How To Differentiate Your Offering
Bringing out the who and the why to tell your story clearly
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Hello! We’re back from a short pause as I put the final touches to Circe’s new platform and membership, which launched last week - with our Early Bird free trial offer on until end of January.
We’re starting this year with a newsletter edition on how to differentiate your offering in the crowded space of health and wellness options. Instead of spending money on more courses to add to your toolkit, how can you refine how you present yourself and invest in your ‘who’, to attract career growth and opportunities?
If you want practical insights into this topic, we’re hosting our first (free) online member event on how to write a compelling bio on Monday January 29th at 7pm GMT. Led by brilliant content strategist Florence Robson, who’s worked for the Conduit, Disney and supported me with Circe’s blog too. In this workshop, we'll talk through some straightforward steps you can take to tell your story clearly and build connection with your clients. From establishing your expertise to improving your search rankings, a clear, compelling bio is vital for any holistic health practitioner. And to celebrate this month’s membership launch, we’re offering our wider community free access to this member event - you can register here.
Building a sustainable career as a complementary healthcare practitioner is like any business owner, a journey of discovery. And as we’re all back to work with (hopefully) a fresh perspective after some time off, it’s worth reflecting on how you’re setting yourself up for success moving forward. The benefit of differentiating your offering, and clearly communicating this to your audience, is that you’ll attract clients that you can help and that want your help.
“Companies that offer lots of options are often struggling to differentiate. Differentiation comes from clarity of Why not excess of What.” - Simon Sinek
When researching for today’s article, I came across this quote from author and speaker Simon Sinek highlighting the importance of having a ‘why’ when you want to stand out. It refers back to what is easy to fall into as a complementary healthcare practitioner; adding another course to your already long list of credentials and treatments options. While it’s of course important to continue learning and adding to your knowledge base, there’s another way to approach differentiating your offering. Clarifying your ‘why’ as Sinek mentions, helps you set a clear intention for yourself which can then be brought into how you present yourself differently from others in your field, and as a ripple effect it builds connection with clients. What is your cause? What do you believe?
Differentiating yourself is of course also based on what you bring to the table (or in your case, treatment space). You can be one of many fertility acupuncturists, sports osteopaths or paediatric craniosacral therapists and still stand out in your unique way by highlighting your unique traits and approaches. Highlighting what makes you unique will give you an inherent advantage, as there’s no competition if each of us brings out their unique, authentic expression.
But don’t forget to nurture the ‘who' behind your ‘why’ and ‘what’, the person you’re becoming as you progress in your career as a successful practitioner. Building your career as a complementary healthcare practitioner means thinking like an entrepreneur, whether you rent a treatment room at a clinic, collaborate with a whole team or work on your own. This entrepreneurial mindset will set you apart through the risks you take by going after unexplored opportunities, new approaches to marketing your services or forging collaborations that grow your impact and reach. How are you positioning yourself for success with entrepreneurial actions?
Take a moment this week to ask yourself the below questions, and the answers will give you insight in how you can highlight your unique story and differentiate yourself from other practitioners in your field.
Why do you do what you do? Try to getting specific and dig into what’s behind the initial layer of ‘I just want to help people improve their wellbeing’. For steps on finding your why, have a look at Simon Sinek’s TEDx talk:
What do you bring to your treatment room that’s unique to you, whether it’s your background, culture, perspective on health and wellbeing or interests. And from this authentic expression, how do you clearly communicate your unique approach?
Nurture your entrepreneurial mindset to think outside the box. How do other businesses inside and outside of the healthcare industry inspire you? Are there any novel business approaches you can try out yourself?
Differentiating requires inner exploration, instead of simply adding new external qualifications to your CV, and communicating that clearly to build connection with your clients. Let me know how you get on with this exercise and I hope to see you at our workshop on creating a clear, compelling bio on the 29th!