As a coach and an entrepreneur, you have learned about the many facets of running and growing a business. Your marketing strategy is part of your business plan, where you describe how you are going to communicate the value of your coaching business and, ultimately, invite people to engage with you as a client.
For decades, marketing strategies have adopted the 4 Ps model to build a marketing mix, which is a set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that are blended together to motivate your niche market to buy your product and services. A much newer marketing model, called SAVE, is not only gaining attention in the marketing world at large, but it may also be much more relevant for health coaches looking to up their marketing game.
Keep reading to learn how to use SAVE marketing in your health coaching business strategy.
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Coaches: Say Goodbye to the 4 Ps of Traditional Marketing
Since the 1960s, the go-to-model for designing and implementing a marketing mix has been the 4 Ps model. The Ps stand for product, price, place, and promotion, and each of these concepts is set out to be tools that are blended to help gain the attention of the market. The model has served businesses of all sizes to build product- and service-focused strategies; however, in 2013, a contender to the prominent marketing model came to fruition.
In a world where businesses are pushed to deliver solutions to problems and unmet needs, the idea of simply describing a product seems to fall short. Additionally, in industries where, at first sight, product and service offerings appear similar, the model is very limiting when it comes to talking about differentiators, or what makes your offerings different (better!) than your competitors’.
Make Way for the SAVE Model
Researchers at the Harvard Business Review introduced the SAVE model in 2013 as an alternative to the 4 Ps, specifically as an alternative for Business to Business (B2B) marketers. As you’ll see in the description of each element of the SAVE acronym below, it showed potential for several industries to take their market thinking to another level by applying the model.
S is for Solution
Instead of focusing on describing the product, the S focuses on describing how your offerings meet a need or solve a problem.
A is for Access
The second P of the 4 Ps is for “place,” but in the SAVE model, the focus shifts to access. In a digital world, “place” is not only vague, but it also doesn’t reflect the journey a client needs to take to make a purchase or become a client. Access, on the other hand, considers the interaction between several channels clients and customers can take to ultimately buy into your business.
V is for Value
Before focusing on the price, potential leads are interested in the value that a product or service offers. A focus on value helps the business articulate the benefits of obtaining their product or service for their lives.
E is for Education
The final P of the 4 Ps is “promotion,” and it tends to reflect a company voice that needs to convince customers to buy in through advertising, PR, and personal selling. The SAVE model shifts the focus from promotion to education. This tool helps marketers provide information that is specific to how clients’ needs will be met and how their problems will be solved. It also takes into account the several points of contact businesses have with potential customers in the purchase cycle, and each of those points of contact is an opportunity to educate potential clients and customers.
How the Save Model Can Up Health Coaches’ Marketing Game
The SAVE marketing model can help you position your coaching services for a market that is constantly transforming and becoming more competitive. Here is how you can apply the SAVE model to your coaching business.
Solution
Once you know your niche within the health coaching world, you can start identifying some of the main roadblocks people experience to live the healthy life they desire. This will help you frame solutions to those problems through the services and packages you provide.
If you went the traditional route and described your services by the number of hours they include and the methods you use, potential clients may have trouble differentiating you from other health coaches.
On the other hand, if your marketing strategy approaches clients by letting them know you understand their health problems and have a solution to them, they are much more likely to engage with you.
Access
Online coaching services are a great way to implement the access element of the SAVE model. Through social networks, your website, and in-person sessions, there are many ways for potential clients to gain access to your services and see how they add value to their lives. The concept of access also understands that a potential client may first engage with your free content on your Instagram, but then feel motivated to purchase one of your short-term programs, and eventually one of your long-term programs.
Having a clear picture of how potential leads can learn about your solutions and have the opportunity to engage with your business on different levels will help you gain a greater sense of the power of your marketing strategy.
Value
In the coaching world, articulating your value is essential to your success. Unlike businesses that have the goal of selling never-before-seen products on the market, as a health coach, your potential for capturing clients and growing your business is dependent on how you can solve your niche’s health issue better than your competitor.
Whether it be your unique method of coaching, your one-of-a-kind program, or the innovative way you communicate with your clients, the value you offer will often be more important than the prices you set.
Education
Just like education can help empower your clients to have control over their health, fitness, and wellbeing, education also empowers clients to make the decision to become your client. When you are able to communicate how your services meet their health needs in a way that works for their lifestyle, they feel confident that they are making the right decision.
Main Takeaways
It’s time to take a fresh look at your health coaching business’s marketing strategy. The SAVE framework responds better to the current market, where value is more important than price and people want solutions to their problems rather than products.
