How to market your new health coach business
Most of us did not plan to be health coaches. It’s not often that someone goes to school and sets out for this career path. So when it comes to starting your own business, it can feel like you’re behind before you’ve even begun. I always wished someone told me exactly what to do, so I’m going to do that for you.
Here’s what I think should be at the top of your to-do list as you market your new health coaching business:
Get clear on who you’re talking to
It all starts with your target audience. Who do you want to help?
It’s easy to say you want to help everyone, but if you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to no one.
Not sure where to begin? Think about your story. How did you end up as a health coach? Did you have a difficult health experience that led you to this work? Were you in another career before you transitioned to health coaching? Your story helps others identify with you, and it helps you identify the people you’re equipped to work with.
For example, my previous career was in digital marketing. I can speak to the frustrations of that life and I know it well, so when I’m looking for corporate clients for my wellness workshops, those are the types of companies I reach out to.
Get clear on your story. Write it out if you need to and identify themes that you want to work with. Does this match your target audience? If you don’t have experience with your target just yet, how can you work with the experience you do have to serve them?
Another example: Outside of corporate work, in my private coaching I work with feminists with period problems. I personally have never had much issue with my cycle, but my feminist perspective is really strong, so I use that to narrow down my target. Rather than just saying I work with women who have period problems (that’s a lot of women!), I work with feminists who have period problems. That aligns more with my values, interests, and experience.
Secure your social media + URL
If you haven’t already, go ahead and create your social media accounts and the URL you want. Ideally these will all be the same to make it simple for people to find you. Don’t have a business name yet? You don’t necessarily have to! The easiest thing to do is to just use your name.
I would set up profiles on Facebook and Instagram. Managing multiple accounts can be overwhelming though, so if you want to focus on only one, that’s okay. I’d still set up both profiles so that you’ve claimed the name on each network.
For me, I prefer to use Instagram primarily because that’s where my audience hangs out the most, but I do post once in a great while on Facebook to keep it semi-active. There are no rules. Do what feels good to you! That’s the only way it will be sustainable.
You can secure your URL on a website like Namecheap or GoDaddy. They will have instructions on how to connect it to your website. Websites are typically hosted on Squarespace, Wordpress, Weebly, or Wix.
Set up your website
You don’t need to be fancy right off the bat. All you need to get started is a home page and a way to contact you.
On the home page, you’ll want a nice photo of you, and a headline that hooks your target audience. There should be some info about who you help and what you do as well.
A lot of people have an About page, a Work With Me page, a blog, etc. You don’t have to worry about all that when you’re just getting started. As long as there’s an understanding of what you do for people, that’s enough. Make sure the content can answer the question for them, “What’s in it for me"?” Because that’s what they’re ultimately searching for. People’s attention spans are limited, so you want your message to be super clear.
As for contacting you, make it easy for them. Set up a simple contact form on your site that goes directly to your email. You may want to ask questions in that form like “What’s your biggest health concern right now?” or “Why is now the right time to work on your health?” so you can get more context from anyone reaching out.
Set up your email service
Instagram followers are nice, but you don’t own that property. Email is queen and you’ll want to develop your contact list so you have people to market to.
Most health coaches start off with the free version of Mailchimp. I did, too, and now that I’ve grown and moved on, I don’t fully recommend it. It’s not super user-friendly, and there are limitations with the free tier.
I highly recommend the service Flodesk. It’s women-owned, it’s easy to use, there are beautiful design templates you can use, and there are no tiers that keep you from accessing important features. It’s not free however, but it is low-cost compared to other services at $38/month. With Mailchimp, your monthly price goes up as your subscribers increase, which feels like punishment for growing IMO. Flodesk is one price forever.
You can get 50% off Flodesk (for 1 year!) by clicking here and using code KRISTENC. Using my link helps support my ability to offer resources like this and I appreciate it!
Regardless of which provider you choose, get it set up so you can start building your mailing list of people who are in your target audience.
Offer something of value
People don’t usually just give up their email for no reason, so a simple “join my mailing list!” isn’t going to be very enticing. You can have it as an option, but offering something in exchange will get you more signups.
What’s something valuable you can offer for their info? This is called a lead magnet.
Here are a few ideas for yours:
Mini recipe book
Checklist
Journal prompts
Pre-recorded video
Audio meditation
Quiz
Resource list
5-day challenge
Meal planner
Gift guide
Make sure that whatever you’re offering is relevant to your client’s needs. If you work with people with hypothyroidism, for instance, maybe you can offer a recipe book specifically for people healing their thyroid. Or if your ideal client deals with food allergies, perhaps a checklist of how to prepare for eating out might be helpful.
You’ll be able to set up your lead magnet through your email provider. See below for mine :)
Make a plan
How much money do you want to make this year? Start there, and work backwards to reverse engineer how it’s going to happen. Say you want to make $60,000. That amounts to $5,000 per month.
What are your offerings? List them out and how much they cost. Here’s a simple example:
Private coaching program - $1,500
Corporate workshops - $250 base rate
To make $5,000 with these offerings, I’d need to sell 3 private coaching programs, and 2 corporate workshops at my base rate. Not so bad when you break it down that way! Or maybe you get 2 private clients, and do 4 corporate workshops at $500 apiece. Play around with the numbers to settle on a goal that feels doable to you.
Once you have that goal, start making offers as you move through the next few tips.
Update your network
Now that you have the basics in place, it’s time to start telling people what you do!
Especially if you’re making a big career change, you’ll want your personal network to be aware of what your new role is and how you can help people. Not everyone you know will be the perfect client, but maybe they know someone who is and can refer them to you!
Update your personal Facebook with a post that tells people you’re open for business. This would be a great place to add a couple tidbits from your story. Share what you do and who you do it for, and ask people to share your post to help spread the word. You’d be surprised how many people will come out of the woodwork to support you!
Also update your LinkedIn profile. Add your new position and write a post there updating everyone on the new venture.
You may also want to look into promoting yourself in local Facebook groups or ones related to your niche and partnering with other local businesses to offer your services.
Be sure to include a way to reach out to you for a free consultation. Make it as easy as possible for people to get in touch. That might mean sharing a link to your scheduler (Practice Better or Calendly are great options) or sharing your email for them to contact you directly.
Say yes to (almost) everything
Some people are opposed to the idea of throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. Not me. I said yes to just about everything when I first started out, and I believe it’s the only way to really know what you do and don’t want to do.
However, I do think it’s important to start with your non-negotiables. What are you NOT willing to do?
Maybe you don’t want to work nights because you want to spend them with your kids. Maybe you don’t want to help people with weight loss because you focus on intuitive eating. The spaghetti method helps you add to this list as you get more experience, but outlining your values first can ensure your business activities are in alignment from the get-go.
When I started, everyone told me it would be great to do events. To have a booth at a conference and make snacks for people to enjoy. I sought out opportunities in my local businesswomen’s group and through event listing, got several opportunities and said yes to all of them.
Turns out, I hated it! But I never would have known if I didn’t try. Saying yes allows you to explore new avenues and decide what’s right for you, so you can ultimately narrow your focus onto the activities that bring you joy and that actually move the needle in your business.
Market yourself with workshops
Workshops are a low-stakes way for people to get to know you. 99.9% of people aren’t going to sign up for a $2,000 private coaching program with you just from looking at your website. They’re going to check out your social media, they’re going to hop on a call with you first to see if they vibe with you, they’re going to check out your workshops to get a feel for your personality.
This is the know/like/trust factor that you might have heard about. In marketing, the theory goes that people won’t buy from you unless they know, like, and trust you. And it’s true! Think about how you make your purchasing decisions. How are you going to develop that relationship with them?
Workshops are a great way to get your name out there. Whether you’re doing them on your own, partnering with a corporate client or local business, or simply showing up on Facebook Live every so often, it’s an easy way for you to show people what you’re all about and that you’re the expert!
There are a few ways you can go about this:
Free workshops: Build your email list by inviting people to a free workshop. You can pre-record it and automatically send it to people in exchange for their email address, or you can offer it live and have people RSVP with their email so you can send them info on how to join. Facebook or Instagram Live can also serve as a place for a free event, but it’s better that people sign up for it so you get something in return for their consumption of your content.
Paid workshops for your audience: When we do workshops for our own audience, it’s usually a lower ticket price. Depending on the workshop length and scope, it can be anywhere from $10 to $200! An hour-long workshop is usually best priced between $10-50, whereas the $200 price point would be more for an interactive, several hour event.
Corporate workshops: The perk of going corporate is that you can deliver the same workshop to as many clients as you want, whereas with our own audience, we can only offer the same class so much before people stop caring. It’s a highly repeatable model that can make for a valuable income stream. Health coaches often charge hundreds of dollars for one hour of their time. Though the audience here won’t be full of perfect clients, you’re getting your name out there and becoming top-of-mind for the ones who are!
Not sure where you start with your workshops? We have several done-for-you options so you can skip the creation process and go straight to getting booked. View our workshops and trainings here.
