How to Increase Business Visibility Online: For Private Practice Dietitians
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When you’re starting any business, visibility is incredibly important! Of course, when you’re brick and mortar, you want customers or clients to literally SEE you as well as be AWARE of you and you’re actual location can play a large role. When you’re in online business, this isn’t as easy as putting a sign out front. You have to be really strategic to grow visibility online!
But, what does it really mean to be visible online? When you’re an online business, you need potential customers or clients to easily find you when searching for the products or services you offer. In this instance, we’re talking about online nutrition businesses, of course! If you’re an RD with an online private practice, you want your business to be present enough online that as soon as that client starts looking for what you offer, they find your business!
Building your client base is one of the biggest challenges for online businesses. Building an online presence is one of the key components to standing out, filling your schedule, increasing your profits, making meaningful impact on peoples lives and making your private practice dreams into a reality! So, today, I am going to explain how to increase your visibility using an online presence (and, no, you don’t need a website right away.) As a dietitian business coach, this is what I recommend:
How to Increase Business Visibility Online: For Private Practice Dietitians
Choose and master one social media platform.
When looking for digital marketing platforms, social media can be a good choice! First of all, it’s free to use. Second of all, your target audience is already there. And, no, this doesn’t mean you need to do trendy TikTok dances if that’s not your thing. Your social media presence should be unique to you, your mission, and your brand. You don’t ever need to abandon who you are or your ethics in order to effectively reach people on social media.
Choose just one social media platform when starting out. There’s no reason to juggle a dozen social media accounts! Pick the one that is most likely to have your dreamy clients (and pick one you’re comfortable using.) Once you have your platform, you’ll just need to capture that potential client who will search for products or services like yours!
Share helpful, engaging, and unique content.
You can capture those dreamy clients on social media just by adding value. I know that can feel intimidating since you’re not a marketing major or social media guru, but don’t forget that as a Registered Dietitian, you’re already an EXPERT in adding value. Your whole thing is bettering people’s lives by providing nutrition education—that’s exactly what you need to do on your socials!
Whether it’s reels, stories, carousels, or livestreams, regularly post content that speaks to your target audience and makes them feel heard for the first time. Then, encourage interaction and start building a strong connection with your dreamy clients. You’ll become their trusted source of nutrition information and assistance!
Engage with your audience in groups, comment sections, and forums.
The hope is that your target audience organically finds your page, but there’s a lot of competition on any social media platform, love. One of the best ways you can draw people to your page is by hanging out in groups, forums, and comment sections that have to do with your niche. You can engage with your dreamy clients and answer their questions. By doing this, you’ll naturally boost your credibility and increase brand awareness!
Connect and collaborate with other businesses in your niche.
Another way you could find your target audience is by collaborating with other businesses in your niche who have a similar clientbase! If they already have a small following, and you join them for a livestream, podcast episode, guest post, or other collab, you get your services in front of lots of potential customers! If your services are complementary to what the other business offers, you can generate lots of leads this way! The most beautiful part? That with connections and collabs, regardless of the outcome you’re making an impact and changing lives of people who you otherwise may never have been able to reach.
Build an extensive email list.
Studies show us that, on average, it takes EIGHT interactions to secure just a consultation call with a potential client. That means once people are somewhat interested, it’ll still take quite a few touch points to get them into your program. This is where an email list comes in! Your most dreamy clients will be willing to give you their email in exchange for a bonus, supportive information or a helpful free resource (more on that next.)
Once you have their email, you can keep delivering quality content that boosts your visibility, credibility, and likability! As you build that strong brand reputation, you’ll start booking those sessions with your dreamy clients. If you need an email management system, I recommend Mailchimp or Convertkit. I also LOVE Flodesk, and when you use my code - you get 50% off your Flodesk subscription for the first whole year!
Offer resources for free.
To stay in the minds of your potential clients and change their lives, offer them a useful resource for FREE that perfectly represents you and your brand. This taste of your value can completely inspire your dreamy clients to start their nutrition journey and also builds trust with you. Once they get started, they’ll come back to you as a trusted source again and again, because of the free material you offered.
When they inevitably consider hiring a Registered Dietitian, they’ll have one amazing person in mind: YOU! Driving traffic to your page by offering free resources is the perfect way to increase your online visibility. (Think a free guide, handout, meal plan, worksheet, etc.)
Host giveaways and exclusive contests.
I think we all know people love free stuff. You can get a lot of attention by hosting a giveaway or contest! Ask your target audience to do things like comment, share, or join your email list for entries into your contest to win your products and services! You could even collaborate with another business in your niche to expand the reach of your contest and get more eyes on your business.
Consider building an optimized website.
I am a firm believer that you don’t NEED a website to get started. So many RDs wanting to go into private practice get totally stuck by the thought of building their own website and online platform, and this can then hold you back from even going after your dreams. Honestly, I get it! We are nutrition experts, not web design gurus. So, please know that you don’t need to start with a website to have a positive and credible online reputation. You can do it with social media, word of mouth marketing, and networking (to start)!
When you’re a little further along in business and you know exactly who and how you’re helping your people in your niche, then you might consider building a website at that time.
Though it’s not essential, building a website of your own will only help you grow online visibility! Just make sure it’s designed well with search engine optimization in mind. This basically just means your content is formatted in a way that search engines will like to put you at the top of the Google results pages. The goal, of course, is to get more organic traffic this way without having to do expensive ad campaigns (which are not needed).
A good way to optimize your website is to add blog posts that would be helpful to your audience and market that as free content on your social media! You can also create special landing pages for different products and services that you can link to when interacting with people on social or via email. If you’d rather not do the web design yourself, I recommend Jess Creatives for all your website needs!
Hire someone to help.
At the end of the day, you’re a Registered Dietitian, not an online marketing expert. Now, don’t think that I am saying you don’t have the skills to take your private practice to the top, because you do! There are few people in this world more passionate, driven, and focused than an RD! However, I also know that your love is people and nutrition, and your time and attention will often default there (as it should!)
To help you develop proven strategies that’ll grow your private practice into a thriving business that supports all your personal and professional goals, you can hire a dietitian business coach. Coaches like me know how to build a private practice and as you colleague I understand the nuances of the nutrition field like no other business coach can. Working with my colleagues is the greatest honor, and I can give you all the tools and knowledge to overcome challenges and realize your dreams! Apply to work with me today it’s time to make the impact you always wanted!
Benefits of Online Visibility for Businesses for Registered Dietitians
Offers cheaper audience reach
Boosts credibility
Provides 24/7 access for your potential clients
Allows you to consistently educate your audience
Facilitates lots of networking opportunities
Provides a space for clients to leave reviews and feedback
Introduces lots of opportunity to stay engaged with past and present clients
Increases brand awareness
Makes you aware of trends to respond to
Elevates your competitive advantage
Gives you global reach
Allows you to better understand your audience
Extends opportunity to make an impact beyond your sessions
Online visibility can help you generate consistent leads and build your dream practice!
Starting an online nutrition business can be intimidating, but there are so many reasons to step away from your 9-5 and open your own practice. You deserve to work when you want, live where you want, coach how you want, and help who you want.
You’re worthy of all of that and getting paid well to do it. It just takes a basic business plan, proven strategy, and a little support. I can help with all of that at Jaime Mass Nutritionals!