Marketing Plan for Health and Wellness Entrepreneurs

So what’s your marketing plan for this year?  What?  No plan!

Ok, truth be told, marketing plans haven’t been my forté either. But, it’s a new year and so maybe we can do this together.  First, let’s talk briefly about the value in doing one.  A good marketing plan will give you two extremely valuable things – a better understanding of your customers, and of your market.  In the end that translates into business growth. The better you know your “market” the easier it is to communicate to them and build strong, client-focused relationships and offerings.

For many health and wellness solo-preneurs, their marketing plan consists of coming up with ideas on a whim or when the mood strikes, then sending out a communication here and there without constancy.  Often this leaves your audience confused and unsure of how to respond to you.

If this is your first attempt at doing a marketing plan, make the main goal here just to be doing one.  Don’t get hung up on too many details.  The act of giving this area of your business attention for a period of time will bear fruit for you – I guarantee it.

We’ll touch on a couple of main points to get you started and I’m going to include a link to a great article with more information for those who are ready to delve deeper.

You’ll need a touchstone to refer to when doing a marketing plan. That touchstone is your written vision statement for your business – for this year, and a business plan with your overall goals and strategies.  These 2 items set the intention and direction of your business.

For your marketing plan, this brief outline will get you started:

1. Objective – Define your primary marketing objective. Is it to: Build better customer relationships? Bring in more clients? Establish a presence in the community?
2. Know your market – Include everything you know.  Who are they? (Demographic) Where are they? How much are they currently spending on the services/products you will be offering to them? What form of communication do they prefer?  The best case scenario is to survey them to understand them most accurately and to fill in the blanks.
3. Value – Define the unique value you offer your clients that others in your field don’t.  How will you present your unique value? (both verbally and in your print material)
4. Action steps – Identify the top 2 or 3 marketing-related activities that if you do them this year, will have the most positive impact on your business.
5. S.M.A.R.T. – Take those 2-3 items and make them Specific (what and how), Measureable (ie: revenue your action should result in), Attainable (with a stretch!), Realistic (something you WILL do) and Timely (put a ‘complete by’ date on it)
6. Budget – Determine the amount of spending you will allot to marketing per month or quarter. What revenue do you estimate your expenditure will bring in?

Completing a marketing plan is an act of treating our business like a business – and not just a hobby.  Attention to ‘how’ and ‘who’ we get our message out to has a direct effect on our business results.  There’s joy in that!

For more information and resources on marketing plans, check out this article from Inc.com  http://www.inc.com/guides/writing-marketing-plan.html

Perseverance

In the spirit of the athletes who must overcome so much to achieve their Olympic dreams, what can we borrow from that spirit to keep us going in business when times are tough?  How do we keep going – persevere – when we’re feeling discouraged, disheartened, tired or directionless?

The definition of perseverance is: Steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles or discouragement.

I think the answer is in this definition.  I know as I create my ideal business, one of the dominant features has been to cultivate calm, comfort and ease in my personal and business life.  Living in Canada, it’s quite possible to do this.  Not that I haven’t faced strife and struggle – I guarantee you I have – but I’m always searching for the easier way; the path of least resistance. 

But when it comes to achieving a goal that I’m passionate about, this desire for the easy path can act in opposition to my success. Facing tough obstacles with this mindset can lead to giving up, giving in or becoming discouraged because something got in my way.  A fly has entered the ointment; a rough spot on my smooth journey.  In my business this can manifest as avoiding doing the things I don’t like or that are hard for me.

 Accepting that perseverance is about achieving your desires and reaching the goals you have set for yourself in spite of difficulties, obstacles or discouragement wakens me to the knowledge that my success depends on my ability to overcome and persist in the face of a challenge.

The truth is, obstacles will appear, and this reality check prepares me for such eventualities while I hold the vision of my desired future.  We build strong muscles through resistance training and without resistance our muscles become weak and flabby.  I know that overcoming resistance makes me and my business stronger, and so I soldier on. 

Like the Japanese proverb says: Fall seven times, stand up eight.