Is intermittent fasting a fad or the future? I remember when I was asked that question in 2019 by podcast host Joey Thurman on Fad or Future. I replied, “It’s the past and the future.”
If you’re interested in joining the movement as a health coach specializing in the intermittent fasting (IF) niche, I’ve put together a list of my top strategies that have helped me succeed. Although I was hesitant to label myself as an IF coach at first, everything got easier once I did. It’s been almost four years now, and along the way I’ve coached thousands of people in webinars, fasting summits, group programs, one-on-one coaching, and in my course Intermittent Fasting Freedom.
I came into this with just a handful of clients each year, and over the next two years, I attracted more clients than I can take on! Perhaps these 15 tips will take your intermittent fasting coaching business to new heights, too…
1. Identify Your Unique Point of View
In a formerly spacious niche that’s currently exploding, it’s important to identify your unique perspective and message about Intermittent Fasting. What’s one thing you wish everyone tried or simplified? Zero-in on that point of difference and think of it like your new tagline.
2. Create a Method or Step-by-Step System
If you want to establish yourself as the go-to person, it’s time to come up with your own method, framework, or step-by-step system to share with your audience. This will serve as the backbone of your free and paid content, as well as a topic to pitch to podcast hosts and other speaking opportunities.
3. Design a Freebie for Sharing Your Framework
As marketers today, we need to build trust and social proof by blasting our audience with lots of value from our unique point of view. What kind of freebie will you create? A mini e-book, a 3-part video series, a webinar, or IF roadmap? Don’t hesitate to put your good stuff in there. No matter how simple IF is to implement, or how much you gave away, plenty of people will still want more support (that they’re willing to pay for).
4. Title Yourself Everywhere as an IF Coach
You’re claiming your niche and this needs to be obvious everywhere your name is listed. Google helps people find me because my website and bios all say I’m an Intermittent Fasting Coach. Add it to your…
- Website: Header, Business Logo, About Page, Services page, and the main tagline message on your Home Page
- Social Media Bios and Headers
- Email Signature (personal and business)
- Bio Used for Interviews
- Business Cards (if using)
5. Share Your Freebie Everywhere
Your primary marketing focus, now, is getting your freebie out to anyone who’s interested (thus, building your email list). When I say everywhere, I mean everywhere…
Provide a link to your freebie on your website home page, your email signature, your business card, your social media bios. Provide a link in your CTA (call-to-action) on social media post captions at least once a week, too.
6. Know Your Teaching Points and Your Wheelhouse
What are your top three teaching points, and how can you solidify the language so that it rolls off your tongue and your marketing message resonates with your ideal client?
This is a good time, also, to get clear on what’s out of your wheelhouse. Choose one or two IF goals to specialize in, and decide which ones you’re better off sidestepping. Staying in your lane helps to strengthen your position in the field while sending a clear message to your followers, attracting the right clients for you.
7. Don’t Be Afraid to Share Free Advice
The free value you provide does not end with your freebie. You are going to give and give and give—within reason and respecting your personal boundaries—because it undoubtedly comes back to you tenfold. This is the fastest way to establish yourself as an authority in the field.
As one of my business coaches, Joey Ragona, told me, “Remember that ‘You get everything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want,’ (which is a quote from Zig Ziglar)… So, join groups where your audience hangs out, and begin helping, adding value…and don’t ask for anything in return.”
When I embraced this method, my email list and business soon exploded within 6 months of applying this strategy along with Tips #9, 10, 11, and 15.
8. Engage Your Email Subscribers
Nurture the new email subscribers who’ve downloaded your freebie with recurring weekly or bi-weekly emails related to intermittent fasting. They’ve already told you they’re interested and want your help. Now all you have to do is stay top of mind and continue to build rapport and trust so that when the time is right they’re ready to take the next step with you.
9. Choose One Platform and Go All In
Save yourself the stress and overwhelm by choosing your favorite social media platform—where, ideally, your ideal clients hang out, too—and go all in. Be consistent for 3 months, and by then you’ll know whether to continue or shift elsewhere. Find a social media expert or mentor who specializes on that platform so you can learn how to optimize it from the get-go.
10. Post Videos with Your IF Tips
People need to get to know you, your personality, and your point of view. Aim to post weekly videos ranging anywhere from 1 minute to 15 minutes so you can share your top tips, solutions, and related news. Don’t overthink it. This will serve as great practice for you to find your voice, articulate your ideas, and prepare for tip #11 ahead.
11. Get Booked for Speaking Engagements
Tell anyone you know in the industry that you’re looking to be a guest speaker on podcasts, wellness events, online summits. Solidify one or two IF topics you feel most comfortable speaking on—be sure it works well with your freebie—and start emailing podcast hosts with your topic ideas.
After being on dozens of summits and podcasts, I learned that this has a major cumulative effect. Stick with it for a year and you’ll see, midway through the following year, that people are flocking to you. I remember the day it all seemed to culminate for me, and I nearly cried to my family and coach that my dedication finally paid off!
12. Meet Clients Exactly Where They’re at
It’s likely that half of your potential clients have already tried intermittent fasting before they found you, and the other half are intimidated by the idea. No matter where they come from, meet them where they’re at. Your clients will thank you for being so patient with them (through the stages of change), and they’ll have breakthroughs like never before.
13. Coach as Many People as You Can (more data and experience)
This didn’t become as obvious to me until I began group coaching. I started with groups of 3-6 people, but about 6 months later I started co-coaching groups of 20-30 people. Not until I coached hundreds of people in under a year did I notice incredible trends and insights that weren’t apparent with individual clients. Groups really took my professionalism, confidence, and expertise to a new level.
14. Start a Community
Unless you have dozens of paying clients eager to join your community already, start a public community that anyone can join and invite their friends. There’s plenty of supporting evidence to suggest that a person is far more likely to succeed at and stick to their goal behaviors when they receive adequate social support. Your community might be just what they need to make a lasting change.
15. Collaborate with Other Coaches and Businesses
This one is loaded with potential, yet it takes some patience and persistence. After dozens of seemingly fruitless collaborations, I eventually hit the jackpot; I found well-established companies and coaches to collaborate with, which means I practically inherited their followers, subscribers, clients, and traffic. I was able to put less effort into my marketing strategy, and more effort into doing what I do best: coaching.
