You’ve probably been told this before: “Just post on Instagram and clients will come.”

So, maybe you did.
You created Reels.
You spent hours in Canva.
You wrote heartfelt captions.

And still? Crickets.

The truth is, Instagram isn’t a business strategy. Not on its own. And if you’re relying solely on social media to grow your sleep coaching practice, it’s only a matter of time before you feel burned out, discouraged, and stuck wondering what you’re doing wrong.

The good news?
 It doesn’t have to be that way.

In this post, we’re walking through six proven strategies that actually work to bring in clients even if you hate social media, and even if you’re just getting started. These are the same strategies our graduates have used to go from invisible to fully booked without constantly showing up online.

I break this all down step-by-step in the video below, including how one of our grads went from crickets to fully booked using these exact strategies.

Table of Contents

• The Sleep Coach Growth Quadrant
• Strategy #1: Go Where the Demand Already Exists
• Strategy #2: Turn Instagram Followers Into Clients
• Strategy #3: Build a Referral Pipeline
• Strategy #4: Leverage Other People’s Audiences
• Strategy #5: Build a Lead Magnet System
• Strategy #6: Use Testimonials That Sell for You
• Final Thoughts + Your Next Step

The Sleep Coach Growth Quadrant

Before diving into strategies, let’s zoom out and look at the big picture: The Sleep Coach Growth Quadrant helps you understand where to focus your marketing energy.

• Inbound vs. Outbound: Are clients coming to you, or are you going to them?
• High Leverage vs. Low Leverage: Are your efforts scalable and sustainable?

Quadrant Overview:

Let’s break these down into practical steps

Strategy #1: Go Where the Demand Already Exists

Focus Area: Facebook parenting groups
Quadrant 4: Low Leverage + Outbound

Many sleep coaches aren’t marketing, they’re waiting. Posting and hoping someone finds them. But if you want clients, you need to go where parents are already asking for help.

One of the best places? Facebook parenting groups. Yes, Facebook is still full of tired parents posting things like: “My baby wakes up every 45 minutes, what do I do?”
When you show up in those conversations not to pitch, but to genuinely help, you build trust fast.

Here’s the strategy:

1. Join relevant Facebook groups where your ideal clients hang out.
2. Respond to posts with empathy and insight, not a sales pitch. Example:
    “That sounds exhausting. One thing I look at with clients is ___. Here’s a helpful post on it if you’re interested.”
3. If they engage, move to DMs gently. Start with value, then ask if they’d like to chat more.
4. Offer a call only if it feels right and suggest a specific time. If they ghost, follow up with more help, not pressure.

This isn’t cold selling. It’s relationship-building. You’re earning trust by being helpful first and that’s what leads to booked calls.

Strategy #2: Turn Instagram Followers Into Clients

Focus Area: Instagram Stories + Posts
Quadrant 2: Low Leverage + Inbound

Instagram is where a lot of people show up, but few actually convert followers into clients. The difference? Positioning yourself as the specialist your ideal client has been waiting for.

Don’t Just Post Tips, Build Trust

You’re not a quote machine. You’re a guide. The content that turns followers into clients is the stuff that:

• Builds trust
• Shows results
• Makes people feel seen

So instead of posting generic tips like “5 ways to get better sleep,” try something deeper and more personal:

• “I remember crying at 2 a.m., wondering if my baby would ever sleep. If that’s you right now, I see you.”
• “If your baby is waking every hour, here’s the first thing I check—and why it matters.”
• “Night wakings aren’t always bad. Here’s what they might actually be telling you…”

Remind People What You Do

People are tired and busy, they won’t remember your offer from two weeks ago. Every so often, reintroduce:

• Who you are
• Who you help
• What transformation you offer

You Don’t Need to Be Loud. Just Clear

You don’t have to be an extrovert to be good at marketing. You just need:

• To know who you serve
• To understand how you help
• To be clear on what makes your approach unique

This clarity is your North Star. It’s what helps you speak directly to the people who need you most.

One of our grads, Karla, started with just 6 clients in 6 months. She felt unsure and didn’t even know what a hashtag was. But she got brave. She spoke directly to the parents she wanted to help, created content that challenged myths, and owned her message. In one week, she booked 6 new clients and built a waitlist. The change didn’t come from flashy Reels, it came from clarity and courage.

Stories Are Gold

Instagram Stories are a powerful way to connect. If someone replies to your Story with “This is exactly what we’re going through,” don’t just like the comment; start a conversation. For example: “I hear you! I actually made a checklist to help with night wakings, want me to send it over?”

From there, you’re offering value and building a relationship.

You Don’t Need 10K Followers

You just need the right 10 people watching your Stories and one who’s ready to say, “Okay, I’m in.”

Strategy #3: Build a Referral Pipeline

👉 Focus Area: Doulas, lactation consultants, postnatal professionals
 ✅ Quadrant 3: High Leverage + Outbound

Referrals convert higher than any other strategy, and they’re rooted in relationships. One great connection can bring you clients for months or even years. When someone refers a family to you, there’s no need to “sell” yourself; the trust is already built. Imagine having not just one happy client referring you, but a whole network of professionals like doulas, lactation consultants, baby group leaders, and parenting coaches regularly sending families your way. That’s what a referral pipeline is all about, and it works. Referral clients often convert at 80–90%.

Start With Your Existing Network

Before reaching out cold, ask:

• Who already knows and trusts me?
• Who do I know who works with families?

Even casual connections count. A simple message like,

 “Hey, I’m building my sleep coaching business, do you know anyone who might need support, or someone working with new parents?”
 …can lead to your first clients.

Then Expand Your Reach

Once you’ve tapped your circle, look for professionals who serve your ideal clients, like:

• Doulas
• Lactation consultants
• Postnatal yoga teachers
• Perinatal therapists
• Baby group leaders
• Community hosts

Use ChatGPT or a quick search to find local contacts, and check out their social media presence.

Reach Out (The Right Way)

Don’t pitch. Just say hello and show genuine interest. Example:  “Hey [Name], I love what you’re doing with [audience]. I support families with sleep and would love to connect and see if I could offer value to your clients, no pressure at all.”

Then, listen. Ask questions like:

• What sleep struggles do your clients mention?
• Do you currently refer anyone?
• Would a checklist or free Q&A session help?

When you’re helpful first, referrals follow naturally.

Consider a Simple Referral Program

Sometimes professionals expect a small commission for referrals, especially if you’re not already connected. This can be more cost-effective than paying for ads or marketing, and often leads to word-of-mouth growth.

Tips:

1. Start with your existing network. Ask around.
2. Find 5–10 pros who serve your ideal clients.
3. Reach out with value, not a sales pitch.
4. Build genuine relationships.
5. Optional: Offer a referral fee for their time and effort.

Steps:

• Start with people you already know
• Identify 5–10 professionals who serve your audience
• Reach out with a warm, no-pressure message
• Offer something valuable: a checklist, a workshop, or a Q&A

Strategy #4: Leverage Other People’s Audiences

Borrow trust by showing up in spaces that already serve your ideal clients.

👉 Focus Area: Podcasts, Facebook groups, workshops
 ✅ Quadrant 4: Low Leverage + Outbound

Strategy number 4 is all about getting in front of new people by showing up where your ideal clients already are. You don’t need a big following or loads of content to do this.  What you need is:  

• A clear idea of who you help.
• A way to talk about the problem you solve. 
• A willingness to speak up and serve

Here are three ways to do that, which I’ve used, and still do, and many of our grads use to:

1. Get featured on parenting-related podcasts
2. Offer to guest-teach in communities or memberships
3. Run free workshops for baby groups or support circles

Tip: One workshop or podcast can bring in dozens of leads without you growing your own audience first.

Strategy #5: Build a Lead Magnet System

👉 Focus Area: Free guides, checklists, events
 ✅ Quadrant 1: High Leverage + Inbound

Strategy five is one I really love because this one doesn’t rely on you being online all the time. And when it’s set up properly, it keeps working in the background, bringing new people in, building trust, and starting conversations… all without you having to manually post or reply every five minutes.

Now, a lead magnet is a complete solution to a narrow problem.

It’s the free thing you give away before people invest in your paid service, so you get more people to buy.  And I’ll share some examples in just a moment.  Here’s how your lead magnet brings in more clients. When you go out there and you are not very well known, and you promote your core service, so your sleep coaching service, sometimes this isn’t enough. People don’t trust you because they don’t know you.  Sometimes, people want to know more about your service before they buy. And this is very common for businesses that sell things that require an investment.  So your lead magnet becomes the thing that provides a complete solution to a narrow problem.

So as a sleep consultant, your lead magnet might address the problem around: Split nights or Early rising, and when you create your lead magnet the right way, you bring in leads into your business. You solve the small problem. Then you build a relationship with those people through your emails, and you highlight other problems and bigger problems you can help with through paid service, and a proportion of those people will then become clients because they trust you.

What to Do:

• Choose one narrow problem (e.g., split nights)
• Create a high-value resource that solves it
• Set up a simple funnel: landing page → email → nurture → offer
• Deliver quick wins in your lead magnet to build trust fast

Strategy #6: Use Testimonials That Sell for You

Social proof builds trust, and trust drives conversions (I talk more about this in this video)

👉 Focus Area: Website, email, social media
 ✅ Applies to all quadrants

Nothing beats a real parent saying, “I didn’t think anything would help. I was exhausted, defeated…then we worked together, and now, my child has gone from waking up 6 times a night to once. I feel like myself again – I have energy and I’m enjoying parenting again.”

That’s when someone watching leans in and thinks, “That’s me. That’s where we are. And maybe… this could work for us too. You are showing them what’s possible. Because at the end of the day, people don’t buy coaching.

They buy transformation. They buy certainty.

Now, the question you might be asking yourself is how do you ask for the testimonials, so let’s go through that, and don’t worry – you don’t need to be awkward about it. You’re not asking them to say nice things about you, you’re giving them (the client who worked with you) a chance to reflect on their own growth.

So you can simply ask them this …. “Hey [Name], I’m so thrilled about the progress you’re making, this is huge. Would you be open to sharing a few words about what life felt like before, what’s changed, and how things feel now? No pressure at all, but it could really help another parent who’s feeling just like you were.” That’s it.  Simple. Genuine. And they’ll usually say yes.

And if they’re up for it? Ask for a video. Not polished. Not scripted.  Just them, on their phone, saying: “This was us. This is how we felt. This is what changed.”

Now, you want to use these testimonials strategically. As they say, juice the lemon.

Tips:

• Website + Booking Page –  So right before someone fills in that call form? Insert a client quote or a short second video of someone gushing about the transformation.  Let that do the final convincing.
• Inside Your Emails, include a quick story: for us, we share a story every week, we build on a testimonial shared with us, to talk through the transformation achieved, and how our approach, so the holistic approach, has achieved that.
•  In Your Lead Magnet Itself, share client successes there –  sprinkle them throughout.. This reinforces that what you are sharing works; it builds trust.
• On Social Media (Weekly!)  It’s not about being flashy, it’s about consistency.
•  On Video (Whenever Possible), Text is good. But video is king, as I mentioned earlier. Because you are sharing the emotion, the story. But a key thing is that you want to show people like the people you want to be your ideal clients. If you love working with toddlers, make sure you are showing parents with toddlers in your testimonials.

When is the best time to ask for a testimonial, I hear you ask? This bit is huge, and honestly, it’s where most coaches get it wrong. They wait until the end of the package, thinking, “I’ll ask once everything’s wrapped up.” But by then? Life’s moved on. So the best time to ask is when the results are starting to land and the parent is feeling the change in real-time. The first night their baby sleeps for five hours. The moment they say, “I feel like myself again.” That’s when you ask. And you’ll find you’ll get way more feedback.

Final Thoughts + Your Next Step

You don’t need to be a social media wizard to build a successful sleep coaching business.

You just need a plan, a bit of courage, and a message that truly connects.

Ready to take the next step?  Book your free strategy call here and let’s map out a clear, personalised plan to help you grow without burning out.

Or, if you’re still early in your journey, subscribe to our newsletter for weekly support, insights, and behind-the-scenes lessons from real holistic sleep coaches just like you.

Frequently Asked Questions