The 8 Most Effective Marketing Strategies For New Health Coaches
I want to let you in on a little secret.
There’s a topic that not a lot of people in the health coaching world (or the coaching world in general) are talking about, but is hugely important for getting clients.
You see…there are a lot of successful people sharing that they got clients from doing ‘x’ or made a bunch of money by doing ‘y’.
Maybe you’ve tried these strategies but you just aren’t seeing the clients and revenue rolling in.
It may leave you wondering, “What am I doing wrong? Why are these tactics working for others but not for me?”
This is what the marketing gurus don’t tell you…
In most cases, they didn’t start using complex, fancy marketing tactics until YEARS into their business.
One of the things we talk about a lot in The Health Coach Profit Lab is that one of the keys to being successful is to focus on the marketing strategies that align with the stage of business your at.
The strategies that work for a coach with a list of 5,000 people or a big social media following probably won’t work for a brand new coach just out of school.
It’s like trying to jump into a new fitness routine and skipping all the foundations.
Imagine someone deciding they want to try yoga for the first time, and on their first week they attempt to do inversions. It would be way too advanced, it would be overwhelming, and they would probably fail miserably and never try again (not to mention they would probably seriously injure themselves!). Trying to skip ahead to the advanced stages usually doesn’t work.
And this is true in your health coaching business, too.
It’s likely that marketing your business can be a lot simpler than you think…
After trying many tactics myself and working with hundreds of coaches over the years, I’m sharing the most effective marketing strategies for new health coaches.
The most effective marketing strategies for new health coaches
Speaking
When you are just getting your start, speaking is a great strategy to start ‘putting yourself out there’ because it’s one of the fastest ways to connect with people.
It’s far more personal than advertising or social media, because your audience gets to see and hear you in person. This helps to build the know, like, and trust factor more quickly.
I used this strategy myself when I was a new health coach. I gave my first talk in the basement of a gym – and got 2 of my very first clients from that talk!
The venues you work with should do a lot of the marketing for you, so you can focus on delivering your talk to their existing customers or clients.
Not sure if speaking is for you? I believe there’s a form of speaking for almost everyone – no matter what your comfort level is with public speaking, presenting, or technology!
In this post I share 5 types of speaking gigs I used when I was growing my health coaching business that you can try too.
Organic Networking
Organic networking is something you can start doing right away. It doesn’t require any extra setup time because you do it while you’re going about your regular, daily life!
While you’re going about your everyday activities, like going to work or the gym, or talking to other parents or teachers, you can casually mention what you do.
Listen for opportunities to talk about health and wellness, and bring up your health coaching practice.
If you get the vibe that the person you’re talking to wants to know more, continue the conversation. You don’t have to do a “hard sell”, just talk to them about what you do and who you help. If they seem uninterested and you start to see their eyes glaze over, drop it and move on.
Organic networking is something so natural. This strategy will work for you at every stage of your business. Think about how often the question “what do you do?” comes up in everyday life – pretty much every time you meet a new person! So don’t be shy.
Getting Referral Partners
Referral partners are key people to build relationships with. These are people in complementary fields who are a great fit to refer clients to you.
I love this strategy because I’ve seen clients of mine fill their practice with only a few good referral partners.
Who can you approach to be a referral partner?
- Yoga instructors
- Wellness centers
- Therapists
- Acupuncturists
- Personal trainers
- Yoga or Pilates studio owners
Brainstorm a list of people in your local area (and beyond), and start building relationships with them. Approach them for a meeting or a coffee and discuss how you can help each other.
Traditional Networking
Unlike organic networking, traditional networking requires a bit more forethought. Seek out networking events or groups which either your ideal clients or ideal referral partners are likely to attend.
One huge win I had was meeting the owner of a busy acupuncture clinic. She hosted me for several talks and referred clients to me.
If you aren’t sure where to find groups in your area, try meetup.com or eventbrite.com. You can also do a Google search for “networking groups [your city]”. And once you go to one, the attendees will be happy to tell you about more events and groups in your area.
List Building
If you have a good sense of who you want to work with and what you want to specialize in, it’s a great time to put attention on building your list.
Start by creating a compelling free gift that your ideal clients will love. Your free gift will not only entice people to give you their email address, but also start to build the “know, like and trust” factor with your audience.
Once you’ve created your free gift, setup a simple landing page that you can use to promote it. Leadpages is a simple way for anyone to get started with creating landing pages, although there are also less expensive options out there.
Then, create an email series that nurtures your new subscribers and continues to build that know, like and trust factor.
Finally, promote your free gift on your website, on social media, and during talks or networking.
Social Media
Social media can be a powerful tool to promote your business. It can also be a huge drain on your time if you aren’t approaching it in a strategic way.
Focusing and simplifying are the keys to success with marketing, and social media is no different.
When starting out, I recommend getting really focused on one channel. Find out where your audience ‘hangs out’ (Facebook? Instagram? Pinterest?)and focus on posting to that platform regularly.
Facebook Groups
If your audience is on Facebook, starting a free closed Facebook Group is a great way to build a community.
This is a great strategy for you if you want to focus on online marketing and you have time to commit to keeping up with the group.
Having a free Facebook group is a powerful tool because it allows you to create a more intimate space… and it’s a great way to create deeper relationships – because it’s one of the only ways you can have a back and forth conversation online.
When you’re strategic about what you post inside your group and the kinds of events you run inside your group, you can really set yourself as an expert there.
You’ll want to use some strategy with posts that are known to get seen and known to lead your group members to want to work with you by using a mix of engagement posts, positioning posts, and promotional posts.
Facebook Live Streaming
Live streaming through Facebook Live is a great way to reach a lot of people with your message at once.
Like speaking or webinars, live video can build a really fast connection with your audience. (This also works on Instagram Live if that’s what your audience prefers.)
To make the most of your Facebook Live events, create an outline for yourself beforehand so that you have a plan of what you’ll talk about.
If people don’t show up for your live event, don’t be discouraged! The recording will appear on your timeline and, if you’re lucky, in your followers’ news feeds.
Now that I’ve outlined the most effective marketing strategies for new health coaches, I hope you have a better idea of where to focus your efforts.
In the Health Coach Profit Lab, I teach the most effective marketing strategies for each stage of business… so you can focus on implementing exactly the right strategy for where you’re at.
I recommend choosing one or two strategies so you can get really good at them. When you give yourself the time and space to focus on a small number of marketing tactics, you’ll actually get better results by doing LESS marketing.
As you move forward in your business, keep this in mind: If something feels really overwhelming or just isn’t working, it might be an indicator that the strategy is too advanced for the level you’re currently at.
Now I’d love to hear from you!
Which of these effective marketing strategies feel like a good fit to you right now?
Comment below or come join our Facebook Group to share!
