Planning for success

PREPARING FOR A LONG AND SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE

Success needs careful planning, as Ran Janda explains…

ACCORDING to data from the UK Government’s Office of National Statistics, the five-year survival rate for businesses born in 2015 was 39.6%. So for every ten businesses that were started, only four were still going after five years. It drops to 30% after ten years. Despite this, another UK study recently revealed that 64% of UK workers would like to set up their own business.

So, why do 70% of those who decide to take the plunge, not last more than 10 years in business? Two main reasons for failure are not understanding your market and not knowing your customer. If you are planning on becoming a holistic therapist or are already one who is struggling to grow their practice, market research is essential for growth and long term success.

Understanding your market

Many holistic therapists decide to practice a therapy as they have experienced healing from receiving that treatment themselves. A worthy reason, but not a business orientated one, and that is how you need to see your practice first and foremost, as a business.

Market research should begin as soon as you decide to study to become a holistic therapist. It is key to having clients ready to book with you once you have graduated. If you have been in practice for some time, then the time to start is now.

That is what market research and strategy can do for your business. So, wherever you are in your practice journey, follow these steps for more clarity and to really begin to understand who your clients are or will be.

Competitive Landscape

Let’s assume you are a herbalist, or planning on becoming one. Do an online search and see how many other herbalists are in your local area and how long they have been practising for. Look at their websites and social media accounts and take notes on what you like so you can incorporate it into your strategy.

If there are many herbalists who have been in business for a long time, it shows that there is a market for what you have to offer. Have a think about how you as a herbalist can differentiate yourself from everyone else.

You might decide that you will specialise in treating a particular condition to narrow your niche market and become an expert in a particular area. This can go a long way in becoming a thought leader and in clients finding you easily because of your speciality.

This will also allow you to create a marketing strategy that targets relevant clients and develop your brand around a niche topic. Marketing to a niche group of people will lead to greater success, as it is well known in the marketing industry, when you market to everyone, you market to no one. If you are still studying, you can focus your attention on your speciality, so you have this knowledge when you graduate. If you are already practising, you may need to look at taking additional courses to upskill.

Know your customer

Starting to understand who your clients are and beginning to connect with them as early as possible is key and crucial to having a busy practice.

Client email list

Email marketing is still the number one marketing strategy and will serve you for years to come. Creating and growing your list of clients or potential clients will allow you to offer tons of value to them directly, engage with them and show them that you are a thought leader which will help turn many of them into paying clients.

Create something for free, a lead magnet. This should showcase you as a thought leader in your specialised area. It could be a free video workshop, or a 5-day plan that they can follow to get some relief from a particular condition, or anything else that offers huge value.

You will offer this for free in exchange for an email address, which will automatically be added to your subscriber list through software such as MailChimp, Aweber and Constant Contact. You then nurture subscribers through an email campaign, perhaps by sending them an email each week, and continue to offer plenty of value. Include anonymous success stories from previous clients. You should also give them information on how to reach you should they want to work with you one to one, just don’t always make it about booking an appointment, always think value first.

Search for relevant Facebook groups and engage in them.

Ensure you ask subscribers to follow you on social media for more health advice and tips and provide the relevant links at the end of every email. This is an easy way to build your social following.

Social media presence

Share and even promote your lead magnet on social media and watch your subscriber list grow. If you don’t get many subscribers from promoting your lead magnet, share it with friends and family and get some feedback on what you can do to improve it.

Post relevant and engaging content regularly across at least one social media platform. Use a social media management system such as Hootsuite or Later to schedule your posts in advance to save time. You could spend half a day and create posts to go out automatically for the whole month.

Be consistent, if you are planning on sending out three posts a week, ensure you maintain this posting rate. Inconsistency in posting could disappoint followers or cause them to forget about you! Consistency builds likeability and trust. Respond to all posts and comments made on your account. If you don’t respond, it shows a lack of care, why would somebody book an appointment with a practitioner that doesn’t care?

It is also important to engage with other users who may well turn into followers or subscribers. Like and comment on their posts. Search for relevant Facebook groups and engage in them. Share your lead magnet with the group, but don’t be salesy. Respond to and engage with posts and always provide value. Be seen as the thought leader that you are.

Client feedback

The best way to understand what your clients’ needs are is to hear it from them directly. Ask them what content they would like to see from you, how they choose a practitioner to work with, what is their number one pain in life right now. The responses to these questions will guide you in your marketing strategy and in how you shape your practice. This is also why it is so important to grow a strong email list, it allows you to get answers to all your questions, straight from the mouths and minds of your ideal clients.

Preparing for a long and successful practice takes time and commitment. However, it is the best way to reduce the likelihood of ending up being part of the statistic mentioned at the beginning of this article. It is also never too late start, regardless of how long you have been in practice.

i

RAN JANDA is an

acupuncturist, homeopath

and founder of Holistic Room www.

holisticroom.com – a platform that

matches users with the most relevant

holistic health practitioner for their

needs, and to support them to achieve

their health goals.