Here’s some advice on professional titles and their marketing value.

Yesterday I was speaking to a group of coaches and a few of them were just starting out their coaching careers.

They were getting too hung up on trying to be creative with their job titles. I can relate, as I did the same back in 2016.

Rather than using “Business Coach”, which I thought sounded too boring or basic, I was thinking of using “Business Strategist” or “Entrepreneurship Mentor” or other fancy combinations of words.

This was ego speaking. I wanted an elevated sounding job title, just like we seek in corporate settings. I didn’t want to be lumped in with a sea of average business coaches.

The huge problem with trying to be clever with professional titles, is that you miss out on all the search engine results you’d receive by using a title that people actually search for.

Hardly anybody is searching Google for “Entrepreneurship Mentor” or “Business Strategist”, no matter how cool that sounds to you.

They are seeking a Business Coach, or an Executive Coach. Possibly even a High Performance Coach. Use titles people actively search for, and chances are you’ll get more opportunities for clients finding you.

One of the newer coaches yesterday was struggling with using “Life Coach” because she sees so many frauds in the space, with little actual life experience, and certainly no education or credentials to back up the profession.

She had a masters degree in psychology and also worked as a therapist for several years. She had all sorts of credentials and certifications.

I explained the same ego situation I went through, to bring her clarity.

A generic title doesn’t make you a generic coach. Your potential clients will seek out the qualifications and proof from each of the coaches they evaluate to work with, or at least they should.

Use the title that will benefit you with being discovered, not the one that serves your ego or competitiveness. Your results will stand out, if you have them. That’s what will separate you from the others.

On another topic; If you truly want to reinvent yourself, you must also have the courage to shed the following:

  • Your identity built on previous careers that no longer serve your future.
  • The acronyms like “MBA, CPA, PMP” etc. that no longer describe where you’re headed (people use these for ego and validation btw)
  • Still defining yourself within previous industries that no longer serve you.
  • Societal beliefs and actions that limit you from your future.

The courageous ones will get this, they’ve already moved to the other side of this. The others will wonder if they could do it. The scared will feel defensive about this subject.

-Tony