Marketing equine assisted services brings up many mixed emotions. I often hear, "I hate marketing!"
Marketing is not just a skill set to learn, it also carries energy, your energy in every effort you put out there whether you realize it or not. Your internal state about the marketing vibrates through the copy you write.
What if your marketing efforts are much like an equine assisted session?
Here's where I am going with this...in a session, horses are attracted to equanimity. They come closer when it feels safe to do so. Safe to further investigate as their curiosity is peaked. It is about the energy that connects them.
The people you want to serve with the horses need to feel the same way to further investigate working with you and the horses.
When you are considering your marketing - what happens in your internal environment? Overwhelm, angst, mind chatter about how and what to say?
This is so common and the basis for "I hate marketing!"
Writing marketing copy for fliers, emails, web pages, or whatever causes conundrums. There is the WHAT to write. HOW to say it and to whom. The layout of the copy and pictures comes into play.
If you get past that barrier, then the mental mind chatter kicks up dust around how to get the message out there. Putting yourself out there as an equine assisted practitioner has challenges because you are not only working to be clear about the problems you help your clients solve, but you also have the whole horse thing to address as the general population doesn't get it when it comes to how horses help humans grow and heal.
You will market your services only to the level that you are comfortable being seen.
Here are some helpful hints to get you going down the path to your soleful success.
1. Get clear and be specific!
OMG - do I know this one. It wasn't that long ago that I was writing very passive copy. What do I mean by passive? I would use words like: it can, perhaps, maybe, might...you get the picture here. There was no commitment on my part. Why should anyone else commit if I am not willing to?
I would write to a general audience instead of stating who I specifically was out to help. Now, I won't argue that everyone could use some work with the horses in some capacity, but I am not out to help everyone. If you are trying to market to everyone - this is equivalent to marketing to no one because your words won't resonate with your ideal client.
Find information about equine assisted work around why horses are superior to other models out there and write about it. People don't readily understand. As much as I have put this out there over the last 13 years, I see I still have a ways to go. Communicate this information regularly so we "normalize" our work - bringing me to the next point...
2. Be consistent
One of the most common things in marketing is lack of consistency. Your audience wants to hear from you. They need to hear from you.
Consistency in social media gets you higher up in the algorithm for more visibilty. It also increases the chances that others will share you information. Make it useful and nurturing.
3. Get support
Get the support you need to address two sides of this - the knowledge and your confidence. Strategy matters. Find support that can help you write effective copy, produce inviting pages and give you the confidence to put it out there in a big way. (I happen to know some folks that can help you..wink wink.)
Marketing and meeting goals with your equine assisted business is not for the faint of heart, but then again, we are horse people and we are made from tougher cloth. We know grit and we know elegance. My team and I would love to help you dig in and elegantly get connected with your ideal clients.
Let's turn your, "I hate marketing!" into "I love this business!"
Check out the next Design repeatable events ~ Write compelling copy about them ~ Automate your marketing efforts class that begins September 20th. Learn more here...