If you’ve been a life transition coach for more than five minutes, you know one truth intimately:
Growth isn’t tidy. Transformation doesn’t follow a schedule. And rebuilding—whether it’s a life, identity, or dream—isn’t a straight line.
So why are we still treating marketing like it should be?
Funnels Are Fine—But They’re Not Everything
You’ve seen the diagrams: traffic leads to a lead magnet, which leads to a nurture sequence, which leads to a sale. It’s clean, predictable, and makes sense on paper.
But your people aren’t paper. They’re raw, evolving humans with resistance, trauma, questions, and timing that rarely lines up with launch calendars.
Your job? To meet them there not force them to march through a formula.
Coaching Requires a Different Kind of Marketing
The clients who resonate with life transition coaching aren’t looking for perfection. They’re looking for resonance.
They want to know:
– Can you hold space for their messy middle?
– Will you still show up when they ghost your email list for a month?
– Are you speaking to the *real* them—not the polished version they show the world?
This means your marketing has to evolve beyond strategy and step into sincerity.
Nonlinear Marketing in Action
Let’s be real: some of your best clients will circle you for months—watching, reading, lurking quietly—before reaching out. They might unfollow and come back. They might never download the freebie, but will binge every blog.
That’s not broken. That’s human.
Instead of chasing conversion metrics like a robot, try these strategies:
1. Normalize nonlinear journeys in your content. Use client stories (anonymously) that highlight ups and downs.
2. Design checkpoints, not pipelines. Offer multiple ways to re-engage: stories, lives, quick check-ins.
3. Write like you’re in conversation, not like you’re making a pitch. People feel the difference.
The Danger of Template Thinking
Template-based marketing has its place—it can save time and offer structure. But it often comes at the cost of authenticity.
If every landing page, caption, and email sounds like it was written by ChatGPT’s evil cousin, you’re not marketing—you’re mimicking.
Clients who are rebuilding need realness. That’s how trust is built. And trust—not tactics—is what fuels sustainable business.
Why You’re Actually the Funnel
At the end of the day, your presence is the funnel. Your tone, your consistency, your clarity—those are the magnets that draw people in.
Marketing done differently means:
– Talking about fear, not just goals.
– Naming the void before you sell the vision.
– Sharing the stuck moments, not just the successes.
If You’re Not for Everyone, You’re Doing It Right
Some people will find your approach ‘too emotional.’ Others will ask why you don’t have a 7-step ladder to success.
Let them go.
Because the clients who stay? They’ll stay for the real. They’ll stay because your content didn’t just teach—it touched.
Reconnect With the Real You
Look through your last 3 pieces of content—email, post, or blog. Ask yourself:
– Does this sound like me?
– Would I trust this if I were going through a hard life shift?
– Am I being helpful—or just adding noise?
Start small. Remove one cliché. Add one truth.
You don’t have to burn down your strategy. But you do need to infuse it with you.
Final Thought
The messier the journey, the more people crave someone who’s walked through their own. Don’t sanitize your marketing to fit an algorithm. Make it safe enough that someone rebuilding their life would whisper, ‘Finally. Someone who gets it.’
That’s where your business truly begins.