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Content for Coaches: 32 Proven Ideas (2024 Swipe File)

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How do you create content for coaches?

As a coach, you know that creating content is a crucial part of growing your business. It’s what helps you get and retain clients while positioning yourself as an expert in your niche and building trust with your audience.

Today, you’ll learn all you need to know about creating content quickly and easily – without the overwhelm.

Ready? Let’s go!

You’ll learn: 

What type of content you should create 

The top content ideas for coaches 

How to create great content

What type of content should you create?

Content marketing is the creation and sharing of any material that lives online – think blogs, social media, and videos. With your content, you get people interested in you rather than directly promoting your business. 

And it works.

70% of consumers would rather read content about a business than see an ad.

Now, if you want to build an online business, you need to create content to grow and nurture your audience – and ultimately make sales. 

A key skill for building a successful coaching business is to learn how to:

  • Create high-quality content
  • In large volume
  • Do it quickly 

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But where do you share your content? 

Most new coaches are typically active on a social media platform, whether that’s YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Your emails are another place to share your content.

And finally, when you’re scaling your business, your blog and SEO are places to use your content. 

On average, a company with a blog will see 67% more leads than those without. They also earn 97% more inbound links and see 55% more visitors. 

(However, I don’t advise you to start your blog before you have a few clients because of the learning curve involved.)

All of these content platforms require different types of content. 

And I get it – content creation can feel overwhelming and time-consuming. But there are ways to create content quickly and effectively instead of spending hours on your posts. That’s what you’ll learn in today’s post.

First, let’s start with the top ideas for your coaching content.

The top content ideas for every coaching niche

What type of content should you create? 

Understanding what type of content you should create is the first step to becoming really effective at creating content. 

Content pillars for coaches

Whatever type of content you create, it needs to build upon these three content pillars:

#1: Connect

#2: Entertain

#3: Learn

You see, that’s why people get on social media – to connect with others, get entertained, and learn new things. 

But you shouldn’t just connect, entertain, or educate. 

Instead, use all three in every post. 

You can do that by, yes, understanding your audience, what they want and what their goals are.

But also look at your own everyday life to find inspiration. For instance, if you did something fun (however “small” it might seem like reading a great book or trying out a new baking tip), you can use that to create your content. 

I often share what I’ve learned from Netflix series or what my goofy German shepherd Falco is up to. 

Luisa Zhou's Instagram post

Just ask yourself – what is the point of what you’re sharing? 

What’s the takeaway you want someone to have, whether that’s to get inspired or motivated? 

Then, tie those together with the three pillars above. And that’s how you find great content every time (without spending hours on figuring out what you should share next). 

32 social media post ideas for coaches 

Need inspiration? Take a look at these fluff-free content ideas.

They work in any niche and you can adapt them to the social media platform you use. 

  1. Your coaching journey. Why did you decide to become a coach? What are your goals?
  2. How you came up with the core elements of your business. Share the inspiration behind your company name or mission.
  3. How you coach. What can your clients expect when they work with you?
  4. Client success stories. Publish a client story to show your audience how people just like them have achieved what they want to accomplish. 
  5. Share a few testimonials. Sharing a client testimonial is one of the fastest ways to showcase your expertise.
  6. Offer a few valuable tips that center around a theme (such as web design tips or double your salary).
  7. Create a list of helpful resources. This could be books, podcasts, or documentaries – or Netflix shows. 
  8. A checklist of things that your ideal client should or shouldn’t do.
  9. Industry trends. What are you seeing in your niche that might be interesting to discuss or share?
  10. Resources that teach your audience about themselves. This could be something as simple as a fun fact about a certain type of person or something as involved as a personality test.
  11. Drive engagement by asking a thought-provoking question. It could be about your audience’s journey or struggles.
  12. Share a personal story, even if it’s small. You’ll seem authentic, which will help your audience feel more connected to you as a coach.
  13. Share behind-the-scenes of your coaching methodology, why it works, your process for completing a task, or what you’re planning or working on next for your audience. 
  14. Offer a controversial opinion. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering but don’t be afraid to discuss things that aren’t typically questioned. For example, I like to advocate for things that aren’t considered mainstream, like not needing a certification to coach if you have the right experience.
  15. Share your lead magnet (the item you provide to those who give you their contact information).
  16. Host a webinar and give your audience a quick preview into what they can expect to learn when they watch it.
  17. Tease your email content to drive curiosity and sign-ups.
  18. Share interesting industry data.

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  19. Let your audience in on a typical mindset shift that your clients experience. What made them change their way of thinking? How did they overcome their limiting beliefs? 
  20. Discuss the mistakes that people tend to make in your industry and give your audience ways to avoid them.
  21. Host a Q&A session to drive engagement or share a question you frequently get to build your expertise.
  22. Talk about any objections you come across in your clients. What are your potential client’s biggest objection and what reframe do they need to get past it? 
  23. Tell your ideal clients why they should get a coach. What are the benefits? What could they get out of the experience?
  24. Discuss your clients’ dreams and goals. What are they working toward and how are you helping them get there?
  25. Share something about yourself! You don’t have to reveal a lot about yourself to be personal. When I get personal, I don’t share many details about my personal life – instead, I keep it light and centered around things like my dog, Falco, and the TV shows I like to watch.
  26. Challenge your audience to try something new or achieve something. Hint: This is a great way to launch a program.
  27. Partner up with other content creators to share complementary information. For instance, if you’re a mindset coach, create content with a business coach. Or, if you’re a physical coach, consider working with a mental health coach.
  28. Point out an industry myth or stereotype – and then prove it wrong.
  29. Share a poll. Not only does this drive engagement, but it also allows you to do some light market research for things like product names.
  30. Host an Ask Me Anything to allow your audience to get to know you.
  31. Share a fear or mistake. These could be your own fears and mistakes or anonymous clients and how you/they overcame them.
  32. Be relatable by sharing images from your day-to-day life or typical coaching day. 

For more on content ideas and topics, take a look at this short video: 

How to create great coaching content

Now you know why content marketing is important, have a few ideas in your arsenal, and know where to deploy them.

But how do you actually create the content?

To create content that will penetrate and stick with your audience, take these steps: 

Find your niche 

Before you even think about creating the content, you need to determine exactly who you’ll be speaking to. 

Because if you create content without a target audience or core message in mind, you’ll get lost in the shuffle.

If you don’t have a niche, check out this post on how to find one. 

Figure out the best way to get in front of your audience

Consider which platforms your audience is using – those will be where it’s easiest for them to find you.

Instead of trying to create content for all of them, choose the platform they spend the most time on. 

Once you’ve determined your ideal platform, think about the type of content that will be easiest for them to absorb. Maybe it’s video, text, or photos – do some light research before choosing one.

Create a content calendar

When it comes to content marketing, consistency is key.

That’s why I recommend creating a content calendar to keep yourself on top of it. 

Making one was especially helpful for me when I was working a full-time job.

Instead of putting content on the back burner, I would schedule in three 15-minute sessions each day to create content and engage with my audience, plus a few hours every weekend dedicated to content creation. 

Putting those 45 minutes on my calendar throughout the week really kept me honest about my efforts. In the long run, it actually made it easier to stick to my schedule, even if I was tired after a long day.

Screenshot of schedule
My schedule back when I started building my business

If that idea is overwhelming, remember: You don’t have to be perfectly consistent. Just good enough.

And if you want to see what building consistency looks like in practice, I share how I consistently posted on Instagram for a week in this fun video:

Keep a running list of content ideas

The best advice I can give when it comes to keeping a fresh roster of content? 

Never stop brainstorming.

Get inspiration from every part of your life. That includes client sessions (though you should never share identifying information), everyday life, and social media.

Use the same structure 

Use the same structure for every post you create. 

The structure you can use looks like this: 

Start with an attention-grabbing introduction

Ask a question, lead with a quote…Whatever gets your audience interested. 

Then share the actual meat and teach the thing you want to share (a series of tips, step by step…). 

End with a conclusion. Summarize your post and use a call to action (the next step people should take). 

Share valuable information (but not all of it)

You need to post content that’s beneficial to your audience.

But it’s even more important that you don’t share every bit of your knowledge.

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What I mean is: 

If you share too much, your audience will become overwhelmed and not take action. 

Instead, use your content to make it clear to your audience that what they want to achieve is possible for them. (For example, if you’re a health coach, that could be people thinking, “I’m too busy to work out” – with your content, you show them that they too can lose weight.)

And make your content actionable, too. So instead of sharing all your knowledge on how to lose weight, you share a 15-minute tip pretty much anyone can apply. Because THAT’s how people see just how effective your content is. 

If you’re worried about striking that balance, don’t be! You can’t “share too much” – your coaching is about much more than the information you share.

In this video, I talk more about what’s “valuable content” and what’s not: 

Always find ways to improve your content

Once you find a kind of content that works for you, great!

But how can you improve upon it?

At the end of the day, content creation is a skill that you can only learn by doing. Don’t be afraid to put out “bad” content, because even the worst content will help you get better.

The reality is, you probably won’t get much engagement right from the start. But don’t let that deter you. 

I didn’t get any engagement on my earliest content. In fact, I didn’t even watch the first video I ever filmed, because I knew that it would keep me from creating more. But I kept going and kept finding ways to improve, and I now have thousands of followers on social media. 

Even more importantly, I have a multi-seven-figure business because my audience finds my content so valuable. 

Keep trying new things and iterating on your posts to find what works, what doesn’t, and new ways to improve.

Be a productive content creator 

Finally, content marketing will only be sustainable if you don’t spend hours on your content creation.

(I’ve been there – it used to take me three hours to write one email.)

First, make content creation a habit so that your brain is focused on it. 

The first thing I do every day (even today when my business generates multiple seven figures) is to write a piece of content. 

(For me, that’s usually my emails. But I used to create my social content this way, too.)

Second, set a time limit. You might think, “but I’m a slow writer so time limits don’t work for me.”

I used to think the same. But then I started setting a hard limit of 45 minutes for myself.

I wrote whatever I could in that time span and when the time was up, whatever I had created was good enough and I published it. 

That’s how I quickly learned how to create content faster. Which helped me build my business faster. 

And third, speak out what you want to share like you’d be talking to a friend. This will make your content easier to create and more fun to engage with.

Most of us learn how to write professionally, but if you’re sharing content on social media or in your emails, you sound like a robot. 

Talking out what you want to share helps you get out of your headspace and get it out there faster. 

For more, take a look at this short video on how to create content for coaches. 

Over to you!

There you have it: The full guide to creating great content for coaches.

Have you started creating content yet? If so, what’s working for you? What’s not?

Get the Ultimate Guide

for building a
6-Figure Coaching Business so you can achieve more freedom!

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And if you haven’t started your content marketing journey, what are you most excited to try? What are you most apprehensive about? 

I want to hear from you – let me know in the comments below!

Learn more: 

Market Your Coaching Business

Use Social Media for Your Business

Instagram for Coaches: A Guide

Facebook for Coaches: A Guide 

About Luisa Zhou

Luisa Zhou has helped thousands of students build and scale their own profitable online Freedom Business. Fun Fact: She used to work as an engineer for the Space Station and holds a B.S.E. from Princeton. Click here to learn more about Luisa.

Hope you enjoy this blog post.

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