2026 Marketing Strategies You Need to Know to Grow Your Coaching Business [Ep 73]

Welcome to the Thriving therapyneur podcast. The show for ambitious therapists who are ready to unapologetically make more money, scale their impact and build their dream coaching business. I'm Carly Hill, therapist turned coach turned CEO of a seven figure online business. I created the Thriving Therapeneur podcast because I'm obsessed with helping big hearted therapists outgrow the office and build successful and sustainable online businesses. So if you are wondering how you can continue to make an impact without sacrificing the life you love, welcome therapreneur. This is exactly the place for you. Think of it like the business school we never had. I am so excited to dive in with you. Let's get started. Hello, friends. Welcome back to the show. We're going to talk about the three marketing strategies that are actually working going into 2026. Here's the thing, the the online coaching space is not slowing down, it is evolving. And the strategies that worked three years ago, most of them are either oversaturated, outdated, or they're just plain noisy, in my opinion. But here's the good news. The coaches who learn how to market in a way that actually connects with people, not just converts, that actually connects. These are the coaches that are winning right now in the industry. So in this episode, I'm gonna walk you through the three marketing strategies that are actually going into 2026. I'm going to peel back the curtains. I test all of these myself. I'm here to teach and preach what works in my very own business. And I'm going to teach you how to apply them, even if you're brand new to business. So let's dive in. Let's start with part one. This is the market opportunity. What does that mean, Carly? The market opportunity? Let me just start with some context. This is not just a cute little corner of the Internet anymore. The coaching industry is freaking massive. This is a massive industry. The US business coaching industry alone is valued at around 20 billion. That's just business coaching. And then when you zoom out to the digital learning space, which includes online courses, coaching programs, memberships, virtual training within any niche, it's projected to grow from roughly 349 billion. That's what it is right now in 2025. 349 billion. Like what? To 2.28 trillion in 2035. This is what I'm saying. This is not a cute little corner of the Internet anymore. This is a massive industry and it's not slowing down, it's evolving. This is anyone creating courses, digital products within the Buckets of health, wellness, relationships. That's 90% of my clients. Yes, I absolutely love helping business coaches too. But because I'm a therapist by trade, most often the clients I work with are in the service industry of change work. They're helping their clients get a transformation in one way or another when it comes to life transformations. But marketing is marketing, sales is sales. The same concepts apply no matter what your niche is. So if anyone's telling you the space is saturated, they're wrong. The truth is the demand for support is exploding. People are more open than ever to learning online, investing in transformation, and seeking real guidance. Let me take that back. Yes, it's saturated, but it's not saturated in a negative way. If they're telling you it's saturated, there's no room for you, they're wrong. There is absolutely room for you. But the time to get in is now. Because it's booming and because there's a market need, it's saturated for a reason. The demand for support is exploding. Let's dive into talking about what I call the guru formula versus the human LED formula. Here's the elephant in the room. Most marketing advice floating around online is what I call the guru formula. You've seen it. It's cookie cutter templates, plug and play, webinar funnels, automation obsession, where you just disappear behind tech. The highlight reels that make everything look perfect. And people are like, work with me and Bo Mule. Make a hundred K months pulled out of your ass. No, here's the thing. None of those things are inherently bad, okay? Because funnels, work automations, work templates can help. I teach and use all of that in my business. But here's the difference. What doesn't work is when those things become the entire strategy. When you lead with a funnel instead of a human. And here's where I see so many coaches go wrong. They built the funnel first. They obsess over the tech, the perfect landing page, the automation, the ads, the tags, the triggers, even their logo, their colors and fonts. They're obsessing over all of the wrong things, but there's no heartbeat in it. There's no real human behind it. And people just expect the funnel to do the relationship building for you. The funnel talks at your audience, but it has to talk with them. If your funnel never talks with them, then you're not going to build trust. For example, someone downloads your freebie, okay, you have a lead magnet funnel. Yay. They immediately get dropped into A6 email automation because you should have a nurture sequence, but they've never heard your voice, they've never interacted with you, they've never really felt a real sense of you. And because of that, your funnel is not converting. Instead, there needs to be touch points where you are prompting a reply. You're personally reaching out via DM or phone. They hear your voice, they see your face, or you're having your team do this on your behalf. Some way, somehow, there needs to be a real human conversation. A real human conversation. This is the difference between the guru formula and the human LED formula. And you do need to show your face, you do need to tell stories. You need to bring your energy into the journey. 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That's heyberrys.com and don't forget to use code Carly50 at checkout. All right, back to the episode. So somebody downloads your freebie. You send a personalized welcome message. Then they see you in their Instagram stories, you interact in the DMs, they get a voice memo from you. They get value that actually speaks to what they're going through. That's when funnels work. Not as the starting point, not as the end all, be all, but as the scalable layer on top of a human foundation. That's the human LED formula. This human LED formula looks different. It's about building connection, listening to what your audience is actually saying. You should always be listening and creating experiences that feel real. And again, I use funnels, but I use them to create connection. I absolutely automate. I love automation, but it's only to free up my time. So I can show up more deeply. I'm still showing up. I'm not hiding behind tech. Yes, I use templates, but they're not cookie cutter. It's not bro marketing. I'm infusing them with my story, my voice, my context. This is the shift and it's what's cutting through the noise in 2026. Now let me move on to the high level strategies. Let's start with the first marketing strategy that's working right now. Visibility. Boom. When you think about that, you probably think about likes, followers, comments, vanity metrics being louder. This is what most people think visibility is. It's not. Visibility is about being more clear. You don't need to be on six platforms, just choose one or two, test them, but then double down on what works. You don't need to post five times a day. The more you post, the better. But I need you to post intentionally. And instead of speaking to everyone, you need to speak to one person's specific pain point. You also don't have to go viral or point and dance on reels if that's not for you. You can be visible in a way that is authentic to you, that feels good to you, that's not going to make you cringe. This is visibility. It's just about being clear, not about being louder. The next strategy is value. Most people give away a ton of free tips, but they're never building trust in the tips. Real value isn't just about dumping everything you know and just giving free shit away left and right for shits and gigs. No, it's about giving people the right piece of the puzzle so they trust you, so they see you as a guide and then they want the rest of the roadmap. It's not just about teaching a gold nugget. It's about teaching a gold nugget while also dangling the carrot, indicating there's more where this came from. It's giving value to ultimately lead them further down the client journey. Again, it's intentional. So you gotta pick one core problem your person is struggling with. A micro problem, AKA a problem they're having that shows up in their day to day life. You're gonna create a free mini training, a PDF, a workshop, whatever around it that solves a specific part of that micro problem. And then because we're inviting them to go deeper along the client journey, this is intentional. We're ending with a soft invitation to go deeper. If that was helpful, imagine what we could do together inside my XYZ program. Hey, this is just one of the five frameworks I teach, we're just toe in the water here. There's so much more where this came from. I teach this more in depth to my paying clients. This is exactly what my clients use to yield XYZ results. Hey, if you're just a little bit curious about this, let's hop on a connection call. Not to be dramatic, this could be the one call that could transform your X, Y, Z problem. That's how you turn free content into trust and trust into clients. This is how you spark a conversation that can lead to a conversion. Which brings me to strategy number three. Conversion. Conversion doesn't happen in your content. You don't post on social media and get a conversion right away. Posting on social media is the very first baby step to intentionally move them along in the client journey. Conversion happens in conversations. Again, I see so many coaches hiding behind posts hoping people will just magically DM them. They think they'll build it and they'll come. No. And they're afraid to sell. They think selling is bad. They're so afraid to be salesy. The truth is, sales is service. Sales is sexy. Sales is noble. Sales is helping. It's simply inviting someone to take the next step. That's it. It's providing all the necessary information and helping them make a decision that is in their best interest. Promoting on social media, a free marketing platform, telling stories that both move people and build trust with potential clients who could actually benefit from your work. Right. And inviting people into your offers is way different than manipulative marketing. That's different. If a client is in an empowered place to receive an invitation and say yes to a deeper level of support, then that's on them. Your clients are big girls and big boys. Personally, I'm going to continue to invest in myself, my business and mentors till the day I die. I love having support in all areas of my life. Sales is not wrong. Money is just an energy exchange. So why is everybody saying everything is salesy? Well, that's convincing. Convincing is being salesy. Convincing is not true. Selling. Selling is persuasion. Convincing and persuasion are opposites. Convincing is when I attempt to get you to do something that you don't want to do and it's just for my benefit. So it's all about me. This is salesy. That's slimy. That's not what you're doing. That's like the get rich quick schemes online right now. That shit's salesy. Persuasion is when I help you make a decision you already desire to make for your own Benefit persuasion is selling. And this is exactly why people love to be sold to, but they hate to be convinced for this exact reason. And here's the thing. If you have something valuable to offer, in my opinion, you have a moral obligation to share it. You can say, hey, Susie Q, I noticed you mentioned struggling with X, Y, Z problem. You know that's exactly what I help my clients with. And I have a free workshop tomorrow teaching you the three steps to finally resolve XYZ problem once and for all. Would you like me to share the invite link? No pressure. Boom. You keep it human, you keep it simple. This is what actually works. Let me just zoom out for a second. If you take anything away from this episode, I want it to be this. None of these strategies work in isolation. They work because they layer together. So let me bridge it all together for you. Visibility. This is what's going to open the door. Visibility is not about being louder. It's about clarity. This is how people find you. Not through shouting louder or going viral. It's through consistent, intentional messaging that speaks directly to someone's pain point. It's the magnet, it's the top of the funnel. But more importantly, it's the moment where trust can start to form. Everything's built on trust. Someone sees your Instagram reel, they read your caption, they find your podcast, they feel seen. But that moment isn't just content, it's connection. And then you're going to lead them deeper on the journey. You're going to build the bridge. This is the value. This is where your audience really starts to lean in. They're not just scrolling anymore. They're listening. You have their attention. They're trusting, they're curious. You're giving them enough to shift something in their world. They get this micro win and they're like, whoa, I wonder what else she has for me. And you're pointing them towards a bigger transformation. This mini training that you did that helped them solve that one micro problem and it impressed them. But it's not about impressing them with everything you know, it's just about making them feel like, whoa, she gets me. I trust them. And then you're telling them what else you have to offer. And this is where the conversion happens. This is where the change, the true change, happens. This is where the real transformation begins. And not because you forced it, not because you were salesy, just because you nurtured the relationship. Conversion, again, is not about manipulation. It's alignment. It's an invitation. It's you saying, hey, I have something that can really deeply help you transform your life. If you're ready to go deeper, if you're ready, I can help you. And here's how I helped many, many clients just like you. And when visibility and value are already doing their job, conversion stops feeling like selling, it feels like serving. That's how sales should feel. It's a service. So we seeing how this is flowing now, this is the human LED ecosystem. Visibility brings them in, value builds that bridge. Conversion is just going to simply open the door to transformation. That's what you're here for. That's human first marketing. It's not a random funnel hoping somebody buys it's not a copy and paste it webinar script with no soul behind it. It's a strategy that has your voice, your energy, your leadership. It's woven through every single touch point. Funnels will change, algorithms will change, platforms will change, they have, they will. Human connection, it won't change. It's timeless. It's going to stand the test of time. So when you focus on building a real relationship with your audience, you'll never be at the mercy of a trend. And this is not only how businesses are going to grow, but it's how they're going to last. And people are forgetting about this. The coaching industry is massive. It's growing. The digital learning world is exploding. People are more open than ever to seeking help online. But the truth is the window of opportunity is right now. Now is the time to get in. You will get left behind if you don't get in now. You will be ahead of the game if you get in now, if you grow now, if you scale now, those who establish their voice and authority today will be the ones leading tomorrow. Mark my words. So here's what I want you to do. Pick one platform. Create one powerful piece of value. Start five conversations this week. Don't wait until everything is perfect. Don't hide behind the algorithm or get stuck stuck on vanity metrics. Don't hide behind the tech. Don't over complicate what's working. Just get your message, let it be janky. Nobody likes a perfect person anyways. Go live, post the post, do the damn thing. And if you want the roadmap that's helped hundreds of my clients build a thriving online coaching business from scratch. This is exactly what I teach inside my programs. You can check out the link in the show notes, you can apply, you can book a call if you. It's no cost, it's no pressure. If you're just a little bit curious, let's see if anything we'll leave as friends, give you some business direction, point you on your way. Of course, if it makes sense working together, we can tell you what that looks like too, depending on the level of hand holding that you want. I just hope this episode gives you the clarity and a swift, slight, gentle kick in the ass to take some action. Thank you so much for listening to the thriving Therapeneur podcast. I hope that this episode has inspired you to reduce burnout, work smarter, and see the freedom potential you have as a therapist. We would love to have you inside the Therapist to Coach Accelerator Facebook group where we have live trainings and cheat sheets on all things marketing, sales and adding coaching ethically and legally. I am here cheering you on and I'll see you around. Sam.