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: 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.

For the best experience, we recommend running your program through Practice Better.

Step 3: Create Your Group Program Materials

Once you know what your program will be and where you are running it, 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.

If you are using Practice Better to run your group program, you can create modules and embed recipes, meal plans and collections into your program modules using the That Clean Life integration.

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.

Create a lead magnet on That Clean Life that is related to the topic of your group program to ensure that you are attracting the right people who will be interested in your program. For example, if your program is about plant-based eating, create a lead magnet on That Clean Life called "The Ultimate Guide to Plant-Based Snacks". Export it as a PDF, then upload it to your landing page to collect email addresses. Be sure to promote your lead magnet to build your list before the launch of your group program.

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.

If you are using Practice Better to run your program, be sure to take advantage of features like group messaging, quizzes and journalling to keep clients engaged.

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. For example, you could offer a 10% discount on your 1:1 coaching program for those who want to continue 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.