Marketing your equine assisted services takes more than throwing together a flier or website.
When thinking of marketing, typically the thoughts are around where to place said flier, or how to talk to someone in the human resources department, or how to somehow get the word out about the work you do with horses.
If interest is generated - the questions begin rolling in...How much do you charge? What do you do? How does this work with horses? Isn't that dangerous?...and so on.
You want to be clear and succinct in your responses so people are drawn into your work with horses.
The hidden elements that are not intuitively associated with supporting your marketing connection with clients are:
- Pricing and money conversations
- Packaging and delivery system of services
- Branding (and it's not your logo)
- Niching and messaging
These are psychologically and energetically connected to your marketing and advertising efforts.
Pricing reflects the intrinsic value in your work with horses and there is a hybrid method to pricing we teach. This instrinsic value also varies depending on the work you do and the niche you are serving.
Money conversations are an art to master as they need to help your potential client begin to shed light on the areas they are stuck in and reveal the value of working with you and the horses. When you show the ripple effect that working with you and the horses brings to the lives of your clients, it becomes priceless in the eyes of your potential client. They are drawn in to want to work with you.
Packaging and the roll out of delivery of services solves the problem of your clients in a step-wise fashion that makes sense to the people you want to serve with the horses AND once you are clear on this, makes marketing the horses ez pz! You want this to be simple to see which is why we teach it so that you can create content that solves the problems of your potential clients over and over throughout your career. This one element has served me well in creating content for the 48 Hour Breakthrough and the 48 Hour Money Breakthrough. The 48 Hour Organization Breakthrough is coming soon!
Branding is NOT your logo. Your logo is informed by your brand. Branding is the promise of the experience your clients can expect to have with you and the horses. You want to energetically resonate with the people you wish to connect with so they are attracted to you and the horses naturally. We take clients through an assessment to determine the gifts and energy you want to express fully in your work and help them align with the energy they wish to express.
And finally, there is the topic of your niche. If you said to me, "Lora, everyone could use this work with horses." I would agree whole heartedly. However, marketing to everyone is equivalent to marketing to no one. Why? Because your language is too broad and general.
A niche is not a demographic. Your niche may include a demographic, but is more of a cross-section that envelopes a group of people across demographic lines. Simply put, your niche is an intersection of the people you serve + the situationally specific problem they have + your specially branded process that solves it. This is clearly defined in our class that helps you get clear on who you want to serve along with a template to help you develop messaging you can use across all marketing platforms.
Once you get clear on these hidden elements in your marketing - the pieces come together to make talking about and marketing your services with horses easier and simple. You figure out where and how to connect with the people. The side-effect I am not mentioning in any of this is the confidence boost you get as the equine assisted practitioner because you suddenly "get" what you really do and get really good at it because you know where you are in the process of your work and where your clients are as well. This clarity makes it easier to grow and scale your business with horses.
I have shifted the focus of my work multiple times over the decades and because I now know how to do all of this, it is easier each time I do. When I get fuzzy on how to language something, I know I need to go back to the basics and gain clarity on the process somewhere so that I am clear on what is happening.
If you are feeling lost in the weeds with marketing and developing your business, to include developing content - check out upcoming classes that can put the weed wacker in your hands so you can see where you are going. Our next class is on developing your niche and your messaging. Check it out here.