How to Deal with Competition in Your Holistic Business

Do you worry about the amount of competition you have and the effect it’s having on your holistic business?

Maybe you feel there are too many practitioners who work in the same discipline as you. Or do you think there are too many alternative options available for prospective clients?

These are concerns I often hear – holistic practitioners feel discouraged and frustrated because there are so many others competing for new clients. This knocks their confidence, and they end up feeling like they’ll never be able to earn a decent living.

Why Competition is Good

If there are other practitioners successfully offering a solution to the same problems as you, it’s a good thing! This shows that you’re solving a problem that people need help with. And importantly, they’re willing to pay for help – it means your business is viable.

Marketing Will Help You Stand Out

It’s true, there are many, many different approaches and disciplines available. But there’s one thing many have in common, they don’t stand out! They just aren’t visible to prospective clients.

Many of the other practitioners you view as competition, ignore marketing or do very little. They don’t build their profile to attract the right clients and wait for the phone to ring. The only reason they stand out to you is - you’re consciously looking for, and therefore, noticing them.

Marketing is where you need to focus your efforts and let people know how you can help them. You must clearly communicate who you help, the problems you solve, and the results you help people achieve. Ultimately, you must make yourself very interesting to people who could be your ideal client.

The job of your marketing is to educate. Be helpful and generous with the information you provide, share your values, and allow your personality and expertise to shine through. The clients who are right for you will notice and be attracted to you.

How are You Marketing Yourself?

Start by reviewing the marketing you’re currently doing:

• Do you know who you’re marketing to?
• Do you have a consistent, clear message?
• Do you have a well-defined offer?
• Are you being consistent with your marketing activities?
• Is your audience engaging with your marketing?
• Do you have a simple plan of action?

Marketing is About Connecting

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to your marketing. You need to find your own recipe, picking activities based on you, your strengths, your time, and your resources. The easier (and more fun) you can make your marketing, the more likely you are to be consistent with it.

Ultimately, marketing is about building relationships and connecting with your audience and consistently showing up will help you achieve this.

Stick to Your Recipe

Whilst you can check out what your “competition” is doing – don’t get side-tracked from your own marketing recipe, thinking you should be doing the same. You have no idea if what they’re doing is even working for them.

There are so many people out there who could benefit from your help and don’t even know you exist. It’s time to stop worrying about the amount of competition and start to focus on your own business and marketing which is the only thing you can directly influence.

Understand What’s Working

Like with any recipe, getting your marketing right takes some trial and error. Whenever you get a new enquiry, as the person where they heard about you. This is the best way to understand what is working in your marketing. Once you know this, do more of what’s working and give yourself permission to stop doing what’s not working.

Don’t let the worry that there’s too much competition stop you from succeeding. Instead, focus on why you’re the best choice for your clients. You are your business, and you are unique - no one else can do what you do, in the special way you do it.

If you’re struggling with your marketing, book a discovery call and let's have a chat about how I can help you.