8 Ways To Launch Your Health Coaching Practice in 30 Days or Less

Youʼre ready to announce your new health coaching business and finally live your dream, right?  And you want a quick and successful start.

I talk to many coaches in this position who donʼt know what to focus on first.  Theyʼve usually tried marketing techniques recommended to them by their coaching schools but found little or no success.  Or worse, the sales process felt pushy or not authentic.  As a result, they feel uncomfortable about marketing their health coaching services, but they donʼt know what else to do.

The problem is that most health coaching schools are teaching marketing methods that are years out-of-date.  Cutting-edge marketing strategies for health coaches are rarely learned in coaching school.

In this article, Iʼll share my top 8 strategies for launching a successful health coaching practice.  These are the same methods my own clients use to get more clients and more sales more often.  And each method can be implemented in 30 days or less.

Best of all, they will work whether you are brand new and still in coaching school – or whether youʼre already a certified health coach but struggling to get clients.  Read through them and chose your favorite to start.

#1 – Joint Venture Partnerships and Referrals

This is one of my favorite methods because it can be the easiest and fastest way to get leads, grow a list, and get new clients.  In fact, you can build an extremely successful health coaching practice with this one method.

All that is required is that you find someone who loves what you have to offer and wants to share it with others.  For best results, connect with someone whose clients are also YOUR ideal clients.

For example, if you specialize in helping women increase their energy, lose weight fast, feel great, then you might joint venture with a day-care center.  If youʼre a massage therapist, you can joint venture with a chiropractor, life coach, or nutritionist (or all 3).

#2 – Speaking Engagements

I love this method because itʼs a great way to get introduced to lots of people at one time.  And when they see you in person and hear your transformational message, it goes a long way toward getting attention and building your credibility.

Many of my health coaching clients get off to a fast start by booking local speaking engagements with network meetings, JV partners, corporations, or associations.  Look into opportunities to give free workshops at coop events, meetup groups, or health fairs.

Or you could give free, live classes at a local health food store or doctorʼs office, if they are joint venture partners with you.  Once you have an irresistible topic for a niche, finding speaking engagements will be easy.

#3 – Teleseminars and Webinars

This can work as well as speaking engagements – or even better if you prefer to talk over the phone than speak in public.  Both teleseminars and webinars work great for health coaches who are trying to get noticed and get clients.

Teleseminars are fun to do and easy to book.  People can listen from any phone and donʼt have to travel to the event.  So you get a great response when you offer a hot topic to your market.

Announce your teleseminar (or webinar) when you have at least 50 people to invite.  Or if you donʼt yet have a list, you can join with a joint venture partner and announce your teleseminar to their list.

You can grow your own list of potential clients fast by giving just one or two teleseminars or webinars a month, especially when you are being introduced to other peopleʼs contacts.  I used this method for my own coaching practice when I wanted to start growing my list, and it worked great.

#4 – Website with Opt-in Form

A website allows you to leverage your marketing efforts so you donʼt have to talk to everyone personally.  It allows your ideal client to learn more about you and get irresistible free information 24 hours a day.  And with a web form that collects names
and email addresses in exchange for that information, it becomes an automated lead generation tool.

My clients use this strategy to get clients calling them for appointments, often within days of launching their site.  If you donʼt have an opt-in form on your website, make plans to have one as soon as possible.

#5 – Blog

You donʼt normally hear about launching a coaching practice with a blog.  But this method can work really well in conjunction with other methods.  And it can be very effective in certain tight niche communities that form around specific health issues.

You can become well know in your niche using only a blog if it has great content that gets passed around.  We call this “social buzz”.

So if you like to write and know where your ideal client is looking for information in social online groups, this strategy might be right for you.

#6 – Article Marketing

If you would rather write than talk, youʼll love this method.  Write articles on hot health topics for your niche and post them all over the Internet:
• in article directories
• as a guest expert on someone elseʼs site
• in public blogging platforms, like Blogger, Live Journal, or WordPress.com
• on your own website or blog
• announce the articles in social media sites, like Facebook or Twitter
• the list goes on…

For best results, do two things: Write health-related articles that your ideal client will find irresistible and then combine article marketing with another method listed in this article.  For instance, you can joint venture to write articles for another website and get published as a guest health expert.

#7 – Video Marketing

Did you know that YouTube gets more searches a day than any other site except Google?  Today, someone in your niche is searching YouTube (and other video directories) for help with a health-related issue – something that YOU can help them
with.

If you like being in front of a camera, this is a great way to launch your coaching practice.   One of my clients, health coach Shan Larter, had thousands of views on her videos and raving fans before she even launched her website.

Another plus with video marketing is that itʼs often easier to rank well for searches in YouTube than it is at Google because there is less competition.

#8 – Newsletter, Emails, and Personal Letters

This is one of the easiest and fastest ways to get clients.  If you donʼt have JV partners, you donʼt have the technical skills for article marketing, and the thought of speaking in front of people scares you silly, then this is the place to start. If you do nothing else, do this.  Itʼs that important and that effective at getting clients.

If you have an email list, send emails and newsletters.  If you donʼt have a list, send personal letters by mail and follow up with phone calls.  Let people know about the fabulous transformation that you can help them (or someone they know) achieve.

When done well, newsletters, emails, and personal letters can help you get health coaching clients fast.    There are people you know who would love to work with you if they only knew how you could help them.

A newsletter is also a critical part of marketing.  It helps you keep in touch with potential clients.  So sending a newsletter isnʼt optional.  Itʼs a MUST.

Summary

You may have noticed that I didnʼt include some essential elements in the above list, such as choosing a niche, branding, using tag lines, naming your transformation, or creating a signature system.  These are the foundation of irresistible marketing and should be in place BEFORE you launch your health coaching practice.

You will find it much easier to get people interested in your articles, videos, workshops, and teleseminars once you have a message that grabs peopleʼs attention.  So do that first.

Then choose a method above that is easy for you to start with.  You want this to be fun, not hard.  So if you donʼt like to write but you love to speak with people in person, try speaking engagements or networking meetings.

Also, donʼt try to do all eight strategies at the same time; itʼs not needed and would be overwhelming to try.  But do combine several that you like and that work well together, like joint venture partners and teleseminars.

Best wishes on launching your health coaching practice.  Please leave a comment below, and let me know your favorite idea – or which one worked the best for you.