#224: 3 Ways To Market Your Health Coaching Business in 2023

All right, hello there health coaches. It's nice to see you. 2023 is here and I am rip roaring ready to get going. I've already been on calls with a couple different clients today with my own business strategist. It's like fire shooting out everywhere. So, if you're here live with me, hello. Thanks for joining. And if you're watching the replay or listening via podcast later, you're awesome too. Today's episode is inspired by Katia, who is one of the members in our Facebook group, our Health Coach Power Community Facebook group. So, I'm going to read you what she said and then we're going to talk about it. She said, hello, health coaches. Happy New Year. I have a question regarding new skills to build up, setting up my new year intentions. What are the best skills or new software to learn for a great health coach?

She said, number one, marketing skills. Number two, public speaking. Number three, learning Canva to create a new flyer, maybe. number four, personal development books or something else. So if you're here live, tell us in the chat what you think. What's the most important thing you can do in the new year? Is it to learn marketing skills? Is it public speaking? Is it Canva? Is it personal development? Is it something else?

Well, here's what I wanna say about this. The first three of those, those are all marketing. Those are all marketing, networking. That's marketing. Using Canva, creating a flyer, creating some sort of promotional graphic for yourself: marketing. I mean, marketing is a really big umbrella term. Do you know even pricing is a topic that falls under marketing. So here on the show, we talk about lots and lots and lots of different marketing topics, but since these were the three that she brought up, I thought we'd focus on them today.

Speaking of marketing, this episode is brought to you by my free on demand training for health coaches. It's called Earn a Living Doing the Work You Love. Is it about marketing? Yes, you better believe it's about marketing. Cause otherwise you're never going to get enough clients to earn the living, to do the thing, to stay in your health coaching business and change all the lives that you set out to change in the first place. So I want you to go run and grab this training. It is at healthcoachpower.com/training. Boom, you get in right away on demand, instant access, and you could be done with it in about 30 minutes and be much smarter about marketing than you are 30 minutes prior. . That's a pretty good deal, right?

So, let's talk about 2023 specifically. What's different this year? I don't know if you noticed over the last couple of weeks, but everybody was traveling.

Were you traveling? Where'd you go? We had people going places, flying trains. We had people visiting, right? All over the place because it is a new year. We are, I don't wanna say we are done with Covid, but we are done with the Covid that kept us stuck in our houses and behind a Zoom screen. So, oh my God, this is a major game changer. For the past couple years, we've been talking all about how can we do things via Zoom? How can we do things virtually that we used to do in person? And now the sweet spot is going to be, how much of that should I really go back to doing in person? Where could my business really benefit from actually showing up live with people? So what I wanna say first and foremost about marketing this year is please do not get stuck in an endless social media scroll in that social media rabbit hole where you're spending an hour to create some type of post or graphic, and then you put it up and maybe one person likes it and you're like, oh, what am I doing?

This is a quick road to nowhere. I was thinking Twitter has been in the news a lot lately for all the nonsense that's going on over there. When I started my health coaching business in 2009, 2008, 2009, Twitter was hot. Twitter was the thing. If you weren't on Twitter, what were you doing? And I got a lot of good traction with Twitter in the beginning, finding different partners, doing a lot of networking, a lot of great opportunities came my way because of Twitter. Look at it now. I'm glad I didn't hang my hat on this one social media platform, right? Like, if you get all involved with becoming the next whatever, Twitter, TikTok, et cetera, superstar, you're going to miss the forest for the trees. Your business. You want it to be sustainable over the long term social media stuff comes and goes. Trends come and go.

So, don't make it your goal this year to make the best Instagram reels ever, unless you're planning to be an Instagram reels specialist. But I don't think you are. I think you're here because you wanna be a health coach. So don't get stuck in the scroll. That's my biggest advice for you. I want you to get back out there. Be with people, talk with people. Oh my God, it's an amazing thing. And so one of the things that Kaia brought up in her list of possible ideas for 2023 as public speaking, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And yes. How can you do some public speaking this year in person? Of course, you can also be doing things like this online. Think about workshops in particular. And the reason I say that is because if we think, oh, I'd like to speak at a public speaking event, then you're kind of sitting and waiting for a public speaking event to reveal itself to you and maybe it doesn't.

And then there goes that idea. So yes, you can put an atten intention out there that you wanna speak from a stage this year. You wanna be part of various events where you can be in front of a room of people. I think that's amazing. And you can make that happen for yourself. You don't have to just wait. They're called workshops. Back in my day, we used to do a ton of in-person workshops. They're some of the best ways to find clients and grow your mailing list and get experience working with people all at the same time. You can do these at yoga studios, you can do them at gyms, you can do them at spas, you can do them at boutiques, you can do them at, I mean so many places. Fill in the blank. Think what kind of client am I trying to attract?

Where does that person typically go? Where is that person already spending money? Cuz you can also do workshops at the library, but you don't wanna go places where people are used to getting everything for free. You wanna go places where the clientele has disposable income and they're not afraid to spend it on themselves, especially as it relates to health and wellness. So you see why a yoga studio is perfect, a Pilate studio, anything like that. Now that we are not stuck at home because of Covid, people are going back into these places and if you show up and you host a high value workshop, they're going to remember you. I have people who fo followed me for years and years and years. They met me one time doing a workshop, something like this, maybe 10 years ago. Isn't that amazing? So getting face-to-face with people and actually having real human conversation.

Let's make that the sweet spot for 2023. Now, inside Healthy Profit University's core curriculum, I teach specifically how to put a workshop together. You really only need one great workshop. You can have more, but you really only need one. And more importantly, how to pitch different venues. You don't wanna host the workshop yourself necessarily because then who are you going to invite? You're going to invite the same people that you already have access to. But if you can go hold it in one of those places, I was just talking about getting in front of a group of people that are already spending money proving that they care about their health and their wellness. That's an ideal venue for you. And then you're getting in front of a whole different group of people. But how do you get in there? It's actually not that hard. Even if you're a brand new coach, you gotta pitch yourself.

Anyway, that's something else that I teach. But for today, I just wanna tell you, don't be afraid to reach out and tell people, here's what I can bring to your establishment. Here's what I can bring to your clientele. Here's something I noticed you haven't been offering, and I think you should. And here's why. Tell them people wanna be told what to do. It just makes their life easier. Tell them what workshop you can bring. Tell them how easy it's going to be for them. And I guarantee you can get something set up if not for the first part of 2023, certainly in the second half of 2023. You gotta remember that different venues planned their events ahead of time. So had you been pitching at the end of last year, you might already have some setup for the start of the new year. That's okay though.

Just start now. All right, hit the like button. Tell me what you think in the comments. Is holding a workshop something that sounds reasonable for you in 2023? It is very, very exciting. Actually, quick side story about that, I just have this memory flash in my mind of one of the last workshops I ever held, cuz this is not something I do anymore. But when I was doing a ton of workshops for my health coaching business, someone showed up to my workshop who I had not seen since we were, oh gosh, 12 years old. She was one of my best friends in middle school, junior high school. I had moved to a different town, of course way back then. There was no Facebook or anything. So we lost touch for many years. But then because of social media we're back in touch and she saw, I didn't say anything to her.

We weren't like actively chatting or anything. She just saw that I was going to do a workshop that was about an hour away from her house. And she is, and her sister signed up and they drove and they were in my workshop. And it was such, I mean it was such a wonderful professional thing to do, right? Professionally speaking to show up and do a workshop, but then personally to be able to run into an old friend really made it special. So, anyway, so many reasons to get this going. I see some hearts on the screen so I know that you guys think this is possible too. It's not rocket science. You can do workshops, okay, public speaking, do it. Absolutely. Okay, let's move on to something else that Katia suggested as a place that she could put her energy this year. She suggested Canva.

Now for those of you that don't know, I think a lot of people know what Canva is, but Canva is a tool that basically allows you to design beautiful looking graphics, PDFs, even movies you can upload movie files. So lots of visuals that you can create using Canva. I use it. I think everyone I know uses it anymore. I mean, I was trained as a graphic designer. I use Photoshop, I use professional level graphic tools as well. But more and more of these days I'm just using Canva cuz it's easier and I can do it from my phone. Love it. You don't even need a paid account. I don't really understand why anyone pays for a Canva account. I've been using my free account for a long, long time. So anyway, if you haven't tried Canva, try it out. Now here's why I think you should spend some time in Canva.

Number one, super expensive to hire a graphic designer or a movie editor or any of this stuff. So if you can do it yourself from your phone and you can learn this tool, it can just become such an easy, wonderful asset for you and your business. Now, I'm not here just to talk about Canva, it's not like they're paying, they're not a sponsor for this episode or anything like that. But I'd love for you to have a skill like that because then you can create something like an evergreen lead magnet. So if you're going to put your time and energy into anything, I wouldn't make a flyer. Flyers do they work maybe in certain situations, but you do need a lead magnet that you can be continuously promoting throughout the year. So now is a great time. If you don't have a lead magnet, let's create one.

If you already have one or two or three, but they're not performing very well, now might be a good time to rethink the concept of your lead magnet and create something new. So why do you need a lead magnet? First of all, what is a lead magnet? Lead magnet is some sort of freebie that you're going to give away an exchange for an email address. And these days in 2023, people are very savvy. They know if they're giving you an email address, they're going to start getting emails from you, aren't they? And they're not going to give an email address unless you have something that's pretty darn valuable for them. So, think how much value can I give away for free? And the answer is a lot people will take information gladly. They will be psyched that you gave them information. Maybe you can go really into in depth on a topic that they need help with.

Don't be afraid to do that. They're still going to hire you. You want them to get a great impression of you and the value that you give. And then they're more likely to say, what else does this person have for me? Also, you can give all the information in the world, but people have trouble implementing it. They will hire you as their coach to implement even the things that they already know they should be doing for their health. So give away your best step for free. Come up with a great lead magnet idea. I also teach this inside HPU's core curriculum, including a Canva tutorial. But you can do this on your own as well. And if you have that one signature lead magnet, something that really represents you and what you do as a health coach, well now you have something to promote in your social posts.

You have something to put in all your bios, you have something to put on your website, you have something to put in your email signature. You can talk about your freebie lead magnet when you are a guest on a podcast, which is another great idea for 2023 when you write a guest post or an article for a publication, anytime you're talking to anybody, get them to download your free thing because now they're on your email address. And this is a very smart use of your time in 2023 and frankly every year, cool. All right, I see Beyond Radiant over here at Instagram says, yes, I love doing workshops. I used to love doing them too. I kind of got out of it when my kids were babies and it was hard for me to leave the house. Of course my business has evolved since then, but I did a ton of them in the beginning.

And anyway, I just really think, especially for new coaches, you can gain a lot of confidence with that. So we have public speaking and workshops. We have using a tool like Canva or literally any tool to create an evergreen lead magnet. Some type of freebie that you can give away. So you're building your mailing list. Does anybody not have a mailing list? If you need a tutorial to help you set up your mailing list, I have one for you. You'll get it done in 10 minutes. You'll be up and running. Just leave a comment. If you're listening to this via podcast later, go find me on Instagram, I'm at Health Coach Power Community and just send me a dm. I need to set up my mailing list and I'll send the free tutorial over to you. Good. Okay, last idea for you for today, cuz you can't do everything.

You just can't. And we get overwhelmed at the beginning of the year cause we're like, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that and I'm going to do this other thing. And you know, probably even have goals in your personal life and for your own health and your family, et cetera, it can become a little overwhelming. So I want you to do the things that are going to provide the biggest bang for your energetic fuck. Last idea for you. Hold an event, give people a reason to pay attention to you this year. There are health and wellness people out there. It's like a dime a dozen. There's a zillion books, there's a zillion Instagram profiles that people can be following. Why would they follow yours? Hold an event, invite people to join you and do a thing. What is that thing? I don't know.

Locally, maybe that thing is you're going to go on a hike together. Maybe you're going to hold a cooking class in person, in a real place with real food. Again, very, very effective to meet people in real life. But you can also hold a virtual event. And I do these all the time. So it can be some sort of webinar, it can be a book club, it can be a three day challenge. Sean saying she booked an in-person workshop in March and April. Terrific. Go talk to people. So workshops are sort of an event held elsewhere, held in somebody else's space. I'm talking in this last idea, run an event that you are in charge of and you're going to invite everybody and something that you're excited about because then you know, can even invite your friends. And in my case, when I drop my kids off on a play date and I'm chatting with the moms, I could invite them.

Just something that's fun and easy. Look, everybody wants to come over and learn how to make healthy chocolate brownies and healthy chocolate things for Valentine's Day, right? There's an idea you could run with because between now and February you have time to put that together. Flourish and Thrive is saying, Ooh, I love this idea. Good run with it. An event does two things. Oh gosh, it probably does like five things. But the two things I was thinking of is, one, it gets people involved in your world, right? Much like a lead magnet. Now their name is going to be on your mailing list and now they've, they've had an experience with you, you've become a part of their life. So excellent for marketing and leading to paying clients. The other thing it does for people who are kind of on the periphery, they're kind of thinking, health coach, what the heck is that?

What is she doing? They're not taking you seriously. They see you run an event. They see you run something else during the year. They see you're putting out great content. They see you've got a free download for them. They start thinking, oh, okay, she's the real deal. She does things, she's active. And when a business appears active, it doesn't matter if you have one client or 20 clients behind the scenes, nobody can see that. But they do see the events that you're running, the workshops that you're hosting, the different content that you're putting out into the world again and again and again. And when people are holding events, you just assume that they're doing remarkably well. You're just like, wow, look what she's up to. That's cool, right? It doesn't matter if you ha are still struggling elsewhere in your business, you, it's almost like a fake it till you make it.

You know, I'm holding this event. Wow, everybody thinks you are amazing. So put that energy out into the world in 2023 and invite everybody, get together, read a book, drink some mocktails, I don't know, make those healthy brownies like I was talking about. And everyone's going to think you're amazing. You don't have to be the foremost expert in gut health. You don't have to know everything there is to know about autoimmune disease. You don't have to, right? We always worry that we're not enough of an expert. But really if you can just create occasions for people to come together and do something that's both enjoyable, a little bit educational, you've just put yourself miles ahead of where you are today at the start of 2023. So I'm going to repeat these three ideas for you and then give you one more chance to get that free training.

In 2023. I want you to get out in public, do some speaking, do some workshops. I want you to have at least one evergreen lead magnet or freebie that you can offer no matter where you are online or even if you were to write an article for the local paper, you can offer your free download with a link in the paper. And I want you to hold some virtual events. Take out your calendar, start marking dates down that you can work towards. I always say if it's in my head, it never quite happens, but for some reason, as soon as I put it on my Google calendar, it is law. There's no way it's not going to happen if I have put it onto my Google calendar. So put it onto your calendar or whatever calendar you're using, and you'll have a very different outcome at the end of 2023 as you did at the end of last year. And of course, if you need more help in implementing this stuff and learning how to use the tools and figuring out the strategy behind your whole business, make sure you check out my free training. It's at healthcoachpower.com/training. That's easy to remember. And it's called Earn a Living Doing the Work You Love.

Because I believe we're not here to become millionaires, but we are here to support ourselves enough that we can continue doing the work that we love. Thanks for joining me. Happy New Year everyone, and I'll see you next week. Bye-bye.