Business and marketing educator
Rita Suzanne
I've built marketing for coaches since 2014. I know which tactics earn trust and which ones only work because the buyer can't check.
I've spent about 20 years in business and marketing, almost always as the systems person. Websites, marketing systems, courses, memberships. For the last 12 or so, most of that work has been for coaches.
Now I write about deceptive marketing in the coaching industry and teach coaches and practitioners how to get found, explain what they do, and get clients without the pressure tactics I spend my time calling out.
Growth is easy. Credibility is the hard part.
Eight years in corporate management
My job was streamlining operations, which is a polite way of saying I spent almost a decade finding out why things break and building the process that keeps them from breaking again. Unglamorous work. It's also the entire difference between a system that holds and one that's just a nice document.
Twelve years building marketing for coaches
Since 2014 I've built websites, marketing systems, courses, and memberships for coaches and local business owners. Long enough to say something out loud: it's easier to sell a certification than to earn one. Programs multiply, titles get invented, and the person paying for help has no way to tell the difference.
Coaching changes lives, and I've watched it happen. The problem is structural, and it gets fixed with honest marketing and a way for buyers to check.
What I believe about marketing
Ethical marketing is better marketing. Clear service descriptions, honest scope, and real relationships outlast pressure tactics.
Start local and work outward. Your reputation moves through people, and the first people who can vouch for you are usually nearby.
Put the three together and you get what I care about now...making good work verifiable, and making the people doing it findable.
The deceptive marketing I call out
Most deceptive and predatory marketing in the coaching industry is perfectly legal. It's built so the buyer can't check the claim before they pay.
I know the playbook because it's industry standard, and I spent years building marketing for coaches. So I break it down one tactic at a time: how it works, why it misleads, and what honest looks like instead, so you can spot it before you pay for it.
Credibility theater
Logo strips, badges, and "as seen on" banners that look like proof and verify nothing.
Borrowed authority
Standing next to a bigger name and letting you assume the connection runs deeper than it does.
Self-issued certifications
A certificate from the same business that sold you the training, presented as if someone independent checked.
Readiness claims
A certification in a weekend. Speed sold as if it were qualification.
Selling to people in crisis
Countdowns and scarcity aimed at someone grieving or scared, right when their judgment is least reliable.
I focus on how each tactic works so you can spot it anywhere.
Business and marketing for coaches
You can get found, explain what you do, and get clients using the honest version of every tactic above. That's what I teach coaches and practitioners.
Getting found on Google and in AI answers
Local search, Google Business Profile, and how tools like ChatGPT decide which providers to mention.
Referrals
Finding referral partners, staying in touch with them, and tracking where your clients actually come from.
Describing your services
What you do, what you don't promise, and how to stay inside your own training.
Your website and pricing
Pages that explain your work plainly, and packages priced around scope and capacity.
The short version
Eight years in corporate management, then twelve years running my own business. I’m a single mom of teenagers, so everything I build has to work on a real schedule with real limits. That’s how I judge any advice, including what I give you.
I’m practical to a fault. I’d rather hand you one thing you’ll actually do than five you’ll nod at and forget.
Executive Director, INBGC
For more than a decade, most of the people I built marketing for were coaches. I've also lived through a lot of loss. Put those together and grief support is where deceptive marketing worries me most, because the person buying is choosing at the moment their judgment is least reliable.
I'm not a grief coach, and I don't try to be. My own loss isn't a qualification, and I don't treat it as one. It's the reason I take this seriously.
In all those years with coaches, I watched how easily anyone can claim anything, and how often a certification comes from the same business that sold the training. "Certified" can just mean you finished their program. Nobody independent checked whether you can care for a grieving person. Grieving people deserve a way to check.
That's what the board is for. It publishes a professional standard for non-clinical grief support and independently certifies the people who provide it. The Advisory Board, made up of people in the field, holds authority for that standard. As Executive Director, I oversee Program Administration and get the word out, so more hospices, funeral homes, and the organizations that refer grieving people know independent certification exists and use it when they decide where to send someone.
A credential is only as strong as the independence of whoever issues it.
Speaking and media
I speak to associations, conferences, podcasts, and professional groups. One clear idea per talk, and something the audience can use before the week is out.
How AI tools decide who to recommend
What ChatGPT and Google's AI answers look for when they name a coach or practitioner, and what to change so they describe your work accurately.
How to spot deceptive marketing
The most common deceptive and predatory tactics in the coaching industry, how each one misleads, and what honest looks like instead.
Referrals as a client system
Why service businesses grow on relationships, and how to build a referral system on purpose.
Marketing that fits in a full week
Visibility for coaches and practitioners whose calendars are already full, built around what they'll actually keep doing.
Available for interviews on deceptive and predatory marketing in the coaching industry, getting found online, and marketing for coaches and practitioners.
Common questions
Who is Rita Suzanne?
Rita Suzanne is a business and marketing educator for coaches and practitioners, with about 20 years in business and marketing. She writes about deceptive and predatory marketing in the coaching industry and serves as Executive Director of the Independent National Board for Grief Certification. She's based in Westerville, Ohio, in the Columbus area.
What does Rita Suzanne teach?
Rita teaches coaches and practitioners how to get found online, describe their services, build referrals, price their work, and get clients without manipulative marketing.
Why does Rita Suzanne care about grief support?
For more than a decade, most of the people Rita built marketing for were coaches, and she has lived through a lot of loss herself. Grief support is where deceptive marketing worries her most, because grieving people choose whom to trust when their judgment is least reliable. That's why she leads the board.
Is Rita Suzanne a grief coach?
No. Rita isn't a grief coach, therapist, or clinician, and her own loss isn't a qualification. Her background is business operations and marketing. At the board, the Advisory Board holds professional authority for the standard.
Is Rita's teaching connected to INBGC?
No. Rita's business and marketing education is a separate business. The board doesn't require, recommend, or endorse it, it doesn't count toward any credential, and it doesn't teach the board's standard.
What is the Independent National Board for Grief Certification?
The Independent National Board for Grief Certification (INBGC) publishes the professional standard for non-clinical grief support and independently certifies the people who provide it through the Board Certified in Grief Care (BCGC) credential. It's a credentialing board and doesn't provide training. You can read the published standards on the board's site.
Does Rita Suzanne speak at events?
Yes. Rita speaks to associations, conferences, podcasts, and professional groups about deceptive and predatory marketing, how AI tools decide who to recommend, referrals, and marketing that fits in a full week. Request a speaking engagement.
Where is Rita Suzanne based?
Rita is based in Westerville, Ohio, in the Columbus area.
Let's talk
Speaking requests, media questions, or a question about my work. The contact form is the fastest way to reach me.