The main thing that most new business owners want to know is how to get new clients. But before you do that, you must first know who your ideal client is, in order to help you best to deliver your marketing to attract the types of clients you want to work with.

It may surprise you to know that your ideal client is not everyone in your local area that owns a horse.... Read on for our top tips for identifying your ideal client.

Successful marketing is all about solving your client's problems. For many practitioners that may require a shift in how we think about promoting our services.

When it comes to marketing our services on a platform such as social media, I see many therapists doing the same kind of content. They talk about themselves – their qualifications and what they do in a session. They talk about their services and the modalities they use, listing off all the conditions they treat. They may share images or videos of them treating a horse with a specific condition, but the information they share about the session is often very nondescript (ie “here I am using NMES to treat this horse with kissing spines”). And while it’s important to share who you are and what you do, how effective do you find your social media is in converting your followers to paying clients?

Exercise and advice compliance.

As practitioners it’s often one of the biggest challenges we face.

It’s disheartening when you have those clients who come back at their next appointment saying that they haven’t had a chance to do the exercises you gave them, while in the same breath saying there has been no improvement in their horse’s symptoms since you last saw them.

And sure, you know that what you do in a consult will make their horse feel better in the short term, but unless the client makes meaningful change to the horse’s routine, including doing the exercises and following your advice, then nothing is going to change in the long term.

Which is frustrating for you as a practitioner, costly for the owner and simply very sad for the horse involved. 

But fear not, there are some ways to help ensure that your client will follow the program that you've set.