How Can I Grow My Business Online as a Registered Dietitian?

Any time you start a new business, the most important skill to master is finding your client base. Once you have a steady stream of clients, your business can grow and grow! With a brick-and-mortar business things like location, signage, and physical advertising makes a difference. (Cue guy with a spinning arrow on the street corner, right?) However, with an online business, there are aspects that make it both harder and easier to locate your target audience. 

Starting an online nutrition business is one of the best ways RDs can rediscover their passion for the industry and make the impact they always dreamed of. And, those aren’t the only advantages of an online private practice! From the freedom to work when you want and to live where you want, there are plenty of pros to running an online practice. But, the question remains . . . how do you get there? How can you grow your business into a successful nutrition practice that’s fulfilling personally, professionally, spiritually, and financially?

Of course, one of the essential pieces of a successful online practice is a full client list. So, today, we’re going to discuss how you can grow your business online and turn your dreams into a reality. 

How Can I Grow My Business Online as a Registered Dietitian?

Start doing some type of social media marketing. 

Is social media essential to a thriving private practice? No. However, it can be a good tool when used correctly and in combination with other marketing strategies! I don’t recommend that you do things extremely outside of your comfort zone or try tactics that you don’t feel reflect your values. If you’re not the dance-in-front-of-the-camera-to-trendy-audio person, don’t think you need to do that to make your online business a success. 

You just need to pick a platform (I’d start with one) that you’re familiar with and fits your niche. Most social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest will be good homes for nutrition content depending on the type of content you like to share! Just make sure that you’re posting consistently, providing valuable content/info to your audience, and you’re interacting with your audience in every way you can (like responding to comments and DMs.) 

For more tips, check out my post: How to Market Yourself on Social Media as an RD. 

Network and collaborate with local (or virtual) healthcare providers. 

When someone is working on their health goals holistically, they’ll likely be using several healthcare providers and services. Think about your niche and consider what other businesses your clients may be using: gyms, therapists, specialists, general practitioners offices, etc. 

Once you have a good list of places, reach out to those types of companies either virtually or locally and determine how you can work together! You can create referral partnerships, share advertising materials for each other, offer free education workshops/lunch & learns, or even establish service bundles/specials. Get creative and figure out how you and other healthcare providers may be able to mutually benefit from a working relationship! 

Consider new launch strategies. 

As an RD, you probably get inspired to add new services frequently to your catalog. When this happens, it’s a good idea to generate a lot of hype and pre-launch engagement to attract more ideal clients. To do this, experiment with different launch strategies to find ones that bring you the kind of excitement you’re looking for! 

You can generate anticipation by posting countdowns, sneak peaks, and other exclusive content to your social media channels. With email marketing, give your current clients and followers personalized offers and early bird pricing. Limited-time offers in general are great at creating urgency around a launch! Beyond that, consider free or low-cost webinars that could teach your audience something of value while pitching your new service.

I could go on, but the point is, be creative and strategic about how you market your launches. This is something we discuss a lot in The Rise™ program! As your dietitian business coach, we can make an effective plan for each launch to get you the most enrollments possible! 

Create new offers at various price points. 

Offering services at different price points allows potential clients to stair-step into your programming. If they have some initial reservations about working with you due to budget constraints or value concerns, they can start with a service at a lower price point. This will allow you to really sell yourself and the impact your programming can have on your clients’ lives! 

On the other end of the spectrum, adding luxury, concierge services and long-term programming can keep your loyal clients with you longer. Those dreamy clients already know you’re the best of the best, so they’ll be more than happy to stay with you if you have a program that suits their evolving health goals! 

Here are some nutrition coaching services I recommend to accommodate various price points:

• Freebies: Offer free downloadable resources (e.g., meal plans, eBooks, mini courses) to build your email list.

• Signature Programs: Develop higher-end, signature coaching programs that offer more personalized services. 

• Membership Programs: Create a membership site for ongoing support, with access to exclusive content, webinars, and group coaching calls.

• Group Coaching: Offer group coaching programs where clients can work together on their nutrition goals in a supportive community.

• Self-Paced Online Courses: Develop pre-recorded courses on specific nutrition topics.

Optimize your website for SEO.

An often underutilized tool is search engine optimization (SEO). If you’re unfamiliar with this modern strategy, SEO is a way of assembling your website to cater to search engines. We all know that search engine results are POWERFUL. If someone searches for a “dietitian for powerlifters,” and that’s your niche and you can get your website populating at the top of the results pages, you’re almost guaranteed to get that client! 

People on search engines more than any other platform are ready to take action. They’re the easiest leads to convert! So, learn SEO basics and even consider hiring an SEO service to keep your website ranking for a variety of search terms having to do with your niche. You can do things like utilizing strategic keywords to capture searchers, uploading regular blog posts to increase your searchable pages, posting lead magnets to increase traffic, marketing testimonials to boost authority, and more! We’ll talk about these more in The Rise™ program!

How To Create an Online Marketing Strategy as an RD

Step 1: Build a professional website that’s optimized for SEO. 

First, create a website that’s optimized for SEO. Make sure any content you add to the website is also search engine optimized. This probably means you need to bring on outside support to either build, maintain, or optimize your website (or all three.) This isn’t something you want to get wrong! 

Step 2: Consider what social media platform your target audience is on. 

When picking a social media platform, consider where your target audience probably is. For example, if your niche is postpartum weight loss, Facebook and Instagram may be the best choices since a lot of moms are on those platforms. If you’re targeting the fitness community, TikTok or YouTube may be better. For content focused more on recipe and meal plans, Pinterest is great. 

The point is, if you’re going to focus your energy on one platform, it’s best to find one that’ll have the highest likelihood of reaching your dreamy clients. Of course, it’s important that you’re comfortable with that platform, too! If you’ve never used TikTok before, for example, consider choosing something else. 

Step 3: Decide what kind of free resources or content you can create. 

Content creation is huge for growing your nutrition business. It’s good for SEO, it’s good for lead generation, it’s good for building authority, and it’s good for audience engagement! Take time to consider what kind of free resources you can offer. Think about things like meal plans, blog posts, nutrition guides, shopping lists, e-books, recipe collections, webinars, etc. 

Step 4: Take a modern and strategic approach to email marketing. 

Email marketing is still effective . . . but not quite the same way as it was a couple decades ago. People get TONS of emails in a given day. Your emails have to stand-out if you really want people to open them rather than clicking spam or simply ignoring them. Make your emails an exclusive experience with engaging information, interactive elements, special offers, and more that’ll have your clients anticipating every mailing! 

Step 5: Ask for testimonials and use them. 

It’s important to ask for feedback from your clients for a lot of reasons, but one of the best reasons is the fact you can use them for marketing! If your audience doesn’t know you well yet, they won’t fully trust you and what you can do for them. However, they will become believers when they read testimonials from others like them. The impact you can have will be truly undeniable!  

Step 6: Collaborate with other healthcare professionals, brands, and influencers. 

A great strategy to get online exposure is to share the influence of others. Develop partnerships with other healthcare professionals, brands, and influencers (that you believe in). As long as they have the same (or a similar) audience as you, the partnership will be mutually beneficial. You can post on each other’s socials or blogs, develop a referral program, or offer bundled services just to name a few ideas! 

Step 7: Prioritize consistency. 

All of your marketing efforts must be consistent to effectively develop online visibility! Despite how powerful your passion, education, and perspective is, if others don’t encounter you consistently, it’ll be difficult to gain traction. Even search engines won’t prioritize your content if you’re inconsistent! So whatever you do, whether that’s uploading blog articles, posting on social media, sending newsletters, or something else, stick to a schedule and maintain a regular content stream.  

Step 8: Pay attention to your analytics and adjust when necessary. 

If you want to know whether your efforts are worthwhile, you need to keep an eye on your data. Most platforms have built-in analytics, so study those insights and adjust your marketing strategy as necessary. If you and I are working together using one of my dietitian business coaching services, I’ll help you dissect all your data regularly to continually refine your business plan. Here’s more on how to analyze and interpret your data as an RD.

Grow your online private practice using these strategies! 

Whether you’re dreaming of opening your own practice or you’ve been grinding it out for a few years now, you still need solid growth strategies to reach your goals. Use these tips to build your online business and achieve the career of your dreams!

For specialized support and coaching, consider hiring me as your dietitian business coach! Take this quiz to see if coaching is right for you. Either way, I’m here to help your dreams become a reality.