Less Marketing, More Clients

Do you feel like you ‘should’ be doing ‘everything’ to market your holistic business? You add more and more activities to your to-do list because you see your peers and competition doing them. And you assume you’re missing out on clients.

Different strategies work for different practitioners, even if they work in the same discipline and help the same people. There are hundreds of ways to market yourself and just because one works for another, it doesn’t mean it’s right for you. And you certainly shouldn’t be trying to do them all – it’s a recipe for failure.

Finding clients won’t come from doing more marketing, you need to do the right marketing, and this is where less is more.

Less General, More Niche

If you’re struggling to find clients, your marketing is likely to be too general – it’s not appealing to anyone directly. Your marketing needs to connect you with your favourite client - it needs to be relatable to build trust and relationships.

Having a defined niche will also help you streamline the amount of marketing you do as it only needs to appeal to one like-minded group. It doesn’t mean you can’t work with others; it will just focus your marketing efforts.

If you need help with niching, check out this blog – how to niche your holistic business.

Less Waffle, More Clarity

Trying to explain what you do can be challenging, especially if people have no experience with your approach. Struggling to explain what you do can leave you waffling on and losing the attention of those you're speaking to.

By getting clear about who you work with and how you help them, you’ll be able to craft a marketing message (also known as a help statement or elevator pitch) that resonates with the right people. This is used consistently throughout all your marketing, consistently reinforcing what you do! And it’s a message that’s easily repeatable so someone can pass it on and refer you to others.

Here’s a blog post to help you create your marketing message. 

Less Quantity, More Quality

If you try and do everything, you’ll end up jumping from one thing to another without doing anything properly. It’s like being a magpie, you’re attracted to the next new and exciting thing, and then the next. It’s called bright shiny marketing syndrome and it's a recipe for feeling overwhelmed with your marketing.

It’s far better to pick one core marketing activity and learn to do it well before adding others. This will help you maximise the results and identify whether it's working for you. Once you find your flow with it, it will become easy and take less time and energy to do a good job. It’s at this point you can add something else into the mix if you want or need to.

Pick your core marketing activity and commit to focussing on that for at least the next 3-6 months. This is where you will spend most of your marketing time. Get good at providing your clients and potential clients with amazing value through your chosen medium.

You can use other marketing strategies to promote your core marketing, but they aren’t your main focus. For example, my blog has been my core content for years. I then promote it through my email list and on social media, sometimes I make a reel about it, but it all starts with the blog.

Less Frequent, More Consistent

Being consistent with marketing is key to it being successful, but as one person, you can only be consistent with a limited number of things. Putting out consistent good quality marketing will help raise your profile and awareness of the value you provide.

You will also be training your audience when to expect to hear from you. If you write an article each week and people enjoy them, they'll be waiting for them. If you try to do more than you’re able to deliver, you'll fall off the wagon after a week or two and before long, give up.

Even if you can only be consistent with an activity once a month, you should commit to that. You can always increase the consistency as you speed up, or if you find yourself with more time, or have access to support.

Less Sharing 'Just Because'

We’ve all been guilty of blasting out information just because we think we must post something, especially with social media. Unless your marketing has value, it will drift off into the abiss, never to be seen again.

You need your marketing to demonstrate why you’re the right choice and you can do this by ensuring the following elements are woven into your content:

• Demonstrate that you understand your clients’ problems whether that’s sharing your story (if it’s relevant) or sharing knowledge on the subject, people want to know you get them.
• Testimonials and case studies from happy clients showing the results they’ve achieved. Honest feedback from clients is a powerful way to demonstrate results and reinforce your value.
• The process of how you help your clients. People want to know what it’s like to work with you and what they can expect so they know they're in a safe pair of hands.  
• Your authority – share your credentials so people understand what makes you special and why they should trust you. This can be from your personal story, your experience, your qualifications, etc.
• You and your values - people buy people and especially when you're supporting your clients with their health and wellbeing - give people an insight into you and your life so they can see you're a good fit for them.

Ensure every piece of your marketing serves a purpose and encourages people to take the next step. This could be as simple as answering a question on social media or booking a discovery call.

80/20 Rule

If in doubt, think of the 80/20 rule. When it comes to your marketing, 80% of your results will come from 20% of your effort. Identify the 20% that’s working and focus on those activities, and you’ll save yourself a heap of time.

The best way to know what is working is to ask any enquiries or new clients, where they heard about you. That way you will start to get a picture of what marketing is working, and what isn’t.

You’re one person, use your time and energy wisely. Streamlining your marketing to only doing the things that count will make it more powerful and leave you with more time to do the things you love to do.

If you’re struggling with your marketing, let’s have a chat and I will help you figure out your next steps.