If you don’t know where to get started when it comes to marketing yourself as a new practitioner, these tips will make it easier.

Start off simple

When you look at the practitioners who are killing it in business, you probably see them marketing on multiple platforms. They’re all over TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, emails… so to emulate that success, you create a profile for each of them.

Hit pause!

The truth is that the super-successful practitioners are only able to show up everywhere because they have outsourced! Some will have Virtual Assistants (VAs) who post their content for them, and others have help with other parts of the business so they have time to do their own social media.

When you first start out, you don’t need to be everywhere all at once. All you’re going to do is overwhelm yourself and burn out.

So let’s keep it simple – pick one main social media channel and one other form of marketing. For example, you might pick Instagram and videos, Facebook and blog posts, TikTok and podcasting… you get the idea.

Once you have nailed these and are consistently showing up with ease, then you can look at adding another in.

Talk to the people you want to work with

What is the easiest way to make sure your client book is filled with cases that excite you? Using your marketing to talk directly to those ideal clients!

This can be a bit tricky when you first start out. You may have picked up multiple areas of interest during student clinic, or you might not have loved the clients you saw there (it’s okay, it happens!) But even knowing who you don’t want to work with can help you tailor your content and marketing.

Found yourself bored out of your mind when it comes to Sports Nutrition? Don’t post about it.

Spent an hour after class reading up on the effects of nutrition on the nervous system? That might be a good hint to share about it.

Even simple healthy tips have a much greater impact when you know who you’re talking to. For example, if you try to explain to everyone in the world how to boost their energy and get better sleep… You’d end up with a list with 50 different tips, and no one will walk away thinking ‘aha, this person gets me!’

On the other hand, it’s easy to give specific tips for an exhausted first-time mum on how to boost her energy and get better sleep. And hopefully any exhausted mum who reads it feels your support could be the solution they need.

Ditch any strategies or platforms you don’t like

There are marketing experts out there who will tell you that you’ll get nowhere if you don’t <insert the latest marketing trend here>. But just because they experienced success with that trend doesn’t mean it’s the only way forward!

If you loathe something in your marketing, it comes across – and that doesn’t attract clients.

Hate blogs? Don’t write them. Dread Facebook Lives? Ditch them. Think Reels and TikToks are lame and a waste of time? Here’s your permission slip to toss them in the bin.

When you first start out, every form of marketing will feel a little uncomfortable – that’s a different story. But everyone comes with a set of skills and experience that make it easier to do some more than others. So choose the ones that feel easier and more enjoyable!

Meet people where they are at

You’re just emerging from three, four, or more years of academic writing and language. But now it’s time to ditch the complex acronyms and multiple-syllable worlds and come back down to earth!

If you write a post that details everything you know about a specific disease process, most people won’t make it past the first line. No matter how useful your post is, it’s not helpful if it’s not consumable.

Remember the average person has less knowledge about the human body than we do! So if you’re posting about inflammation or dysbiosis without telling people what they mean, you could be missing a big chunk of potential clients. When in doubt, explain everything in easy-to-understand terms.

Tell people how to work with you!

It’s awesome to share your knowledge and insights out into the world. But some get caught in the trap of always educating, but never sharing their offers.

Hot tip – if you don’t tell people how to work with you, they won’t know how to work with you!

And by the way, you can’t just post a single link to your booking page and then never mention it again. New people are coming across you all the time, so you need to remind them what you have on offer.

Think this is overkill? Every single time I launch a course or a new offer, I will do two to six weeks of promotions across social media, website, newsletter and more. And every single time, I will have someone at the end of the promo who comes across it and says, ‘how did I not know about this?’

Remember, offers are out there for the right people. So you want to put them out there regularly in case the right person happens to be watching!

Have fun with it

It’s easy when you first start out to take yourself way too seriously. But one of the secrets of running a successful business is to enjoy what you do and have fun with it!

Believe me, there is nothing you can do in your marketing that you won’t bounce back from. Some of the biggest practitioners out there have had their ‘oops’ moment online, and they still came back bigger than ever!

So post, share, put yourself out there and be real. People resonate with authenticity more than ever, so don’t be afraid to be goofy or treat it like a fun experiment.

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