Tad Hargrave of Marketing For Hippies, wearing his Anian recycled wool jacket and knit cap, settles in for a chat with me about hub marketing for coaches and holistic practitioners.
Once given a specific niche, Tad rattles off dozens of marketing strategies as casually as breathing. He even gets me talking about my own experience as a “hub” (center for information and resources) in my past businesses.
Tad uses the examples of volunteers Clare and Martin, Play Circle members, to illustrate niching and hub marketing for coaches.
There are so many gems in this conversation! Here’s just a bit of what we cover:
- How to do “hot” marketing where one unit of effort yields 10 units of reward
- Why you’re not supposed to be good at marketing.
- Marketing lessons from Girl Guides, potheads and beer steins.
- How to sell out a workshop in a town where you know no one.
- Why you should stop looking for your ideal clients.
- The specific marketing problem experienced by 95% of holistic practitioners and coaches and how to fix it.
- Say this at an event to attract clients in 60 seconds (hint: it’s not a pitch!)
- How Steph became a hub in two niches in past careers as a wedding DJ and wedding marketer
Listen to the podcast here:
tch the video of our full chat, listen to the podcast, or grab some of my takeaways below.
“Your ideal clients are all ready to be found somewhere. Instead of saying, ‘Shine the light over here,’ look where the light’s already shining and go stand in it.” – Tad Hargrave
How to Get Others to Do the Heavy Lifting in Marketing For Coaches, Practitioners & Changemakers
What is “hub marketing?” Hub marketing, as Tad describes it, is getting a warm introduction to potential clients through an event or person they already know. Find the places where your ideal clients are already going, and get an endorsement.
Eventually, you may move from finding clients through hubs to becoming a hub yourself. When you’re respected and known in your market, your marketing can become pure word of mouth.
Getting results from marketing takes time, but an endorsement speeds the process. Types of hub marketing include joint ventures, alliances, strategic partnerships, guest presentations, but all are about working in partnership rather than flying solo.
When you share your worldview, the clients who align will step forward, no pitch necessary. If you have 60 seconds to pitch yourself before an audience, share the message you most want the world to hear. Then say, “If this resonates, come talk to me.”
You can’t market through hubs until you know your ideal client. Your ideal clients are already googling, talking to people and searching for answers to their problems. But you can’t find places to connect with them until you know who they are and what they’re looking for.
Generally speaking, you can identify hubs for connection with potential clients by starting with:
- The specific person you work with, then find the hubs where they hang out
- The specific issue or problem you solve, then find hubs who address the issue
Any strategy or tactic works better with hub marketing. Whether it’s writing articles, giving presentations or networking, the process is easier and your results will be greater when introduced through a hub.
Switch the agenda of the sales conversation from getting the sale to finding the truth of whether working together is a fit. This way there is no hidden agenda, and it’s why filtering for your ideal client is so important in marketing for coaches and therapists.
“Stop looking for your ideal clients. Your ideal clients are already looking for you. Marketing is not making it easier to find them; it’s about making it easier for them to find you.” – Tad Hargrave
Meet Tad Hargrave, Hippy & Marketer
Tad Hargrave is a hippy who developed a
knack for marketing (and then learned how to be a hippy again).
Despite years in the non-profit and activist world, he finally had to admit he was a marketing nerd and, in the end, he became a marketing coach for hippies. Maybe it was because he couldn’t stand seeing his hippy friends struggle to promote their amazing, green and holistic projects. Maybe it was because he couldn’t keep a 9-5 job to save his life.
Whatever the reason, for almost a decade, he has been touring his marketing workshops around Canada, bringing refreshing and unorthodox ideas to conscious entrepreneurs and green businesses that help them grow their organizations and businesses (without selling their souls). He has also offered most of his workshops on a modified pay what you can basis (a small deposit to attend and then people choose the amount they want to pay at the very end).
Connect with Tad
Website: www.marketingforhippies.com
Events: https://marketingforhippies.com/events
Membership: https://marketingforhippies.com/membership
Hub Marketing ebook: https://marketingforhippies.com/hub-marketing
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hippymarketer/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIRmekbAe0mXpwtkn85iSIA
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/marketingforhippies
Subscribe for updates to the Wildspire Conversations podcast here: https://theawakenedbusiness.com/wildspire-podcast
