Building the ideal health and wellness coaching business requires plenty of education and dedication. There’s also a small business marketing element that’s necessary to build up your client base and establish a target market. Marketing can be intimidating for some, and you probably didn’t get into wellness coaching to spend your time doing marketing tasks. However, with a little effort and a little practice, you can build the foundation for a good wellness coach marketing program, and steadily grow your list of clients – all without engaging in any high-pressure, aggressive sales work. Here are a few suggestions to get you going.
Develop and Nurture an Email List
In today’s fast-moving digital economy, email seems like an old-school tool. In many ways, it is, since email has been around for more than three decades and many of today’s modern digital promotional tools are only a few years old, or less. However, statistically speaking, email remains one of the highest-converting tools for marketing, and it it’s also a mainstay of any modern communication strategy.
The key is to think of email more as a communication tool and less as a vehicle for sales. Use it to stay in touch with your clients, and prospective clients, and offer them valuable content. As long as you send them useful information, they will stay active on your list. Establish yourself as a provider of valuable content, and your audience will be more likely to read and engage with your emails. Then, when it comes time to promote something, you can interject a call to action, or send a direct promotional message. Just remember: Educate first, sell later.
The real challenge with email is how to build up your email list in the first place. Email list building is a long-term strategy that usually involves multiple avenues. The first is to simply ask for an email from your clients and from anyone who attends one of your events. You can also create what’s called “gated content,” which involves crafting a valuable content, like an eBook or guide, and then giving it away to people online in exchange for their email address. You can also provide links on your website for people to “opt in” to your communications. Incentivize them with giveaways, promotional, specials, etc., and be sure to let people know what they’ll receive once they sign up. For example, “Sign up for my email list to receive weekly wellness tips and members-only discounts for special services.”
Host Workshops
Get out of your house/office and in front of some live people! Consider approaching neighborhood organizations, health and fitness clubs, recreation centers, local businesses, and corporations. Human resources departments are always looking for health- and wellness-related programs to offer to their employees. By providing an in-person workshop, for free, you get valuable face time with people who are interested in wellness, and who might ultimately become your clients. These are incredible opportunities to let them see you in action, get a taste for what to expect if they decide to work with you, and build rapport. You can also organize events through platforms such as Meetup or Eventbrite to connect with prospective clients. Wrap up your workshop with a promotional offer, discount or some other incentive to encourage people to contact you after the presentation.
Webinars
Back in the digital world, a webinar is an online version of an in-person workshop. Webinars can a useful business development tool that dramatically expands your marketing reach because anyone from anywhere can tune in. Pro tip: Close out the webinar with a special offer “just for viewers” and then follow up with an emailed promotional offer (you got your attendees’ email to register them for the webinar, right?).
Be a Guest Speaker or Podcast Guest
When you’re a guest on someone else’s presentation, you’re able to expand your message beyond your marketing list and reach new prospective clients. Make sure to participate in guest opportunities when there’s some synergy between your services and the audience to which you’ll be speaking. For example, appearing as a guest on an accountant’s tax planning webinar may not be that useful, but speaking during a nutritionist’s podcast could be ideal.
Blog
If you don’t have one already, start a blog where you can exhibit your expertise as a wellness coach. Blogs are not about selling your services; they’re about providing content that is useful to your target market while positioning yourself as a thought leader in the field. There are many advantages to running a blog through your website, but you can also disseminate your content through social media, email and sites like Reddit or Medium.
Get Social
Every business is on social media these days. It’s a necessity. But don’t worry; you don’t need to be a social media marketing ace with a presence on every platform. Instead, just focus on the one or two social networks where your clients are most active. Post consistently and, again, emphasize informative content over aggressive selling. Provide tips, insights and inspiration. Offer something of value (your expertise) and give people a reason to follow you. If you want to step up your social game, try going live or producing quick, easy videos with advice and useful info. If you want to supercharge your social presence consider running some social ads or “boosting” your posts to get a wider reach.
Looking for more insights on how to market your wellness coaching business? Contact Catalyst Coaching Institute today to learn about the business education that comes with many of our certification classes and other courses. We are there to help you succeed.
And in the meantime, we’d love to hear from you: What have you tried to do so far to market your wellness coaching business? Leave us a message on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and get the conversation going!
