Holistic Marketing to Mainstream Clients

Ah yes, the blank stares, the quizzical looks and raised eyebrows. As a holistic practitioner, healer, teacher and/or seeker, you have likely encountered your share of these. For some, this is a welcome challenge to educate and enroll, while others experience this resistance to what they do as deflating and on occasion, exhausting.

As I work with clients on marketing and developing their holistic businesses, I always start by asking them who their ideal client is. The most common answer is, and I am paraphrasing here, 'Individuals who are open minded, who respect my profession and who are committed to health and wellbeing.' What I hear is, 'I want to work with people who get it!'

This impulse to find people who speak the same language has led to beautiful gathering and creation as mind-body-spirit communities have found one another and declared themselves an essential force in healing and transforming the planet. However, if we are going to spread our gifts into the mainstream and let us be frank, if we are going to create lucrative businesses, we need to make our message clear and compelling even to those who may be cynical at first but who will ultimately appreciate and benefit from our products and services.

There are several ways to accomplish this and the really good news is that they all start with getting very clear about and grounded in who you want to be for your clients and the impact you want to have on their lives. Often, this means taking sincere but perhaps broad intentions and making them more precise and accessible. For example, a practitioner who helps individuals access joy and freedom might benefit by focusing on new mothers and working with them on the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual transformation that is taking place as they welcome this baby into their lives. A new mom may not know the first thing about coaching, intuitive healing, astrology or hypnotherapy, but they do know about the challenge of embracing motherhood and having a loving, healing spirit offer to help them might be just the doorway they need into these progressive modalities.

Now, I have led us into what is a common sticking point for holistic practitioners and that is, choosing a niche. Did you just feel your own resistance? If so, take a deep breath and know that this does not have to be forced or limiting. Here are a few questions to ask yourself in the quest to differentiate your business from other healing practices and connect more effectively with your ideal clients.

· What are the characteristics, stage of life or self identifications of your target audience? Open Minded Retirees? Spiritual business owners?

· What is the specific impact that you have on their lives? Pain relief? Finding their life’s purpose?

· What is unique about the way you deliver your promise? Through Group Interaction? Through an 8 Step Healing Process? 100% Organic?

The answers to these questions will begin to reveal that the heartbeat and mission of your business is unlike any other. And this unique intention is just what an effective marketing strategy needs to communicate effectively with your audience. With a sharp message, you can be the pioneer that brings your modality into the mainstream. By drawing the connection for corporate executives between mindfulness and success, you are starting with what is on their mind, ‘achievement’ and giving them a tool that they might otherwise overlook. It is a long running mistake among healing arts professionals that they need to educate first. Yes, it will be incumbent upon you to describe how energy therapy or holistic nutrition actually works, but your explanations will fall on deaf ears if you have not yet demonstrated that you too place a value on what matters to them most right now.

Once you have their attention, give them a taste of your unique promise. Say you are a massage therapist who wants to work with dads who are so tired and stressed that they don’t have time and energy for their families. You could offer your prospective client a free article, CD or DVD called, ‘Healing your Family with the Power of Touch’. The resource could show him how to give a great foot massage to his wife, sooth a cranky baby, reduce his own stress, meditate with his teenager etc. Once you have shown your ability to connect with and address his needs, you can now build a relationship through additional marketing steps and eventually win yourself a happy client.

So what are these ‘other’ marketing steps? Well, your solid niche is going to give you the foundation for creating products and packages that are versatile and compelling. These items will be strategically placed into your systematic conversion process filled with communications and opportunities that are of interest to your prospects. You will also build your list of prospects by using the power of celebrity, arranging joint ventures and designing a lead generation advertising campaign. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves!

The first step is to determine your niche and as you embark on this journey, you just might let go of your own limiting beliefs and stretch towards unanticipated opportunities. Who knew that building a business was a process of personal discovery? Well, I suspect that you did, and now you are off to deepen your awareness and make a difference to others. I wish you great success and I thank you for answering your calling.