From panic to predictable profit [proven formula]
Can you believe it’s October and the last quarter of the year???
I had no clue how I was going to consistently find clients and build a profitable business when I first started my virtual health coaching practice back in 2013.
I tested various marketing approaches, everything from in-person workshops to online webinars trying to figure out how to create consistent enrollments and financial stability.
I secretly panicked every month like most of us do, until I figured out a proven formula for finding ideal clients that felt perfectly aligned for me.
There are a LOT of places you can invest your time and money when it comes to marketing; print ads, social media ads, online summits, webinars, podcasts, YouTube videos, guest blogging, online health journals, and in-person talks, to name a few.
But not all these marketing methods may be right for you.
So how do you know what marketing strategies you should focus on?
It’s actually quite simple and I’ve created a 3-step formula to help you go from panic to predictable profit, in a way that feels perfectly aligned for you.
In this week’s video and blog, I’m sharing the 3 steps you can take to discover what marketing methods will give you the greatest return build a profitable practice.
Let’s dive right into the details.
Step 1: Personal Story Reflection.
Think about this…
When you were in the midst of trying to solve your health problems or a loved one’s, where were you looking for information?
Were you listening to podcasts, following health influencers on a specific social media platform, or attending webinars, local talks, or online summits?
Or were you an online research guru scouring the Internet for blog posts and articles?
Your ideal client is a version of you. Wherever you were looking for health information, they are likely looking there too.
A perfect example of this is a health practitioner who wants to work with moms and thinks they should be doing in-person workshops at their local health food store or chiropractor’s office like a lot of health practitioners do.
But in reality, do moms in the midst of a health crisis or journey have time to attend an in-person workshop?
If she is like most moms that I know, she hardly has 5 minutes to take a daily shower, let alone a full hour or more to attend an in-person workshop.
In this example, the health practitioner who is also a mom and shares a similar story with her ideal client, can reflect on her experience to see what the easiest ways for a busy, sick mom to get information about her health problems are. Maybe the health practitioner will find that as a busy and sick mom herself, she listened to podcasts while running errands and taking kids to and from school, and that she scrolled a certain social media platform while sitting at soccer practice.
So, for this health practitioner mom who wants to work with moms, her ideal clients are likely podcast listeners and enjoy a specific social media platform. With these insights, this practitioner can then focus on either starting her own podcast or being a regular guest on podcasts geared towards moms, building her social media presence on the platform that she enjoys the most, and using herself to help solve her personal health issues.
Step 2: Personal Alignment Assessment.
Complete this exercise to help you figure out where you should focus your marketing efforts:
- Make a list of all the possible marketing outlets
- Rank them according to the ones that you personally like to engage in
The top 1-3 that you personally like to engage with are the ones that will get you the greatest return because your energy is aligned here.
When you use this approach to marketing yourself, it’s joyful, easy, and authentic because you’ll be funneling your efforts into areas that YOU actually enjoy instead of forcing yourself to use marketing tactics that you don’t personally resonate with.
When we force ourselves to do things because others are doing them, or because we think we should be doing them, there’s any energy of resistance or resentment circulating in the background making it practically impossible to show up authentically with positive energy to attract ideal clients (plus from Step 1, you already know your ideal clients are a reflection of you, so they probably aren’t hanging out in these places anyways).
Step 3: Target Market Research.
The third step is to conduct a few Target Market Research calls to collect data about where your ideal client might be searching for information and the words they are using, so you can weave this into your marketing to produce magnetic content.
Similar to how lab test data guides recommendations for lifestyle changes to help clients get results quickly, target market research data tells you where and how to get the best results with your marketing efforts.
Every 6-12 months, I conduct target market research calls to help me reevaluate my ideal clients and develop the most effective marketing strategy.
For example, at one point in my business, my marketing strategy changed from being published in online health journals such as Mind Body Green to being a podcast guest based on these research calls. In the calls, I discovered my clients had evolved from reading online journals to listening to more podcasts.
I pivoted my marketing strategy to align with where my ideal clients were spending their time so I could become visible to them to generate consistent enrollments and income.
Implementing and revisiting these 3-steps regularly will help you connect with your ideal clients and generate consistent enrollments for financial stability, no matter what stage of business you’re in.
And here’s a bonus tip…
Aside from identifying where your ideal clients are in the marketing world from your story, what is aligned with you and target market research calls, the last and probably most fruitful place to find clients is by word-of-mouth referral.
If you follow me at all, you’ll see that I dabble in social media marketing, webinars, podcasting, and a few other types of marketing with the goal of building an email list and nurturing those leads into clients one day.
But 95% of my clients, particularly the ideal ones, came from word-of-mouth referrals. This is an opportunity that every good health practitioner should leverage in their business more.
Same as your story is your selling point, so are the stories of your clients. They are walking billboards for you. And similar to how you attract like-people, so do they.
We tend to surround ourselves with people who share the same interests and struggles as us, so your ideal clients likely know people who are like them, and who could use your help too.
To encourage word-of-mouth referrals with your existing ideal clients, you should have a client referral incentive, and they should know about it.
I find that a free 45-minute session for each referral who enrolls with me is a great incentive for my clients. It’s over a $400 value for them but it doesn’t cost me anything except for my time to deliver even better service for them and get them one step closer to feeling like their best self.
Your referral incentive can be anything you want it to be; a free supplement, a skin care product package, or a box of your favorite protein bars.
Now it’s time to get to work on sourcing some ideal clients for yourself.
To help you with the Target Market Research step, click here to get my Target Market Research Guide.
And once you complete these 3 steps, I would love to hear what your newly aligned and data-driven marketing strategy is to turn your panic into predictable profits.
