Marketing Your Therapy - Give to Get
There are hundreds if not thousands of ways of marketing your
therapy or coaching skills. Some cost just pennies and others
require a bigger investment and are maybe more of a risk. The
risk being that you won't regain your investment. There are some
marketing methods that require something other than your hard
earned cash and this article is about those particular methods.
Instead of parting with money to promote your therapy or
business, give your time. Your time is valuable and in a
profitable business should not be wasted. So unless this is an
altruistic occasion you should look at the benefits you will
gain from giving your time away for free or a token fee.
One idea could be to offer group talks and taster sessions for
free to various focus groups. This has a number of advantages
for all concerned.
Advantages for the therapist or coach :-
1) Meeting potential clients to help form a professional
relationship (Clients feel more relaxed with a therapist or
coach they have already met than a stranger from an
advertisement)
2) Networking opportunities (A member of this focus group might
tell other groups about you)
3)Increases possibility of focus group paying for future sessions
4) Possibility of personal recommendations from members of the
group (Members will talk about you to friends, family and
colleagues)
5) A chance to educate the group on the issues you can help with
(Talk about success stories that give ideas to members about who
and what you can help)
It is very important to be aware of the benefits for the groups
you approach. You need to be aware of what the group will gain
from your talk so that you can 'sell' the idea to them if you
need to. On most occasions you will not need to sell the idea as
the majority of focus groups are more than happy to have someone
volunteer to give their group a free talk.
Advantages for the focus group :-
1) No risk (financial) to the group
2) Get a chance to sample a therapy/coahing session
3) Can get any doubts / concerns answered at the session
4) Getting an interesting speaker and on a fascinating subject
5) Finding out how therapy/coaching could help individual's
issue(s)
The sort of local groups that are always on the look out for an
interesting speaker are:-
Townwomen's Guild
Lions Clubs
Rotary Clubs
Women's Institute
Over 50s/60s Clubs
OAP Groups
Hospital League of Friends
Amateur Dramatic Societies
The best place to find out about the other social groups that
exist in your area is your local library. You will also get any
contact details you require here.
You can use the same format with other groups that have a
particular ailment as a focus. These might be :-
Asthma
ME/CFS support groups
Arthritis Support
Phobics Anonymous
Victim Support
Weight Watchers
Don't forget to alter your talk to ensure that you include
references to the particular ailment of the group you are
addressing. Your audience will want to know that you understand
at least the basic issues of their ailment. You should state the
benefits that they may expect from undergoing a hypnotherapy
session.
There is still another group of people that you can approach and
utilise a similar format. These will be the professions such as
teachers, emergency service personnel, nurses and doctors as
well as the corporate world. Once again use the principal of
'give to get' and offer a free group taster session. Do your
homework about your target audience and you will gain clients.
Always have with you your diary so you can take appointments
immediately and have plenty of your practice brochures and
business cards to give out.
About the author:
Steven A Harold
Get More Clients
and Customers
Written By: Steven A Harold