Have you been seeing other nutrition professionals launching group programs, but you feel completely lost with how to create your own? If so, you're in the right place!
This post will outline how to run a successful group nutrition program step-by-step. We're breaking it down into seven steps you need to take to get your group nutrition program up and running. Let's dive in!
Step 1: Decide on the Length of Your Program and What Problem It Will Solve
Your group program should be long enough to see results, but short enough to keep people engaged. If this is your first group program, we recommend making it two to three weeks in length.
Once you've decided on the length, you will need a topic. Choosing a great topic that solves a problem your ideal client is struggling with will help you attract the right people. For example, if your niche is working with women who have PCOS and want to lose weight, you might launch a "Three-Week PCOS Slimdown Program." This program will be clearly solving a problem that your niche market is struggling with: weight loss.
Step 2: Create Your Group Program Materials
Once you know what your program will be, it’s time to build it. We recommend that you cover one key topic per week to avoid overwhelm and help participants take action.
We also suggest that you provide weekly meal plans to keep your participants on track. Include a brief with each weekly plan that covers the topic of the week and highlights how the meals relate to that topic. Include itemized shopping lists and weekly prep guides to make the plans super easy to follow.
Your program materials should be created in PDF format so they can be opened from any device, and they should be consistently branded with your business name, logo and the program title. That Clean Life can help you create custom-branded meal plans with grocery lists, recipes and prep guides for your group nutrition program and export them as PDFs with just a few clicks.
Step 3: Decide How You Will Run Your Program
There are many ways to run your group nutrition program including:
- By email with weekly check-ins and meal plan delivery.
- Using an EHR with group program functionality like Practice Better.
- In a private Facebook group where members work through the program in a community setting.
- In-person with weekly group meetings and printed materials.
Step 4: Create a Lead Magnet & Start Building Your Mailing List
Do you have a lead magnet up and running yet? If not, you may want to consider doing this before you launch your group program. Having a mailing list will make marketing your program much easier.
Step 5: Launch Your Program and Get Sign-Ups
Now that you've built a list of potential clients for your group program, it's time to go into launch mode! Grab our three-week marketing strategy here.
Step 6: Run Your Group Program and Give Your Clients an Amazing Experience
This is the fun part! Put on your nutrition leader hat and prepare to deliver your participants an amazing experience. Encourage them to stay engaged by giving them challenges or asking them questions each week. If you're using a Facebook group, you can encourage everyone to share pictures of their grocery shopping, meal prep, or the recipes they cooked. Find ways to keep it fun and exciting so they don't lose interest.
While you're running your program, make sure that it is your main focus. Show up 100% for the people who have signed up to work with you and give them everything you've got.
Step 7: Upsell, Collect Testimonials and Repeat
At the end of the program, you'll have a group of people who are feeling awesome and hopefully, they will want to continue working with you. Be sure to tell them how they can keep up the momentum! Deliver an up-sell offer at the end of the program for anyone interested in continuing to get results.
Don’t forget to ask participants for feedback and testimonials! The feedback from your participants will help you improve your program for next time, and the testimonials will help you market your future programs.