hypnotherapy business Archives - Hypnotherapy Marketing Expert

Anxiety Therapy Marketing – Facebook Live Event

Posted on October 11, 2019October 11, 2019 by Martina McKeough

It seems apt that I started to write this post on World Mental Health day as I want to talk about working with anxiety clients and how to conduct anxiety therapy marketing to attract this group of clients. The statistics clearly show that mental health issues are on the rise each year and more than ever before there are huge groups of people around the globe who need help from therapy professionals. In the UK the NHS is the first port of call for most of these people but with funding cuts and a reliance on prescribing pills as a solution there are a huge range of anxious people out there whose problems still persist. As a hypnotherapist I know that it is possible to make a huge difference to these people but in order to do that you firstly need to know how and then how to attract those clients.

For those of you wondering the size of the market here are some of the statistics from just the UK where I am based:

Prescriptions for anti-depressants and anxiety medication has risen from 31 million in 2006 to 65 million in 2016.
1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem each year.
Only 1 in 8 people with a mental health problem are receiving treatment.
Medication is the number one choice for doctors in the UK.
Mental health funding is dropping year on year in real terms.

These clearly show that our current health systems simply cannot keep up with the sheer volume of people who need help. This is why private healthcare is a booming business and one that you need to be part of.

Marketing for Mental Health Professionals

If any new therapist asked me what could make a difference to their practice I would tell them these three things:

Be great at what you do. Solve problems and your clients will spread the word about your methods.
Whilst you are building traction in start to implement a host of therapy marketing strategies to help you build your income.
Create a passive income stream to insulate your business from seasonality and to increase your earnings.

As a hypnotherapist I know that most hypnotherapy training in the UK is relatively basic. It gives you the bare bones of what you need to do but has very little detail to make sure that you get outstanding results time and time again. This is why there are a ton of CPD courses out there to help us improve our methods and strategies. BUT not all CPD courses are built the same. Some have poor content, are generic and have little new to offer our clients which is why I decided to team up with an anxiety specialist with 20 years experience Steve Norton to deliver a Facebook Live discussing how to get the best possible results for these particular clients.

Do you Have a System?

Steve and I decided to partner on this project because we have similar thoughts on how to get results with clients and that is by having a system or framework to work within. When you have a systematic approach to dealing with anxiety clients you can make sure that you have covered all bases to get the best results. Steve has created a four session protocol to help anxiety clients together with scripts, strategies, and methods to alleviate their worries and fears. With over twenty years experience helping anxiety clients this is the perfect program to use in your practice and we will be sharing some insights on his results and experience in our Facebook Live event on the 30th October 2019 at 7pm UK Time.

Lead Generation for Therapists?

So how did Steve and I first meet? Well around 18 months ago I helped Steve with his anxiety therapy marketing strategies and in a relatively short space of time we doubled his website visits and income! This is because I also have a marketing system that can be used successfully time and time again to bring in new clients. If a therapist follows this therapy marketing strategy then they are going to make more money, fact! It therefore made perfect sense for Steve and I to join forces to create a program that not only shows you how to attract clients in the anxiety niche but also how to help them get great positive results as well.

Facebook Live Event 30th October 2019

Want to join Steve and myself to hear more about anxiety therapy marketing and practical steps you can take with your clients? Simply like my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/therapymarketingexpert/ and write a comment to say you are interested and we will send you an invite to the closed session.

Therapy Marketing and Voice Search – The Revolution Begins

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Martina McKeough

Therapy Marketing and Voice Search The world of therapy marketing is changing, a revolution is going on right now but you probably haven’t been even noticed or thought about it so let me enlighten you. Last year I published a blog post about Mobilegeddon. The point at which Google decided that non mobile websites would be penalised in the search results in favour of those that were optimised for mobile. I should point out that I know that there are subscribers to this blog who still have not actioned anything following this announcement nearly a year later. That means that not only are they a year behind on their SEO it also means that they are unable to optimise on voice search.

So what exactly is voice search? Simply put it is a new way of getting information from your smart phone or tablet simply by asking questions to get information. That means it is no longer necessary to type something into a search engine to get results. Instead you can ask your question and you will get a reply back from your technology. The big players in this market are “Ok Google” and “Siri” although there are other sytems out there. The figures for this market are huge with over 55% of teenagers using this form of search and approximately 41% of adults. That means that nearly half the people who may want to use your services are no longer typing queries into search engines but are simply speaking into their phones to get the answers they want.

Getting Your Therapy Website found With Voice Search

If you are serious about your therapy marketing that means that you will need to take into account how you can get your information to the people who are looking for your services on voice search. Here are just some examples of how this can be made easier.

Long Tail Keywords

When we look for a product in a search engine we are likely to type in just a short phrase such as “Hypnotherapist in London” or “Confidence Hypnosis in Edinburgh”. With voice search we tend to use longer phrases or sentances in order to get the information that we want such as “Who is the best weight loss hypnotherapist in Ireland?”.

Using long tail copy in your posts and content is becoming an increasingly popular way to get found in the search engines. This makes perfect sense when as there are some keywords that you are never going to be found for without the long tail version being used. For example the keywords “Hypnotherapy London” will bring up thousands of results. and so an average hypnotherapist is unlikely to ever be able to compete without for those keywords without a long term SEO strategy. However if a therapist where to define the area of London that they worked in it would reduce the level of competition. If they were also to write additional copy in a conversational style they would also be optimising for voice search.

Conversational Phrasing

When people use voice search they talk into Siri or Ok Google as if they were having a conversation. They don’t simply say “Hypnotherapy London”. They will ask “Where can I find a hypnotherapist in London?”. This more natural form of phrasing means that parts of the copy on your websites and blogs should also mimic this style in places where it is appropriate.

Use of FAQ’s in Your Content

Many therapists especially hypnotherapists already use FAQ’s in their content but I can guarantee that most have not thought how to write that section of their website with mobile voice search in mind. Now think of writing that copy again but answering the questions that people would want to know on voice search. Remember the questions asked in voice search tend to be “Why, where, when, how and what?”. The FAQ’s of course do not have to be just placed in your main content but can also be placed on your web pages or on your blogs.

The Devil is in the Detail

If you a therapist who has barely bothered to write a paragraph or two on each page of their website then you are likely to be a loser where this revolution is concerned. Valuable and informative content in becoming increasingly important. I know that most of the students who come to be for marketing coaching have very rarely bothered to make much of an effort in their initial website attempts. They might have tried to cobble together a website themselves which is misaligned and has three or four pages with little information. When this little effort has been made there is nothing for the search engines or voice search to crawl. That means the Google bot comes along looking for words in that content that gives it clues as to what information that website contains. If the website has no information then the hypnotherapist does not get found. I spend a good portion of the time I have with my clients helping them to understand exactly what hard work they will need to put in to their web design in order to get customers from the internet.

The world of therapy marketing is changing all the time and staying on top of these changes is crucial to prevent your business model from becoming obsolete. Getting a helping hand to create therapy marketing solutions and to implement them can mean the difference between success in your chosen profession or heading back to your old day job. This is why my therapy marketing coaching helps my clients to drive customers to their door.

Using Periscope and Meerket to Promote Your Hypnotherapy Business

Posted on August 9, 2015March 20, 2017 by Martina McKeough

Ever heard of these apps? My guess is that the vast majority of hypnotherapists haven’t a clue what I am talking about. You see the world of social media is changing all the time and the latest methods of communicating with your followers is by live streaming video from your phone. Both Periscope and Meerkat allow you to do this and both are linked to your Twitter account. In fact Twitter owns Periscope. This allows users to comment on your live streams and see how many people are actually watching and viewing your content. If people like what they are seeing then they like it on Meerkat or signal their approval with a heart on Periscope.

So what do these two apps mean for you. Well firstly if we look at their usefulness outside of promoting you Hypnotherapy Business. Lets say that you are on holiday and you are about to take the cable car up Table Mountain in South Africa. How amazing would it be to livestream the views and your comments on your phone. You could arrange for your friends and family to be alerted of the broadcast and show them exactly what you are experiencing at that moment. Or perhaps you are out and about and you come across an amazing sight. Same thing start a broadcast and transmit what you are seeing to your followers. If they like what they see the comments will start to flow in. Just remember that on Periscope what you broadcast is deleted within 24 hours.

Using Live Streaming to Promote Your Hypnotherapy Practice

As this blog is all about marketing them of course I am going to talk about how you can use this great tool to promote your business.

1) Using it for Q&A sessions – I know that you will find that many of your customers ask the same questions again and again before they book. Am I asleep under hypnosis? Will I remember what I say? What about creating a broadcast for people thinking about booking with you where you can answer their questions live. Instead of repeating the same questions again and again you can transmit to many people and save time.

2) Group Work – There are a huge number of possibilities of working with clients online and this system has now added another dimension. Imagine offering cheap hypnosis for stop smoking sessions to your customers. Instead of meeting you the hypnosis session is carried out as a live broadcast to those who have signed up and paid you money. No of course it wouldn’t be the same as seeing you one to one but your price could reflect that. Just make sure that you take the same precautions that you would use for Skype sessions. Vet your potential clients carefully and make sure there are no reasons why they should not be using hypnosis.

3) Demonstrations – Many people are afraid of hypnosis and worry about what could happen to them when they see a hypnotherapist. Create a live broadcast of you working with a subject so people can tune in and see the power of hypnosis in action.

4) Announcements – Just got featured in a magazine. Create a broadcast about it. Or what about that new audio that you are selling? Tell your followers so that they are informed about what you are doing and your product offerings.

5) Follow your Potential Customers – Find out who is on the app in your local area and start to follow them and comment on their videos. Remember social media flows in two directions. If they need a hypnotherapist in the future you are the person who will immediately spring to mind.

6) Interact with Fellow Therapists – How about using the apps so that you can hold live supervision sessions? Or stuck with how to handle a particular client. Head on over to the apps and call for help from your fellow professionals for instant feedback.

As both of these apps have been going for less than six months this form of communication is in its infancy. Lets see if they stick around but for the short term experiment and see where this great new form of communication can take you.

10 Ways to Increase Your Hypnotherapy Business Revenue

Posted on July 5, 2015March 20, 2017 by Martina McKeough

Believe it or not it can be very easy to make a difference to your hypnotherapy business revenue with some simple tweaks to the way in which you work. Here are just ten ideas which can help you to improve your earnings that are actionable today.

1) Raise Your Prices – Such a simple thing to do but so many therapists seem to lack confidence in their abilities and what their local market can sustain. In the recession when I started my business I actually raised my prices each year and I found that the demand for my services actually increased. Having cheap session prices sends out a signal to your potential clients that you offer low quality services. Oh and if you live in an affluent area you most certainly should have high prices and never discount. Unbelievably I see many therapists offering bargain basement prices to people in areas with multi million pound houses! If you are one of them stop subsidising your clients Planet Organic habit and raise those hourly rates now.

2) Upsell – Not sure what that means?It means offering a product or service to your client which is more than they originally intended to purchase. So if a client rings you and wants help with sugar addiction and you find that they actually also suffer from anxiety then you can up-sell your services to deal with that problem as well. This will benefit the client as their sugar problem may be fueled by the anxiety. Now instead of seeing your client for one or two sessions you may be seeing them for four to six. Remember this always has to be done ethically so you are not selling your customers services they don’t need.

3) Cross-Sell – If you have other services that you can sell then those can also be offered to your client. For therapists perfect examples of this may be offering your customers audios or apps to assist them in times when they are not in your sessions. Perhaps you have an eBook which has lots of useful tips for a client which they can buy. This advice can be applied to just about any therapist. I know that I recently visited my local Osteopath and I noticed that he sold no products at all in his clinic. Madness! So all his customers who visited him who were told to buy ice packs or surgical tape were heading to the local chemists instead of purchasing these things directly from him. I would have loved the convenience of getting the things I needed then and there especially when I was in pain. The last thing I wanted to do was make another trip somewhere else. Since I pointed out the error of his ways he has gone to a wholesaler and is now starting to sell some of these products. My guess is that he will increase his revenue by 20 to 30% by this simple action.

4) Bundle – I use this tool all the time. Earning more money by bundling products together. A perfect example of this are my hypnosis downloads. I have a number of weight loss audios when sold individually cost around £9.99 each. Now however I have created a full premium weight loss program out of these audios and these retail for £39.99!! You can do the same bundle your sessions or services and watch your profits increase.

5) Get Rid of Bad Customers – 99% of your customers will be great. They will pay on time, be friendly in your sessions and generally cause you no problems at all. Then you will get the one customer who makes your life hell. They are always late for appointments, they continually ask to change their appointment times. They don’t pay on time and want to speak to you on the phone for hours between their sessions. When you make the decision to not deal with these people your life will be so much simpler and it means you are freeing up your time so you can concentrate on other areas of your hypnotherapy business.

6) Take Money up Front – Even better never deal with a bad paying customer ever again and take their session fee up front. I do that with all my customers. Either they pay for individual sessions up front or I take a deposit for multi session products. Never fear this approach. If a customer is reluctant to pay for their sessions up front then you know they are likely to be the very people who wouldn’t turn up for their booked sessions.

7) Invest in the Longer Term – With the profits that you are making in your business you need to invest some of that money into longer term investments. Perhaps some of those profits can be used to creating online training programs, apps, audios or other helpful products that you can sell when you are asleep. This will help you to grow your hypnotherapy business beyond seeing customers and clients one to one.

8) Sell to Multiple People – There are only so many hours in a day which means that if you are seeing one to one clients you will eventually hit a ceiling on your income. Sell to groups of people and you can earn greater revenue if done well. Corporate well-being work is a perfect example of how this kind of work will be much more lucrative than seeing individual clients.

9) Extend Your Market Area – Are you just trying to sell your services to people in your home town? If so think again. People will come and see therapists from miles around so start thinking about advertising your services to your whole county, region or even country!

10) Get Help – Hire a marketing mentor to take your hypnotherapy business to the next level. For a relatively small investment you can transform your business by getting someone to help you transform your business. With the right advice and guidance your business could significantly grow. One of my recent clients has found that her revenue has increased by 30% already and now she has hired two new staff members to help with the workload. My guess is that by the end of year we will have doubled her previous years revenue. Probably the best investment decision she has ever made.

Is Your Hypnotherapy Business Portable?

Posted on June 19, 2015March 20, 2017 by Martina McKeough

You may have noticed that this latest blog post is slightly later than usual. This is because I am planning to move house and having sold in one area I am frantically trying to find somewhere to buy in another part of the country. Moving house of course is only part of the issue because it also means that I will have to move my business as well. Not just a few miles away but to an entirely different area where I currently have no customers or clients who will have seen me. Am I worried? Well no because I believe that my business model will work in any area that I relocate to. The question is can you say the same for your business?

Even though you have no intention of leaving your current location and moving cross country at this time you never know what will happen to you in the future. I know that I had no plans five years ago to leave London but circumstances change. It therefore makes common sense to consider all possibilities when you set up your business as to what would happen if you had to move premises, town or even to another country.

Moving Premises

Unless you work from home or in a very small area with limited choice of rented rooms then it is very likely that you will move premises at least once during your therapy career. I know that I have moved premises a number of times in the areas where I have worked. Mainly because I was always looking for the best premises for myself and my clients. I always recommend that wherever you set up your hypnotherapy business you look at a location where you have a choice of premises. This means that if one place closes or becomes unsuitable you always have other locations where you can move without any disruption to your income. Income stability should be a big consideration when planning your business strategy.

When you choose your business location then I would suggest that you make sure that the set up is such that either you are the only hypnotherapist at that location or you have full control of your phone number and advertising. Why? Well let us say that you decide to work at a natural health clinic in your local town or city. You rent the room space, they field your calls and there is some form of joint advertising. In other words they advertise the clinic so you may get some business that way but the onus is on you to bring in the bulk of the customers.

So you begin to optimise your website for that location, link your Google places account to the same premises and generally get calls flooding in to the receptionist at the clinic. Then they decide to hire out another one of their rooms to another hypnotherapist. Now what happens? Well firstly the receptionist no longer knows who brought in the customer. That means that the new hypnotherapist could potentially be getting business because of your hard work. Always keep control of the phone number that you have on your websites. That way you get the calls and you book the people. If the other therapists are not proactive in their advertising they will have empty slots and you will be the busy one.

Moving Location

A loss of income when you move your therapy location is almost impossible to avoid unless your earn substantial amounts of passive income. However this reduction in income can be minimal if you have a great business model.

Websites – When you understand SEO and website design it can be really easy to replicate a winning formula and simply transfer it to another area. Of course organic rankings take time no matter how great you are but in the short term using pay per click will get you customers in through your door.

Understanding what Sells – If you really understand clients problems, know what they need resolved and provide them information on how you can eradicate their issues then you have a winning formula. It does not matter where you are in the Western world as the problems are always going to be the same. People always want to lose weight, there is always anxiety and confidence is always going to be lacking in some people. Show people how you can resolve these and your bank balance will always be positive.

Online – If you haven’t caught on to the online revolution yet then it is time to dip your toe in the water. Conducting therapy online is a great growth area. It means that not matter where you are based or where your clients are. Providing you have reasonable website access you will be able to do therapy sessions. Even better create an online course which does not even require you to be involved and you can earn money whilst you are asleep.

Passive Income – Never rely totally on income from one to one clients. Try and create income streams in other areas as well. That means that there will always be some money entering into your business. Selling audios, video courses, eBooks never rely on location and can be bought by people all over the world. Oh and don’t forget to collect those emails. Google may change and alter its algorithm but if you have a large database of email addresses of people you can sell to then you will never go hungry.

So if you want a great hypnotherapy business spent some time thinking about the what ifs. Remember change is inevitable at some point so you may as well have contingency plans just in case it happens to you.