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Are you in Control of your Hypnotherapy Marketing?

Posted on by Martina McKeough

Hypnotherapy marketingIf there is one lesson that I have learned from marketing my hypnotherapy businesses it is to stay in control. In other words to make sure that everything I have is owned, run or overseen by me. I don’t want other agencies, web developers or assistants in charge of anything I need to do. Why? Because when your business advances and your marketing becomes more complex it will cost you dearly if those other people have control over your company asset of information. Being in control of your hypnotherapy marketing is one of the most important things you can do to get ahead.

Hypnotherapy Websites

So lets go into detail on the areas that you may find yourself needing the help of others. One of the biggest areas where people need help is with their websites. You go to a web developer, get them to create a website for you and you probably don’t give it much thought until you need to make changes to it or you want to add a level of complexity to how you offer your products. This is where the problem starts. You find that for many changes you don’t have the capability to alter the website. That means you have to pay your web developer for every word or picture that you alter. Over time this begins to seriously add up. If you had developed a website where you had the ability to do this in the first place you could have saved yourself hundreds or even thousands of pounds.

Now lets say you have bought an off the shelf website from a company that created the template. You are able to change the pages and add content. Great you think until you decide you need an online shop or to add a plugin to make things work more efficiently. Every time you need these things done there is a further charge on top of your monthly payment for the site. Suddenly something that should take a few minutes to do costs you money that you don’t need to be spending. My advice is to find a website design that allows  you total control of your hypnotherapy marketing. That means that you only have to farm out the most difficult tasks to your web developer. It will save you a fortune in the long term.

Google Adwords

Oh my goodness how many times have I heard that a hypnotherapist has paid for someone else to look after their Adwords account. These people promise you riches and hundreds of leads and ask for a fixed payment per month to manage your campaigns for you. The trouble is that you pay over money each month and nothing much happens. You get the odd caller or bit of business but in reality your hypnotherapy marketing hasn’t really grown and you don’t know why.

Sorry but in order to maximise your revenues and customers you need to understand how the system works. Yes it is a pain but how are you going to know if people are working in your best interest when you have no idea how Adwords can be used to attract customers? It may take a little time but sit down and take the time to understand this advertising system so that you are not ripped off in the future. At least then if you decide to hire someone to manage your accounts you are able to tell whether they are an expert or a faker.

SEO

In order to get customers you need to get found. In order to get found your website needs get a good ranking in the main search engines. Many people choose to leave this task to web companies who really have not got a clue what they are doing. Each month you pay over a sum of money to a person who tells you that they will improve your ranking and you hand over the money and pay no attention to whether it is working or not. Meanwhile this company in the best case scenario adds a few links here and there but nothing to really increase your search engine ranking. In the worse case scenario they add a load of spammy links to sites which will delete them so you are getting no results whatsoever. Or in a disaster scenario the links are considered by Google to be worthless so they are penalised and your website tumbles down the rankings.

Understanding the fundamentals of SEO is hugely important to getting a great online business. Unless you have been in the therapy business for years or have a great referrals practice this is the number one area where you will be found. That means you really need to understand the customers you are targeting and how you are going to get them. Do not get ripped off by not understanding the fundamentals and only pass on work to people when you understand exactly what they are doing. How are you going to monitor their results without that knowledge?

Staying in control of your hypnosis marketing from the very moment you decide to open your business is the most important thing you can do for your company. Do not leave your precious information in the hands of others unless you know exactly what they are doing for you. Remember if somebody else owns your website it will cost you money for every little thing that you do. Start as you mean to go on and get something built that you are fully in control of. Don’t let others optimise for you or control your information as it is a huge asset to your business which you need to own. Ask yourself what would happen to your company if you had to rely on someone else to get customers and they suddenly disappeared, went bust or made your website tumble down the rankings. If the answer is that your business would suffer badly or fold then put everything in your name  and regain Control!!!

Why Saying No Is Essential To Your Hypnosis Marketing Success!

Posted on by Martina McKeough

Hypnosis marketingAs a hypnotherapist one of the most important weapons you have in your arsenal is the phrase “no”. Now I know that as a hypnotherapist looking for clients you are probably used to saying “yes” but how many times have you agreed something and then immediately felt that you should have said or done something completely different? I know that one of the most important ways in which I have been able to move my business forward is by using that no word to increase my hypnotherapy marketing success. Let me demonstrate how important it is to learn to flex that “no” muscle.

Clients – Getting in clients is essential to your business but you need to be able to learn how to manage them to market successfully. I know that when I first started out in business I said yes to any client who called and who I knew I was qualified to treat. Sometimes I would drive to see one client in one location and then immediately get in the car to another location after that session to see someone else. Not only was I clocking up the miles but I using up loads of my time as well. This clearly made no sense whatsoever. So I learned to say “no”!

I resolved that to make my life easier I would see clients in a different location on each day of the week. So if a client wanted to see me about a problem I would tell them the day and the location where I was available and then they could either make the session or not. Yes I did lose a few clients but a much smaller number that you would expect. The economics also now began to stack up. I would book multiple sessions at a clinic and save money on room hours. I saved money on parking and petrol and most of all I saved my time. Instead of spending hours each day commuting from one location to another I now saw all my clients in one place.

I also learned to say “no” to seeing some clients completely. People who lack commitment to getting better are not going to help your business. If they are not invested in your treatments then you are unlikely to have a successful outcome with them. I simply suggested to these clients that they find another therapist or wait until they were ready to get help for their problem. As I was seeing clients who really wanted to get help my success rates went up and so did my referrals. If I had treated the clients who did not want to help themselves they would not have necessarily had successful outcomes and my business would have been bad mouthed.

Time – As I mentioned above I saved plenty of time by not travelling from one client to the next but I also managed my time by not agreeing to hours that some clients wanted me to work. How many times have you had a client call and tell you that they don’t get home from work until late in the evening so they are looking for a late night time slot like 9pm? I get this all the time. They wouldn’t be able to see their doctor or dentist at this time but they are quite happy for you to work late. How many of your clients think it is ok to call you late in the evening to discuss their problems:? Again I used to get this problem all the time.

Now I am very clear with my clients. I work set hours and in my case that does not extend to very late in the evening or weekends. Why? Well firstly I need some down time myself. When I finish with clients in the evening that is it. My phone is switched off and my focus is on relaxing. By allowing your working day to extend to your down time is a recipe for stress and anxiety. Secondly without my down time whether that is during the week or at weekends I wouldn’t have time to move my business forward. In order to earn more you need to develop ways of increasing your income and you are not able to work on those and see clients at the same time. By saying “no” I am investing in my future. That means a short term monetary gain is not helpful when you are looking at creating a business that will sustain you in the long term.

By the way there is a way to make unsocial hours work for your business and that is by charging considerably more. If people want the convenience of seeing a therapist late in the evening or at the weekends then you should charge considerably more. That might be a great way for you to create your own niche. Earning more for less hours at more unsociable times of the day. Just make sure you say “no” when people offer to pay you the same.

Free Help – I hate to say it but many therapists are cheap. You might think this is an outrageous comment but I am happy to say it because I know that in many cases it is true. As my reputation as a marketing expert grows I am bombarded with emails, Facebook and LinkedIn requests from people who want me to help their business. Great you would think but the reality is that these people do not want to pay. They want to “pick my brains” or “meet for a coffee” or “get some really basic advice” but they do not want to pay for it!

Well sorry but that is not going to happen and I flex my polite “no” muscle and explain my charges. Imagine if you asked your plumber to come out to do the same. I can imagine the answer you would get. The reality is the information I give people on hypnotherapy marketing makes people money. Not a small amount but thousands and thousands of pounds and I expect to earn some money for giving people the ability to make a great living.

I bet you have clients who do the same. How many times have you had a person ring you and you know that they have no intention of actually buying your time or products? Your time is money so when you come across a time waster it is time to get them off your phone asap so that you can concentrate on the clients who you can help. What about the clients who always turn up late to your sessions and expect you to run over? Again I flex that “no” muscle. Or the clients who want to ring you inbetween their sessions constantly for hours at a time? Set your boundaries from the outset and let them know that is included and not included in your price.

Telemarketers – You may not agree with everything I say but if you take one piece of advice from me today say “no” to every sales person who calls you on the phone and asks you to buy their products. That means “no” to:

  • The Yellow Pages
  • People who pretend they are from Facebook and Google
  • Sales people who want to you pay for adverts in doctors surgeries, gyms or magazines

In fact say “no” to anyone who wants your money who you have never met. Why? Because for all their promises of extra clients and hypnotherapy marketing success I will tell you that you may as well take your money and set light to it outside and watch it go up in flames. There are a number of strategic investments that you can make to attract clients but these people who prey on the naive and vulnerable are not it!

I am sure when you think about it there are plenty of areas where you can use that “no” phrase and actually increase your productivity and earnings. My list is not exhaustive but just a small example of how your life and business can be improved by learning to set boundaries, charging the full price for your valuable services and understanding that your time equals money.

How Much Time Do You Spend On Your Hypnosis Marketing?

Posted on by Martina McKeough

Hypnosis marketingHow many hours a week do you actually spend attracting new clients in to your business? One hour a week, five or ten? I know that there are a considerable number of therapists out there who do a very small amount each week and I can tell you that it is not going to be enough to get you the business that you deserve. A networking session and an hour or so writing a blog or handing out some leaflets now and again will be lucky to get you anywhere. Hypnosis marketing actually needs consistent daily work especially in your start up days to get you regular clients calling you for appointments.

So lets say that you have just qualified as a hypnotherapist and you are lucky to see a client a day in the initial stages. This means that you have a significant amount of time during the day which you have left hanging around doing nothing. That means that you have eight to ten hours to fill working on your hypnosis marketing. Now to some people that might sound excessive but frankly this career is now your full time job. It means that you need to spend at least as much time on it as you would have in your old profession if not far more because now you are not automatically going to get a wage at the end of each month.

Think about the average entrepreneur and how they work on their businesses in the early days. Many of these people will be up working at 7am in the morning and finishing late into the night. They will have sacrificed their social lives to get their business up and running and earning them great money. Now think of what the average hypnotherapist does when they finish their courses. They might get a website up and running and attend a few small networking gatherings but in many cases I do not see the same drive in our profession as I do in many others.

Now of course if you don’t need to earn money then it really does not matter. You can frankly sit in bed all morning, drink coffee with your friends and go to the gym. But if you actually have to earn a living from this profession then you had better start to get fired up about marketing and getting cash flowing in to your business or you may as well go back to the day job.

Building a Hypnotherapy Business Takes Time

In order to build a great business you need to be working on your marketing tasks daily. If you don’t understand what marketing you need to do then you need to get some business and coaching advice and fast. You need that knowledge because otherwise you will end up banging your head against a brick wall and getting nowhere.

At my marketing classes for hypnotherapists I make it clear that the information that I give them is just their starting point. One blog is not enough, writing one advert is insufficient. You need to be constantly producing new material, updating websites, blogs, profiles. press releases to get found. I can guarantee you that even after I explain this to my students there will always be someone a week or two later who had selective hearing and comes back to and says they have done it all and the phone is not ringing.

I can tell you now that there is never a point when you have finished all the marketing that you can do. At this moment in time I have a list of about thirty tasks that I need to accomplish on my latest round of marketing. As I progress down this list I will find that there are more and more elements which will be added to it making it a never ending project. I have never sat down for one moment and thought that’s it I have done enough!

Earn More Money You are a Business!

You see I am at the point now where I am busy just about every day. I can see up to eight clients a day on some days and frankly that is pushing me right to the limits. Now for some people they will be satisfied with this but I most certainly am not. You see if I continued like this there would be a ceiling on my earnings. I can’t fit any more clients in to each day which means that the only way I could make more money would be charging them more or seeing people in groups.

Ok so lets say I charge more or see groups there would still be a ceiling on my income. That is the last thing that any business owner should not be aiming for. Year on year your business should be growing and that means that you have to think of new innovative ways to push your income levels higher. How about selling real and virtual products for example. Creating passive income streams to bring you in money whilst you are asleep. Or perhaps hiring associates or affiliates to sell your products.

You see hypnosis marketing never ends. There is never a point where you have done enough and there is never a point where you should have run out of ideas. If you feel that you are stuck and have no idea how to get those initial clients or how to take your business to a level where you earn additional income then you are a prime candidate for my marketing and mentoring sessions. Over a period of six months to a year I work with you to build great foundations for your business so that once you have a great base level of income you can start to take things to another level. Yes you will have to work hard but the rewards are potentially unlimited when you really commit to running a business instead of thinking as a vocational career choice.

Testing Testing – Is Your Hypnosis Marketing Up to Scratch?

Posted on by Martina McKeough

Hypnosis Marketing - Website TestingWhen was the last time you had a look at your website? Not a quick glance but a long hard look at what elements are working well and what elements need some changes. We often need to take a step back to really take in an overview of our creations or if possible get somebody else to look at our websites with fresh eyes. Why? Because when your website isn’t working well this is the first thing that your clients will pick up on and it could send them running to someone else. Your website is often the first way that people learn about you and if yours is not up to scratch you are to blame for negative hypnosis marketing.

So what are the things that we need to look out for in our websites? Here are just a few elements that it is worth your while checking:

1) Spelling – If I were to log in to a website and see that there was awful grammar and dreadful spelling it would send me running for the hills. This is such a simple thing to rectify. Run your pages through a spellchecker. Pay someone to proof read your content. Get it right first time.

2) Broken Links – How many of you have links to internal and external pages that simply are not working? Take the time to go through each of your links to make sure that everything is up to scratch. If they lead to nowhere get them fixed.

3) Contact Me – Regularly test your contact form on your site. I lost a few days worth of clients not long ago because my server was full. If I had sent out a test email to myself I would have picked it up straight away.

4) Products – If you sell products are your customers able to buy them? On more than one occasion I have lost sales because of problems with my downloads. You can easily make some test purchases to make sure that everything is working ok.

5) Responsiveness – How responsive is your website? In other words if I were to look at your website on a tablet, phone or computer would it look the same or would elements in the website be missing, squashed or out of alignment? When you are doing your hypnosis marketing you need to step into the shoes of your customers. If they are seeing a mess of a website because they are using a different system to you then it needs to be fixed. If you website is not mobile responsive expect to be penalised in the search engines.

6) Simplicity – As the saying goes “keep it simple stupid”! Are you actually getting your message across to your customers or have you written content that is too wordy, complex or unintelligible for your readers? Does your website have flashing images or annoying music when you log in? If it does then it is time to drop it. Have you put a god awful video of yourself on the front page which looks shabby and unprofessional? If you can’t read like a newsreader and don’t look professional and engaging then leave the video out. It will only have your customers running for the hills.

7) Long Load Times – How quickly does your website appear when somebody clicks on it. Generally the faster the better. Google penalises sites that do not load quickly.

All of these issues are easy and simple to fix and will make a big difference to your hypnosis marketing. Remember websites should be reviewed and updated regularly with fresh content. Google loves new material placed on your website and so do your customers as well. Take the time today to review your site and think about what you can do to make it more user friendly for your clients. If you are not confident doing it yourself I conduct website review sessions with my clients. Not only will I look at some of the elements above I will tell you how to write more successful copy that converts browsers into buyers.

 

 

Hypnotherapy Marketing – What Should You Charge?

Posted on by Martina McKeough

THypnotherapy feesoday I participated in a fascinating debate on a LinkedIn group where a person had posted a question on exactly how much a hypnotherapist should charge. What followed were a series of posts on the amount people charged clients, what was too much and what was too little. What really got me interested however was that a number of people wrote that they saw themselves as healers first and then hypnotherapists and therefore they never expected to earn much from the profession. Wow I thought this is a problem. How can we be expected for people to take us seriously when we can’t even see ourselves as offering a service that is worth real money. This is a perfect example of negative hypnotherapy marketing.

I was very clear with the group. I do not or have never seen myself as a healer. In fact for those of you writing websites please never post that word on your pages. What does the image of a healer conjure up to you in this day and age? My guess is some new age hippy type who believes that they can make someone well without there being any scientific evidence to demonstrate their abilities. Healers are seen as quacks and also people who could potentially prey on the vulnerable in exchange for dubious services. Alternatively healers are seen as people who have some god given gift to help others. In particular they go around offering to help others for little or no money. Frankly neither of these descriptions comes even close to what I do.

In my hypnotherapy marketing I am very clear. I am a professional therapist who is a member of a serious professional body and who has got significant training and expertise in the area in which I work. I run a very serious business and because of that I deserve to be paid accordingly. My charges may vary depending on the area where you come to see me or the program which you are on but ultimately do not expect cheap. Why am I not cheap? Because I need to pay my bills and live a good lifestyle.  Think like a healer or a person who does not deserve to earn very much and that is exactly what will happen.

Your earnings as a hypnotherapist need to be sufficient for you to pay the bills. That means your income at the very least needs to keep you solvent. Personally I prefer my income to do more than just pay my outgoings each month. I like to go on nice holidays and eat in nice restaurants and I work hard to make sure that I earn enough so I can enjoy the finer things in life. Not every therapist however has the business savvy to make sure that they can do the same.

Get Your Priorities Right

As well as working with therapists I have helped plenty of small business owners over the years. One individual springs to mind who ran play classes for small children. Generally her business model was that she would hire out a school or a church hall and a number of times a week parents could bring their children to the classes for a couple of hours. It would allow the parents to know that the children were being looked after for a couple of hours whilst they got on with other chores. Meanwhile the children would have a great time playing with their friends and enjoying the activities provided for them.

Such a simple business model yet the person concerned was living hand to mouth. In fact when I met her she could not afford to put on the heating in her flat. Why? Because instead of charging the parents for a terms worth of classes she would only charge them if they turned up. This therefore created the problem that she never knew how much money she would be earning each week. If the parents fancied doing something else she would have the hall and overheads to pay for and no money to pay for it. In order to create a stable income for her it was really simple, charge the parents per term. She would have a guaranteed income and then she would not need to worry about her basic income.

Now What About You?

Why do I tell this story? Because I know that plenty of therapists out there do the same thing. They have a room which they need to pay for either in a set time slot or on an ad-hoc basis. They book their client in for a session and the client does not bother to show up. Not only have you then lost the time for the session but you have also paid for room hire, travel costs and lost the travel time to and from the clinic. You have lost money by trying to help people. Now if you had taken a deposit or the payment up front it would be a very different story. I rarely get no shows now because people have paid their hard earned cash upfront.

Or what about the therapists who book their clients on a program and charge session by session. They hand their clients booklets, audios and information packs in the first session and never see their clients again. They have taken all your valuable information and resources and walked out the door with and you will never get paid the full cost of the service.

Have you ever given discounts? Felt sorry for a client and worried that they would not have access to therapy if you didn’t lower your price. Then you found out that this client was living in a large house, paid for Sky TV every month and eating in the best restaurants in town. You have reduced your income because your client has decided they want to prioritise their spending in areas other than their health.

Earn The Income You Deserve

Unless you are one of the few very business savvy therapists in this industry you need to up your prices today. Whatever you are charging is probably too little and if you are a woman this is almost definitely the case. Read my blog on hypnotherapists and gender pay differentials. In this same LinkedIn group there were many people saying that they had hardly upped their charges in years. There is a fear in the industry that we will push our clients away if we charge too much. Yet year on year I have consistently increased my prices and each year my income has risen substantially. I should point out that I started my business during the worst recession out there and still made money.

People will always pay for quality and successful results. Look at your website, the rooms you use with your clients and your advertising. Do they scream success at you? If not then up your game because you will never clients paying more unless they believe they are getting value for their hard earned money. Do not believe as many hypnotherapists do that the profession is lowly paid and therefore you will never become rich from your business. That simply is not true. I see plumbers, builders, electricians all making money from their careers and they are self employed as well. The difference is that they run their businesses to make money whilst most therapists don’t.

Believe it or not you can have your cake and eat it. With my hypnotherapy marketing courses and business mentoring I can help you to have a vocation that you love and to earn great money from it as well. Learn how to market like a pro and watch your income soar.

 

Are you a Hypnotherapy Marketing Dinosaur?

Posted on by Martina McKeough

hypnotherapy marketing don't be a dinosaurWhether you have been a therapist for years or are just starting out there is one thing you do not need to be and that is a hypnotherapy marketing dinosaur. In other words a person who is using old techniques and strategies to get clients in through the door that simply are not working anymore. What used to work ten years ago may not longer be applicable now. In fact with the pace that new technology and the internet is moving at now practices that used to work a year ago are already becoming obsolete. Time and time again I see therapists who are wasting money on marketing campaigns that will never work effectively and if this is you then you need to stop!

So where to start. Well there are plenty of old fashioned mediums that people are still using which are a waste of time. Many directories for example are well past their sell by dates. How many people now search for a hypnotherapist in one of the paper directories now? Most searches are now conducted online so if you don’t have a great profile on the internet then you are doomed from the start.

Or how about therapists who are still getting hundreds of flyers delivered door to door? There is only one place where these items go and that is straight into the bin. What about those of you who advertise in local newspapers. Are you really getting enough customers to pay for your ad that is stuck on page 20 where nobody looks? The reason many therapists are still using these mediums for their hypnotherapy marketing is because in many cases they really don’t know what else to try. They have not updated their marketing skills and because of that they keep on flogging a dead horse in the vain hope that they will still get the same benefits as many years ago.

Hypnotherapy Websites

Now lets think of your websites. How many of us create a website to advertise our businesses and then never do anything to keep it fresh and exciting? A static website which does nothing at all is useless in the eyes of many search engines. They want to see new content regularly  otherwise you will never head up the search engine rankings. An old website may also do nothing for your customers especially if it looks basic in comparison with the latest offerings that are in the market. Generally you should be looking at updating your current site once every couple of years to really keep up with the latest trends. Get a website review to tell you where to start.

Skype Hypnotherapy

How many of you are now offering Skype or online sessions to your customers? If you are not then why not? Yes I have heard all the comments about many therapists preferring one to one sessions with their clients and I understand that but what do your customers want? I can tell you that your customers who are under forty are much more willing to use online forms of communication with many preferring it. Do you really want to alienate a big percentage of potential customers?

New Skills

Now lets look at how many of you have learned hypnotherapy marketing skills in the past year. I know that as part of your CPD’s you will always be updating your hypnosis knowledge but what learning new ways to get customers in through your door. How many of you really know how to use social media effectively? What about building a simple website? Creating an email campaign? Selling apps? Writing Ebooks? Blogging effectively? I could go on and on. You should never stop learning new skills especially ones that are going to make you more money. I help many small businesses learn new ways of marketing and I can tell you the pay back can be huge.

Hypnotherapy Marketing Business Plans

If you have never mapped out a plan on how to improve your business then it is never too late to start. Take time and out work out exactly what you need to achieve. How many customers do you need or how much money to you have to earn to achieve a great standard of living? How far apart is your current reality from those numbers? Now what are you going to put in place to make this happen? Where is your one month, six months, yearly plan? If you have never done this before then I can help. I mentor small businesses and make the vision a reality. Your hypnotherapy marketing does not need to be a chore when you have someone who supports you by your side. Don’t be a dinosaur or stick your head in the sand while the world moves on without you. Get the business you deserve by making improvements to the way that you market today.

Hypnosis Marketing – This One is For the Ladies!

Posted on by Martina McKeough

Hypnosis Marketing - Men Vs WomenI love a statistic and particularly when it comes to hypnosis marketing and the business we are in. This post is aimed at all the women out there because I want you to understand how your gender is potentially impacting how much you earn even though as a hypnotherapist you are probably self employed. Currently the gender split in the UK for our industry is that 30% of hypnotherapists are men and the remaining 70% are women. It is a female dominated industry yet when it comes to earnings there is a shocking figure you need to be aware of. Women in the industry earn 40% less than men! These statistics are not made up, they are based on figures from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Yep you heard me. Female hypnotherapists in the UK earn a whopping 40% less than their male counterparts. This isn’t because some faceless corporation is discriminating against you but because you have made it happen. Nobody has told you that you were worth less money, nobody has stopped you from building a great business yet almost every woman in the industry will earn significantly less than male hypnotherapists. If you are a female hypnotherapist then I hope this shocks you because I am hoping it will spur you all into action so that you do something about it.

So why does this situation exist? Well here are some of my theories:

1) Confidence – As a hypnotherapist we should be instilling this into each of our clients at almost every session yet many of the female therapists that I have met are lacking in this quality themselves. They are not sure if they are good enough, they doubt their ability to run a business. They see the odd client here and there but worry about increasing the scale of their business. Many are part timers or have incomes supplemented by their partners. How on earth are we supposed to help our clients to feel confidant when so many of us lack this basic feeling ourselves?

2) Risk Taking – Now I am not talking gambling huge amounts of money on business ventures that could ruin you. I am thinking about the fact that women tend to be more cautious and that means they are worried about investing to get a return. They are less likely to work in business premises, less likely to invest in training and materials and even less likely to spend much on their advertising. No wonder they earn significantly less.

As an example of this I will give you an illustration of where women make the wrong choices. As well as being a marketing and business development expert I am a hypnotherapy supervisor for the GHR. Over the years I have had a number of enquiries from women about using me for their supervision. Now I am not a cheap supervisor but then again the difference between my charges per hour vs another therapist used to be in the region of £20 to £30. Now many of the woman who asked about my services knew that I had the potential to bring them in significant amounts of business and revenue but most chose the cheaper service to save themselves cash in the short term. They were quite prepared to sacrifice their potential earnings so they could save a small amount of money in the short term fully knowing that the supervisor they were seeing would be unable to increase their business. Money they would have earned back with just one new customer in a year. Madness!

3) Business Knowledge and Skills – When was the last time you updated your business skills? I can almost guarantee that most of the female hypnotherapists in this industry have very little basic business and marketing skills to really drive clients their doors. Do you know how to create a simple website? What about your knowledge on SEO, Social Media? If the answer is no to the above then expect to earn less then your male counterparts because I can bet you that a reasonable number of them will be taking an interest in learning these skills.

4) Perceived Worth – Women tend to undervalue themselves. They look at what they think they should be charging and tend to underestimate significantly. Men do the opposite. That difference whether it is £10, £20 or £30 per hour soon adds up. If you have the good fortune to see 20 clients per week charging just £10 less than a male hypnotherapist means that you are earning £200 less per week, £800 less per month and £9600 less per year!

5) Undervaluing Skills and Experience – Many women look at their qualifications and the years of experience they have and underestimate what that knowledge is worth. I often see newly qualified hypnotherapists discount their services as if they were still trainees even though they have the qualifications to work at full price with clients. It is almost as if they are worried that they will be found out if they charge more.

6) Treating Their Business as a Part Time Hobby – Now I totally understand that sometimes a woman would like the choice of working flexibly when they are bringing up children. That is a lifestyle choice and that is not what this comment is aimed at. I am however less sympathetic to women who start a business with no real idea of where to go with it. Have you never heard of a business plan? Building a business takes lots of hours, hard work and dedication. You can’t just dip in and out of it spending time at the gym and having coffee with your mates and then doing an hour or two a day hoping that things will pick up. Women need to take their business seriously and that means understanding that in order to get your business off the ground you need to do some seriously hard work. That means sitting at your desk and working from 9 in the morning until late in the evening even when you haven’t got clients. You need to build strong foundations in order to grow a business and that is done by creating a strong business plan. If you don’t know how to create a great strategy for your business then find someone who will help.

My passion is working with all genders to help them with their hypnosis marketing and business goals. In my world there is no excuse for a self employed female to earn 40% less than the men in their industry. If you feel this is your situation then you need to get help now to turn the tables and earn exactly what you deserve. I offer business mentoring and coaching for therapists from all professions. and all genders. For the male therapists out there I can help many of you to earn more as well. Don’t let the statistics stick, buck the trend and earn a decent salary by getting professional help. The small investment in yourself and your business will be worth it.

Hypnotherapy Marketing – What your Premises Says About You.

Posted on by Martina McKeough

Hypnotherapy marketing - Location of ClinicsThis blog post was inspired by something that actually occurred in one of my sessions with a client. During the assessment stage of first our session my client spent time discussing what she did for a living and explaining her set up at work. The client concerned worked from home with her mother and in our session described a scenario which made me think about hypnotherapy marketing and what your business premises say about you.

For obvious reasons the client and their actual business will remain confidential but the scenario may sound familiar. This client ran a business from her home which required people to come to the house and pick up products. She described how cosy this place was and how her customers knew them so well that they would sit smoking with them around the fire and playing with their dogs. How things were very informal and that they would share each others problems and how many of their customers considered this place a home from home. This client had a romanticised picture of how great her business was and from her explanation she obviously felt her customers loved the set up as well.

Whilst my client was talking a very different picture was appearing in my mind. All I could think of was how unprofessional the set up sounded. I shuddered at the thought of dogs roaming around in the middle of business transactions and worried what the people who were afraid of dogs felt when they entered the house. I thought about the blurring of lines between their professional life and home environment and how sharing problems with your clients is not really the done thing to do. Oh and I worried about the hygiene in the house with the dogs, the clients meeting each other as there was no real appointments system and frankly I was horrified. The picture in my mind was this is amateur hour!

Hypnotherapy Marketing and Your Working Environment

This scenario is a perfect example of how a bad set up can cheapen you and your product. At worst this set up sounded like a bad drug dealing den. Who on earth is going to want to pay good money for your services or products when you are running a business without any professional premises or boundaries?  Yes this client was attracting customers but only people who wanted to pay rock bottom prices because they were getting terrible service.

Now although this client was not working in the therapy industry I have experienced similar issues in our industry. I once turned up to a therapists house for a session of EFT and was led to a room which had a filthy carpet covered in fluff and odds and ends. At no point in the session did I think about the therapy I was just willing someone to get a hoover and clean the room. Talk about a distraction.

When you are marketing your hypnosis practice considering how and where you work is of huge importance as that will dictate your prices and the customers that you get. For example here are a number of places that will immediately lower your prices:

  • A room at a local community centre.
  • Running a business where there is no parking or transport.
  • Working in a downmarket area of town.
  • Having  a run down and noisy premises.
  • Rooms in a cheap hairdressers or nail salon.
  • Working in a tower block.

Now how about the locations which will boost your prices:

  • Working in a Spa or Health Farm
  • Premises in the best end of town.
  • Working in a doctors surgery.
  • Working in a holistic health centre.
  • Having rooms in the centre of the city with private parking.

Having the right location can bring you in increased revenue in most cases without you doing anything at all. That is because a good location suggests that if you can afford to practice there then you must be good. Work in a doctors practice and you are seen as legitimate by association. Work in a holistic health centre and it is possible to work with other therapists for cross referrals.

How Working in a Spa Adds $£££$$$ to Your Bottom Line

A perfect example of how the right location can boost your profits was illustrated by a client who rang me to tackle her sugar addiction. This client had previously seen a therapist in a spa who had guaranteed that he would resolve the problem and charged her a whopping £500 for the session. Now the treatment had not worked and she was looking for someone else to work with. I sat there on the phone with my mouth wide open. £500 for a treatment that did not work and all because it was being offered at a spa. Ridiculous.

Now I am not saying that you immediately start offering bogus treatments as part of your hypnotherapy marketing. What I am saying is that people are prepared to pay lots of money when they are being pampered. Spas attract people with money to spend and who want to try unusual treatments. So creating for example a group weight loss one off session for spa residents would be a great way to earn a very decent wage for a morning or afternoons work.

Harley Street Hypnotherapy

Every country in the world is likely to have a location where people will pay a premium for services. In London that place is Harley Street in Central London. It has supposedly the best doctors, dentists, consultants and of course therapists in the whole of the UK. People who come to see therapists in Central London expect to pay double if not triple the price of elsewhere. Get your marketing right in this location and your self employed income will be significantly more than other hypnotherapists. I have a clinic that I work out of in Harley Street and I can say that the revenue I earn at this location is significantly more than the costs I pay for this room each month.

Working From Home as a Therapist

Now at no stage am I saying that a therapist can’t work from their home. I do that as well on certain days and times of the week but if you are going to then you need to be absolutely clear on your set up.

  • No animals
  • Room fit for purpose
  • Frontage of House looking impeccable
  • Noise and distraction free.
  • Everything immaculately clean.
  • Have a room where people don’t have to traipse through your house.
  • Professional contracts and boundaries.
  • No contact with clients at home between sessions.
  • No toys or washing hanging around.
  • Toilet for client use smelling and looking great.

These are just some pointers to help you create a professional environment. No matter what my client thought nobody wants to arrive at a house which is looking a mess because it is informal. Informal means cheap and it is a great way of earning little money or getting your clients to never return.

So when you are thinking of hypnotherapy marketing and how you can earn a better living start to consider how you can use your location to increase your revenue. Take the time and effort to find the right clinic or rooms and they will pay for themselves ten fold.

 

 

Marketing a Hypnotherapy Practice Without Mentioning your Guru!

Posted on by Martina McKeough

https://www.hypnotherapymarketingexpert.comI am always fascinated by other peoples websites and how they use them to sell their products and services and drive customers to their sites. I especially interested in their home pages as that sets the tone for the rest of their website. Now I seek out these websites because I want to see what my competition is doing. If I see them doing something innovative or interesting then I may follow their lead on my own sites. I love to learn from others. What I usually come across however is people making a fundamental mistake of marketing and that is not putting themselves in their customers shoes. Today I will share that mistake with you and show you how marketing a hypnotherapy practice can be done without mentioning your guru!

So what is this mistake? Wasting valuable front page website space writing paragraphs on who they trained with and the lofty institutes which gave them their qualifications. More often that not there will be links to their training schools or gurus and even pictures of them on their front page. Now whilst that is great advertising for your mentors and trainers it is absolutely useless for you.

Firstly marketing a hypnotherapy practice by referring to a person only known in the hypnosis world is totally pointless. In the UK there are really one two hypnotists that anyone knows and they are Paul McKenna and Derren Brown. Everyone else is totally meaningless to your clients and they couldn’t care less. Unless you have trained with someone who is a celebrity therapist really don’t bother wasting your time. Instead spend your time writing about what really counts and that is who you are, where you are and how you can help your clients feel better.

Remember you need to put yourself in your customers shoes and give them what they want. They have no interest in who you trained with just whether you are going to solve their problem. I should add that therapists that write wordy, flowery, incomprehensible and meaningless home pages are equally at fault. Using phrases that nobody understands isn’t really going to help you get the sale. As the saying goes “Keep it simple stupid”!

Secondly every time you put a link on your website you are giving publicity to someone else and that is worth something. Really think about whether you feel that the person you are mentioning deserves this free publicity.  Also consider whether by mentioning this training institute or trainer you are giving your potential client the opportunity to leave your site and look at theirs. This means that they will potentially be given access to a database of other practitioners whose websites might look better than yours and you lose the business. When it takes time and effort to get traffic to your website letting your customers look elsewhere is foolhardy to say the least.

When you are marketing a hypnotherapy practice you need to do everything you can to keep that person looking at your site and then contacting you for an appointment and that means keeping your bounce rate low. If you have never heard this term it is used to describe people coming across your website and only quickly viewing one page and then moving on elsewhere. By having links to other organisations on your front page you are giving people an opportunity to head elsewhere immediately. You need to try and keep those visitors on your site for as long as possible and be giving them valuable information not just one the front page but on your other pages as well. The more they hang around the more they are getting to know and trust you which means more sales.

Marketing a hypnotherapy practice on a website is relatively simple when you know how but many people throw a website together without ever giving any real thought to the words and information they are using. The fact is that every single sentence, paragraph and link you place on your site needs to considered carefully. When you understand how to structure a website then it will attract more business. Make fundamental errors and you have lost your customers from the start. Want a website review to help you convert searchers into buyers? Contact me for more details on how to turn your site into a client magnet instead of a dud.

Marketing Hypnosis – Who are You Targeting?

Posted on by Martina McKeough

marketing hypnosisSo you are a therapist and you are marketing hypnosis. How exactly do you go about finding people to come to your clinic? Well I will tell you what the average therapist does. They sign up to Yell and a few other directories, distribute leaflets around their area and make a generic website with the minimum number of pages to try and entice clients to call and book. The problem is they are trying to be all things to all people and are scattering their marketing efforts far and wide without ever considering who their target market really is.

Marketing hypnosis through leaflets for example must be one of the greatest examples of futility when they are distributed around your local neighbourhood. You can send out thousands of them but in 99.9% of cases they will never be looked at and thrown in the bin. Why? Because most of the people you are sending the leaflets out to have no interest in seeing a hypnotherapist. It is a classic case of non targeted marketing and it does not work! In order to attract clients you need to work smarter. A generic leaflet won’t cut it but a targeted leaflet handed to the right people might. For example a leaflet about weight loss hypnosis handed out to people before they enter a Weight Watchers class might be nearer the mark. Leaflets about past life regression handed to people attending a mind, body and spirit event could get a greater response and so on.

The same thoughts apply to your website marketing. Is your website trying to be all things to all people. Would it be better if your website targeted a specific group of people so that you are now perceived as an expert in that area rather than the scatter gun approach? I know that if I want help with something I look for someone who is considered an expert in that area. So if I had a problem with stress I would look for someone who specialised in helping with that issue. If I had a choice between a website that dealt purely with that problem and another which mentioned everything under the sun then I would be more likely to pick the one that targeted me.

You see when it comes to marketing hypnosis people want to feel that you know them and you can help them with their exact problem. When they come across your site they want you to have explained exactly why they are feeling the way that they are and how you can fix that issue. Preferably they would also love to see testimonials from people who have experienced exactly the same problem as they have and how they have been helped to overcome the it quickly and easily. A potential client reading this thinks that you know and understand them and will be happy to ring you because you seem like the go to person in that area. A generalist website, leaflet, directory entry or business card simply doesn’t speak to them in the same way.

Whenever you think of marketing hypnosis you have to consider who am I targeting? When you know who you are aiming your services at then you can write copy that speaks to them and them alone. It really is a very simple marketing tactic but one that so many people get wrong. Then when you have the targeted copy consider carefully how you are going to get that to your target audience. Match you audience with the treatments that they are looking for and bingo you get your sale. Think about adjusting your hypnotherapy marketing strategy today to encompass this tactic and watch your conversions increase.