Insulating Your Therapy Business From Coronavirus Disruption

Therapy business coronavirusWhen it comes to running a therapy practice you never know what is around the corner and this is certainly the case when it comes to the latest news about Coronavirus. If you haven’t realised it yet this virus is likely to create some short term disruption for your therapy business so I thought I would give some pointers as to what you could do to insulate yourself and your income from its impact.  In addition I thought I would discuss some things that you probably haven’t thought about so that you are ready for what may be to come. This post is not designed to make you panic but it has been written to make sure that you are prepared. Every other business in the UK is currently planning for what is to come so you need to as well.

In the UK as I am writing this there are now 35 cases but this is growing day by day. It is only a matter of time before measures are put in place by the government to try and contain the spread. Here is what could happen over the next few weeks and months.

  1. Non-essential work travel is likely to be stopped
  2. Employees may be asked to work from home
  3. Some work will stop completely as people park new ventures until this blows over
  4. People will be more reluctant to visit busy areas
  5. Major tourist attractions are likely to shut (The Louvre has just closed as I am writing this)
  6. More people are likely to be self quarantining
  7. Schools are likely to close and children sent home

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Coronavirus Is Likely to Hit Your Profits

These are potential problems that I think you may see as a self-employed therapist.

Childcare

If you have children and they are sent home from school you may have problems running your business and looking after the kids. Start to think about what you could do to make sure that you can carry on working (if possible). Look at sharing childcare with friends and family or if you have a partner in a different industry splitting the hours you work so you can both carry on making a living.

Therapy Centres

As people begin to avoid non-essential travel there are likely to be issues with those of you that work in big therapy centres especially in large towns and cities.  Are you tied in to paying for a room that you might not be using? Are you temporarily able to stop using that room and setting up at home instead? Home setups are not always so professional looking (depending on your circumstances) but they cost nothing and don’t have the foot fall of a busy therapy centre which might put some people off. Have some plans in place in case you need to juggle things around. In China only 30% of small businesses were able to stay open during this outbreak how can you ensure that you are one of them.

Online Therapy

This is the absolute perfect time to talk about online therapy sessions.  Nobody has to leave their house to conduct the sessions which means it is highly suitable for what is to come. If your therapy business isn’t geared up for online sessions get this organised right now so that you can stay working.

Contracts

All of you should have written contracts with your clients detailing what you provide and how much it costs. Now is the time to write an extra clause to outline what will happen if sessions are disrupted due to Coronavirus. You need to think about what you should do with all new and existing clients (especially those who have signed up with you for a number of sessions). Make them aware that face to face sessions may need to be changed to online sessions. Get your existing clients ready for this and in your intake forms get their online details.

Therapy Training Providers

If you run therapy training courses or CPD days and have taken money in advance what are you going to do if you are unable to complete the courses because your venues have closed or people are unable to attend? Again try and make arrangements to come up with alternatives such as training online so that people are able to complete their courses even if they aren’t coming to a venue.

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Diversifying Therapy Income

The economy, in general, is going to be impacted in the short term because of this virus. As an example say you work in the retail sector (which is already suffering) and people stay away from the shops in droves. It is only a matter of time before there are layoffs and redundancies as companies cannot afford to pay staff. Less money in the economy means that therapy will feel less affordable to some or sessions will be parked until the crisis blows over. Diversifying your income is always a good idea to insulate your therapy business from these ups and downs.

Adapting Your Therapy Services

Before I ever worked as a therapy marketer I used to be a trader. I know from my experience world events had a big impact on prices and demand and that is something I can see happening right now. Shares in Ryanair and other airlines are tanking for a good reason. The market expects far fewer people to travel in the near future and that is impacting the valuation of those companies. Now start to apply that to what you are selling in your therapy business. Clearly, you are going to get fewer customers for fear of flying and public speaking. Equally, I would expect an upturn in anxiety and sleep problems.

Insurance

If you do have business interruption insurance now is the time to pull out your policy and check to see whether you are covered for any loss of income related to Coronavirus. Have these discussions now and not later when it may be more difficult to get an answer.

On the Positive Side

It is not all doom and gloom. If you are forced to take some time out over the coming months then this is the perfect time to work on growing a stronger business for the future. Creating passive income products is a great way of doing this so that is more likely to get money coming into your practice even when things are not going to plan. Also setting up your website so that you can attract and adapt to new market situations is important. Do you have a website that can do this? If not learn how with my Make Your Therapy Website Into a Client Magnet course.

Also as a trained therapist, this is the perfect time to advertise your services as a health anxiety expert. Many people with anxiety are going to have mental health issues because of the worries about this virus. This is your time to step in and help those people to feel calmer and more in control while the newspapers write headlines designed to scare everyone to death! This is going to be a thriving therapy business market.

Things will inevitably pass as they always do but the lay of the land may be very different when this scare is over. I can see that this virus will reduce the pool of therapists out there. This is because many will find it difficult dealing with lower or no income over the coming months and are likely to retrain or go back to salaried jobs. As ever in times of economic upheaval the strong and prepared businesses will thrive whilst the weaker will shut up shop. Make sure you are the former!

49 ways to market your therapy practice

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Finally Look After Yourself

As a therapist, your are your income. If you are ill then your therapy business is impacted as well. Make sure that you are firm about not only keeping your clients safe but yourself as well. Be firm with clients and tell them you will not see them if they are showing any signs of a cough or a cold. Make sure that you wipe down therapy couches, door handles and surfaces clients may have touched to prevent the spread. Place hand sanitiser by your door for everyone to use. Don’t shake hands with clients or if you do wash them immediately after.  If your clients use your toilet make sure that you stop using normal towels and instead get them to use disposable hand towels.  Make sure that you clean the toilet after each use. These common-sense approaches that will keep you well and working.

You May Also Want to Read:

Don’t set up a Therapy Practice Without Reading This

The Ten Best Hypnotherapy Books on The Market

Therapy Marketing Strategy for 2020

 

 

Hypnosis Books – The Ten Best Hypnotherapy Books on The Market

hypnosis books - the 10 best hypnotherapy booksThere are many facets to hypnosis marketing and one of the most important is getting the very best results for your clients. When you get great results time and time again your clients will speak about you to their friends and family and you should start to get a steady stream of referrals into your practice. The problem is that most hypnosis courses are too short to teach you everything you need to do with clients which means continued professional development should be an essential part of your practice. Hypnosis books are a great way of learning from the best so I have compiled a list of the top ten hypnotherapy books you must read. Of course my Hypnotherapy Marketing eBook should be number 11!!! Just note this post may contain affiliate links which means that I get a commission if you choose to purchase through the link. This is at no cost to you.

The 10 Best Hypnotherapy Books on Amazon (in my opinion)

Hypnotherapy – Dave Elman

Dave Elman is one of the greats of hypnosis who taught his hypnosis methods throughout the US to doctors and dentists. His interest in hypnosis was supposedly created when he watched stage hypnosis relieve his father’s pain when he had terminal cancer. Pursuing his interest in the subject he created one of the most famous rapid inductions ever which is still used by hypnotherapists to this day. Despite his huge wealth of knowledge, he left behind this one hypnosis book about his work. This is an essential read for modern-day hypnotherapists.

 

Hartland’s Medical and Dental Hypnosis – Heap & Avarind 

The authors of this hypnosis book were the people who set up the clinical hypnosis courses at the University of Sheffield Psychiatry department. As professionals, they have taught dentists, psychiatrists and psychologists how to use hypnosis to help their patients. The book includes details on the history of hypnosis, basic procedures to follow as well as how to use hypnosis for specific conditions or problems.

 

Trancework – Michael D Yapko

Many people would like to claim that they are one of the greatest modern-day hypnotherapists alive but few really are. Michael Yapko is the real deal and a clinical psychologist and therapist who lives in California. He is many recognised for his work on depression and how it can be treated without the need for medication but also teaches all over the world. In Trancework Michael covers everything from how to conduct general hypnosis to dealing with specific ailments such as pain, anxiety and stress to name but a few. An essential for any professional hypnotherapists bookcase.

 

Handbook of Hypnotic Suggestions & Metaphors – D Corydon Hammond

This hypnosis book is jam-packed and I mean full to the brim of practical suggestions that can be used with your clients. Want help with pain control? Then check out their chapter on chronic pain, emotional pain, migraines and anaesthesia. Or what about help with raising self-esteem, dealing with anxieties and phobias, sleep problems, cancer patients or eating disorders. This book has the lot and means that you will never feel stuck when thinking of ways that you can help your clients.

 

Trance-Formations – Grinder & Bandler

This is an interesting choice as Grinder and Bandler are actually the founding fathers of NLP.  This particular book is really the transcript of one of their seminars where they discuss and use a whole host of techniques to influence how you think, feel and behave. These guys break down how Ericksonian style hypnosis indirect hypnosis can transform lives.

 

Hypnosis for Inner Conflict Resolution: Introducing Parts Therapy – Roy Hunter

After hypnoanalysis comes parts therapy and Roy Hunter has written the definitive book on how to use this to create positive change with your clients. This book gives you every step you ever need to take in order to conduct a parts therapy session and have a successful outcome. I have only included one book by Mr Hunter in my list but I would actually highly recommend all his books as essential reads. For example, his hypnosis book on regression therapy is also a wonderful read.

 

The Weight Hypnotherapy and You – Judith E Pearson

The vast majority of hypnosis books are generalistic and only briefly touch on the techniques you would need to use with specific problems. This hypnosis book is one that gives you all the details you need to conduct successful weight loss hypnotherapy sessions with your clients. Judith has a PhD in counselling and also uses NLP and hypnosis is her practice. She knows her stuff and details on how to coach your clients to weight loss success. The book covers everything from motivation to exercise to stress management in relation to emotional eating and is an essential read for those of you want to specialise in weight control.

 

My Voice Will Go with You: Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson: Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erikson – Erickson & Rosen

Milton H. Erickson is probably one of the most influential hypnotherapists of all time. His way of using hypnosis to create positive change was unique and indirect meaning his subjects were helped with puns, humour or language without even knowing it. This book has collated over 100 of Erickson’s examples of helping others and placed them into a format where a modern-day hypnotherapist can use them in their own practice.

 

Scripts & Strategies in Hypnotherapy – Roger P Allen

The eternal debate will always be should a hypnotherapist use scripts in their work. Whilst a number of hypnotherapists would disagree with their use they are often an essential way to help a new therapist learn about metaphors, language patterns and suggestions. This particular volume collates a number of useful scripts in one place that can be used as a starting point when working with clients. As ever take the basics and learn to adapt these to your particular client needs for best results.

 

How to Hypnotise Anyone – Confessions of a Rogue Hypnotist – The Rogue Hypnotist

The Rogue Hypnotist is a mystery in hypnosis circles as nobody quite knows who they are. What I can say is that their hypnosis books are hugely entertaining as well as being informative. Once again I have just mentioned one of their volumes but the Rogue Hypnotist has written extensively on everything from addiction work to anxiety. Get stuck in to their latest releases and find out more about what modern hypnotherapists think.

 

Interested in any of the amazing titles? Then just click on the title links to purchase a copy of any of the 10 best hypnosis books on Amazon.

*This site is owned and operated by Hypnotherapy Marketing Expert. Hypnotherapy Marketing Expert is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Hypnotherapy Marketing Expert is compensated for referring traffic and business to Amazon.

 

How to Write a Good Therapy Blog & Boost Your Income

good therapy blogAs a marketing specialist for therapists I have read my fair share of therapy blogs over the years. Usually these are my clients blogs which are attached to their websites and are tacked on as an after thought once the main site content has been created. Writing a good therapy blog is a great way of attracting clients but invariably the same problems appear again and again:

  • No Updates – The blog gets updated once in a blue moon and the last update was months if not years ago
  • Too Short – A blog post is thrown up but it is so short it could be mistaken for a post on Twitter
  • Keywords – The person writing the blog doesn’t understand about keywords so they blog will never be found
  • Irrelevant – The blog is used as a way of the therapist expressing themselves on a topic nobody cares about
  • Client Attraction – The blog does not create a way for the therapist to attract clients

How to Get More Therapy Clients

A great way of getting new therapy clients is with regular and consistent blogging. This is because when it is done well your blog will be indexed in the search engines giving you more opportunities to reach the clients who need to see you.  Put simply if you have a website with say twenty pages you have limited opportunities for your clients to find you on Google. If you have an additional twenty blog posts you now have doubled your chances of being found in the search engines. Yes, this is a simplistic example but it gives you an idea of what can be achieved. Even better blogging doesn’t have to cost you money like Facebook advertising or Google Adwords.

Also, blog content can be repurposed, spread around the internet and updated. If you do this on a regular basis those twenty blog posts actually can turn into something far bigger generating you clients and sales from multiple sources.

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Blogs for Therapists

When done correctly blogs for therapists can be the perfect marketing tool providing they are written correctly and use client attraction methods in their content. Learning how to do this can be simple when you know-how which is why I decided to write a short mini-course on how to use blogging to get more clients. In this course, you are going to be able to look over my shoulder as I create blog posts that are going to help you earn more money consistently. Even better these blogs have evergreen content so that the content will keep on generating leads for you years after they have been written.

Through a series of videos, I will walk you through the elements you need in your blog and how you are going to implement them. These include:

  • How to choose a blog title that will get you customers or clients
  • How to research content for your blog
  • How to create a basic blog structure
  • How to choose words that are more likely to convert
  • How to create passive income from your blog
  • How to dominate the local search engine results through blogging
  • Where to place your blog to get multiple readers coming to your content
  • What elements are essential in your blog to make it work harder for you
  • How to stay in contact with potential customers who are reading your blog even if they aren’t ready to buy

Blogging for Therapists

How to Write a Therapy Blog

If you really want to write a good therapy blog you have to know the essential elements for success. Just writing something and trying to see if it will work is just going to make your life harder and waste a considerable amount of your time. When you understand exactly what you need to include or exclude from your blog you can concentrate on getting clients and sales instead of using your time and energy attempting something that is just never going to work. When you learn the correct blog tools you are going to see that it can make a massive difference to your business. Still don’t believe me?

  • Companies that blog get 55% more website visitors
  • If you are a business that blogs you are 13 times more likely to get a positive return on investment
  • If you blog you are going to get 67% more leads

As you can see these numbers are far from small or marginal these are the kind of figures that can help you to double your income. In fact, if you create a great passive income product your earnings potential goes sky high as you can sell it worldwide time and time again even when you are sleeping. Want even more facts about how blogging can help you? Read this blog on the advantages of regular blogging.

Therapy Blogging Online Course

Want to dive in and start earning that extra income right away by writing a good therapy blog? You can purchase the blog course by following the link below. In addition to the course, you will get an accompanying pdf with the hard copy information plus my blogging checklist that you can print out and follow each time you write a new blog so that you never go wrong.

good therapy blog online course

Blogging for Therapists Online Course

Are You About to Lose 50% of Your Website Customers?

I know that the majority of therapists out there pay very little attention to what is going on with search engine optimisation and Google updates. In general hypnotherapists ask someone to create a website for them, they add their content and then forget about it. This strategy isn’t something I would recommend as without tweaking your website regularly you are going to get left behind. In some instances you will be able to get away with it but in July a big change is coming and it is going to impact visitors to your website big time!

SSL Certificates and Google Chrome

If you have never heard about SSL certificates then pay attention as in a months time not having one is going to cause you a whole world of trouble!

An SSL certificate (Secure Sockets Layer) is basically an additional layer of security on your website. When you have an SSL certificate you have a file which means that sensitive information is encrypted. This means that if a customer puts in their credit card information on your website nobody else can read that information as it moves across the internet. When you have an SSL certificate your web address changes from http:// to https:// to show that your site has the relevant encryption.

Ok, so I know some of you are thinking so what? I don’t sell products on my website. Ah but here comes the problem. Google has been pushing for people to update to secure websites for a long time and they have now decided that July 2018 is the date when enough is enough. From now on if somebody looks at your website on Google Chrome and you don’t have a certificate they are going to get a warning sign to say that your website isn’t secure.

The Power of Google Chrome

Currently, Google Chrome has over a 50% share of the internet browser market. Think about it over 50% of the people who search and find your website find it through Chrome. Now imagine that half of your customers who come across your website see a message saying that your site isn’t secure.

Your customers certainly have no idea about SSL certificates, https or in fact anything related to encryption on the net. They do however know that when they see a big red non-secure message when they come across your website that they quickly backpedal and get rid of your site from their screen as fast as they can. Now you can see the importance of making sure that your site complies over the next month or you are going to wave goodbye to a ton of customers.

What to do Next

As most of you will probably have web developers or designers I suggest that you contact them as soon as possible and get them to help you to address the problem. Yes, it will cost you but not as much as losing a bunch of customers over the next few months. For those of you that understand coding head on over to YouTube where there are a ton of videos showing you how to purchase a certificate and make the required modifications to your website.

Hypnotherapy Marketing eBook 2018 Edition – Time for an Update

Hypnotherapy Marketing eBook 2018 EditionHow to Build a Hypnotherapy Business in 2018

If you are marketing a hypnotherapy practice nothing stands still for very long. Something that was appropriate two or three years ago make not work at all when you are trying to attract sales and clients in 2018. When I first wrote my Hypnotherapy Marketing eBook in 2015 it had all the latest up to date information about how to create a thriving practice but in just a few short years what was relevant then is no longer useful just a few short years later. So I have spent the past couple of months refreshing all the information and making the Hypnotherapy Marketing eBook 2018 edition 50% bigger than before.

It is amazing to think how much changed since the first edition of my eBook.  Here are just some of the changes that have occurred in just three years.

  • Instagram is now one of the biggest social media sites in the world. It didn’t even get a mention in my first hypnotherapy marketing eBook!
  • Meerkat the live broadcasting medium has disappeared.
  • Facebook Live was introduced to capitalise on our need for instant video.
  • The Google +1 button has vanished.
  • Snapchat has become a huge social media channel for millennials.
  • Google my business has become an essential for local businesses.

When I work with my marketing students I get asked time and time again why they can’t just create a website, put up a Facebook Ad or create a YouTube video and then just forget the marketing they have completed. This is because everything changes and much faster than you think.

I get regular calls from Google Adwords for example every two months updating me on the latest changes to their advertisting platform. If I leave up my original ads without making the necessary updates and changes I suddenly find my ads which were making me money are now getting a lesser click through rate. If I don’t update my website or write some blog posts or get social media shares my website falls down the rankings. Marketing a therapy practice requries you to constantly update your content and strategies otherwise you will get left behind.

What’s Coming Up?

I spoke a few years ago about how Google was starting to prioritise mobile friendly websites in their rankings. Well now they have gone one step further. They are currently introducing their mobile first  search engine which means that mobile versions of websites are being prioritised for indexing and ranking over desktop sites.  This update is currently rolling out as we speak. For any of you still sticking with an old desktop only website this spells big trouble!

Also the new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) in Europe roll out in the UK on Friday the 25th May. How many of you have completed the necessary updates to your websites to make sure you are complaint? Have you updated your privacy policy, contact me forms, lead magnets and the way you control your data? And for those of you that I see on forums in the UK who believe they don’t need to register with the Information Commissioner I can tell you that you are wrong. If you hold data about your customers such as emails, phone numbers or medical information you should have signed up. In fact you should have done it years ago.

How many of you are thinking about how to capitalise on voice search? Believe it or not looking for things by typing words into a search engine is not going to be so popular in a few short years from now. Think about Alexa, Siri and Ok Google and you can start to see that the way we look for information is changing all the time. Writing a website that uses voice search phrases instead of typical paragraphs can make all the difference to your profitability.

Get Help to Make Your Therapy Business  Profitable

If you are staring out on your journey as a therapist or are unsure how to get clients in to your hypnotherapy practice the my latest eBook is designed to help you understand the elements that you need to work on to have a successful business.  Here are just some of the things I discuss in the latest edition of my marketing eBook.

  • How to run a marketing budget
  • Website creation and search engine optimisation
  • Marketing funnels
  • Newsletters
  • Remarketing
  • Using social media to attract clients.
  • Online therapy
  • Free networking strategies
  • Using paid online ads
  • Understanding your competition
  • Getting in the media
  • Passive income
  • Group and Corporate Work
  • Referral networks

With over 150 pages of information you can get informed about the very latest ways to make a difference to your practice. Good luck building your booming business.

Hypnotherapy marketing ebook 2018

hypnosis marketing book 2018

 

How to Successfully Set Up a Hypnotherapy Practice

Setting Up Your Hypnotherapy PracticeIt has been a good few months since you last head from me for two reasons. Firstly this website got hacked! Nightmare scenario and a real problem when you find out the quality content you have been writing has been updated with adverts for viagra and vapes! What a steep learning curve I have been on attempting to resolve the situation. I will write a blog post on my experiences so that you never have to go through the same. Secondly In the last half of last year I have been concentrating on making some new products and services for the website and curating some new free content to share with you all. In particular a completely free guide to successfully set up a hypnotherapy practice.

As I was looking over some of my posts I realised that many of my marketing emails talked to those of you who have already set up your practices and were actively trading but I had completely neglected to talk to those of you who were just getting ready to make the leap from regular employment to setting up a hypnotherapy practice from scratch. So in the past couple of months I have been busy working away creating a new eBook to show you exactly what you need to do.

What Are The Questions That most Therapists Ask when Setting Up a New Business?

I regularly participate in a number of hypnotherapy forums and I see the same questions from new therapists appearing again and again.

  • Where should I practice from?
  • How much should I charge?
  • How do I make more money?
  • What services should I offer?
  • Why are clients not showing up?

You see going on a hypnotherapy practitioner course is great for teaching you how to help people but in most cases, it doesn’t teach you how to help yourself. When you are a sole trader it soon dawns on a new therapist that they are the person responsible for just about everything. You need to arrange a website, their advertising, their branding, accounting, legal requirements and see clients and that is just for starters. Of course, when you get going it soon becomes obvious that there are going to be some big gaps in your knowledge. Unless you pay someone to mentor you then you have to muddle through on your own or ask questions in forums to see if anyone can give you any advice which might help. This can work but if often means that you miss important stuff or spend ages trying to work it all out before you get it right. Time is of course money when you are running a new therapy business! So I thought I would create a really simple eBook to give the absolute basics that you need to start off in the right way.

Building a Therapy Practice Basics

So what have I included in this eBook to get therapists started? Well I cover everything from:

  • Are you cut out to be a therapist?
  • Planning your practice.
  • How and Where to work.
  • Equipment
  • Insurance
  • Data Protection
  • Regulatory and Tax Structure
  • Domain Names
  • Branding
  • Trademarks
  • Must have Essentials on a Website
  • How to Charge and Package Sessions
  • Cost control
  • Specialising or Generalist work
  • How many clients you need
  • Taking Payments
  • Contracts
  • Getting Those first Customers
  • and much more…

Creating the Right Foundations for your Therapy Business

Setting up a therapy business without putting any thought into how it may work or what you need to legally do is a recipe for disaster. Getting off on the wrong foot and not doing some basic initial work can mean wasted months or even years floundering trying to work out why you aren’t getting any customers or earning enough money to pay the bills. I regularly mentor other therapists in six months programs and I see the same problems coming up again and again. Poorly created websites and marketing campaigns that won’t bring in customers or create conversions. A lack of understanding of the very basics of business. Businesses that have been set up and then never reviewed so that basic mistakes linger for years.  Remember if you have never set up a business before or been self-employed then you are going to need a little help. Even seasoned marketers and internet successes regularly pay for courses to take their businesses to the next level so what makes a therapist any different?

Get the Book Absolutely Free!

My mission in life is to make sure as many therapists as possible get to run a highly successful booming business which is why I am offering the free eBook as a total freebie. Yep, that’s right it won’t cost you a penny! You can get the lowdown on how to set up the right foundations for your hypnotherapy business so that you can start on the road of earning a great income instead of doing what you love. I have personally tried and tested everything that is in the eBook and it certainly worked well for me. Not only did I successfully set up a hypnotherapy practice in Harley Street London I moved location over two years ago and created another thriving practice in the Midlands at the same time as renovating a 9 bedroom house! If I can do it then so can you. To get your free copy of the eBook simply follow the link below and you can gain access to the download.

how to set up your hypnotherapy practice

49 Hypnosis Marketing Strategies You Can Implement Today

Hypnosis Marketing StrategiesFirstly welcome to the last blog post of the year. I hope you have all had a lucrative 2019 and are now getting ready to multiply those practice profits in the New Year. December is the perfect time of the year to be planning your hypnosis marketing strategies for 2020. As your clients thoughts turn to overeating, drinking and being merry  you are likely to have a couple of quiet weeks where you  plot and plan that income boost that always appears in the New Year.

Now as many therapists are aware in order to be a wealthy therapist you need to be killing it when it comes to your competition. That means you need to work smarter and harder than your competitors whether they are based internationally or locally. Here are 49 Hypnosis marketing strategies that you can start to work on today to boost your income and build that amazing business of yours. There is no need to work on everything at once as it just is not possible but pick a few from the list and make a start on marketing your products and services.

In order to help you we have a number of additional tools which can help you to build your business faster. An Online Hypnotherapy Marketing Ebook with more details on some of these strategies. Our Turn your Website into a Client Magnet that shows you just what you need to do to attract paying customers into your practice. I also have a new course on Google Adwords which I will be releasing in the New Year to help you get to Number One on Google and slay your competitors.

So until 2017 I wish you all a fantastic Xmas and New Year.

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49 Hypnosis Marketing Strategies to Start Using Today

  1. Create Gift Vouchers – What can you get the person who has everything? Why a hypnosis gift voucher. It can be for relaxation sessions, law of attraction work or even just to target the curious. Market them on your website, create a beautiful online voucher and you are ready to go.
  2. Target Your Doctors Surgery – Talk to the practice managers, leave leaflets in the surgery or offer specific services to each GP. This is the perfect target market for anxiety clients.
  3. Head to the Gym – No not to work out but to put up your leaflets. Get there before January and help all those clients who want to lose weight as part of their New Year resolutions.
  4. Free Noticeboards – Stick those leaflets up anywhere you see a free noticeboard. Bus stops, coffee shops, supermarkets and so on. Even better if the leaflet is somewhere where people have to queue!
  5. Set up an Account on Pinterest – Get pinning those inspirational images that make your business seem irresistible.
  6. Driving Schools – Where there is a nervous driver there is a hypnotherapist who can help. Contact those instructors and offer to help.
  7. Corporate – Find the movers and shakers in companies local to you and start to offer them your services. Create promotion packs to sell stress management,  stop smoking or sales performance sessions.
  8. Video – Start creating videos and marketing them on YouTube or any of the other video sharing sites. Show proof of your skills, clients beaming with happiness as their problems fade away and watch the hits on your website increase.
  9. Awareness Days – Find out the awareness days for 2017 and create special promotions around them. Such as depression awareness, Stoptober and Dry January.
  10. Team Up – Find some local massage therapists, personal trainers, physios and team up with them to create a package of services or to cross refer.
  11. Hand Out Leaflets – Outside stations, busy fairs or events or even in a shopping centre promoting your services. Just make sure you get permission from the relevant authorities first.
  12. Create an Online Course – Although you will always need the personal touch with some clients others will respond with some simple self help online. Give them the tools to empower them and they will thrive.
  13. Get a Website Review -Find someone who really knows about hypnosis marketing strategies and get them to review your website. With some simple changes it is often possible to double, triple or quadruple your revenue by rectifying your copy and website structure. My online course How to Turn Your Website Into a Client Magnet enables you to review your website yourself and make changes so that you can multiply your income.
  14. Contact Those Dentists – Nervous dental patients or clients with bruxism as perfect candidates for some hypnosis to alleviate stress and anxiety.
  15. Create and Instagram Account – Advertise your business, like others and generally get involved in your community.
  16. Yoga Classes – Hypnobirthing and Yoga Classes go hand in hand. Offer taster sessions with the local yoga teacher at the end of a class and start attracting new clients.
  17. Start a Blog – Blogging is a great supplement to your website and if done well can go viral or create a community of followers in your niches.
  18. Design a Logo – Create an identity for your business and use it on your website, marketing materials and emails to stand out from the crowd.
  19. Get on Facebook – Get involved locally or in a group important for your niche. Heah even better start a group of your own and control the content!
  20. Market Research – Find out what your customers really want. Get out on the street or go online and ask questions to find out what is selling then tailor your products and services to meet demand.
  21. Get Testimonials – Put them on your websites, on videos and in your marketing materials. People love proof that hypnosis works!
  22. Record some Self Help Audios – Start recording self hypnosis audios and market them online and to your clients. Just make sure that they are the very best quality you can make.
  23. Upsell your Products and Services – Package your sessions to that you are selling programs. Upsell email support or your self help audios to bring in extra revenue. Even buy wholesale products and have them in your therapy room for your customers to purchase.
  24. Find your USP – Your Unique Selling Point is what makes you different to your competition. Work out what it is and start to use it in your hypnosis marketing strategies.
  25. Build a Therapy Centre – Rent a premises and start selling the other rooms to therapists for a fee. The other therapists will cover your room costs and you should profit on top!
  26. Use Paid Advertising – Google Adwords and Facebook advertising when done well gets you in front of your target audience. Use it wisely and see customer numbers jumping. I have created an online course to help you master Google Adwords for Therapists  and another for Facebook Advertising.
  27. Connect With Other Therapists – Counsellors, CBT therapists and psychotherapists are perfect people to network with and create cross referrals.
  28. Start a Podcast – Offer people tips and strategies for self help on a regular podcast and build a network of followers.
  29. Citations – Build citations in local directories and link them back to your website. Just make sure they are relevant or local.
  30. Networking – Join some local networking groups and connect with others. Spend very little initially until you find the ones that work for you.
  31. SEO – Learn about Search Engine Optimisation and start to put your knowledge into practice. Good SEO can boost your organic rankings and get you found in Google and Bing.
  32. Forums – Get involved in niche forums and offer your advice. Put your links in your profile and wait to be contacted.
  33. Get out on the Street – Why not demo your hypnosis skills in front of the general public. Amaze those passers by and wait for the stream of people who want to book an appointment with you.
  34. Wedding Planners or Dressmakers – Who doesn’t know a bride who didn’t want to lose weight for the big day? Create a weight loss package and market it to bridge and even the bridegroom.
  35. Health Food Stores – Get to know the owners. Put up leaflets and offer taster sessions and talks.
  36. Email Lists – Start collecting emails from your customers and potential clients and remarket to them.
  37. Local Newletters – Find out who runs your local newsletter and either write an article or take out a small regular advert.
  38. Press Releases – Got a new product or amazing service that you need the world to know about. Create a press release and advertise just what you can do.
  39. Twitter – Get on Twitter and engage in the community or with people in your specialist niches.
  40. Create a Workshop– Start by creating a workshop or a mini course for people to attend. Seeing twenty people at once will always be more lucrative that seeing one person at a time.
  41. Get on the Radio – Ok so you may have a problem getting on the National stations but there are hundreds of local and community stations that would love your input.
  42. Create an ebook and Sell it – Have a great solution to a problem? Then get writing and marketing your ebook. Self publishing on Kindle makes it easy for you to be a published author. My eBook on Hypnotherapy Marketing goes into considerable detail on how to market your business effectively.
  43. Broadcast Live – Periscope, Meerkat and even Facebook allow you to broadcast live and post directly online. Create a session with the wow factor and put it out there for the world to see.
  44. Snapchat – Learn how to use Snapchat and build a following.
  45. Volunteer – Get a gig volunteering at your local hospital using your hypnosis skills. Once you have people convinced of its effectiveness you can market your sessions to those who can afford to pay.
  46. Local Help Groups – Get involved with local help groups and offer taster sessions or talks.
  47. Google+ – Get on Google + and Google My Business to appear on those maps!
  48. Create a Membership Website – Offer clients continual value so that they sign up for your services month after month or year after year.
  49. Local Newspapers – Get in touch with your local newspaper journalists and offer them a story. How you cured a local person of a fear of Santa Claus. How you created stress reduction sessions for families who were worried about Brexit. Make it topical and local.

Enjoy putting in place those hypnosis marketing strategies hopefully they should keep you busy until my next post in the New Year!

How Pandas, Penguins and Possums Are Impacting your Hypnosis Marketing!

hypnosis marketing google pandaOk you probably think that I have lost the plot by talking about animals and marketing but I can assure you that these creatures are highly important to your hypnosis marketing and to Google. So what the hell am I on about? Lets start from the top. When you enter a search query into the Google search bar to ask to get information the results that get returned to you are based around a sophisticated algorithm. Just some of the factors that determine which websites you get to see include:

  • Mobile Friendliness
  • Location and Proximity to you
  • Backlinks
  • Synonyms
  • Site and page quality
  • Web history
  • Keywords
  • Content
  • SSL Certificates  and on and on the list goes.

In fact there are around 200 different ways in which google decides what they want to show you not including the information they show you in their ads. Having a basic understanding of the algorithm is essential as without this knowledge it can be hard to create a website that gets found. Most therapists just create a website they like the look of with a web designer but this is a perfect way to disappear and never be found by the general public. My online course How to Turn Your Therapy Website Into a Client Magnet gives you many of the basics so that you can start to optimise your website to get found.

The Google Zoo

So what has this got to do with animals? Well Google has a mission to give searchers the most useful information they can and that means that they are always tweaking and adjusting search results so that their users get the best experience. They also work on ways to close loopholes that allow spammy or low quality websites into the search results. In recent times these updates have been given code names and you guessed it Panda, Penguin and Possum are the names given to some of the major changes that have happened in the past few years.

Having a basic understanding of these changes is essential because if your website is on the wrong side of the changes then your business could vanish overnight from the search engines. A perfect example of this was the company Interflora in 2013 who paid for newspaper advertorials to link to their company so they could get a boost in the search engines. Google found out and the next thing Interflora disappeared from the search results. Imagine how many millions they lost whilst they frantically tried to recover their website.

Just as with Interflora the same things are happening to your websites and in many cases you are probably unaware that your hypnosis marketing efforts are being destroyed because of things you or your website developer has done to your site. So here are some of the basics that you need to consider before creating content or links to your website.

Panda

The Panda updates revolve around demoting websites which are of poor quality. This could mean websites that contain lots of spam or sites that simply have very little unique information to offer. It also penalises websites that contain duplicate content. That means if you have two websites you cannot repeat any of the information from one and place it on another.

Penguin

The Penguin updates tend to concern themselves with links created by spammers to give their websites a boost. Now if you have outsourced your SEO work to someone else how do you know what they are doing is actually helping or hindering your website. I have come across many companies who have paid for SEO services and the person doing the work has built a lot of rubbish links to their sites that could get them penalised. Also never be tempted to buy backlinks from one of the companies that I regularly see advertising on the web. This is a perfect way to destroy your website.

Possum

Possum is an update which has happened in only the last month and impacted how local search results were shown. Previously a business really needed a central location in a town or city for it to appear highly in Google maps or the organic search results. Since Possum you can rank for an area if you are outside the town centre provided your website shows that you are offering services to people in that location. This update is ongoing as we speak so the full impact is still not known.

It is worth noting that many of these code word updates have a number of revisions. Which means you will see a Panda 1, 2, 3 and 4 as Google becomes more sophisticated. There are also other codewords including Hummingbird which is the code word for the Google algorithm itself and Pigeon for local SEO results.

Keep Yourself Informed

Having a basic understanding of search engine optimisation and how Google decides to show your website is vital if you have a website. Without this knowledge you could find your business impacted overnight simply because you got some of the basics wrong. Whilst you may not be an Interflora it could be enough to significantly harm your income.

Oh and for those of you who still have not got a Mobile website I suggest you do so asap. Rumours are that at some point in the near future Google may simply stop showing non mobile friendly websites in the search results at all. Over 50% of searches are currently done on mobile devices so it is obvious why they are thinking of making this change. Don’t bury your head in the sand, ignore hypnosis marketing and hope the problem will go away. My online course has information on where to create a new website for under $200 which is a small price to pay to avoid vanishing from your potential customers.

 

 

9 Shocking Habits Therapists that Need to Stop Now!!!

canstockphoto40369607Just in time for Halloween my fright night horrors that I come across when dealing with therapists and their websites.

For many years the general public have considered hypnotherapy to be a non serious profession. Yeah it is ok to use on TV when you are making fun of people but as a serious therapy the vast majority would rather get their teeth pulled out at the dentist than see a hypnotherapist to resolve their problems. Some of us are slowly trying reverse this perception by upping standards in the courses and education as well as by educating people in the media, online or even face to face. BUT there are a small number of hypnotherapists who just don’t get it and are jumping on the hypnotherapy bandwagon and trying to do things on the cheap and it still shocks me that the modern profession has training schools that send their students out to meet the general public with this attitude. Here are just some of the unbelievable things I have encountered lately whilst working with therapy marketing students.

Professionalism – I won’t name and shame but I recently booked in a newly qualified hypnotherapist for a series of marketing sessions. This was to take place via Facetime or Skype. On the morning of the session I started the session to see that they were sat ready to start the session in their car! If that wasn’t bad enough the car was located in a fast food outlets car park. What the hell!!

How on earth am I or for that matter the general public going to take a therapist seriously who thinks it is ok to conduct coaching sessions in the car park of a fast food chain? What message does that send to me? It says I can’t be bothered taking time out of my day to work on my business seriously and I am cramming you in before doing something else. If you truly serious about your profession then sessions need to be conducted in a space that is suitable for the person you are going to meet. No therapy, marketing, coaching or business meeting is suitable for discussions in a car. This goes for your clients as well. Unbelievable as this may sound one of my clients also wanted to conduct a Skype session from her car as well. It is time for this madness to stop.

Courses – Time and time again I hear on from my students that they chose a course because it was cheap. Another student of mine when questioned on their qualifications was not able to tell me if they could even get into a reputable UK professional body. They had no clue because they had gone on a churn and burn course online. No medical doctor looks for the cheapest course they can find. They look at the best possible medical schools they can get into for the best possible training as they are saving lives. In a way we are also doing the same. If we can get someone to lose weight, stop smoking, tolerate chemo or stop an addiction we can do the same. So why oh why does our industry attract people who think they have the ability to do this after a few online lessons and a tiny fee? Research your courses, talk to the professional bodies and then pick the absolute best there is!

Websites – One of my personal hatreds is seeing a website that has been thrown up by a therapist in the hope that it will do. No it won’t do as it looks awful and your clients will think the same. If your pictures are out of proportion, if you have big gaps in your template, if your fonts vary significantly or you have areas where links are broken then they need to be fixed now. Who wants to look at a website that is a mess? A website does not have to cost the earth if you know what you are doing. If you don’t then get help. My Turn Your  Therapy Website into a Client Magnet online course shows you exactly what you need on your website in order for it to be a success. This is essential information and most hypnotherapists don’t know this important information.

Another of my students started our sessions together and showed me a website that a developer had created for them for hundreds of pounds. The website consisted of one page! Talk about throwing your money down the drain. To top it all the website was on a developers system so it can’t be altered easily. In this case the website was scrapped and we will have to start again. If you don’t want to make these costly mistakes get help before you start.

Spelling and Grammar – Whilst we are on the topics of websites how many of you have really proof read your sites? You can get away with the odd typo of course but every now and again I come across a website that is littered with problems. I saw one of the worst possible yesterday where nearly every sentence had an issue. What would a potential client do if they came across the same? Well I can tell you that my first instinct would be that if a hypnotherapist can’t do basic spelling then I don’t want to see them. How could they possibly solve my problem if they couldn’t even get some basics right? Get an educated proof reader to look through your work and run everything through a spell checker online. It won’t catch everything but it will certainly iron out most of the problems.

Dress – Appearance is everything in this profession as if we are dressed right then we will inspire confidence in our clients. Now that does not mean a formal suit in every case (even though in certain clinics or locations this would be expected) but certainly smart clothing. Yet many therapists dress inappropriately. Flip flops, jeans, dirty or scruffy clothes, slippers and so on. If this is you it is time to smarten up now. Just because you are self employed does not mean you can get away with this.

Location – Many years ago I went for a therapy session at a woman’s house in North London. When I was there I couldn’t pay any attention to what she was saying because I was staring at her carpet which needed a hoover badly. I never returned for another session. I have left clinics because of problems with toilets, moths, cats and general cleanliness. Luckily I am now in the position to have my own clinic attached to my home which is spotlessly clean, spacious and quiet. You need to make sure that you have the same. If you work from home then the space has to be absolutely appropriate for the therapy to take place. So no animals, dirty washing, interruptions or general mess. If you can’t provide this in your home then find a suitable professionally run clinic and believe me they are not always easy to find.

Copyright Issues and Plagarism – I have just finished off a conversation with a potential marketing client who was looking for help to grown their hypnotherapy business in the UK. As with all these calls the first thing I do is check if the person has a website and then I went to have a look. Imagine my shock when I saw that their logo was also identical to mine, same keyword and similar colour and style.  Now I didn’t get angry at the person on the phone. They were naive sure but they had not thought to check if the work they had been given was really original. In fact I have experienced this before when a website designer had copied the wording on every single page of my website (yeah I caught him as well)! Be aware that you can’t go stealing other peoples names, content or designs otherwise you will be getting legal letters before you know it.

Lying – If you are creating a website only put in your real experience and qualifications. I have just come across another student who claimed they were a master practitioner, one of the elite in the profession and so on. This person had not seen one client. Lying about your qualifications and experience is a good way to end up in court when your clients find out that you haven’t a clue! Google in the UK certainly is coming down heavily on holistic therapists at the moment and is banning websites from paid advertising that don’t have significant disclaimers on every page where they make a claim. The Advertising Standards Agency is also waiting to pounce on those who are misleading the general public and making outrageous claims. There are ways to write content without admitting you are a novice and without lying about your experience. Use them and stay on the right side of the law.

Giving up the Day Job Without Real Consideration – A marketing client just spoke to me about how they had sunk £2000 into their website and still were not appearing in the search engines. They admitted they were not particularly literate with computers and were no sales person and the money was running out. What were they going to do? The simple answer was pay someone to teach you or go back to work. So yeah hypnosis, reiki, counselling is your passion but if you have no business skills then do not be naive. You have to get clients through the door and throwing money at an expensive website is not going to help! Many of my students can be up and running by spending less than a couple of hundred pounds at most. Talk about throwing money down the drain. Spend your money wisely on someone who can actually help rather than second guessing how you are going to make a living in this industry.

Stop your website and business featuring in my tales or horror next Halloween and get professional help to get things right. Simply contact me to get more information on how you can build an awesome business that attracts customers the right way.

In Hypnosis Marketing Image is Everything!

Hypnosis Marketing ImagesToday I want to talk about image and images and how important these are in our hypnosis marketing. As therapists we like to dig beneath the surface of our clients issues so that we can help them overcome their problems. That means spending time with them getting to know them and working through their problems and worries over a series of sessions building a great therapeutic working alliance. A potential client however generally spends only a few seconds picking your therapy services over your competitors unless you were a referral. They are generally superficial and will see if:

Your Website Looked Nice – Such a weak word “nice” but probably the colours and images appealed.

There were Testimonials – If you have written/video proof of someone else saying you are great then you must be.

You Practice in a Good Area – In London Harley St or the Hale Clinic mean premium prices so that means you must be great. Most towns and cities will have similar chi chi clinics or areas.

Your Photo – It was a great smiling photo and you looked like a super model or were handsome (shallow but true). Alternatively you looked authoratitive and like a therapist so met your clients expectations of what a therapist should look like.

Media – You have appeared in numerous famous publications and you plastered the links on your site. If you are good enough to get in a paper/magazine or appear on the TV then you are THE EXPERT!

Statistics – You quote meaningless statistics at your clients such as unqualified and unprovable success rates. If you resolve 99% of problems then there are going to be fixed in one session!

You Link to a Guru Someone Knows – You were trained by Paul McKenna and there is a picture of both of you on your front page. This means by some form of strange osmosis you are the next best thing to seeing the man himself.

Why do These Hypnotherapy Marketing Tactics Work?

Very simply a potential client who comes across your website randomly has no idea whether you are any good or not. They are looking for really simple and easy ways to identify whether you are the real deal. The generally haven’t got the time or the inclination to research the industry inside out so they are going to pick someone who gives the impression of success. The examples I gave above are just some of the reasons one website would be more likely to stand out against others. Of course not all of the examples are ethical but they are tactics that I see employed by certain hypnosis practices time and time again to pull in customers.

Now there are of course websites that offer a client the absolute opposite impression. As I like to call them anti sales websites. They virtually propel clients to their competitors without even realising it and I come across them all the time. One I came across this morning had two white Lilies that looked like funeral flowers on the front page. Another I saw had an incomprehensible section about metaphors linked to a video about a village. Sorry but these images and videos do nothing to attract clients. Your website should just do these simple things:

  • Client has problem and comes to your website.
  • Your website demonstrates that you work successfully with this problem. Where possible have testimonials related to this problem.
  • You present the potential client with a phone number and email to contact you as easily as possible.

Yes of course your website can become more sophisticated as you master these three basics. Sell courses. collect emails, offer eBooks and so on but get the three basics right if you are looking for client bookings. Appear confident,  show authority and offer insight into your clients problem. Show that you have knowledge, skill and ability to resolve problems and you have a sale. Look quirky, bonkers and write about things that have nothing to do with these basics and your clients are lost. They have no idea why the use of metaphors can be great tool in hypnosis and they don’t care. As the saying goes “Keep it simple stupid”!

The Use of Images in Hypnosis Websites

Hypnosis marketing and image can also be important for SEO and attracting clients attention. Here are some therapy marketing tips to help you with using images on your website.

  1. Firstly make use of images in your blog posts and on each individual page on your website. There is nothing more boring that reading content without something to break it up. Try and make the image relatable to the content.
  2. If you are using an image of yourself make sure you look great. Sadly quirky looking people don’t sell products and services in our niche.
  3. Label your image in the alt tag sections. For those of you who are not aware a typical image may have a name like 123img.jpg. Obviously this name is totally meaningless and in no way relates to the services and products that you are offering. This means that you need to rename the file to something that Google or another search engine can recognise. Change the file to something like Hypnosis in Derby and you will now start to appear in Google image search.
  4. Whatever you do reduce your image sizes. Why? Your page loading time is one element that is used in your website ranking. Whenever you have an image that takes more than a second to load your potential client has given up and gone off to another website. You can edit your images with tools such as Pic Monkey, Plixr and Fotoflexer. To find out more about your page loading speed head on over to Google’s page speed tester.
  5. If you have a website with decorative background swirls and design beware as this can also be classed as an image and it will no doubt slow down your load times. Where possible try and create clean sites with optimised images.
  6. Remember that there are a number of free image sites out there where you may be able to get something that is usable on your website. In some cases the licence may require you to acknowledge the original photographer. I typically use paid websites such as canstockphoto where you can buy a bundle that allows you to download a certain number of images. Beware copying something from the internet which is owned by one of these sites without paying a fee. Expect threatening letters from their lawyers demanding large sums of money.

Get Help to Combat Your Anti Sales Techniques

If you aren’t sure about your website then get a second opinion. Leaving it to chance means that potentially you are leaving thousands of pounds on the table. With the right help you can turn your website and images from a client repellent to a client magnet. Our mentoring and hypnosis marketing services help turn failing businesses into thriving concerns. Believe it or not over 50% of our clients had no customer calls in the six months before they rang for help. Without our expertise those clients would have given up and gone back to their old day jobs (which they generally hated). If this sounds like you then give yourself a fighting chance of success by contacting us via email.