How Coaches Use Generative AI for Content Creation: A Practical Guide for Coaches
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Executive and wellness coaches are integrating AI skills and tools into their practices in many ways — are you one of them? AI is becoming important for coaches to harness in several areas of our profession. Today I will zero in on one of them — marketing. In this article I will show you how AI provides coaches opportunities to improve our marketing, enhance client enrollment, reduce administrative work, and remain competitive. While delivering coaching services is a human-centered profession, coaches can learn how to use AI to save considerable time and become more effective in their marketing and practice building efforts.
Using AI to Assist with Creating Useful Content, Blog Posts and Social Media
In addition to my AI in-residence training I did at Stanford, I also completed an AI program at MIT. MIT researchers published the results of a study conducted in 2023 showing that consultants who used generative AI became 38% more productive.
Utilizing AI for content creation is an easy way to harness AI's power to maintain a consistent and helpful online presence while saving time. Blog posts, social media updates, and email newsletters are common tools for marketing a coaching business, but producing high-quality content regularly can be overwhelming. Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Perplexity, can assist coaches in brainstorming ideas, drafting articles, and refining messaging while keeping content authentic and aligned with their expertise. However, using AI effectively requires strategy and best practices to ensure content remains engaging, professional, and uniquely reflective of the coach's voice. Here are some proven guidelines my colleagues and I have been using effectively.
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Step 1: Brainstorming Content Ideas with AI
One of the most practical uses of AI is its ability to generate content ideas based on trending topics, client interests, and market insights. Coaches can start by inputting prompts into AI tools to generate blog post ideas, such as:
- "Give me five topic ideas for a blog post related to executive coaching to manage team conflict."
- "I'm a wellness coach, suggest five LinkedIn post ideas on how my clients can maintain consistent progress on healthy lifestyle goals during times of stress."
- "What are common challenges faced by managers when they are ordered to downsize their departments, that an executive coach can help with?"
AI can analyze vast amounts of data and suggest relevant, engaging topics based on the quality of the coach's thoughtful prompting skills. To make this process even more effective, coaches should personalize the AI's suggestions by incorporating their niche, coaching philosophy, and ideal client common challenges and stressors.
Step 2: Drafting Blog or Article Content with AI
Once a topic is chosen, AI can generate a rough outline of a potential blog post. The key to success is using carefully structured prompts to guide AI in creating a coherent and valuable article. Instead of asking AI to "write a blog post on leadership coaching," a better approach is to provide more detailed input:
- "Write a 1000-word blog post on how executive coaching can help mid-career professionals transition to a new role. Include a discussion of the need for this type of coaching, specific ideas on how coaches often help, practical tips, and verified statistics on how coaching can boost leadership effectiveness."
This level of detail ensures AI generates a more useful draft. However, coaches using AI for this purpose know that to make the post truly interesting and in the coach's voice, considerable additional elements and editing are required. Coaches should refine draft content by:
- Fact-checking AI-generated statistics and references to ensure accuracy and credibility — AI responses that include hallucinated, non-existent articles are a major problem when using generative AI
- Personalizing examples and stories with real-life coaching experiences to add authenticity
- Enhancing readability and fit by carefully reviewing the draft and making considerable word choice changes to fit your writing style, values and core message, plus sometimes adding subheadings or incorporating bullet points for clarity
- Uploading other content written by the coach on a similar topic to show AI your writing style and voice
Step 3: Creating Engaging Social Media Content with AI
Social media requires short, impactful content that resonates quickly with audiences. AI can assist in writing posts tailored for different platforms, such as:
- LinkedIn: Present professional insights, client success stories, and leadership advice. Example prompt: "Write a LinkedIn post highlighting how I assisted a client manage imposter syndrome with my executive coaching services. To create this utilize the real-life example which I described in my longer article, which I am including here. Keep it under 300 words and end with a question to encourage engagement."
- Instagram & Facebook: Posts ideally are visual and motivational. Example prompt: "Create an Instagram caption for an image of a happy team working together, emphasizing the importance of engagement."
- X: X calls for short, high-impact insights or messages. Example prompt: "Generate five draft tweet-length leadership tips for first-time managers."
To improve engagement, coaches should pair AI-generated posts with high-quality visuals, personal insights, and relevant hashtags. AI can also help schedule and optimize posting times based on audience behavior analytics. At College of Executive Coaching, we use Hubspot to manage our social media posts. This enables us to choose the time to post for maximum engagement and schedule posts in advance. In this way we maintain an organized social media campaign calendar.
Step 4: Refining AI Content to Maintain Authenticity
AI should never replace the coach's unique voice; instead, it should act as an intelligent assistant. Coaches should review, refine, and inject personality into AI-generated content by:
- Adding real-world coaching anecdotes or personal insights
- Adjusting the tone of the content to match your brand's personality — for example, whether you are wanting to come across as expert, warm, or motivational
- Carefully reviewing everything before it is published to ensure clarity and to make sure you stand behind the message. Don't let AI sabotage your reputation — you, as the human, are responsible to make sure you are connecting in the style you want with your reader. Don't let AI try to do that for you.
Step 5: Automating and Analyzing Performance
AI-powered tools not only automate posting schedules but also provide insights into content performance. Platforms like HubSpot or Marketo Engage offer advanced analytics that go beyond basic engagement tracking, allowing coaches to monitor key metrics such as click-through rates, lead conversions and audience responsiveness to your posts. By leveraging AI-driven reporting, coaches can identify which types of content generate the most client inquiries, track how prospects move through your enrollment funnel, and thereby help you refine your messaging based on real-time data. With these AI captured insights, you can continuously optimize your strategy, ensuring that blog posts, emails, and social media updates are not just reaching your audience but actively contributing to the growth of your coaching practice.
Conclusion
The integration of generative AI into a coaching business is not a futuristic concept — it is a present-day necessity for those who want to maintain a thriving practice while optimizing their time and energy. By leveraging AI for brainstorming, content creation, social media engagement, and marketing analytics, coaches can reach more clients, create valuable content efficiently, and focus on what you do best: helping your clients' growth. However, as with any powerful tool, AI must be used with discernment. It is not a replacement for your expertise, intuition, and personality — it is an assistant that can enhance productivity when applied strategically.
Recognizing the growing importance of AI in coaching, many professional coaches are obtaining additional training to ensure they use these tools effectively. Programs like College of Executive Coaching's "How to Use AI in Coaching" course equip coaches with the necessary skills to integrate AI ethically and efficiently into their practice. By staying informed, being an "early-adopter" and continuously improving your ability to leverage AI, you can ensure your coaching services remain relevant, competitive, and impactful.
