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Being specific about who you want to work with helps you to create more targeted marketing – but you first have to find a viable niche that has a big enough pain point that they will pay to get help. Today, I will discuss 17 proven, viable niches for health and wellness coaches and provide links to those people who are successful so you can see for yourself!
People often ask me, will my business succeed? Which niches are most successful for coaches?
Let’s talk about some basic concepts first.
A target market is a set of buyers who have a common need or characteristic. In health and wellness coaching, target markets might include things like:
Within each of these target markets, you will find various niches.
A niche is a more specific group of people with a specific problem. For example, within the target market of weight loss, there are many different niches.
If you’re thinking of starting a health and wellness coaching business, then you need to understand the concept of who you are targeting so that you can get your marketing messages right, and create services that will truly help a specific cohort of people – your niche.
According to internet guru Frank Kern, there are a few traits of a viable niche:
In essence, you can spot a viable niche because the people in that niche have some really strong values behind them – and they have shared values or stories with you.
They tend to be people who:
In other words, they have a really HUGE why.
They are also people who value themselves and their health enough to invest in themselves. Look for people who are already spending disposable income on health-related services like the gym, physio, chiro, massage, acupuncture etc.
Remember that there are different levels of readiness to change and at any given time, the people in YOUR niche may or may not be ready to buy.
If you’re trying to work out which niche to pursue, then a critical factor is that their why is big enough.
And in terms of the niche containing high-chemistry clients – when you work with people who light you up and have shared values or stories, then you will wake up excited to go to work every day.
Now, let’s look at some target markets and niches that have been successful for health and wellness coaches in the past five years.
There are several successful niches within the target market of weight loss.
One of the reasons why weight loss niches are so successful is because it is a very visible, painful, and irritating big problem for a lot of people – and weight is a causal factor in chronic diseases.
That means it qualifies as something that people take seriously and really want to do something about, for aesthetic reasons, self-confidence reasons, and for health reasons.
In other words, there are a lot of drivers and motivators that cause people to want to lose weight and even become desperate to do so.
Not every overweight person is motivated to change though! So within this target market – which types of people are more motivated to change?
Here are a few:
Thinking of these niches, you might link back to some of those drivers I mentioned earlier – the desire for achievement, to look good, to be better for the people around them, and so on.
Also, note that different niches might want to focus on changing different sets of habits.
For example, people in high-pressure corporate jobs might be overweight because they are sedentary and drink more alcohol as part of their work culture.
Some people might be overweight because they overeat or eat sweets to cope with emotions or because they are bored.
Shift workers may be overweight because of irregular meals, poor sleep and poor food choices.
A final word on these niches: hormonal imbalances, stress or both are almost always implicated in weight gain and are important for most niches in the weight loss sector.
Can you see why weight loss is a target market and not a niche?
The needs of the people in this market vary greatly depending on their life situation.
Much like weight loss, there are multiple niches in the mental health market that are viable for health and wellness coaches.
And similarly, mental health issues can be extremely painful and upsetting so there is motivation to change.
Some viable niches in the mental health market include the following;
Where people are struggling to cope with mental health issues, greater skill sets are often required, but not in all cases.
Health and wellness coaches can legitimately work within their scope in the mental health space by focusing on daily well-being habits that build resilience and coping skills.
You might notice that there is some overlap between these niches and the mental health niches.
I want to talk a little more about confidence here because there are nuances to this one.
Coaches often say they want to coach around confidence, but it’s important to be very specific here. That’s because most people want to be more confident but only to a point – and may not pay to get help.
So who IS desperate to become confident and even pay to get help?
Go back to the drivers and values and the answer to that question becomes clear. It comes down to a situation where confidence is holding someone back from succeeding – they may be motivated by achievement, stability or financial reasons, or a combination.
An entrepreneur launching a business who struggles to show up needs confidence otherwise they can’t be successful.
Someone who wants to do well in their career needs confidence to take the next step to earn more or achieve more.
Someone who has been out of the workforce for a while and wants to get back in may need the confidence to start.
Someone who is sick of feeling ashamed of themselves, and of self-loathing.
Someone who wants to live a bigger, better life and is using unhealthy habits.
This market is a little less clear-cut than others, but it can still be successful if you can find the right angle and build a supportive community.
Chronic diseases are an emerging area for coaches, especially at the point of initial diagnosis where change has been thrust upon someone and they are unsure of how to alter their lives to cope with the diagnosis.
Unlike other niches where there is a chance of recovery from the problem, there are many chronic diseases with no cure, and the people in those areas need support to accept their diagnosis and find ways to change habits so they can improve their quality of life.
People tend to be more hopeful of change and motivated to change in the earlier stages of diagnosis, or after they have accepted their condition and that a new way of life is needed.
Some viable niches in the chronic disease market include the following;
I’m sure we will see others emerging in this space.
Coaches who work in these areas often have had their own experience with the disease, and/or work in another profession where they are treating people with this condition.
Being specific about who you want to work with helps you to create more targeted marketing – but you first have to find a viable niche that has a big enough pain point that they will pay to get help.
Today, I’ve discussed 17 proven, viable niches for health and wellness coaches and a few others that I think have good potential – in four main target markets:
If you have a great idea and need help to create a solid business blueprint and turn your idea into a thriving, profitable business – make sure you book in for a free info session to learn about my Passion to Profit program.
Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.
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© 2024 Melanie White