As an entrepreneur you know the value of marketing in building your brand awareness and attracting new clients. However, as a nutrition and wellness professional, promoting your services may be new to you -- many professionals are well-versed in how to help their clients, but not how to get those clients in the first place.

Luckily, there are many strategies you can employ to grow your clientele from building your online presence and email list to getting involved in your community. These are all forms of marketing.

Marketing can be overwhelming, which is why it’s so important to have a marketing plan. By planning your marketing strategy, you’ll be able to attract your ideal clientele to really grow your business.

Here are 4 steps to take to develop a marketing plan for your business.

Step 1. Identify Your Ideal Clientele

You can’t build a brand, cohesive marketing materials, and a succinct marketing strategy without knowing WHO you’re marketing to.

Develop a client avatar.

A client avatar is details about your ideal client so you can identify their problems (and how you can help solve them). This way, you can offer services and products that prospective clients will buy.

To get started, we suggest writing down everything you know about your ideal client, including:

• Age
• Profession
• Socioeconomic status
• Marital status
• Hobbies and interests
• Where he/she hangs out
• Main concern for seeking out nutrition services
• Etc.

Don’t be afraid to get extremely specific. In fact, the more detailed, the better. You can even name your avatar.

Step 2. Identify Your Brand

Once you identify your ideal clientele, you can then start building your brand.

We suggest downloading our free Branding Ebook, but here some things to consider:

• Brand personality
• Colors
• Logos

Consistency is key when developing your brand, but know that your brand can evolve over time. It isn’t necessary to have your brand 100% figured out in order to launch your private practice.

Step 3. Build Your Online Presence

As you know, everything is online. Between social media, email marketing, digital marketing, and formal online advertising, the opportunities to build your online presence are endless.

Here are some resources to help you:

• Social Media For Nutrition Professionals
• How to Start a Nutrition Blog
• How to Build Your Email List
• Creating a Lead Magnet
• Developing Premium Content
• Facebook Marketing

Step 4. Get Involved In Your Community

Building momentum in your local community is essential.

Community marketing focuses on the tangible, physical ways you can promote your practice within your community. Whether you’re giving a talk for the local PTA, hosting an event, or creating partnerships with local businesses, community marketing is crucial, especially for a brick and mortar practice.