Setting 3-Month Marketing Goals as an NDIS Provider

Winter, EnableUs Community

Hey everyone, welcome back to the The EnableUs Community Podcast. I’m Winter, and I’m here with Will.

Will, EnableUs Community

Hey legends, Will here. Today we’re getting super practical. If you’ve just finished your NDIS registration or you’re still fairly new, this one’s for you.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Yeah, this is that moment where your compliance is sorted, your policies are in place, your team’s trained, you’re ready to deliver great supports… and then you hit the question: how do I actually find participants?

Will, EnableUs Community

And what most providers do at that point is what I’d call “random acts of marketing”. You chuck up a social post when you remember, maybe tweak your website every few months, and just kinda hope the phone starts ringing.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Totally. You end up feeling busy, but not actually seeing enquiries come through. And then you start wondering, is it me, is it the NDIS, is it the market?

Will, EnableUs Community

So in this episode, we want to walk you through a really simple structure: setting clear marketing goals just for the next three months. Not a five‑year strategy, not some giant business plan. Just the next 90 days.

Winter, EnableUs Community

And there’s a reason we love three months. It’s long enough to actually see results from what you’re doing, but short enough that you don’t lose steam or feel like you’re committing forever.

Will, EnableUs Community

Yeah. Think about things like search engine optimisation for your website. Google doesn’t respond overnight just because you wrote one blog post. It takes weeks for changes to show up in search results.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Same with relationships. If you’re reaching out to support coordinators or plan managers, you don’t send one email and suddenly get ten referrals. It’s a few touchpoints over time – emails, a coffee, maybe seeing them at a local event.

Will, EnableUs Community

And your content – things like social media, blogs, short videos – they build gradually. People need to see you a few times before they trust you enough to enquire, especially when it’s about disability supports and NDIS plans.

Winter, EnableUs Community

So three months gives all of that a fair shot at working. But it also keeps you focused. You’re not saying, “This is my marketing plan forever.” You’re saying, “Let’s test these few things properly for 90 days, then adjust.”

Will, EnableUs Community

And the other big thing is how three months links to your bigger goals. Say you want forty new participants over the next year. That’s huge if you stare at it as one number.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Yeah, forty sounds scary when you’re just starting. But if you break it into quarters, suddenly you’re looking at ten participants over three months. That’s like two to three per month. Still a stretch maybe, but it feels way more doable.

Will, EnableUs Community

Exactly. And that smaller number helps you design much more realistic actions. You can ask, “What would I need to do each week to have a good chance of bringing in two or three people this month?” instead of just hoping they appear.

Winter, EnableUs Community

So as you’re listening, I want you to picture where you are right now. Maybe you’ve just got your first one or two participants and you wanna build that base. Maybe you’re already running but want more of the “right fit” participants. Three‑month goals can work for all of that.

Will, EnableUs Community

In the next part, we’re gonna zoom in and show you how to turn vague wishes like “get more participants” or “do more on socials” into proper, structured goals that you can actually track and measure.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Alright, let’s get into the how‑to. The framework we’re using is SMART goals. You’ve probably heard the term before, but we’re going to make it very NDIS‑specific.

Will, EnableUs Community

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time‑bound. And when your goals tick all five, they stop being fluffy wishes and turn into something you can actually execute.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Let’s start with Specific. That’s about clearly stating what you want to do and how. So instead of “increase our social media presence,” you’d say something like, “Grow our Instagram followers from 200 to 500 by posting three times a week.”

Will, EnableUs Community

And you’d even spell out the content: “Three posts per week featuring participant success stories, NDIS tips, and behind‑the‑scenes content about our team.” Now you actually know what you’re supposed to be posting.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Next is Measurable. If you can’t track it with a number, it’s very hard to know if you’re improving. That might be website visitors, enquiry phone calls, email subscribers, or actual new participant sign‑ups.

Will, EnableUs Community

Yeah, think of something like, “Increase website traffic from 50 to 200 visitors per month,” or “Get 10 enquiry calls in the next three months.” Those numbers give you a dashboard to check each week.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Then we’ve got Achievable. This is where a lot of providers overshoot. If you’ve never had more than five new participants in a month, setting a goal of 100 new participants in three months is just setting yourself up to feel like you’ve failed.

Will, EnableUs Community

Exactly. You want it to stretch you, but still be realistic given your capacity, your current enquiry rate, and your market. So maybe for a brand‑new provider, “Acquire eight new participants in the next three months” is ambitious but doable.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Relevant is next. Every marketing goal should be directly connected to something that matters in your business. If achieving it wouldn’t really change anything important, it’s probably not the right focus right now.

Will, EnableUs Community

For example, if your biggest problem is “no one is enquiring”, then chasing more Instagram likes without any plan to turn that into enquiries probably isn’t relevant. On the other hand, a goal around increasing website visitors or enquiry form submissions? That’s relevant.

Winter, EnableUs Community

And finally, Time‑bound. We want a clear deadline. So instead of “soon” or “one day”, we’re saying “by the end of this quarter” or “within 90 days.” That’s what creates urgency and accountability.

Will, EnableUs Community

Alright, let’s take a super common vague goal and turn it into a SMART one. The first one we hear all the time is, “We just want more participants.”

Winter, EnableUs Community

So, if we run that through SMART, it might become: “Acquire 8 new NDIS participants in the next 3 months through a combination of Google My Business optimisation, networking with 15 support coordinators, and attending 3 local disability community events.”

Will, EnableUs Community

Notice what’s happening there. It’s specific – you’ve named the number of participants and the exact strategies. It’s measurable – 8 participants, 15 coordinators, 3 events. It should be achievable if you’ve got the time. It’s relevant because participants drive your business. And it’s time‑bound – next three months.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Let’s do another one: “Improve our marketing.” That’s so broad you can’t action it. So you might refine it to, “Publish 24 pieces of valuable NDIS content in the next three months – 12 blog posts, 8 educational social posts, and 4 short video tips – leading to a 30% increase in website visitors from organic search.”

Will, EnableUs Community

Again, numbers everywhere. You know what you’re creating, how often, and what you’re aiming for as a result. And you can check those numbers weekly.

Winter, EnableUs Community

One more: “Build our reputation.” Instead, you might say, “Collect 10 new participant testimonials in the next three months and publish them on our website, Google My Business, and social channels, to support referral conversations and build trust with new enquiries.”

Will, EnableUs Community

So as you listen, maybe grab a notebook and write down one of your own vague goals. Then ask yourself: how can I make this more specific, what numbers can I attach, is it achievable with my capacity, does it actually matter to my business right now, and what’s the deadline?

Winter, EnableUs Community

And don’t be afraid to adjust. You might set a number, then look at your week and go, “Hang on, that’s a bit much.” It’s better to dial it back slightly and actually do it, than set something huge that lives on a whiteboard and never happens.

Will, EnableUs Community

In the next part, we’re going to help you choose the right focus for your next three months – whether that’s straight participant acquisition, building your digital presence, or deepening your referral relationships. Then we’ll break it down into simple weekly actions.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Okay, so you’ve got the SMART framework. Now the big question is: what should you actually focus on for the next three months?

Will, EnableUs Community

Yeah, because you can’t do everything at once. And if you try, you’ll end up spread so thin that nothing really works. So let’s pick your primary objective based on where you are right now.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Option one: you’re brand new and you just need your first wave of participants. Your main job is awareness and credibility. You want your local NDIS community to know you exist and feel comfortable reaching out.

Will, EnableUs Community

Option two: you’re established, you’ve got some participants, but you want growth. You need more enquiries coming in consistently so you’re not riding that feast‑and‑famine wave.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Option three: you’ve got numbers, but the mix isn’t quite right. Maybe the referrals don’t match your expertise, or the participants aren’t in the locations or support categories you’re best at. Then your focus is quality – better‑fit referrals, not just more.

Will, EnableUs Community

Once you’ve picked which of those sounds most like you, we can plug in some goal templates. Let’s start with participant acquisition, because that’s the big one for most people.

Winter, EnableUs Community

A participant‑focused SMART goal could be: “Acquire 8 new participants in the next 3 months through improving our Google My Business profile, networking with 15 support coordinators, and attending 3 local disability community events.”

Will, EnableUs Community

If we break that down, over three months you’re aiming for about 2–3 new participants a month. Weekly, that might look like: updating Google My Business once a week with a post or photo, reaching out to one or two new support coordinators, and planning ahead for those community events.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Now, if your focus is digital presence, a goal might be: “Increase website traffic from 50 to 200 visitors per month within 90 days by publishing 2 blog posts per week on NDIS topics related to our services and optimising our Google My Business profile with weekly posts and photos.”

Will, EnableUs Community

The weekly actions there are very clear: write and publish two helpful blog posts, make one Google My Business update, and maybe share those posts into the places your audience hangs out, like relevant Facebook groups or email newsletters.

Winter, EnableUs Community

And then we’ve got referral relationships. For example: “Establish working relationships with 10 support coordinators in our region by the end of the quarter through personalised email outreach, providing service information packs, and meeting face‑to‑face over coffee.”

Will, EnableUs Community

To make that real, each week you might: send 2–3 personalised emails, follow up with people you contacted last week, and aim for at least one coffee or Zoom chat. You can also set a mini‑goal around sending a short monthly update email to your growing referral list.

Winter, EnableUs Community

What I love about breaking it into weekly actions is that it stops being mysterious. You’re not sitting there thinking, “Why isn’t marketing working?” You’re literally ticking off a few simple tasks each week that are linked to your 3‑month target.

Will, EnableUs Community

And then you track. Just once a week, look at your key numbers: how many website visitors, how many enquiries, how many new participants, how many referral conversations. If something isn’t moving after a few weeks, you can tweak it instead of waiting till the end of the quarter and going, “Well, that failed.”

Winter, EnableUs Community

So, to wrap this up, your action steps after this episode are: choose your main focus for the next three months, write one or two SMART goals using the framework we’ve talked through, and then break them into weekly actions you can actually fit into your calendar.

Will, EnableUs Community

Keep it simple, keep it realistic, and remember – you can always refine next quarter. The point is to stop drifting and start moving in a clear direction that supports your NDIS business.

Winter, EnableUs Community

Alright, we’ll leave it there for today. Thanks so much for hanging out with us on the Marketing for NDIS Providers podcast.

Will, EnableUs Community

If you found this helpful, you might even sit down straight after this, jot down your 3‑month goals, and share them with your team so everyone’s on the same page.

Winter, EnableUs Community

I’m Winter…

Will, EnableUs Community

And I’m Will. Thanks for listening, and we’ll catch you in the next episode.