One piece of advice we hear again and again is to establish your niche.

But why is it so important to "niche down" to expand your practice?

To over-simplify it, niching down helps you attract your ideal clientele to build and grow your private practice faster.

It may seem counter-intuitive to narrow your focus to connect with more clients, but identifying your ideal clientele can actually help you connect with more new clients. When you are able to identify who you want to work with early on, you can market for your nutrition niche.

Think about it: it's easier to speak to someone specific than to speak to everyone in general terms. Plus, once you begin to clarify your marketing messages, your audience will recognize that you're communicating to them and be more likely to pay attention to what you're saying. This will aid your efforts to reel them in as a paying client. Although you are making your target pool smaller, you are identifying a need for nutritional care and will hook a larger quantity of clients who can identify with that concern for counseling.

Speaking directly to your ideal clientele helps streamline your marketing messaging, promotions, content, practice handouts, and more. Healthie’s practice management software enables nutrition professionals to streamline program processes, deliver on-site & virtual counseling, offer expanded nutritional care programs, and track health outcomes. To set up a free Starter account today, click here.

But how do you market for your nutrition niche?

Here are 3 steps to take to market for your nutrition niche:

1. Identify Your Ideal Clientele

To get started, pinpoint exactly who your dream client is. Get as specific as possible in order to tailor your marketing messages appropriately. Identify the following characteristics of your quintessential client:

• Age
• Gender
• Occupation
• Income and socioeconomic status
• Location
• Hobbies
• Family life
• Possible medical and/or nutrition diagnosis

In creating your avatar, you can better create content, marketing messages, and promotions that speak to your ideal client.

What if you aren't sure what kinds of clients you want to work with?

Establishing your niche does not necessarily mean chaining yourself to 1 particular area of nutrition counseling. You can still see clients outside of that specific area!

2. Know Where Your Ideal Client Hangs Out

Identifying where your prospective clients spend their free time is an important step to choose where you should target your marketing.

For example, the millennial generation is all over social media. Taken a step further, younger clients are more likely to be on Snapchat and Instagram compared to Twitter. If you're targeting baby boomers, a strong Facebook presence may be important.

Also think about in-person or community marketing. Is your ideal client more likely to find you through a physician referral or partnership or at a fitness center?

To start, choose 1 or 2 places to exert your marketing efforts. Connect with physicians in your area who directly work with the same kind of client you want to work with. Local businesses that connect with the same clients may be good potential referral partners. Knowing who you're looking for will go a long way towards meeting them!

3. Communicate Effectively For Your Ideal Clientele

Once you identify who you want to work with, you can speak directly to them. To make the most of every interaction (whether online or in-person), it is important to communicate effectively. This includes what you are saying and how you are saying it. Some prospective client groups may require more or less formal communication compared to others.

Think about the following questions when devising your marketing strategy:

• What does your ideal client need help with?
• How can you help your ideal client?
• How would I like to be spoken to if I was a member of this target group?

By identifying exactly how you can help your ideal client, you can effectively communicate and connect with prospective clients.

With Healthie, this relationship can continue by checking in with clients through convenient client messaging or by setting up food, lifestyle, or activity journaling. Click here to learn how to set up these features with Healthie’s Free Starter Plan today.

Put your marketing plan into action

Write down your elevator pitch describing who you work with and how you help them. Practice your pitch so that you can smoothly and confidently communicate the value of your services. Client referrals can come from many sources: friends, families, doctors, other wellness professionals. As word spreads about your nutrition practice and who you work with, clients will start reaching out to book a session.