A common challenge Thrive clients discuss with me is marketing. Most Clinic Owners, Therapists & Pilates Instructors that we speak to are in one or more of these scenarios:
- Not doing any marketing and thinking they need to because they are so busy squeezing people in and can’t see the wood for the trees!
- Knowing they need to but don’t know where to start.
- Have all their eggs in one basket (dangerous).
- Hate social media and can’t bare the thought of posting on it!
Does this resonate with you?
Some of the biggest reasons people see marketing as being ‘scary’, ‘daunting’, ‘confusing’, and often ‘expensive’ are:
- You were never taught this stuff and so why would you know!
- You’re unclear on your average client value, so how can you determine the right marketing budget and a good Cost per Booking or Sale?
- You describe WHAT you do and not WHY you do it, and in turn this fails to attract the customers’ attention.
Let’s dig into this last point a little further.
What Would Your Clients Say They Need?
More often than not, our marketing is so focused on the HOW, it fails to talk to the conversation in the client’s head. For instance, let’s say you lined up 100 people outside your clinic or studio and they all had a problem you know you can solve. If you asked them – what do you think you need to help solve your problem? How many would say: “I need a Physiotherapist who will provide manual therapy and a home exercise program.” Or, “I need 12 weeks of consistent Pilates classes”. Or, “I need a 6-week course of deep tissue sports massage”.
What they actually say is “ermmm I probably need to ring the GP”, or “maybe take some pain relief”, or simply “I have no idea”, and yes some may say “I think I probably need a Physio!”
We have two distinct types of clients when we market:
- Client A – Has been to a Physio, Sports Massage Therapist, Pilates class before, and knows what they need and therefore will take the call to action.
- Client B – has no idea what they need to solve the problem, just that they don’t want the problem any more!
So, when it comes to marketing, we need to first take a step back and get clear on:
- What is the goal? Specifically, how many new clients do we need to attract, and what budget can we dedicate towards this based on average client value?
- What is our ideal client looking for? We need to understand them better than they understand themselves, thus allowing us to create impactful marketing.
- We need to be clear on HOW we will work with them to provide the results and outcomes that they are looking for (hint – PAYG models are often not conducive to this…)
And only then can we start to create impactful ad copy, that we plug into a marketing channel!
If you take one thing away from this short article, remember that clients buy themselves OUT of a problem and into the solution. They don’t buy the solution e.g Physio session or Pilates class.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully this has given you something to consider with regards to the marketing you are, or not, currently doing. Do you tend towards communicating the problem or the solution in your marketing? Are you clear on your average client value? Are you clear on how you will work with your ideal client to deliver the results they’re looking for?
And if you want to dig into this a little further, we’re offering completely Free Business & Marketing Audits for Clinic Owners, Therapists & Pilates Instructors which you can book right now by heading over to this page. Simply follow the link to book your audit with our coaches, who are experts at working with business owners in the health and wellness industry.
Thanks for reading!
Katie Bell
CEO & Founder of Thrive Health & Wellness Business Coaching
Strategic Coach
