Hey, Coaches: Ready To Feel Inspired To Create Content Again?
I’m a big believer in meaningful, purposeful, and effective content being our secret weapon when it comes to building a fulfilling, impactful, and sustainable business.
Especially for coaches, it’s a great way to share our knowledge and expertise, connect with potential clients, and build awareness around our services and offerings. Personally I’ve found that, alongside referrals and word of mouth, my content has been one of the most important tools in my box when it comes to consistently attracting and booking clients along the way.
Sometimes though it’s easy to feel in a rut, burnt out, and uninspired when it comes to our content creation process. We spend so much time each week with our clients doing the work we’re here to do that the thought of creating content around the same topics and ideas can feel a little exhausting.
Today I want to share with you 10 content exercises and ideas to hopefully inspire you to start creating and sharing content again. Hopefully these can be jumping off points to spark some ideas that you feel excited to explore and create.
1. Write letters to your clients
Think of a couple of clients that you’re working with right now. Think about what you’re working on together, what they’re struggling with, what their goals are and what they’re trying to overcome and make happen so they can get there. If you could write a letter to them, what would you say in it? How do you want to guide, encourage, and support them in their journey? Reflect on the work you’ve done together so far - what have been the key takeaways, a-ha moments, and lessons learned? If you weren’t working together and you could write just one letter to help them in their journey, what would you say?
These letters aren’t to be sent to your clients but to be used as a jumping off point for a piece of content for your online presence. You can take all the key points, ideas, advice, and encouragement and turn it into a blog post - or even a newsletter or podcast episode of video instead.
This exercise is great for digging into what your clients (and potential clients) are struggling with and getting to the heart of how it is you really help them along the way.
2. Explore a new medium
Maybe you’ve been blogging for years now, or sending weekly emails is your thing, and you’re starting to feel a little uninspired by the process. It could be time to explore a new medium - maybe a podcast, or video series, or social media platform. This is a great way to wake yourself up in your content creation process if you’re starting to feel a little stagnant and stale. Not only is it a great new challenge for you but also a great way to show up more for your community and potential clients too.
Start small - don’t put any pressure on yourself to commit to anything big if you just want to test the waters and see how it feels. Not sure if you’re ready to commit to an entire podcast show? Try starting with a 5-part one-off audio series. Not sure if weekly videos is going to be your thing? Just make one and see how it feels. Not quite sure about Instagram Stories yet? Try it for a week and then reflect at the end of it.
3. Write to your dream client bucket list
I’m a big believer in the power of a dream client bucket list. It’s a list of maybe 5-10 people you would love to work with in the future - maybe it’s bloggers you follow, or members of your online community, or people you know in your real life. This can be a great anchor for your content creation process as it can help you visualise who it is you really want to reach and connect with.
Pick 2 or 3 people on your dream client bucket list and think of a specific piece of content you would create for each of them to help them in their journey and give them space to really connect with the work you do as a coach. This can be a great jumping off point for creating a blog post or piece of content that really resonate with the specific clients you want to be working with right now.
4. Outline your core message and methodology
This is a great place to start if you want to get back to basics and introduce your readers and online community to your core message, vision, and methodology as a coach. First step is to outline your core message and methodology - these are the things that shape the work you do and how you show up as a coach. Then brainstorm 2-3 pieces of content for each that could help you share this with your readers and guide and encourage them in these topics too.
This not only helps you to plant your flag in the sand as a coach and establish your point of view and expertise, but also helps you create a content plan that is focused and intentional for your business too.
5. Explore the misconceptions and fears that may hold your dream clients back
Think about the reasons why your dream clients might hold themselves back from taking the leap and hiring you as their coach. Think back to the times current and past clients have told you about what almost stopped them from taking the leap too. Brainstorm ideas around these misconceptions and fears that can help you to bust any myths and better explain to potential clients how it is you can be of service to them with your work.
You can also explore exercises, challenges, and tools you can share that can be of service to your community to help them move past the fears and mindsets that are holding them back in their journey right now.
6. Create a fun challenge
If you want to do something fun, creating a challenge for your community is a great way to get them involved and connect with them along the way. Think of a step-by-step challenge or mini program you could create that will help your community move from A to B in an area where you know lots of them are struggling. Think of work you’ve done over and over again with many clients that you can replicate in a self-guided and step-by-step way. You can run it on your blog or through social media and it could be a great way to start conversations with your readers and wake up your audience too if things have become a little quiet and stagnant for a while.
7. Write letters to your younger self
One of the things that makes every coach unique is their own story, experience, and journey so far. Everything that’s led you to where you are now as a coach is what makes the work you do unique and special - and this is a big part of what attracts your clients to you too. Sharing your own journey and lessons learned can be a great way to connect with your community and create space for their own insights and a-ha moments from the stories you share too.
A great jumping off point for this type of content is by writing letters to your younger self - what would you say to yourself if you could go back to the beginning of this journey? What are the lessons you’re so grateful you’ve learned along the way? Once you start exploring those questions you will hopefully be able to brainstorm ideas for pieces of content you can share moving forward.
8. Think of a powerful conversation you’ve had recently with a client
Look back over your recent coaching work and clients and reflect on a powerful conversation you may have had together - maybe they had a breakthrough, or an a-ha moment, or finally felt able to move past some blocks that have been holding them back so far. Think over what led you both there and explore how you could turn that into an effective piece of content to share with your community online.
My best advice here is to get into the habit of making a note at the end of any coaching calls where a topic has come up that you would love to explore in your content. That way it stays fresh in your mind and you can leave yourself breadcrumbs to return to when you have some space and time to bring some pieces of content to life.
9. What are the questions you’re asked over and over again?
This is a great exercise for when you want to create some cornerstone pieces of content for your online presence. Write down the questions you’re asked over and over again by clients and members of your community - these are the topics that are the top of their mind when it comes to the goals they want to reach and changes they want to make along the way. Then you can brainstorm pieces of content that answer these questions - this a great way to show up and be of service to your community, and also a great way to connect with future clients and build your know, like, and trust factor too.
10. What’s inspiring your own growth and development right now?
There’s this belief sometimes online that our content has to be all about our audience - that to share too much about ourselves is how we bore or repel people along the way. Personally I haven’t found this to be true - I’ve found that sharing more about myself has been a great way to build a genuine relationship with my community and clients along the way, and I’m personally attracted to other creatives when I can really connect with who they are and their story too.
As much as our content is a great place for us to “coach through our content” so we can attract and book clients along the way, I think it’s also a great place to build an authentic relationship with our community to and give them space to really get to know who we are and what fuels our journey and the work we do too.
Think about the things that are inspiring you and your own journey and growth right now - maybe it’s books, or theories, or podcasts, or new ideas and revelations - and then explore how you can share that through your content. This can be a great way to find personal fulfilment in your content process too - it can be a really fun way to use your content streams as a tool for personal growth and reflection too.
To finish
I don’t believe there are any one-size-fits-all rules when it comes to creating effective and meaningful content online.
The best thing you can do is to stay connected to your core vision and intentions and listen to your intuition and create content that you’re excited to bring to life - my hope is that these content exercises can hopefully spark some of those ideas for you if you’re feeling a little uninspired and stuck right now.