Have you ever worked with a marketing coach? Or are you planning to work with one?

I know there's always skepticism amongst business owners when it comes to this. I'm a marketing coach myself, and I'm used to hearing misconceptions about what I do.

One common concern is money going down the drain without a high return. Others say they don't need coaching because their businesses aren't failing, and a quick fix isn't what they're looking for.

These are false assumptions.

• First, you can’t simplify coaching as a tool.
• Second, coaching is not only for failing businesses; it helps the good become the best.
• And third, coaching doesn’t provide band-aid solutions.

So I'm going to simplify it for you. As a coach, I help entrepreneurs achieve the success they envision for their businesses.

Do you need help to get off the ground? Are you trying to upscale your business? No matter what your definition of success is, a marketing coach will help you make that happen.

But let's start by explaining what a marketing coach does before getting into why you need to hire one.

What is a marketing coach?

A marketing coach is an expert consultant who works closely with business owners to help you build your own marketing capabilities. With their help you can more easily identify challenges and build a fully systemized approach to marketing.

This coach has years of experience generally marketing high-growth businesses. Their job is to understand your business values, mission, and goals, and to advise strategies for success.

What do marketing coaches do?

Much like any other coach, a marketing coach works with you to refine your skills, advise your decision-making, and help you achieve your business goals. Each coach is different. They follow a specific process in coaching sessions with business owners.

But everything starts with a series of questions you have to answer. They have to learn everything they can about your brand—from your target market to your current marketing assets and marketing efforts.

And just as every business is unique, a coach will ask you about your goals.

• Do you need help identifying your niche? Follow my 8-step process to finding your niche.
• Do you need help developing a marketing plan?
• Do you want to grow your team further?
• Do you want to increase sales and business revenue?
• What matters to you?

Once your goals are set, the coach will step in, help you focus your efforts, iron out your marketing plan, and give you a clear path to future success.

You'll have a reliable source of information and advice from a professional with a good track record who knows the ins and outs of marketing products and service-based businesses.

If you're considering coaching but aren't sure whether group or 1:1 coaching is best for you, check out this article.

What Services Does A Marketing Coach Offer?

Marketing coaches are versatile and flexible in the services they offer. They can help small, local businesses, startups, large corporations, and international companies. Many of them only focus on certain niches, which means that not all coaches take on any client or company.

And like I said, marketing coaches don't simply exist to help entrepreneurs with businesses falling apart.

Aside from helping them overcome the dreaded growth plateau, a coach can also help you create new marketing strategies to attract high-value clients. This includes:

• crafting your marketing plan
• building a business system or your website
• identifying a lead magnet and building marketing assets
• choosing tools for your remote team (if you have one)
• defining goals
• and implementing business strategies.

What's a Small Business Marketing Coach?

The goals and challenges of a small business can differ from a consultant for a big business.

For example, a local bakery would definitely have a different set of goals than a fast-food chain that caters to a global client base.

A small business marketing coach specializes in developing marketing strategies and marketing plans for small businesses. A huge part of their role is to learn everything about the business and develop a marketing strategy that helps them reach their goals.

Here are three ways a marketing coach can benefit your small business?

1. Helping you get the right marketing tools in place. Don't kid yourself. Tools are essential to your business success. They automate mundane processes and help to improve your customer experience.
2. The right marketing processes and team. Your people are key to building a profitable business, but you also need the right processes. Without these, your team will be butting their heads up against the same problems day in and day out.
3. Helping you build the right assets. An asset is anything that helps you connect with your audience and build that all-important relationship.

5 Reasons Why You Need to Hire a Good Marketing Coach

1. You need more support.

It's true. You know your business better than anyone else. But really, is this enough of a reason to do everything on your own?

I get it that some business owners think they don't need any help with marketing. But the reality is, your strategy always has room for improvement.

‍Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, hired a coach even when the business was growing exponentially. And it was one of the best decisions he made.

So simply put, you don't have to be a one-person show forever. Being a solopreneur isn't sustainable in the long run.

Or, you don't have to push yourself to make all the decisions impulsively. When in doubt or skepticism, a marketing coach can be your trusted confidante. They can be someone who provides that reliable support to help you face the problems and challenges of your business.

2. Your business isn't growing.

Perhaps you've been running your business for years, but it isn't growing as fast as you’d hoped.

The number one reason why businesses fail to scale is that things don’t get done. And this happens because you either don’t have time to do it or don’t want to do it.

If this currently happens to you right now, you need to change your mindset.

There are different types of people you need on your team. And a marketing coach can help you hire the right people to upscale your business.

3. You're doing random acts of marketing.

So let's say you're using Facebook Ads, cold calling, digital marketing, and all of that. If it's working for you, then great. But think about it. Implementing tactics without a solid strategy leads to the “bright shiny object syndrome,” which keeps you chasing the wrong things.

‍You need a strategy, which is the big-picture planning you do prior to the tactics.

So instead of doing random acts of marketing, a coach will help you build and manage a solid marketing plan that fulfills your goals and objectives.

4. Your business has gaps you can't see.

Sometimes, when you're way too focused on running your business, you miss spotting areas that need outside help. You might be able to build a sales funnel, send monthly newsletters, or post on social media. But again, these don't constitute a marketing strategy.

A marketing coach will review current gaps in your business, identify low-hanging fruit opportunities, and recommend the best course of action to take.

5. You need freedom and autonomy.

When was the last time you went out with your family without thinking about your business? Do you sleep eight hours a night? Can you still maintain a work-life balance?

If you answer "no" to all or most of these questions, it's time to consider hiring a marketing coach.

Again, you might know everything about your business, but a coach is an expert. They understand the ins and outs of marketing, which means that they can deliver results faster and more efficiently.

You can hire a marketing coach, and you'll get the freedom to do other things that you value—both in your business and your personal life.

How much does coaching cost?

Really it depends on the coach and the type of service they provide their customers. In general, you're looking at anywhere between $100 to $1,000 per session. Having said that, most professional coaches will offer the business owner a package deal.

‍Before you sign on to become a client, do a little research to be sure you're the right fit.

1. What's their track record like? Ask to see a few client testimonials. Check for Google reviews. The more 5-star reviews, the better.
2. Request to speak to existing customers/clients to discover what strategies were advised and agreed on, what kind of knowledge was shared, and how successful they were in achieving key goals.
3. Review the consultant's coaching process and be sure that you can free up your team to focus your marketing efforts on strategies that get results (for example, building a business system, choosing the right tools for your team, and updating your website and social media accounts).
4. Most importantly, if you can't make time to implement you won't increase your clients, sales, and market share.

Knowing this can give you the confidence you need to invest your time and money in a marketing consultant

Who is the best business coach in the world?

The best coach is a marketing consultant that's three or four steps ahead of you. Many business owners make the mistake of hiring a consultant who's at the top of their game, for example Gary Vaynerchuk.

‍He's incredibly successful, and yes, he'd be a great coach, if you've built a multi-million dollar business. But, if you're bringing in just under a million dollars in profit, he's probably not the right consultant for you.

Gary invests a small fortune in marketing, but he's already built a massive raving customer base. So basically, many of his strategies will be costly and would require a team of professionals to help get the job done.

He's not going to help you to build a system, create a contact form, or tinker on your website. He'd focus on high-level strategy.

So if you want to create wealth and achieve realistic goals, you're better off hiring online consultants that are already where you want to be businesswise.

So, Do You Need a Marketing Coach or Agency Help?

If you don't want to bring your marketing in-house I'd say hire an agency. There are pros and cons. For example, hiring an advertising agency is more costly than bringing your marketing internally. You're also not building your intellectual property.

But if you'd like to take charge of marketing your small business, and build an internal marketing team, you need marketing coaching.

Now that you know the benefits of investing in marketing consultants, where do you stand?

There's so much hype out there. There are many bright, shiny objects that people tell you to follow when it comes to your marketing—Facebook ads, SEO, digital marketing, social media, cold calling, you name it.

But what you really need is marketing clarity. You need to know what to do from a marketing perspective. And instead of doing random acts of marketing and simply throwing stuff on the wall, you can follow and implement a marketing strategy that grows your revenue and makes your business more successful than you could ever have imagined.

And this is what a good marketing coach can offer you. To recap, with business coaching you get:

• Extra help, guidance, and support
• More time and freedom to do what you want
• A solid marketing plan that fills gaps and ensures business growth

If you think this is what your business needs right now, sign up on my 1:1 coaching program.

If you want to start a coaching business, get the low down on everything you need by now. We'll be sharing our top tips for building a world-class coaching business.