Category: Media

New Beginnings and More Exposure in The National Press

Posted on by Martina McKeough

Balance Hypnosis Daily MailIf you are wondering why you haven’t had any emails for the past six weeks it is because I have moved house. That has of course created upheaval, mess, tradesman and a never ending list of things to do to get the new house into some sort of liveable condition. Whilst this has been going on of course it also means that I have moved my business as well. This is a bigger issue because the area where I have moved to has no clue about my skills, I have no referrals to boost my income and I have no search engine rankings locally. That means I am having to start all over again putting my in a similar position to a new Hypnotherapist. So the next series of blog posts are going to be about I begin to dominate the local area and rebuild a thriving practice. You can also read my previous blog post on what makes a hypnotherapy business portable.

Balance Hypnosis in The Daily Mail

But before I begin I had one piece of great news this week. A contribution I made to an article on Nail Biting Hypnosis was finally published in The Daily Mail this week. When I say finally I should point out that I actually gave the interview to this journalist nearly two years ago. I would have missed the story completely (most journalists don’t bother to contact you to say when you will appear in the press) if it had not popped up on my husbands news feed on LinkedIn. It is worth noting that just because you are interviewed by a journalist it does not mean that you will instantly get a story in the press and it almost certainly can be parked for a long time before publication.

Now I should point out that having a mention in the National press does not necessarily lead to a stream of nail biting clients ringing for help. If you want that kind of exposure then the story would really need to involve an issue such as weight loss or your face over a major news story.on television. What this story does do is make me more credible for my hypnotherapy marketing. I can now happily add the words as seen in The Daily Mail on my website as well as adding their logo to my front website page and in the media section of the site. That means when people come across my site and have to choose between a therapist with a low grade website and myself they are more likely to pick the hypnotherapist who has appeared in many of the national newspapers and demonstrates expertise.

Hypnotherapy Marketing in a New Area

Anyway back to the real issue which is how to get clients when you are just starting your business or have moved to a new area. Well I always start in one place and that is getting a website up and running. Now because of the house move I actually did something that I don’t do very often and that was hand the setting up of the website to a SEO and website building expert. Big mistake! Why? Because despite this person having all the credentials and knowledge to create a fantastic site to dominate my local area they have not as yet delivered. This is despite the brief having been given to the company concerned back in June! Luckily I have set up a considerable number of my own websites before and at the last minute I have had to create a website myself to get some exposure. This means that I am at least three months behind in my marketing plans which is far from ideal.

I have written previous posts on not putting all your eggs in one basket as well as staying in control of anything you own or produce and I still stand by that. If it were not for my web knowledge I would be feeling stranded right now. This is why I still suggest that any Hypnotherapist who is starting out takes the time to learn how to get a website up and running. No it does not have to be an all singing all dancing website but it does have to do the basics which is tell people where you are and what you do. Having these marketing skills will be a great back up to you if you should ever need them.

Getting Your Hypnotherapy Website Right

Being found in the local search engines is the one major thing that you need to work on when you start up in an area for business. There is no point writing a fantastic website if it makes no use of keywords and nobody knows where to find you. At the moment this is my number one task and I am afraid it takes time. Your content needs to be original, you need plenty of it and then you need to structure your website in such a way that Google wants to place you on its front page (ideally in the top three organic rankings). This takes a methodical approach, knowledge and the ability to write quickly. Currently three weeks after getting my website up and running I have front page rankings for 17 locations in my area and one number one spot. For more competitive locations I am generally appearing on page two of Google despite the fact that my actual location is not in that area. The next month will be spent boosting those rankings to the front page. Note I do not market in one small area and make sure that the radius I cover is at least 30 miles wide.

Do not forget location specific keywords are not the be all and end all of getting business. So if you are a Hypnotherapist in London and trying to rank for the front page of Google you are going to need a couple of years at the very least to get to that spot. That means you need to target long tail keywords instead. That means phrases of three or more words which will help you get found. If you were not aware nearly 50% of searches placed into the Google search engine are brand new and have never been searched for before. Such as “hypnotherapy in London to help migraines” , hypnosis to stop my IBS flare ups” and so on. Concentrate on targeting the long tail and business will eventually start coming your way. I know that apart form my keyword phrases for locations I have 21 top five rankings already for my weight loss keywords in those areas. In some places in fact I dominate the front page. Over the coming months I will use the same tactics to corner other niches that I specialise in.

I expect that my big push into my new location will now happen in the New Year as business for most Hypnotherapists starts to wane in December which is not that far away. I will be also be on holiday that month but I will look forward to sharing with you some of the other tactics I am using to build my face to face hypnotherapy business over the coming blog posts. Remember if you need help structuring website content so that it converts or want help with your hypnotherapy marketing I offer coaching and mentoring programs. The proof of my abilities as you can see is written in black and white in the National Press this week (or colour if you go on to The Daily Mail website).

 

 

Opportunity and Tragedy! Good Morning Britain.

Posted on by Martina McKeough

Hypnotherapy marketingGet your hypnotherapy marketing right and you can find yourself presented with all kinds of opportunities. Today was one such occasion when I was given the opportunity to talk on Good Morning Britain. Sadly if you haven’t heard there has been a plane crash in The Alps where over 150 people are expected to have been killed. At the moment all the media organisations are looking for plane experts, commentators on flying and in my case hypnotherapists who can comment on resolving a fear of flying especially in light of this terrible tragedy.

Now you might have expected that these news organisations would have a huge pool of contacts that they would use as their go to people in times of a crisis. Well the reality is not what you think. In many cases they don’t have the right people at all and so when a news story breaks researchers start looking to find people who might fit the bill for the news coverage they need. So how do they do that? Well firstly they go on the internet and start ringing people. If you appear highly in the search engine results they call you and generally ask you to be ready to make comments within an hour or so. There is no preparation time you have to be ready to respond to a reporter’s questions immediately.

So how did they find me? Simple I market myself well. When they typed in the kind of person they wanted to speak to they found my name. This wasn’t by fluke or magic it was because I had deliberately placed myself in front of both the public and researchers eyes. You can do the same with a little help and understanding of how the internet works. This is how I have made TV pilots, appeared on radio, in The Sun and The Mirror and so on. Opportunities come my way because I have made them happen.

Today I had to turn this opportunity down because of prior commitments but I know that with my hypnotherapy marketing I will get many more.  Yes it may seem horrible to have to comment on a situation that is so terrible but if you do not others will and that kind of exposure can keep your phone ringing for months. If you want to learn how to get these kinds of opportunities they you can either purchase my eBook to get an understanding of social media and SEO or alternatively sign up to my marketing and mentoring sessions. My methods work and pay for themselves.

On a more reflective note my thoughts and prayers go out to the families who experienced this loss today. Whilst it is a tragic event it is important to remember that we help people get their fears and worries into perspective. The chances of a plane crashing are millions to one making it one of the safest ways to travel. What happened today is an accident that is unlikely to be repeated quickly however there will be many more nervous flyers not in light of this incident. Make sure you aim your hypnotherapy marketing at these clients and give them the help they need to get on their flights without fears and worry hanging over them.

Want Me to Prove I am a Hypnotherapy Marketing Expert?

Posted on by Martina McKeough

Hypnotherapy MarketingI know that am a hypnotherapy marketing expert but of course how on earth do you know whether I am as good as I say I am. You see I know that when I read websites with people trying to sell me things I tend to be sceptical. I sometimes read reviews but I know that even they can be doctored so in many cases I remain unconvinced and I don’t buy. What I really need is a demonstration that the person can really help me and that is something hard for them to do on a website or a video.

The great thing about my business is that I can offer your proof that my marketing works and today is a perfect example of how I got a great publicity boost for my business today and you can do the same for yours as well. Only a few days ago I was contacted by a journalist from the Daily Mirror. Now if you don’t live in the UK the Daily Mirror is an institution. It is the third most read newspaper in the country and has a daily readership of nearly one million. In fact once upon a time Piers Morgan used to be the editor of the paper. Anyway the journalist concerned had just finished an interview with an actress in the UK called Faye Ripley who has a terrible fear of insects. The interview which was to appear in the gossip section of the magazine was all about her phobia and the journalist wanted some comments from a hypnotherapist on how this phobia could be cured using hypnosis. As this was all at short notice I got a call on Tuesday to do the interview and two days later my name is in the paper.

To read the full article in the Daily Mirror click here.

Now the amazing thing about this great piece of publicity is that the journalist came to see me and not the other way round. Contrary to popular belief you don’t always need to be the person chasing journalists to get yourself in the paper with clever angles and marketing. In many cases most of my best publicity has come from a journalist reaching out to me. I have been approached to appear in magazines and newspapers, appeared on the radio and even consulted with the BBC and ITV. Now this is not a fluke. Journalists come back to me time and time again for one simple reason, they can find me easily in the search engines.

You see most journalists do not have a big list of go to people to contact when they are on a story. This is because for the most part these journalists will only need the help of someone like me once in a blue moon. Therefore if I aimed all my hypnotherapy marketing at a handful of journalists in many cases I wouldn’t get very far. Instead most of the journalists need a quote or an interview with a hypnotherapist very quickly and they go on to Google and contact the name that comes up first and in many cases that will be me.

Getting found in the search engines can be extremely important for your business not just because of getting into the media but because it also means that potential clients can find you as well. Admit it most of us including journalists are lazy. They want to do a quick search on hypnosis and find the person they need straight away. They haven’t got weeks to spend researching it instead they want an instant answer. If you aren’t one of the tops spots on the search engine they are using then forget it someone else will get the publicity or the sale. I just happen to be very good at getting found on search engines which means that I get a steady stream of new customers and media work coming my way.

The best thing about my hypnotherapy marketing is that I can teach anyone to get the same results. Providing that person is willing to put in the hard work and follow my advice journalists could be ringing you as well. With my marketing and mentoring packages I work with therapists like you to increase customers, build revenue and increase profits. Today I hope that I have demonstrated to you that my methods work, just read my article today or head down to your local newsagent and buy the paper.