I know that as soon as I mention ‘Marketing’, dietitians do two things: They shudder with dread, and their ears perk up, because they want to know more.
First, marketing is just speaking to the goals or aspirations that your clients want. And this is why so many RDs struggle with it! Many will put the word out there about what THEY do, and they skip the part that addresses that chronic question potential clients have, which is “What’s in it for me?”
But how do you gain success with marketing? You have to tap into their feelings! THAT will tell them what’s in it for them: What problems you’ll solve, how they’ll resolve the struggles they deal with.
Think about it: What do you see in a car commercial? For family cars, you may hear all about their safety features. For the more sporty cars, though, you don’t see any mention of car seats or TVs! No, it’s fancy ladies and handsome men, looking sexy and attractive, and flying around rural curves. They are saying, “This can be you.”
They are tapping into the feelings.
Now, because I’m a coach, I use a lot of coaching techniques, but imagine this: You are targeting active women who want to become more fit and start training for events such as marathons or tri’s. If you promote yourself that you are an RD who is an athlete and went to this school and have these degrees, etc, and can provide them with meal plans, blaw, blaw, blaw… it will get their attention.
HOWEVER, talk about the benefits they will get through working with you, such as dropping that stubborn body fat, increasing their time, feeling more energized and looking GREAT, and now you will also get their call.
One more example: A woman who wishes to lose weight but just can’t seem to find anyone who really can help her. She hates what she sees in the mirror, and feels sluggish and unsexy all the time. She avoids thinking much about what she eats because she has never been successful with each ‘diet’ she has gone on. Why bother, she thinks.
YOUR message? It’s that mirror image to her problems!
* You can help her look fantastic, and love what she sees in the mirror.
* You can help her get to where she LOVES to go clothes shopping. Afterall, after working with YOU, she’ll have to go clothes shopping!
* Not only will she feel sexy again, but she’ll be more energized.
* She’ll become more active and enjoy it, and understand the role that food plays in her health.
* She’ll learn, through working with you, that food is fuel and something to look forward to and not fear.
* She will eliminate the diet mentality and learn how to eat to live, rather than live to eat.
YOU are the solution to her problems!
What else comes to mind for you? What are your clients’ struggles? Write them down and then literally write down the mirror image of those struggles, just as I did above. See what comes up for you, and then see what develops in your business as a result.
You know what your clients' struggles are. Now you just need to tap into the feelings and focus on your marketing SPEAKING to those feelings in order to achieve marketing success.
Margie
Marjorie Geiser, MBA, RD, NSCA-CPT
MEG Enterprises
