Starting a Successful Health Coaching Business
Marketing tips to help you stand out from the crowd
If you’ve recently graduated or about to finish your Health Coach diploma, you may be wondering – what next?
Starting a business can be daunting, especially in a new field that you have no prior experience in. This is why CNM dedicates a whole module to business, marketing and promotion to equip students with the tools and strategies to build a thriving health coaching practice upon graduation.
Here are some helpful tips to start a successful health coaching business.
1. Decide the focus of your business
Do you want to do one-to-one coaching or perhaps work with groups of people? Are you planning to work in-person from a clinic, remotely online, or a bit of both? Maybe corporate wellness or working within the NHS is more your thing. There are many avenues you can explore with health coaching and the career opportunities are endless. You could hold workshops, develop coaching programmes or work with a team of practitioners at a retreat or GP surgery – anything is possible when you become a Health Coach. Deciding on the core focus of your business (your bread and butter, so to speak) at the beginning will set you in good stead to creating a thriving health coaching practice. Once you build up this area of your business, you can branch out into other areas.
2. Define your niche
To niche or not to niche? Specialising in a specific area of health coaching can help you establish a loyal client base and position you as an expert in a particular field. You can become to the go-to health coach for the client’s needs – whether that be weight loss, diabetes management, gut health, fertility, hormonal balance or whichever niche you choose. When you define your niche, you can easily identify your target customer and tailor your branding and marketing to attract their attention.
3. Determine your target audience
Once you’ve decided on your niche, you need to figure out who your ideal customer is. What are their pain points and how can a health coach solve their problems? What are the specific demographics of your target audience – gender, age range, location, lifestyle habits, likes/dislikes, occupation. The more you know about them, the easier it is to tailor your offering and market your services to meet their needs. Promoting a product or service to a twenty-year-old female will be completely different to that of a sixty-year-old male.
4. Create a memorable brand
Creating a memorable brand is what sets you apart from your competition. A brand relates to a set of features (a name, logo, tagline/ slogan, design, set of colours and brand voice) that distinguishes you from another company. All of these features build a unique brand identity. Investing time and money into your branding is well worth it as it can make or break your business. Think about how you want your brand to be perceived by your ideal customer and spend time researching what other successful health coaches and wellness brands are doing. When a potential client has a positive and memorable brand experience (when they interact with your brand), they are more likely to be engaged and remember you.
5. Set your pricing and packages
Working out how to structure and price your services can be a challenge, especially when you’re starting out. Whether you’re pricing an individual consultation or tiered packages, you need to be comfortable with the price you set. Does it feel worth it to you? Does it cover your expenses? Remember that your pricing structure will change over time as you gain experience as a health coach and your confidence increases. Price perception is also worth considering – some people associate a high price with a higher value or premium service. However, setting your price too high when you’re starting out could lead to attracting less clients. Creating a range of packages is a great way to encourage commitment from your clients and also provide ongoing income. CNM’s pricing and packaging module walks you through this in greater detail, giving you a range of options to get started.
6. Devise your marketing plan
Now that you’ve figured out your branding and who ideal customer is, you can devise a marketing plan. This is a strategic roadmap to market yourself and promote your services. What marketing channels are you going to use – a website, blog content, social media, newsletters, events, paid advertising? Then break it down further; if using social media, which social channels will you use – Instagram, TikTok, Twitter? Whichever marketing channels you choose, they must be in-line with your ideal customer. For example, if your ideal customer mainly uses TikTok as form of content consumption, then focusing on building a following on TikTok should be your priority.
7. Build a referral network
An effective way to become known as a health coach and get in front of more potential clients is to build a referral network. Connecting with other practitioners in the industry at local events or online via social media (such as LinkedIn) is a good way to do this. Personal trainers, massage therapists, homeopaths, osteopaths and chiropractors are the types of industry professionals who may refer out to a health coach. You can also connect with GP surgeries, health shops, spas, wellness retreats and even hairdressers or beauty salons as these are places where your ideal customer may be hanging out.
8. Promote yourself to everyone!
One of the best ways to get new clients is through word of mouth. It’s cheap and requires the least amount of marketing effort. Most people love referrals from a trusted friend who has tried and tested a service provider beforehand. Tell everyone you know that you’re now a health coach and what you can offer – they will then tell others and word tends to spread like wildfire. It’s also a good idea to get testimonials from previous clients you’ve helped as they provide social proof; this is what others look for when seeking a new service. If you’re just starting out, you can get testimonials from your case study clients that were used as part of your practical training.
9. Maximise your revenue streams
There are numerous ways to create revenue streams from health coaching to maximise your income. Once you have your core offering under wraps (such as one-to-one or group coaching), you can then look to at other ways to earn money. You could create coaching programmes or digital products such as eBooks, webinars or paid downloadable content. Running workshops or events, affiliate marketing and becoming a brand ambassador for a wellbeing company are other ways you can to earn revenue.
If you’re looking for a career change or to build a thriving new business, consider becoming a Health Coach. You learn life-changing skills and knowledge to supercharge your health and help others. On CNM’s Health Coach course you also get in-depth business training that teaches you everything you need to know to get your health coaching business started and successful.
Got another question about health coach training? Here are some useful posts which may help or contact us directly.
How do I train to be a Health Coach?
What skills does a Health Coach need?
