside a clear niche, real testimonials and content that shows how you think. Explain what your credential means rather than just listing initials.
Most coaches do, because it lets both sides check the fit before money changes hands. Keep calls short, say clearly what happens on them and avoid turning them into a pressured sales pitch. If calls are filling your diary with people who never buy, tighten the information on your website, including price, so people arrive better informed.
It depends on where your clients spend time. Instagram suits coaches comfortable with short video and a more visual style. Facebook can work well for coaches whose clients are a little older or active in local and interest groups. Choose one, post consistently for a few months and judge it on enquiries rather than likes.
A simple structure for a homepage welcome film that feels like the first minutes of a discovery call, with UK notes on captions, embeds and claims.
Prompts, framing, sound and simple ways through camera nerves, so UK life coaches can film short videos that sound like a real conversation.
Where stock images are fine on a UK coaching website, where they quietly cost you trust, and the licence and advertising rules worth knowing.
Four quick questions, and we’ll show you where we’d start. Your answers come straight to us with your message, so you won’t have to explain it twice.
A 30-minute introduction call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Your answers come with the booking, so we’ll be ready for you.
Prefer to talk it through? Make an appointment for a 30-minute call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
A closer look at the work behind each part of your plan.
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