1. Are you feeding your starving audience?

Most practitioners miss the most important aspect of successfully creating and selling a nutrition program or offer. Is it pricing? Is it program structure? How about content? marketing? 

No, no, no, and no. What you need above anything else is a starving audience FIRST. Everything else is secondary.

In today’s episode, I’ll explore the concept of a starving audience, what it is, and how to serve this type of audience with content that converts them into raving fans. We’ll dive into the process of pinpointing your starving audience within the nutrition industry and share strategies to market your services effectively to them.

We’ll cover:

• •  Identifying your niche and creating targeted content
  • Characteristics of a starving audience that might have you questioning if your niche is specific enough, and
  • Creating content to “feed” your starving audience,
  • Content Cure for the Week – an actionable step you can take to create content to reach your starving audience.

What is a starving audience?

Marketing expert Dan Kennedy defines a starving audience as “a group of people eager and willing to buy what you have to sell.” A starving audience is different from a merely interested audience in that they are actively searching for a solution to their problem and are more likely to take action. Let’s say you specialize in gut health. That is your niche. An example of an interested audience within your niche would be people with gut issues. An example of a starving audience would be people with inflammatory bowel disease looking to maintain remission.  Both groups have gut issues, but one has more urgency to take action. People with IBD likely have a history of unsuccessfully managing their condition with nutrition. This is your opportunity to serve them with a targeted solution that provides relief.

Let’s say nutrition and fertility are your niches. An example of an interested audience might be couples trying to conceive. An example of a starving audience would be couples who have experienced infertility and are now receiving fertility treatment to have the family they dream of. Both groups have fertility concerns, but one has more urgency to take action. People who are experiencing infertility are anxious and will do what they need to do to improve their chances of conception, including changing dietary behaviors. This is your opportunity to serve them with a targeted evidence-based solution that provides hope. Do you see the difference? It goes beyond just identifying a “niche” – it’s deeper than that – striking at the emotions and intense desires your ideal clients have that you provide clear solutions to.

Characteristics of a Starving Audience

A starving audience has a few key characteristics that make them the ideal target for your nutrition programs and offers: One of the most significant indicators that you have a starving audience is that they’re actually willing to pay for your programs, additional products, and services. If you have people asking you how much your program costs, that’s a good sign that they’re interested in investing in a solution. It means they see the value in what you have to offer and are prepared to invest their time and money to achieve their goals.

Another big indicator of a starving audience is that they’re desperate for a solution. They’ve tried everything else and they’re willing to try something new if it means finding relief for their problem. For example, let’s say you sell a weight loss program. A person who is desperate to lose weight is going to be much more willing to try your program than someone who is content with their current weight. The same goes for someone who is struggling with a chronic health condition. They’re much more likely to try your program than someone who doesn’t have urgent health concerns. Lastly, when it comes to selling your programs, the intent is everything. A person with high intent is much more likely to buy your program than someone with low intent. So how do you know if someone has high intent?

There are a few key indicators of someone with high intent to buy:

• They’ve done their research and they know what they want
• They’re ready to buy now and they don’t want to wait
• They’ve already invested time and money previously into finding a solution (that didn’t work)
• They’re not just looking for information; they’re looking for results

These characteristics make a starving audience the perfect target for your nutrition programs. By focusing on individuals with high intent, you increase the likelihood of converting them into paying clients. But how do you find people with high intent?  You can define and attract someone with intent by using the above indicators to craft messaging when you’re editing your content this week.

Here is an example: Let’s say your ideal client has been touched by type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. Your message might be this: Does this sound like you? You know you can improve your blood sugar with nutrition and you’re anxious to get quick results but you’ve already invested time and money into different nutrition programs in the past that haven’t worked and you just want something that delivers results.  With our Blood Sugar Rest and our team’s support, you’ll see a reduction in your fasting blood glucose levels in less than seven days, controlling your blood sugars in a sustainable way that will ultimately reduce your HgA1C leading you on the path to reversing your diabetes. What we have done here in the example is reflect back to our ideal client what they already know, what they have experienced, and what they want making it easier for them to feel heard and convinced that you can provide the solution they are looking for.

Creating content to “feed” your starving audience

Now let’s move on to chatting about actually creating the content to “feed” your starving audience.

Here is a formula to remember: Starving Audience + Targeted Content Marketing = Success and Satisfaction!

In the first part of the equation, by identifying a starving audience and serving them with as much value as possible, you can make working with you irresistible! The second part of the equation is targeted content marketing. In today’s digital age, content marketing plays a vital role in attracting and retaining clients. With so much information available online, it’s essential to stand out from the competition and provide valuable, relevant content to your target audience. By creating targeted content that speaks directly to your starving audience, you can effectively engage them, build trust, and establish yourself as an expert in your field. This, in turn, makes it much more likely that they’ll choose your services over your competitors. There are several benefits of targeted content marketing, including:

• Increased brand visibility and awareness 
• Higher conversion rates
• Improved customer retention
• Establishing yourself as an expert in your industry
• Building long-term relationships with clients

By providing valuable, relevant content to your starving audience, you’ll be able to enjoy these benefits and grow your nutrition business. Once you know what your clients are hungry for, start serving up content that satisfies their needs and desires. This can include various types of content, such as blog posts, social media posts, videos, and handouts. 

Content Cure for the week 

Each week I provide you with content to operationalize the concepts we talk about. This is your Content Cure each week. This week your Content Cure is a bundle of content including these categories, content that you can edit and brand to speak to your starving audience. 

>>CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK’S CONTENT BUNDLE<<

Blog posts

Informative and engaging blog posts should address your audience’s needs and concerns. This not only showcases your expertise but also provides value to your readers, encouraging them to consume and take action on your content and come back for more. CURE: Included in your content cure this week is a blog post. Take the done-for-you post [which is pretty generic]  and mold it to target your starving audience’s needs and concerns. Include content they can take action on – a recipe or a goal – to support them with getting some type of result [a blood-sugar balancing meal for example]. AI can help you SIGNIFICANTLY here. I am providing you with a sample ChatGPT prompt at the top of the blog post so you can modify this content efficiently.

Social media posts

It’s important to offer social media posts that resonate with your target audience, encourage engagement, and promote your services. Using a mix of content formats, such as images, videos, and carousels, can help keep your audience interested and engaged. CURE: I am providing you with two editable social media posts. Edit them significantly to not only represent your brand but to speak to your audience giving them some real value. Again, AI is your friend here supporting you with modifying the evidence-based content and even suggesting other images you might use to communicate the message,

Videos

Videos are high-value content for your starving audience as they illustrate actions they can take to move them in the direction of a transformation. Not only does this type of content attract attention and make you more competitive, but it is excellent for visual learners. For example, offering a written recipe might be fine for some but offer that same recipe + a cooking video and you have a rich piece of content that demonstrates your expertise. CURE: I am providing you with a cooking video in the show notes. You can add intros and outros and your own music easily in Canva. Use these videos to attract and serve your audience – pair them with content on how these recipes can support solving their problem [“spend less time in the kitchen and still manage your blood sugars”]. You’ve got some work to do but it is made much easier by having access to this evidence-based content that is pre-done for you. So take this content, make it your own, and even repurpose it to get the most from these resources.

Key Takeaway

Remember the formula: Identifying the needs and desires of your starving audience + targeted content marketing will support practice growth.

You will create content to attract, serve, and retain your starving audience AND it will be targeted, and dynamic. There is just one more consideration to add to this formula and that is consistency. Consistency is key. Without consistency, growth will not happen. Ensure that you’re consistently producing and sharing high-quality content that speaks to your starving audience. This helps build trust, credibility, and brand recognition over time, making it more likely that potential clients will choose your services.

The best way to achieve consistency is to plan and keep a pace of content delivery that works for you – whether it’s two pieces of content per week or five. Commit to what is reasonable. Don’t focus on JUST social media, you should consistently be providing content through your practice management software, in programs, in newsletters, emails – really ANY space where you are having conversations with current and future clients.

In today’s noisy online landscape, it’s more important than ever to cut through the clutter and give your starving audience the information they’re craving. By “feeding” your starving audience high-quality, relevant, dynamic, and consistent content, you can attract and engage customers, build trust and credibility, establish yourself as an expert in your industry [and generate leads and sales for your practice!] You have plenty of content to work with now so I’ll let you get started. As you start editing and planning, remember to stay laser-focused on who you are speaking to and what their deep desires and problems are. Only then will you convert a starving audience into raving fans ready for more.