One of the less common career choices for digital marketers but still worth exploring is that of a digital marketing coach. Let's examine what a digital marketing coach is, how coaching differs from consulting and hiring an agency, what coaches charge, and what it takes to become one.
What Is a Digital Marketing Coach?
A digital marketing coach is a mentor who teaches business owners and marketers how to plan and run their own digital marketing. Instead of doing the work for the client, the coach shows them how to do it, reviews what they have done, and holds them accountable for the results.
A coach will meet with the client, discuss their marketing goals and constraints, create a plan together, and then work through it with them in regular sessions until the client can run their marketing with confidence.
Two types of people usually hire a digital marketing coach:
- Business owners who want to handle their own marketing, often because they can't afford an agency or want to keep control of their accounts.
- Marketers building a career who want a mentor to help them learn faster, fill skill gaps, or prepare for a new role.
What Does a Digital Marketing Coach Do?
One of the main tasks of digital marketing coaching is to understand the client's business and teach them how to use digital marketing to generate more sales. A typical coaching engagement includes:
- Reviewing the client's current website, channels, and results to find what is working and what is broken.
- Helping the client define their target audience and understand their competitors.
- Agreeing on realistic digital marketing goals.
- Building a step-by-step marketing plan with the client that they can carry out themselves.
- Teaching the skills the plan needs, such as SEO, running Google or Facebook ads, writing content, or setting up email campaigns.
- Reviewing the client's work and results in regular sessions and adjusting the plan.
Some coaches also train a client's marketing or management team, from technical topics like technical SEO to organizational ones like setting up a marketing team and writing procedures for how it works.
A good coach also keeps the client focused: separating the tactics that matter from the latest hype, and showing them how to use current tools, including AI and automation, in the right way.
Digital Marketing Coach vs. Consultant vs. Agency
The three are often confused, but the difference comes down to who does the work:
- Agency: An agency takes over your marketing and runs your campaigns for you.
- Consultant: A digital marketing consultant analyzes your situation and recommends what to do, usually for a specific problem or project. Your team or another specialist then implements it.
- Coach: A coach works side by side with you over time, so you build the skills yourself and keep control of your own accounts.
Coaching is usually the cheapest of the three because the client does the hands-on work. It suits people who want to learn and have the time to apply what they learn. If you need results without being involved, an agency or a consultant who builds your digital marketing strategy for you is the better fit.
How To Start a Career As a Digital Marketing Coach
Becoming an online marketing coach involves several steps related to technical training, gaining the necessary experience, and building soft skills to help you carry out your job successfully.
If you want to start a digital marketing coach business, these are the six steps to follow:
- Develop Your Digital Marketing Skills
- Master Essential Tools and Project Management Skills
- Define Your Target Market
- Create a Business Plan
- Develop Coaching Packages and Procedures
- Market Your Coaching Business
1. Develop Your Digital Marketing Skills
The first step is to develop your technical digital marketing skills. You need to know how digital marketing works and what each main channel does.
You need solid, hands-on experience in many areas, because you can only teach what you have done yourself. Clients will ask you about every channel they use, and your advice has to come from real campaigns, not theory.
If you're starting now, focus on SEO and content marketing. These channels can bring real value to an online business. They are the hardest to master (both in terms of time and effort), but they can generate the best long-term results.
Then, learn about PPC marketing and platforms like Google and Facebook Ads. Paid marketing can produce faster results and is essential for all businesses nowadays.
Once you feel confident with the above, expand your skills and move on to social media, email, and influencer marketing.
If this sounds like a lot, don't be disappointed; there are many online digital marketing courses you can enroll in and get the necessary training in a structured approach.
Coaching is also a teaching job. Practice explaining what you do in plain language, and get used to guiding someone through a task instead of doing it for them.
2. Master Essential Tools and Project Management Skills
To be an effective digital marketing coach, you must know how to use various digital marketing tools.
Familiarize yourself with tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Looker Studio, Semrush, Ahrefs, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Mailchimp. Your clients will use these tools, and you'll need to show them how to set them up, read the reports, and act on what they see.
Besides tools, each client you'll work with is like a small (or large) project. You must know how to create a project plan, set milestones, and track progress. You don't need to be a certified project manager for this task, but you must know the basics, like creating a plan in Google Sheets.
3. Define Your Target Market
Once you have built the necessary skills for the job, the next step is to think about which customers you want to serve, i.e., to define your target market. You should choose a specific niche instead of going generalized for many reasons.
Many digital marketing agencies, freelancers, and consultants go after the same clients. To increase your chances, you should focus on a specific niche where you can stand out as an expert. Working with many clients in the same niche will give you an added advantage in understanding their specific challenges and opportunities, and you will reduce competition.
This specialized approach will allow you to offer targeted and tailored services to meet the unique needs of that particular market, enhancing your reputation as a go-to expert.
4. Create a Business Plan
The next step is to create a business plan. Starting an online marketing coaching business is no different than starting any other company.
You still need to create a business plan, register a business entity, consider your offering's unique value proposition, create financial plans, and do anything else you might need to ensure the smooth running of your business.
5. Develop Coaching Packages and Procedures
You must develop service packages and procedures as part of your business plan. Service packages are similar to digital marketing packages. You must decide what kind of services to offer and your pricing models.
The most common coaching formats are:
- 1-on-1 sessions: Individual calls, sold as single sessions or as a monthly package with a set number of calls.
- Group programs: A cohort of clients working through the same plan together, which lowers the price per client.
- Course plus calls: Recorded lessons for the basics, combined with live sessions for questions and reviews.
Create packages that cater to various client needs and budgets. Two or three packages are enough; otherwise, you will confuse clients and add unnecessary complexity.
Additionally, establish clear procedures for onboarding clients, conducting coaching sessions, and providing follow-up support. Outline the steps clients can expect from start to finish, including initial audits, goal-setting, and progress tracking.
6. Market Your Coaching Business
A business needs clients, and as a digital marketing coach, you must market your services online to get the attention of potential clients.
By reaching this point, you should know what to do. After all, this is exactly what you will be teaching your clients.
Things like social media marketing, SEO, blogging, and community building are crucial for your business's success and a good opportunity to test your knowledge. Coaching marketplaces such as MentorCruise are another way to find your first clients.
Setting up a coaching business uses the same skills as any freelance marketing business: packaging your services, pricing them, and finding clients. The Freelance Marketing Course shows you how to set up a freelance marketing business, find clients, and price your services.
Digital Marketing Coaching Certifications
Getting a digital marketing certification is one way to reassure potential clients that you're the right person for the job.
Completing the certification process will allow you to test your skills and gain the confidence to present yourself as a digital marketing expert.
Some of the most popular choices recommended for online coaches are:
Digital Marketing Certification by Reliablesoft is included in our 21-course bundle for $127 and covers all digital marketing disciplines with practical advice and examples.
Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certificate costs $49 per month on Coursera after a 7-day free trial. Most learners finish in 3 to 6 months, and it includes lessons on digital marketing and ecommerce.
Meta Social Media Marketing Certificate is also paid through a monthly Coursera subscription. It takes about 5 months at 10 hours a week and is geared more toward social media marketing with Facebook and other Meta platforms.
For more options, read our digital marketing certificate programs guide.
How Much Do Digital Marketing Coaches Make?
According to MentorCruise, a coaching marketplace, ongoing digital marketing coaching typically costs clients between $100 and $500 per month, and premium coaches and executive programs charge significantly more. Rates for single 1-on-1 sessions vary widely with the coach's experience.
How much you can charge depends on your experience, your niche, the format, and your clients' location. For example, a coach working with ecommerce businesses in the US can usually charge more than one working with small local businesses.
My advice is to be flexible with your rates. It's much easier to secure clients with a low initial fee, and as you deliver good results, you can safely increase your rate.
Remember, clients hire you to help their business make more money, and nobody will have a problem paying a high rate if they can get the desired results.
Learn More About Digital Marketing
If you're convinced that becoming a digital marketing coach is a good career choice for you, start learning more about digital marketing using the following resources:
