Marketing ourselves as a complimentary health practitioner is a very different thing to marketing anything else as anyone who has tried to get help from a marketing consultant knows… Lots of translations into our industry need to happen. I recently had this question on getting new clients inside my FB Marketing Group ….. “I don’t have a shop or warehouse etc so no signage. My clients are businesses… my existing clients don’t talk to others in their field.. What marketing is best that isn’t massively expensive? Thank you”
We tend to think it is the pieces of the puzzle that need to be solved … we are looking for the Magic Marketing Pill … if only right?! The thing is it isn’t the signage or the website or the best and cheapest marketing, it isn’t word of mouth or an ace marketing campaign, it is a combination of all that and more that is needed and ends up costing practitioners lost clients, time and money ….
So, if you are trying to puzzle this out here are a few things to look into :
- Check in with yourself, first you need clarity (often we think it will come – and it will, but sometimes that takes years without the right prompts) – until you have that your marketing can’t be heard through all the noise anyway, it will just be too general. Once you have that then check your business foundations, do you have the systems in place to support your clients? If not then all your marketing will go to waste. Do you have the steps in place to be walking towards your vision? If not then figuring them out along the way will suck up resources including your precious time and money like a vacuum. Aside from all the rabbit holes you might fall into! Years can go by. Truly. So have a plan to make those happen and stick with it.
- Then, once all that is in place, that is when you can develop marketing that works. Find out about marketing syntax and how to speak to your potential perfect clients so they can hear. Don’t try to educate them to early about your process. Speak to their challenges, tune into their channel WIIFM ‘what’s in it for me’ and broadcast on that. Develop your own authentic marketing language, similar phrases and words you use over and over again that tune into, you got it, station WIIFM of your perfect clients.Marketing before you have your own authentic marketing voice is like scattering crumbs, most are consumed without being noticed. End result? You have to scatter an awful lot of crumbs, costing a lot of time and money to get any results at all. And you can end up looking really messy and even unprofessional in the meantime which can hurt your business.
- Finally, using your natural talents as well as skills, construct a marketing strategy that is easy and cost effective. You can now do that because you already have everything in place to make it successful. Think about the things you like doing that are marketing related, make sure that your perfect potential clients can see it or hear it and then do it. Then monitor your results and tweak what doesn’t work until you get the results you want.
So, in short, my answer to ‘what is the best and cheapest way to market’ is that there is no one best and cheapest way, sadly. Otherwise, I guess everyone would be doing it!!! Know that it is an individual process and once you have your own, it will be easy. Doing it yourself is possible but for most people it takes a long time – that can be shortened enormously by getting the right help.
Here is a testimonial I received this week that can vouch for that!
I started the Confident Practitioner Program earlier this year after hitting the lowest point in my career. I am a practicing herbalist/nutritionist/energy healer for nearly 20 years and I needed to change the way I approached my business. I had 2 children in that time so my focus had been on them for the last 10 years. This year it was time for me to focus on what I wanted to achieve. Marketing has changed dramatically over the past 20 years…when I started there was no email or social media so it was a completely different ball game.
CPF helped me to get really specific about my ‘ideal client’ and use the marketing tools to attract them to me. The practical advice and information in the modules was exceptional, but the personal growth I experienced was what I value most. To be really clear about why I am doing this work, what I want to gain from my business and having a BIG VISION to work towards…has meant I am a totaly transformed practitioner and person. I highly recommend this program to you – whether you are a new practitioner or have been working for years…to be really clear about what you want, be given the tools to get there and to watch it unfold….it is a truly brilliant process.Thank-you Gay – I will be forever grateful. Jane Ainsworth @janeainsworthnaturopath
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This was written with the intention of helping you to live your best life, if you want to know more about how I can help you create a practice you love to own have a look at The Confident Practitioner Formula
Copyright 2018 Gay Landeta, Create The Life You Want To Live. All rights reserved.
