Episode 55: 5 Marketing Mistakes Chiropractors and Health + Wellness Practitioners Make – And How to Avoid Them

Molly Cahill

All right, I know it's probably annoying that the beginning of every episode I have a guest and like this interview is so good, really, I've had some of the coolest people on the show. And this interview with Kate Matheson is just incredible. Kate is a friend of mine. She's a business coach for health and wellness practitioners. She's also a clinic owner, her husband is a chiropractor and her and her husband Darcy own a clinic Chiropractic Clinic in Canada. She's a longtime serial entrepreneur. She's built six businesses over the past 11 years. And she spent the last five helping practitioners build their own consistent, fully booked practices without waiting years or sacrificing their quality of care burning out and marketing. So she has a really cool program called booked up blueprint. And we have some mutual students meaning I have some students from holistic marketing hub that have taken her course and vice versa. And they're really complimentary. They really just are beautiful together. And Kate is just this wealth of knowledge. I just absolutely think you're going to love this conversation. Even if you're an online business only, I think you will still get a lot of golden nuggets out of this talk. So here we go. Welcome to holistic marketing simplified a podcast for health and wellness professionals looking to simplify their marketing. I'm your host, Molly Cahill and this podcast is brought to you by holistic marketing hub, our hybrid program that supports you with personalized coaching, captioned templates, and virtual classrooms. In this program, we teach health and wellness professionals how to fish but we also bait their hook, head to holistic marketing hub.com to learn more and use code podcast for $100 off, you can find full show notes, resources and more at Molly cahill.com/podcast. All right, Kate, welcome to holistic marketing simplified, I'm so happy you're here.

Kate Matheson

I am so happy to be here and actually have our conversations recorded for ones

Molly Cahill

I noticed Kate and I have like the I always leave my virtual economic virtual coffees with Kate feeling so inspired and like just so seen. You just don't have a way I'm always like, okay, all right. You know, like, there's somebody who gets it. So yeah,

Kate Matheson

I think we have similar philosophies.

Molly Cahill

We have very similar philosophies which I Yeah, so I always leave like feeling like, Okay, I'm not crazy, right. So Kate, tell us a little bit about you. Kind of a loaded question. Yeah, you're always you're like a serial entrepreneur. But start with what you do now. So people can have a little context.

Kate Matheson

Yeah. So I mean, now I kind of still do two things. I'm like perpetually multi passionate, but I'm a business coach for health and wellness practitioners and in really help practitioners of all kinds to build genuine, fully booked practices without having to like have that hustle heavy mentality forever. And then I'm also a clinic owner myself, I own a Sports Therapy Clinic with my husband who is a chiropractor. So what you're up to lots of fun things right now. But could you

Molly Cahill

also like flip houses or something that flip houses you remodel houses?

Kate Matheson

Yeah, yeah. I like my first business was in real estate, my family's in real estate. I've like had Airbnbs. And so I've always kind of also been in the real estate world. So this past year, yeah. I also was just like, doing some project management renovations for friends. We've been like, we renovated our house and things. So yeah, like when I say multi passionate, I love to be in a lot of different worlds. But I I feel like I attract a lot of people like that to who were like, I want to be a yoga teacher and also do Reiki and also have these group programs and do all these different things. And like you totally can, maybe not all at once, but like, eventually you can be doing lots of things.

Molly Cahill

Yeah. So your program, your signature program is called Hooked up blueprint. How did that come to, to fruition? Like, how did that come to be?

Kate Matheson

Yeah, it's actually kind of funny. So I was in real estate. I also had an online meal planning subscription service, like yes, I had a few different visits, like my iPad six businesses in like the last 12 years. So I had those businesses and but I was kind of like transitioning out of them. And I was doing some like business consulting, kind of like small business consulting on the side, and kind of starting to work more with health practitioners, like I was doing sales trainings in Cairo clinics and working with yoga studios and gyms and things like that. And that kind of like happened because of you know, so many different reasons. I saw my husband wasn't learning anything about business and chiropractic school and like wasn't being set up for success, like as a business owner, and so I kind of started working with the health practitioners. But then my husband got a job working with the Chinese Olympic wrestling team in Beijing. And so that was like he got hired, I'd say like, May 2018. And so we were like, okay, We're moving. And so this business that I was kind of starting to create going to all these health and wellness practices in person, I was like, Okay, I gotta move this online and like, I'm really gonna go all in on this. And so I was like, Okay, I'm gonna create a course. And it was like pretty new back then, like, it wasn't as popular to create courses, but kind of kind of getting there. And so I learned, like, how do you create a course and, you know, really kind of build a sales funnel. And I had some, like, amazing support in doing that, like, I hired an ads manager who actually, like gave me some gold nuggets that have really guided me. And I have to say, and so, yeah, then it was sort of like, just part of our situation that I was like, I guess this is what I'm doing. And I'm gonna launch this program. So I launched it in like, mid 2018. And now I've had it for five plus years. And I love it.

Molly Cahill

To you y'all actually moved to China. Yeah, yeah,

Kate Matheson

we lived in Beijing for like, end of 2018 2019. And then we moved to Bali, in 2020. And then thank you, COVID. We ended up coming home early. But you know, it was like a blessing in disguise, because we got to be here to renovate our house and open our clinic and be a bit more hands on in that process. So you know, good thing. Bad thing. Who knows?

Molly Cahill

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Wild story. Yeah. We like move to Bali. I mean, you know, China, Bali, it's no big deal.

Kate Matheson

The joys of working online, right. Like, we had so much more freedom. And, you know, Darcy, my husband was working with some surfers in Bali. So like, we were just kind of rolling with that lifestyle for a little bit, which was, which was really sweet. And I mean, now, with the clinic, we're like, a little bit more homebound. But But we love that now, too.

Molly Cahill

So you have what I love about you and your business is that if you're not one of those, you know, that phrase, those who can't do teach, you're, you're like the antithesis of that phrase. So you had your course. And then you came in applied your own teachings to your own clinic. And it worked. Yeah.

Kate Matheson

And people kind of, I don't think realize, like, when I'm working with practitioners, I don't think they realize like how much I actually use this stuff. Like, when we were starting our own practice, I literally pulled all my workbooks from my program, and I would sit with Darcy, and we would go through them. And I would ask him the prompts and questions and like, we use my program to build our practice. And like, we still use so many of the systems that I teach, we put them into, you know, like, really let them infiltrate into our practice. And so yeah, I walk the walk, I practice what I preach like every single day, what

Molly Cahill

I love about your program is and this is not me knocking like I have spent, probably, Gosh, $30,000 over the past three years on like high end coaches, like I believe in coaching like it has, it has a quantum leap to my business. So this is not me knocking a high end coach. But when I first started my business, I remember, I paid like, $900 For my first business coach, and I was like, oh, like I don't know, like, so what I love about your program is I'm not saying it's just for beginners, but I'm just saying it's, it's like such an approachable, affordable investment. Yeah, that works, the get people results.

Kate Matheson

That was really, really important to you. I'm actually glad you acknowledge that because yeah, I think and that's not unlike again, it's not to say don't pay 3000 5000 $10,000 for a program, I've done the same thing, but there's seasons for it in your life and it's like going to spend $3,000 on a website when you have no clients like maybe not the best thing and for me like I just love getting this out to a lot of people I think honestly I wish it was in schools that they were learning these business foundations and so I like to make it accessible for people at all points in their in their practice, whether they're just starting out or they're just going out on their own after being an associate for many years or more honestly, I work with people who have been you know, practicing for 810 15 years but just haven't been able to get it to the level that they want. And honestly I just don't believe that you always have to pay more to get more value.

Molly Cahill

Well and so I always say that like marketing is like it frustrates a lot of the people that we work with because they're so like science minded and they want it to be this like you know, XYZ This is how it goes like this blueprint and like you just said it's and I always say like so much of it is an art and not a science. And same with business growth, right like there's going to be the art times but there are also some just like unmistakable foundations that work every time

Kate Matheson

Yeah, yeah, and I think we like tend to overlook those. We're always like looking for the like secret sauce, the magic pill like yeah, the hack. Look, do I love of the hacks like if like my program is filled with hacks, because there are, of course, things that are going to make it easier. But I think we, like you said overlook the foundations because honestly, those take a little bit more work, right? Like it takes a little bit more work and effort and time to really hash out your messaging and your focus and what you're about, like, those things you can't do in 30 seconds, but it'll serve you so much better

Molly Cahill

right? Now. So talk to me a little bit. I mean, obviously, I'm not asking you to give your program away. And we, and if that was we couldn't cover it in this short time. But like, give me like, if you were to pick like two or three things that you're like, I always these are like things. I'm always telling people that they overlook.

Kate Matheson

Honestly, I think there's so many things, but the two main things that I think I think the reality is like when you are practitioner, or you're new to kind of the business side, it can be really tempting to just look at what other people are doing, right? And there's value in that. But what happens when you just check out other people's websites, or you see what they're doing on social or whatever is, you're only seeing what's in front of you, when so much behind the scenes. Yeah. And so I would say like, the three main things that are behind the scenes happening that are like, way more important than the stock, you can see is one strategy. And when I say like, I feel like that's like such a buzzword strategy, but like, I really just mean like, what is your overall plan? Like? What are the steps that are the pieces that you're going to build into your practice? And how is each one going to fit together? And how is each one going to serve you just understanding that and actually, like, I have a video on Instagram on like understanding your customer journey. And like, that can be your strategy, right, just like understand the direction you're going so that you're not just like throwing spaghetti at the wall, and then none of it fits together, none of it works. And that takes a little like, that's often what you need a business coach for right is to help give you that plan in that direction. And that's what I think can be so valuable. But that's the first the second like, you know, I am very into messaging. Your message has to be on point and the stronger it is the better everything else is going to work right. Yeah, I

Molly Cahill

think I want to have you on just I don't want to like interrupt your flow. But like you want again, like on another episode just for us like maybe even get someone on live and like dial into messaging. So

Kate Matheson

I love like that's, you know, I have coaching calls with my booked up blueprint members. And like so much of it, we are often talking about messaging and kind of, it can be really hard when you are trying to tell your own story or talk about your own approach or like tell people what you do. But then when you have sort of this like unbiased third party, hear it and then spew it back to you in a different way. You're like, oh, yeah, like, that sounds amazing. And that's exactly what I want to say. I just couldn't say it myself. So yeah, we could totally do some like copy channeling and things like that, where she do

Molly Cahill

that. I don't even know, copy channel.

Kate Matheson

I just like sometimes I just like take what people are saying, or like who they work with. And I channel it into like,

Molly Cahill

I was like, fancy.

Kate Matheson

I just made that up. But like I just flow with it. You know, it just because I've gotten I find like when you're hearing from someone else's perspective is kind of, I feel like I start to like, honestly, like, beautiful minus story together. And I can see what their message could be. But it's sometimes hard when it's yourself, right? But but it is so important to do that work. And this is like the work like Darcy and I probably spent like a month or more on this when we were starting our practice figuring out like, what do we want to represent? And who do we want to work with? And what benefits do we even provide them? And what's our approach and our philosophy and then you put that into kind of gal like a story. And so then when they when people read it, one, they're engaged, and they resonate with you? And they're like, Yeah, I really vibe with this. But to they're like, oh, yeah, this is this is what I need, like, I see that they can help me and I think that that is missing from probably like 90% of the practitioners I work with that messaging piece just isn't there because it is that art and science that that they haven't been taught. But it will make your social work better. When you've got a strong message. It's going to make your email marketing, your ads, your workshops, your conversations in clinic like everything will go more smoothly. And you'll see more results when people connect with what you're saying. So I think that's like Do not skip step every single time.

Molly Cahill

Yes. Yeah. When I went to speak at Dr. Christy with the eliminated squad speak at her event in January. Like so many times what people think they want for me is to learn about Instagram, but we're like really, it's like it needs to go back and stuff like and when I'm in a big group like that I don't like to teach but Things like Instagram, because it's like some people are advanced. And they already know how to do all this stuff. And some people are like, I don't even know what you're saying right now. So I'm like, I'm gonna talk about messaging because it is something that, you know, especially chiropractors, they that you're in this world or not just chiropractors, anybody, you know, and you're like, Yeah, you know, like, we can help you because it just like removes interference. I'm like, What do you know, we talked about, like, I don't know what to talk about, like, you guys. I mean, I do. But you have to, like, people don't. I had a friend who's also a social media strategist the other day, I because we run a social media management agency, as you know, and I was like, Hey, will you just come and look at some of our accounts that we've been running for, like three years, just as an outside set of eyes. And she noticed two things that I was like, da, this is what I teach, you idiot. It was like, Webster certified on their bio, it didn't say pregnancy anywhere. And she's like, what does that mean? Cuz she doesn't know she's not in the world. And it was like, this is the stuff I teach, and I even missed it. Yeah, it's so easy, right? You just need somebody with an outside eye to kind of help you dial it in.

Kate Matheson

Totally. And I think with that, it's like, some people probably are looking for Webster certified. Chiropractors, right. Like, maybe especially more and more as it becomes more popular, like some women are seeking it out. But some women don't know what that is. And they just want the pregnancy care. And so I find you always want to kind of do both, because then you can educate and I always say like when in doubt, just use examples, right? Like what is an example of being Webster certified? Well, you know, you do pregnancy, prenatal postpartum, like all that kind of stuff. So yeah, just like use examples. Paint the picture. If anyone takes anything away from today, just like start using more examples in your in your messaging, which can come through story. Yeah, it's it's so important. Like, you probably hear this too, you probably hear it way more than I do. But like, people will come to me and be like, Oh, I'm posting on social media. And it's not working or like, you know, why isn't it working? Whatever. And I'm looking, I'm like, well, like your actual content. It's just not resonating. The message isn't clear of like, who you're even connecting with. So you can post as much as you want. But if the message isn't connecting with anyone, then it's just gonna like scroll. Literally scroll right by people.

Molly Cahill

There's so many places, I want to take this conversation. Okay, so the first I'm gonna go back a step because I want to go back, let's Okay, let's go back a step first. And then we'll talk about messaging. And then I want to ask you about networking. So, but first, just so anybody who's listening here is like, is this worth staying trust, this is gonna be a great conversation.

Kate Matheson

This is how our conversation so I

Molly Cahill

know, like, I get so excited. I'm like, Okay, let's go back to the things because this is so perfectly mirrors what I teach to about Instagram about, you cannot reverse engineer. Because, like, on the surface, you're like, Well, I'm doing what all these other people are doing. I'm like, Oh, girl, it's so much more. It's like, it's it's an I guess that actually does tie into networking. So it can go ahead and go there. But like, people assume that. So even if you have an online only business, or if you're a brick and mortar business, it doesn't matter. They forget that there's that one on one human connection, that networking piece. And I'm like that that can't be skipped. Even if you're online, even if you know, whatever like that, even on a platform. I heard somebody the other day, say it's not social media, it's social networking. And I'm like, Yes,

Kate Matheson

yeah. Yeah, I always tell people like, cuz sometimes people are like, I, you know, I don't know if this is working, like, is my business growing? Sometimes you can't tell I'm like, are you having conversations, conversations are like the key to business growth, if you are having a ton of conversations, even just people in the line at the coffee shop, or, you know, you're talking with people on social media, or you're like, having, you know, you're getting emails of people connecting with you and things like those conversations are a great sign that you're moving things in the right direction. If you're just posting silently on social media, and no one is connecting with you and you're not connecting with anyone, like that's a sign that you you're not really doing all the pieces, right, you're just doing what what you can see. And that's actually I was gonna say the third thing that is like the behind the scenes piece that I think people cannot skip is like the system that comes after you get out there, which is conversation a lot of time right like connecting with people in the DMS moving them to your email list inviting them for free calls like all the things that you can only do really through conversation I find

Molly Cahill

Yeah, so we one thing we are going to start doing with our agency clients is instead of saying click the link in our bio to book an appointment, we're going to start saying comment the word schedule or comment the word appointment or whatever and we'll follow up with you because that just like creates one more connection point. Oh, only. And it's so funny. Like when I first moved here, I'm like, I want to have a DM conversation with whatever new chiropractor I choose, because I need them to kind of like have a little bit of my back. I don't know, it's just weird. Like, you just kind of want to have that personal connection with somebody

Kate Matheson

totally. And that could even be like, you know, you and I connected on Instagram. So it could be like, people that you form professional relationships with or who knows, but like you had got to have the conversations. And that's happening. I mean, yeah, it might be happening in the comments. But like, that's happening in the DMS behind the scenes, like you cannot see that happening. But it's such an important piece, too. I think social media working, but also just your business growth.

Molly Cahill

I had someone the other day that was saying what's just not working, we're doing everything, and it's not working. And I was like, why are you like going out and commenting on other people in your, like, local businesses in your area? They're like, yeah. And so I was like, Whoa, do you mind if I log into? Because if you're doing that, and like all this still not working? Like, can I log into your account? Do you mind? And I was looking at the activity, it was like they had, it was like one comment like, a month ago? No, like, you gotta actually like, it's not going to take as much time as you grow, right? Because you don't get more referrals, you're gonna have more word of mouth. But when you are in that growth phase, you have to be willing to do those things. Yes.

Kate Matheson

I mean, it's part of it. And I think, again, it's just because we can't see it. People don't recognize that it's as big a part. But it's like a bigger part. Like, you see me, I'm posting like one time a week. But that doesn't mean that that's all I'm doing on social media, right? Like, I'm chit chatting behind the scenes, I'm commenting on other people's stuff, you know, you're tagging, like, there's, I think, you know, I always say it's like, there's a difference between doing it and doing it really well and doing something properly, right. Like you really got an execute a strategy properly, like, use all the features and the tools available to you, if we're talking about Instagram to like, really make it work. And it also means doing it consistently. So yeah, you know, I wish business was just as easy as like, what we think it is of like, a couple of things and it grows in you know, it takes a lot of work. But like you said, you know, if you're doing the right things from the beginning, as you grow, it should get easier and it should become less like now we don't post it all for our practice because we don't want to and we don't need to so we don't. But you know, in the beginning we did in the beginning we were active so you know if you can put the right pieces in place from the beginning, it does get easier. But you do have to put the work in and I

Molly Cahill

do you follow Susie more or listen to any her stuff or let it be easy? Easy. More? Yeah, yeah, I love her. I love her book, let it be easy. And I love her podcast, because each episode like seven minutes long, which is so funny, she had this episode recently that was like, the title was more as when more is more. And I was like, it piqued my interest because it's like so opposite of everything I'm trying to heal from which is like the hustle culture and like, it was less is more or less, you know, so I'm like, huh, Susie more the easy part, the Let It Be easy person is has an episode that says when more is more, I was like, I gotta listen to this. Again, it was talking about how like she was talking about, like content creation or anything, but she's like, if I create 10 videos, you know, three can suck, and seven, like three can be mediocre. And then you know, four can be great. Whereas if I create one, that one has to be really good. It's a lot of pressure.

Kate Matheson

Yes. And people put so much pressure on themselves, right? They're like, Hey, I've been re editing this post for the last week. What do you think of it? And I'm like, I think it's time to get it out there because you're gonna be creating another one. Next one and another one.

Molly Cahill

Yeah. And then I think that the same thing applies to networking, too. It's like, the one conversation. It's like, No, you need to be having lots of conversations.

Kate Matheson

Yeah, and I think it's so funny, the more is more thing, because I really am still in the like, less is more camp. But I think what we try it What, like we just all have kind of the tendency to do is like, want to do more different things. Spread ourselves so thin, where it's like, you want to be doing fewer things, but more of that one thing, right? Like you just want to do a lot of very few things. You know

Molly Cahill

what, I've never thought about it that way. Like I'm also still very much at the less is more camp. And Susie's definitely not saying you know, do more, but I loved that way of thinking about it. Because it actually felt so freeing and so much less pressure to be like, Okay, I gotta get this one thing, right, like, yeah,

Kate Matheson

you know, we put so much pressure on ourselves, like all of us. But I think when you're new in business, too, right? Like, you just think that everything is make or break. And then you start to realize like, Oh, like that doesn't matter. Like each individual thing on its own matters very, very little. Right? Yeah. It's more of a culmination of things, the consistency of things and the build over time and you can only get Let that build over time by doing things like over and over and over and over.

Molly Cahill

Yeah, I had to do the same with my blog. For one thing. I don't love the like my podcast page on my website like I'm like, but but it's out there, right? And the information is still there. I'm like, yeah, like some spacing and some design issues that don't love, but I'm like, whatever. And then like, some of my, my Podcast Producer does my blog posts. And like, she basically takes the show notes and makes it into a blog post and the information and sometimes I'm like, Oh, that's not exactly how I would have said it. It doesn't matter. Like, yeah, it's great.

Kate Matheson

I know, it's a really, it's like, it releases a lot of pressure, doesn't it? And then you have another great month in business and you get more clients or do more of the stuff. And it just proves it gives you more evidence that like, wow, okay, not every little thing has to be perfect. Like to be honest. And I've actually don't know if I've shared this before, like, I don't like the name of my program hooked up blueprint. Like, I don't like it at all to be honest. But no, but I just named it five and a half years ago, and I haven't changed it since. But because I'm like, it's not worth it to me to change it. People know it. Now. You just because you get an idea that something isn't good doesn't mean it actually has to be changed, right? It doesn't mean that it's bad, or it's going to, you know, like, influence your business negatively. So, I don't know I try and like, let things go for as long as I can. Like, I had a website I hated for like four years.

Molly Cahill

Funny I do. I do like the name booked up blue. So clear as to what it is. And I was like told people about you. I'm like, Oh, give me my friend. Kate's class booked up. Blueprint.

Kate Matheson

Like, exactly like, that's what I mean. Just because you like I don't like it doesn't mean it's bad doesn't mean other people don't like it. And doesn't mean it really means anything. Either way, if people don't like it, they still join it. Like, there's, there's just so many pieces to everything. But that's just an example. Like, I think sometimes we use it as like a procrastination tool to be like, Okay, I've got to rebrand. I've got to change this. Like if I had to rebrand. That's months of work. And like, do I really? Like is it really worth it? But I think it's easy to fall into the trap of like, oh, yeah, I need to rebrand my name, or I need to make a new logo or I need to do these things. Because I don't like it. Like, it doesn't matter.

Molly Cahill

Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. So let's talk about to like some things that clinicians can do, or any of these people, you know, whoever it is, let's talk about retention. Like for re bookings, I think so many times people think I always try to tell them with Instagram. It's not just about attracting new people. I mean, yeah, if you're like, brand new one, right. But it's also about retaining and getting the people who are already in to come back.

Kate Matheson

Yeah, yeah, it'll make your life a whole lot easier. I don't have the stat on it right now. But, you know, it's like, significantly less costly and easier to retain people as it is to attract new people, and you don't want to be a revolving door. But yeah, it's interesting. You say this, I actually, at one of my recent master classes, I had someone asked me, like, how do you respectfully tell your clients to rebook? And I was like, Well, the fact that you I'm like, there's two pieces here, you know, how you actually do it. But I think the fact that you're asking how you respectfully do it shows that there's like a bit of a mindset block around it that you think are inherently it's disrespectful to be telling your clients to rebook or you think that they're doing you a favor.

Molly Cahill

Yeah. Like, yeah. Like, like, you're fixing their problem. Yeah.

Kate Matheson

So I kind of think just like how you had that episode on, like, healing your toxic relationship with with social media, you kind of got to do that with like retention and rebooking because otherwise, if you're always in this place of like, Oh, I'm pushing them, I'm forcing them to rebook, they're doing me a favor, you're never going to be serving them like you should, like you should be. And you're never going to get the RE bookings. Because that's how I like to think about it is like making a professional recommendation. And we do that with all kinds of things. Like, you know, chiropractors are probably recommending different foam rollers to their patients, you know, new like naturopaths and nutritionists are probably recommending different supplements or different foods, when you're doing that you are selling for all of these other companies. So you've got to make professional recommendations for what people need in their care. And if that is seeing you again, that's what you need to tell them right? Like you have, I think, as a practitioner a responsibility to be helping these people get the results that they've come to you for and if that means that they need to see you again, or maybe five more times or 10 more times, like you have to tell them or else you're not doing your actual job.

Molly Cahill

No and like well, I just have a recent example of like, I had like an acute neck like my neck was just killing and I was getting adjusted, but I was you know I was going like once a week or once every, like 10 days, and it just was not clearing up. And then one of my clients was like, You need to be up, don't go like, a couple times a week until it's cleared up. And I'm like, I almost felt because my car, I love my chiropractor, please like, just, you know, see how you feel? Yeah. And I'm like, Well, no, like, I want you to tell me like, yeah, then I feel like I'm almost being a hypochondriac. And then I start to feel weird. I'm like, Wait, why am I back? Like, does he is he going to think it's weird that I'm back? Yes, not really would have rather had just said, come back in two days, and then come back two days? Let's knock this out.

Kate Matheson

Yes, exactly. People want to hear the truth, they want to hit their health goals, right? Whether it's like relieving the neck pain, or, you know, getting pregnant, or whatever their different health goal is like, they want to achieve it. So whatever they got to do, they'll do it. And if for whatever reason, it doesn't suit their schedule, or their finances, like they can tell you but like as a practitioner, you are not in charge of your patient's finances, or their schedule, or any of these things like you are in charge of their care. And I think that when we keep that top of mind of like, how do I help my patient get this result? It feels a little bit easier. And I think treatment planning is really helpful for that, right? Like if your chiropractor, or whoever gave you like, okay, for us to get this back and feeling better. I suggest that you're going to come in X number of times for next couple of weeks, and we can really knock it out, then we'll reassess and see how you feel. Then you're like, Okay, that's a plan. That makes sense. I get it. Now. He doesn't have to say or they don't have to say every single time come in again, come in again. Come in again. You already kind of know the plan, right? Yeah. Yeah, I really am big on treatment planning. Even if you're like I work with, you know, more spiritual practitioners to like Reiki practitioners are working with energetics and like, maybe you're not calling it a treatment plan, but you still want some sort of overarching direction that you're taking people in so that they can kind of have clear expectations. All of these things are so important and rebooking when you do that, the easiest part is just telling them to come back in because they have the expectation. They understand the plan. They're on board. And then you tell them to come back in. They're like,

Molly Cahill

great. I was going to this awesome new massage therapists around like over the holidays, I haven't been back. And I wish she would just texted me it would take me two seconds to book an appointment. She books online, but like if she would just texted me be like, Hey, do you want to come back? And I've seen you I'd be like, yeah,

Kate Matheson

yeah, yeah. And that's why I love like rebook rebook people in clinic, because it saves you a lot of work. But you know, some people fall off, or they don't need it right away, or whatever. So I like what I call kind of like medium term retention strategies. So like, maybe after that initial course of care or within it, how are you helping people actually, like, maintain their results long term? And how are you supporting them? Like, over the year and longer? So that's things Yeah, like follow up. So you can automate maintenance visits, you can reinvigorate patients every few months. Like, these are very easy strategies that are like, little more than just texting people like or emailing, like, they're not complicated. But you do have to be like, Okay, I'm gonna block time in my schedule. Here's who I'm going to connect with. And here's what I'm gonna say. But it's not that complicated.

Molly Cahill

Yeah, I mean, I think about like Reiki, like, if you come in current, like, See, you're having a cut, like fresh trauma, or you're in crisis, like, it's okay to be like, Hey, let's, you're gonna need to come have a few more sessions, and then you can

Kate Matheson

chill and then and then we'll see how it goes are, then we'll spread it out, or, you know, then let's see you in three months, just to make sure that we're kind of maintaining where you're at, or whatever, right, like everyone's situation is going to be different. I think having the language around. This is what a lot of practitioners kind of struggle with, like, they just don't know what to say. It's why I'm like, I'd give a lot of scripts and a lot of templates, because, and you're in sales before to like, I'm sure you had lots of scripts and things and yeah, they just become so commonplace that they become your words. Yeah, but it helps big time. To give you that framework of what to say, confidently believe

Molly Cahill

it in parenting. I follow Dr. Becky a good inside, and she has these parenting scripts. And this morning, I had like a major win because my daughter, my six year old is a huge meltdown. Like literally screaming like throwing her socks did not want to go to school. And I knew it's because her teacher was gone all last week. I was out of town over the weekend. She played hard with their cousin, she's like, okay, is my teacher going to be back because I don't like it when my teachers, not their mom was gone all weekend. So I want to be with mom. And so instead of getting mad or frustrated with her, I like use the little scripts and I'm just like, I understand, you know, I'm just like, you know, we just we worked through it. That's so good. Yeah, it's just like, I mean, it took a while, but then she went like it's like, it's like, you know what I mean? Like sometimes scripts really do come in handy. Oh, they come in

Kate Matheson

so handy, but I'm sure it's like you kind of had to practice it a bit or you had to kind Like, think about it,

Molly Cahill

yes. Your emotions take over. Yeah, right anxious about sales, and you're nervous that you're gonna look pushy. That script just allows you to kind of bypass that emotional response that's gonna take over.

Kate Matheson

Totally, totally. So like, I always suggest to my clients, like, practice what you're gonna say in the shower practice while you're driving practice while you're walking. So there's just becomes like, it flows naturally for you. And it can kind of like, like today, like for you like spring to mind and be like, oh, yeah, okay.

Molly Cahill

Like, yeah, I was like, Sure. I was like, wait, you can do it. But and then to, I mean, this is like a whole other episode a whole other? I don't know, I think you need. This is like a whole other layer of work. But it's like, if you don't even believe what you're saying. Yeah. I mean, we're not don't misunderstand. We're not saying that you need to be talking somebody into something that they don't need, you know, like, I always tell people, I'm like, if you don't believe in what it is, then why would you? Nobody else is going to?

Kate Matheson

Yeah, yeah, it's usually like 100%. And I think, you know, competence is a big thing, especially if you're new, you're not going to feel 100% confident right away. But the best way, I think, or at least I've found in my experience that you gain competence is just by practicing right and doing it, and you do it a little bit more, and you get a little better. Like when I first started real estate, like I was not as good with my clients as I was eight years later, I'm you know, even now I have people tell me like, Oh, I feel like my program could be better, or whatever. I'm like, you think that my program now is what it was five years ago, or how I coach people now is how I coach five years ago, like I've gotten better, too. So, you know, we just practice and practice, but it

Molly Cahill

couldn't be better. It'll always be better. Like, there's, you're always gonna be iterating. That's kind of the theme I've had with every guest I've had on the show so far. I'm like, can we just pause and talk about all the iterations you've probably had of, you know what I mean? Like, you don't have to get this thing. It's not ever going to be the the thing once you get it out, like it's gonna be, I even caught myself falling into that this weekend, you know, I just went to that amazing retreat in Nashville. I was like, Oh, can I pay you for your time when we get back and just like, tell me everything you've learned about, like mistakes you've made? And I'm like, because I'm gonna get it right the first time. And I'm like, No, my first retreat is probably gonna be like, there's even if I take the time to, like, learn from them, there's so many things.

Kate Matheson

And look, even if it goes perfectly, and I say, you know, perfectly the very first time, it doesn't mean that you're not going to grow and expand in two years from now and be like, Okay, now I'm going to take it to this whole other level, you might get it right for your first level the first time but like, your current level won't be your level forever, right? You're always like, I find anyone who is a business owner, and just people these days in general, who are curious, like we're constantly learning, we're evolving, we're ever changing. There's so much more information coming at us that like, what we think and feel and believe today, like it's going to shift which is going to shift everything else. So honestly, I find like go with it. The faster you make decisions than the faster you get it out there. The faster you get feedback, the faster you can reiterate that. Yeah, like go. I like to do things properly. You don't want to like, you know, wrap a little turd in a bow and put it out there. But let me know. Like, you kind of got to move with some speed, or else you lose momentum I find.

Molly Cahill

No, I totally agree. So I have two more things I want to talk about in our time. And they're kind of different, but kind of not. So going back to the messaging Doctor campaign, you're listening. And this is a question you've asked me 1000 times and I think Kate probably has a better way of answering because you and I've talked about it. Now you and I've talked about this. So I'm gonna give Dr. King because this is an example I see with not just one practitioner. This is common. It's just Arsene, is he the only or do you have associate we have an associate yet? Okay. Do they practice the same type of? Yep, yep, very similar. So Doctor, my, my client, Dr. Kami, who I love. Her husband is like sports, rehab, she is pregnancy and baby very, like stress. And so she's like, I don't know how to, like, merge the two. Like, she specifically asked me about her Instagram page, but just in general, you know, me, I'm always like, you don't need two pages, because that's just gonna be a few places to split your attention to how like, how do you coach somebody through that?

Kate Matheson

Yeah, and that's really common actually. Like whether whether you're a multidisciplinary clinic who just serves a lot of different things, or or like I work with a lot of husband and wife kind of Duo's, where one will it's often like, you know, more sports stuff or more like active injuries and the other might work in like, yeah, with women's health or, you know, prenatal postpartum, whatever. So this is why I actually teach like the way I teach niching is maybe a little bit different where I think it's very helpful in health care to have two levels of niche. So you have what I call your practice level niche which is like your brand level niche. This is like your overarching umbrella. And then within it I call the marketing level niches because they're sort of like more specific what you marketing market to, but are under this umbrella. So in this example, I would think that like your marketing level niches might be like, what was it sports?

Molly Cahill

What is more sports? Yeah, like it chiropractors? Yeah,

Kate Matheson

yeah. So like sports, active injuries, maybe active individuals, things like that. And then maybe she has a couple marketing level niches of pregnancy, postpartum, pediatrics, whatever, like, you can have maybe multiple kind of core areas under this niche. But I think where the challenge comes in, is people are like, they don't know how what you want to do is create that one brand level niche that sort of encompasses both. And I think it's going to be different for everybody. But you want to find like, what is the golden thread that connects these things. So it could be like, you know, I have some who are like, we support active families. And so it's like, they're active families who have whether you have sports related injuries, or whether it's sort of the more women's health stuff. And that's kind of their practice level niche. It could be that we like, I've got a multidisciplinary naturopathic clinic that each clinician has their, like a very specific focus in their practice, like one is cancer care. One is women's health, one is immune. And so they're, and so it's very different. But their practice level niche, they're sort of brand approach is like, we only hire practitioners who are experts in their field, we are experts in each of our areas. So yeah, so you can kind of come up with like your angle for it. It could also just be like, we're a husband and wife duo. And, you know, we're here to support the, you know, you're two different things like, yeah, right, like you can kind of, I think, like massage the story a little bit, it could be like, I have another husband and wife team actually a massage therapist, and personal trainer. So they do kind of different things. But they have a very common approach to how they look at the body. And so that's kind of their practice level niche is like, their philosophy on your body and movement. So I think everybody's going to be different, but you kind of want to look for like, what is the commonality between them, whether it's common people common approach common philosophy, whether you it's just like, you kind of make something up to find that commonality. But yeah, you want to connect them a little bit so that there is that like, continuity? Yeah, I hope that I hope that helps.

Molly Cahill

So helpful, I've never thought of it that way. And I'm totally going to steal the I'm gonna pay for it, that's great. Because I'm thinking to like, then we can go because this is what I told her before. Like, then we can go get your insights and like, Okay, if your audience is on this Instagram account, let's say is 75% women, then we can do three quarters of the bests are catered towards yours. And then like, one quarter is towards Yeah.

Kate Matheson

And I think even also, like, I've got people who kind of like, have one niche on Instagram and like one another niche in practice, because like, they get a ton of referrals from their clinic for something. And so it's like, I feel like you can adapt it based on your insights on on social media, right? Like, just like you said, yeah, there's a lot of flexibility in this. Like, I think we often get so rigid, but everyone's gonna be so different and unique. Yeah.

Molly Cahill

And then just see what sticks. Like what yeah, you know, because yeah, I've, I've heard I've told the story a few times about I have a functional medicine, MD, and she does treatment, she has hormones, she she does see men, she's a lot of men in her practice, but her followers and majority women, so we do some men's health content on her Instagram, but it's majority women because that's just who follows her.

Kate Matheson

Yeah, for sure. And so probably for that, like Instagram channel, she probably mostly gets patients for that one kind of niche, but then maybe she has other channels into her practice that bring the other people in and once the once the maybe,

Molly Cahill

or testosterone or whatever, you know. So the last thing I actually want to talk about email, email, email, email, I love your so we did. If you got in Kate and I did this really cool black friday bundle. It was really wildly successful with I had my social media templates and you had your email templates, and we'll make sure we link the email ball below, but it's so great. I think that so I'm one of those people. I had Alison Hardy on the show. She's an email marketing funnel expert. And I'm one of those people who's like, don't feel like you have to do everything like pick what you know. I'm very much like pick what you enjoy. But when it comes to email, that's just one thing. I'm like, You can't sleep on it. Like to me I feel like it's just like very

Kate Matheson

I I think it's a really good one. For a lot of people. I honestly don't think it's necessary. Like, we don't email our practice, okay, at all. So I think it really depends. But I think if you're starting and like you're in that growth phase, it is very helpful to have an email list because like, you control it so much, and it just converts so much better, has better visibility and reach, I find them social. I don't know if you find that but like, and I think, especially if you are a virtual practitioner of some kind, it's really helpful, because, and even if you're brick and mortar, but like, I find that brick and mortar, it's like when you have that in person face to face connection with people, I find it somehow deeper than online, when you maybe haven't met them. And so when you're online, like having that email community, I call it like I call them community emails rather than newsletters. It's like, you really can build a connection with people so nicely. And we were talking about like making things easier as you grow, you can send like one email, and it reaches more and more and more and more and more people every time as your email list grows. So it's just like amplifying your efforts. So

Molly Cahill

what we do for our clients is we just take an Instagram post, and we just make it into an email. Like we don't really write something new. One of the biggest mistakes you can make with email is calling it your march newsletter, your April newsletter in the subject line because no one's going to open that. But it needs to be like something specific, like feeling out, you know, spring is to be like some refilling allergy. Like you're like, oh yeah. Everybody's having allergies right now, like something that's time you know, like, Oh, I'm gonna open this.

Kate Matheson

Yeah. 100% And, and I think conversational, like I really a lot of my a lot of my clients and like a lot of brick and mortar of my clients to do email, I do think it is helpful. They say like, pretty much every time they send an email, they get people booking in whether it's new people, whether it's their past patients, rebooking, like it's a very helpful tool for bookings. But also just for staying in touch and top of mind and

Molly Cahill

loyalty, I have a script to, we can link it in the show notes, I like to email your patients to ask them to follow you on Instagram.

Kate Matheson

That's a good one.

Molly Cahill

I always say don't do it right away. Like Wait, like, if you're just starting, wait until you've got some good meat on there. And we always suggest that everyone has a community story highlight, it's like, you know, here's what's going on in the in town type thing. I love that, too. Then you become your Instagram account isn't just like, here are some stretch, which is great if people do want the stretches and the exercises and all that because it builds that authority in their mind of who you are to. But also like, then your account becomes like a little resource like, Oh, I'm gonna go check on the account and see what's going on this weekend in town or like, Oh, I've never heard of that coffee shop. I'm gonna go check it out. Or yeah, I don't know. And it

Kate Matheson

again, just creates that personal connection like humanizes everything right, like humanizes you as the practitioner and just the whole interaction. Yeah, I

Molly Cahill

love that. Yeah. So I'll just say email and say, Hey, follow us on. If you're not following us on Instagram, come say hi. Like, we'd love your support. And, you know, this is what you get out of following us like XY and Z. And then you have even more of that community. Well, Dr. Nicole our mutual

Kate Matheson

she loves email,

Molly Cahill

but her Instagram is so engaged, because and we've now since taken it over, we don't do her stories, because I'm like, No, I don't want to take because she's so good at her. She's really good that I'm like you please don't like you keep doing it. But she has such an engaged comment section because she did the work in the front, like,

Kate Matheson

yeah, yeah. And she's done a really good job, probably with your help of like, creating that sense of community. Like she's constantly tagging others in the community. And it really feels like she's a member of the community. And so then others are, you know, she's built a little community ecosystem, but then she's also part of her like, you know, larger geographic community. Yeah, she's done an amazing job.

Molly Cahill

Yeah, she's great. I'm gonna have her on the show today. She's just oh my god. Yeah, right now. Yeah. Associate.

Kate Matheson

They're doing big things. And they're another husband and wife duo actually. Really, really good job kind of creating that brand level niche for

Molly Cahill

their pages. Now we do do we do J now their pages are separate only because J. Yeah, like an online I can see people anywhere. But yeah, it's really cool. So Kate, how do we find you? You have a masterclass?

Kate Matheson

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's like one of the best ways to kind of learn about me see what I'm about and see how I kind of teach and actually have built our own our own practice. So you can go to www dot you actually have to put that in first actually. It's like it's so weird, but you have to put in the the WWW dot Kate matheson.com/fully booked, and I kind of take you behind the scenes of it. our own practice and how we took it from zero to fully booked in four and a half months and show you how you can do the same. Because it's very possible that you do not have to wait years and years to build a practice that you love and makes you money and does great things.

Molly Cahill

Yeah, I can't wait. I will. I will link that in the show notes too. And then of course, Instagram too. Yeah, yeah, Kate's Kaito come say hi on Instagram.

Kate Matheson

I feel like we have covered like A to Z here. So enjoy friends. Drive into our crazy mind. Yeah.

Molly Cahill

Well, welcome to the inner workings of our brands. Alright, well, we'll do another episode though in a couple of months and we'll see if so if you if you're listening to this and you feel like you need help with your messaging, send me a message and on Instagram and we'll we could link if you're brave enough having on the show and you do like a little live coaching rapid fire. How fun would that be?

Kate Matheson

Yeah, that'd be really fun. Okay. All right. Thank you so much, Kate. Oh, so fun to be here. Have a great day.

Molly Cahill

Thank you for listening to holistic marketing simplified, brought to you by holistic marketing hub, our hybrid program that supports you with personalized coaching, captioned templates, and virtual classrooms. In this program, we teach health and wellness professionals how to fish but we also bait the hook, head to holistic marketing hub.com To learn more, and use code podcast for $100 off, and hey, you know, every podcaster at the very end of their episode asks you to rate and review their podcast. Well, that's because it's super important. These podcasts take a lot of time and heart and effort to produce to bring you free information. So in order for me to be able to continue doing that we need more people to find out about the show. So if you could please just take like two minutes out of your very busy day to leave me a rating and share this on your Instagram stories and tag at Molly a Cahill. That's c h i ll I would greatly greatly appreciate your support. I truly appreciate you so much. I know your time is valuable and I can't wait to see you in the next episode.