How to Identify Your Ideal Health Coaching Client as a New Coach

Getting new clients will be one of the first challenges you face as a health coach. Instead of trying to appeal to anyone and everyone, narrow your marketing efforts down to the people most likely to hire you. How do you do this? By first identifying an ideal client and then targeting your marketing to that person. 

Landing Clients as a New Health Coach

Working as a health coach can be so rewarding if you are passionate about wellness and enjoy working with people. It’s important to go into this career with realistic expectations, though. Success requires more than knowledge and passion. You also need some business skills. 

You’ll have to put those skills to work right away as a new coach. Before you can begin working, you need a client. Getting those first few clients can be a challenge that requires research, planning, marketing, word-of-mouth, and more. 

Why Is it Important to Outline an Ideal Coaching Client? 

An ideal client profile is a description of a fictional person with all the characteristics you imagine your target audience has. It’s a profile that distills all the qualities of the people who might hire you for your services into one individual. 

The point of identifying an ideal client is that it gives you a picture of the person you are targeting with marketing efforts. It helps you make smarter marketing decisions so you can use resources more efficiently and land new clients sooner. It leads you to where your clients are and directs the marketing tools you use to attract them.

Keep in mind that an ideal client isn’t someone who makes your job easier. Yes, every coach would love to work with a perfect client who is always motivated and dedicated to making changes. This isn’t the point, though. An ideal client isn’t a real person. It’s a fictional individual who serves as a marketing tool. 

Who Are You as a Health Coach? 

The vision of who you are as a professional and what your brand stands for can adapt as you define your ideal client. It helps to begin at least with an idea of who you are and what you offer. Your expertise and values will help clarify the types of clients you’ll work with. 

• What is your story and how did you get into coaching? 

• What are your values when it comes to nutrition, fitness, health, and coaching? 

• Who do you want to work with as a coach? 

• What kinds of health issues are you most qualified to assist with? 

• What area of health are you most passionate about? 

Start to define your ideal health coaching business to help inform a picture of your ideal potential client. You should be a little flexible on this, but let it serve as a foundation for what comes next. 

As you define yourself as a coach, keep in mind your scope of practice. This useful blog describes what health coaches can and cannot do with clients. 

How to Identify Your Ideal Health Coaching Clients by Answering Questions

You might think you have a clear view of clients who would hire you, but chances are your image is pretty broad. It’s important to dig deeper and define your target audience in more detail. A great brainstorming exercise to begin to paint a picture of your dream client is to answer these questions: 

• How old is your ideal client? 

• What is their gender and marital status? 

• Where do they live and work? 

• What is their job and income level? 

• What motivates your ideal client? 

• What kind of outlook do they have on life? 

• What are their hobbies and pastimes? 

• What are their core values? 

• Where do they shop and what are their favorite brands? 

• What level of fitness does your ideal client have? 

• If they work out regularly, what do they do? 

• What kind of media do they consume, including podcasts, TV, magazines, and news? 

Once you’ve answered some of these more surface or basic questions, delve deeper into why they might be interested in a health coach? 

• What are they frustrated about when it comes to their health? 

• Do they have current health problems or are they more interested in prevention? 

• What health issues do they worry about, whether they have those health problems or not? 

• What causes them the most stress and worry? 

• What do they wish they could change about themselves? 

• Does your ideal client set goals or just hope for the best? 

• Do they set goals related to health and fitness but get frustrated and give up? 

• What holds them back from meeting health and fitness goals? 

Get creative with brainstorming. You don’t have to solidify your ideal client, but the more you delve into what they might be like, the easier it is to find your target audience out in the real world. 

For instance, if your ideal client has existing chronic health problems, you know you want to target doctors’ offices or other medical settings to offer your services. If they are overweight but still healthy, a gym or yoga studio might be a better place to find your ideal client. 

To inspire your brainstorming, check out this list of six client types who benefit from health coaching services. 

Conduct Marketing Research

Your brainstorming session is a good start, but to really hone in on an accurate vision of your client, you need real research. Ideally, you have begun an email list of potential clients. Survey this list to get data you can use. If not, you can recruit people to survey from other sources. As you market your wellness business, gather as many email addresses as you can. 

Getting people to opt into an email list can be tricky. Most people feel they get too many emails as it is. Offer something of value, like a monthly newsletter with useful tips, recipes, or workouts. You could also offer a link to a free virtual coaching session. 

Once you have a list of potential clients, you can send out a survey to get data about what people actually want when it comes to health coaching. Ask questions about their goals, what they want to change, and their motivations. You can also ask about what they would be willing to pay and how they would prefer coaching sessions to be structured. 

Because people don’t always want to do surveys, consider offering a freebie. You could put their name into a drawing for a free coaching session or offer a discount to all who complete it. 

Round out Your Ideal Client and Start Marketing

With information from brainstorming, considering your own brand and business goals, and hard data from market research, you can really flesh out an ideal client. 

Once you know who this person is, where they spend their time and money, and what they want out of health services, you can market to your target audience. Direct most of your efforts and resources to this group of people that most matches your profile. 

It might seem like busy work at times, but it’s worthwhile taking time to profile your client. It will save you time and money and make landing clients more effective and efficient, so you can start working and earning sooner. 

Getting Certified as a Health Coach

For a successful career as a health coach, you need the right credential. Enroll today in ISSA’s Certified Health Coach program to get started. Completely online, you can complete this course on your own time and have a certification respected throughout the industry.