2 Ways Therapist Training Sabotages Your Marketing

I have a lot of psychotherapists for coaching clients, and I'm seeing an interesting pattern of learned self-sabotage in how counselors tend to approach marketing. It's ironic that we gain a deep knowledge of mental disorders in graduate school, but nothing about the psychology of what motivates people to seek help.

Most therapists are trained to resist providing answers when clients ask for advice. Unfortunately, that carries over into how therapists try to market, and it doesn't work for getting clients.

When people are in emotional distress, they want to stop feeling bad, sad, mad, out of control, incapable, scared, or hopeless. Our marketing needs to acknowledge how they feel and provide a belief that there is a solution that will help them end, overcome, lighten, or otherwise change their felt distress.

This is what motivates them to seek help. This is what our marketing must say.

Secondly, almost all therapists are schooled to keep their personal lives separate and secret from clients. Sometimes that's wise, if you work with dangerously unstable populations. But most of the time that non-disclosure rule prevents the essential know you / like you / trust you factor in marketing that brings people to you door.

Recitation of credentials is not the same as self-disclosure. Especially when given in the impersonal and pseudo-professional 3rd person style of talking about ourselves as if we were someone else, our credentials can come across as cold and distancing. A listing of degrees, awards, and continuing education with trainers no client has heard of is more intimidating than connecting.

Instead, self-disclosure for marketing tells the story of why you are interested in working with a particular type of client with a specific type of problem. It presents you as having your own life touched in some way by something similar. It creates rapport and trust.

Feeling rapport and trust motivates prospective clients to select YOU out of the five dozen other therapists in your zip code.

20 Thoughts to Juggle in Naming Your Business

Selecting a good business name is always a challenge. There are lots of considerations to keep in mind.

• What will the name mean to people who are seeking the type of services you are offering?

• Will the name have a degree of energetic resonance for these people, such that it conveys exactly what they are seeking and they recognize that the first moment they see the name?

• Is the name a clear descriptor for your service, conveying what your business actually does or is?

• Will it create conversation or confusion?

• Is it inspiring for you as well as for your clients?

• Is it short enough and powerful enough to be memorable, and easy for others to spell correctly?

• Does the name evoke a visual image and felt-emotional connection?

• Is there an inherent positive connotation to the name?

• How many ways can it be misunderstood or misspelled in a Google search?

• How much time and effort are you prepared to put into promoting / explaining your business name?

• How much competition is there for a similar name?

• Does the name convey expertise in a niche market?

• Will clients be able to spell and pronounce it when referring you to others?

• In an international marketplace (if your clients will come from across the world), can your business name possibly be a bad word or have inappropriate or detrimental associations in another language?

• Does the name suggest any particular color or color combination and will that match or clash with your branding scheme?(fascinating article on color meanings here: http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/color/a/symbolism.htm)

• Is your favorite name, or one very close to it, already registered with the appropriate business licensing authority?

• Does the name convey a serious business, or is it suggestive of an amateur hobbyist?

• Did you test several names with people likely to be in your ideal client target market?

• Did you test several names with 8-10 year olds and could they tell you what your business does?

• Can you fall in love with your business name, and wear it proudly on a sticky networking badge?

Well, you get my drift. Lots to think about.

I personally like names that hold some special meaning to the business owner, that have some special "zing" to them, while also being memorable and descriptive of the actual work being sold.

Ultimately the marketplace will tell all of us whether we've got a great magnetic business name, or one that gets us lost, forgotten, or is off-putting.

The 4 Legs of Effective Marketing

Effective marketing strategy has 4 main legs:

1. who your ideal client is
2. what type of marketing personality You have
3. how much persistence you are able to commit
4. what stage of development you're in (what your marketing need is)

No one leg of strategy is THE answer for everyone.

Know who your ideal client is. This drives where and how you market, and what your marketing message needs to say. We all have to start here.

Know what type of marketing personality You have. This helps construct a marketing plan that can be consistently followed to get results. We all present ourselves and our business better if we lead with the strengths of being an introvert or extrovert, and use the style opposite from our own to supplement primary activities.

Know how much persistence you are able to commit. Carve out the necessary daily/ weekly/ monthly time, nurture the energy, gain the skills, and do the follow through -- all are needed to make your marketing efforts work.

By the way: four hours a day is optimal to start. Four hours a week is better than 4 hours a month. The more persistence you put in, the faster your business will grow.

Know whether you need to fill your pipeline, follow up with a contact list, get more chance to talk about your work, or become more efficient at converting interested people into clients. Those are the four stages of client attraction development for solopreneurs in the healing arts.

When you know which stage you're in, you'll know exactly what marketing activities you should be doing.

Need help? See The No Hype Mentor for a coaching package that's right for you.

1 Big Easy to Fix Language Mistake that Can Cost You Clients

Therapists and life coaches -- and some NDs -- have developed a way of speaking with clients that is rooted in the notion that it's best to help people explore their own truths and discover their own insights. I'm all in favor of that when working on psychologically transformative issues.

I'm not in favor of it in marketing.

The problem with insight oriented language construction in marketing is that it comes across as vague, insecure, lacking in confidence, and inexperienced. Your prospective ideal client is looking for specific, grounded, self-assured help. Insight oriented language fails to connect with their needs at the moment they are ready to hire our services.

Taking a brief look at a number of websites for self-employed professionals in the healing arts, I've found phrases like the following that aren't drawing in clients:

• if you feel I can help, give [private practice name] a call
• if you choose me as your therapist, I will be honored to walk with you in your journey
• I believe I can help
• it's hard to choose the right therapist, I'd like to help you sort out the best fit
  
• please browse my website and feel free to contact me if you have any questions
  

It almost sounds like you're begging for permission, or worse, begging for business.

What works better in marketing is conveying a sense of certainty, and giving a bit of direction. The easy fix is: direct, specific, short sentences.

For example, rather than please browse my website and feel free to contact me if..... a more client attracting call to action would be See the free tips at [your website url].

Take a look at the phrasing on your website and online profiles. Is it direct and compelling? Does it give the impression that you are sure about your own abilities? Can you feel the confidence exuded from every sentence?

Think: Dating and First Impressions

Relationship marketing, like dating, is a process of getting good prospects to know you, like you and trust you, so that they will want to see more of you. First impressions count.

If we come across as interesting and nice, or funny or helpful, we likely get a second date. If we come across as an unapproachably emotionally cold, intellectually distant, and like a professional know-it-all, those good prospects go elsewhere.

I'm reading a great book right now called The Relationship Cure by the famous relationship therapist, John Gottman. It's not about marketing at all, but does have some interesting parallels to consider regarding how we make bids for connection that cause listeners to turn towards us, away from us, or against us. Obviously in marketing our private practices, we want ideal clients to turn towards us, and to want connection with us.

Basically what works in marriage, parenting, friendship and co-worker relationships, works in client attraction as well because marketing for the healing arts is all about using relationship skills to be of service when others are suffering. I'd boil it down this way:

1. Prioritize your prospective ideal clients' needs over your own
2. Engage with sincere interest in their experience of their pain or problem
3. Downplay your wonderfulness (credentials, training, associations, achievements -- nobody likes a show off)
4. Do tell compelling stories about your own life / imaginary clients that relate to theirs, but don't over do it
5. Take time to be genuinely helpful (with no expectation of a goodnight kiss--er, uh, signing up a client)
6. Have a way to ask them out for more dates (follow up marketing)
7. Listen with enthusiasm and compassion, validate emotions and worries, be supportive

This is a qualitative checklist that can be applied to a wide range of marketing tasks no matter who you're trying to date. Um, I mean, attract as clients. Like mom always said, just be yourself, and you'll be fine.

Guaranteed Success Method -- for Private Practice Failure !

Here's the No Hype Truth this morning ~~ most private practices in the healing arts flounder NOT because the counselor, ND, or coach doesn't take insurance, is fresh out of school, poorly trained, or delivers bad service.

Most solopreneurs fail to put the same level of daily commitment into building their business that they put into getting their education. The harsh fact is that you cannot develop a thriving, self-sustaining, self-employed business if you don't ruthlessly focus 50 - 70% of your time in the beginning on marketing.

Any successful business coach will tell you that spending 4 hours A DAY on marketing is absolutely necessary in the first year if you want to be breaking even or doing better than that. Sounds like a lot? Don't worry, there's plenty to do to keep busy -- it may not even be enough!

And, you want those 4 hours to be spent on the most client-attracting tasks possible. Those include:

• creating a sticky, value-providing website, and continually updating it
• blogging, Tweeting, and other traffic-driving activities
• listing yourself in online locator services and/or doing Google Adwords
  
• monitoring your web-presence and search engine rankings
• writing articles for local, hard copy publications
  
• outreach to referral sources with personal visits, and follow up materials that give valued info
• networking interactions where your ideal clients are
• scheduling, preparing, giving signature talks and / or workshops
• developing and tracking email marketing campaigns
• writing auto-responder series and special reports
  
• evaluating your efforts, eliminating what doesn't work, maximizing what does

There's more that can be done, but these are the can't-do-without basics.

The trick to making all this easy is to be methodical in getting your foundational pieces in place first, because they will then work for you on auto-pilot while your attention is on more advanced marketing tasks. In the beginning, or when struggling, if you want your business to survive and thrive, it's crucial to spend the needed 4 hours a day and be laser focused with self-discipline, commitment to success, and accountability to the health of your business.

I can't emphasize this enough -- being methodical means to have a marketing map and work on one or two things at a time until they are running smoothly, then move on to the next.

The scattered, unfocused, headless chicken approach is a successful, guaranteed method for business failure.

Are You a Business Dabbler?

A coaching colleague has been telling folks that it takes 4 or 5 years to get a solo practice really profitable. That's true for a lot of self-employed people, it seems. But the questions to me are, why and is that timeline the only reality?

You may have already been asked -- are you running a business, or a hobby -- and not realize what that means. Here are my rules of thumb for making that distinction:

You're dabbling at a hobby if you:

• tell a few friends and ask them to spread the word
  
• send a few fliers or postcards to names out of the phone book
• design a website that talks all about you
• put a few "articles" on a blog, call it a website, and never update it
  
• try to appeal to everyone with every problem because you "can't afford to turn away clients"
• spend more time getting organized than doing marketing tasks
• change your pricing too often, or give away your services, or use sliding scale too much
• use less than 4 hours a day for marketing in the first year (or more)
  

You're seriously running a business with a commitment to succeed if you:

• create do-able business and marketing plans before ordering business cards
• schedule 4 hours a day, 6 days a week to accomplish tasks on your marketing plan
• hold yourself accountable for keeping those appointments with your business
• isolate an ideal client niche and use the language they do in describing their problem
  
• work methodically in developing the foundational pieces of your marketing message
• be systematic in pursuing your marketing strategies for connecting with those ideal clients
• create many ways to give valued help as a relationship-building strategy that gets clients
• develop an emotionally compelling, helpful to clients web-presence
• lead with your personality strengths in determining the right marketing activities for you
• pull together a support team that includes professionals with expertise you don't have

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? It is.

Being in a self-employed business is like having several businesses going at once. You have to do the all the work that corporations have multiple departments and many people to accomplish. Yes, some of the work can and should be outsourced to those who can do it better, faster, and cheaper than you can (after factoring in trial and error).

If you aren't ready to eat, breathe, and sleep your practice, you've got yourself a hobby.

Projecting Expertise

Last week I spoke to two groups of naturopathic medical students about marketing their practices after graduation. As expected, there was some resistance to the concept of marketing themselves as an expert when just out of school. This is a normal and appropriate concern.

And it's not just my ND clients who have trouble with this claim. My counselor clients also feel inhibited about calling themselves a specialist. Naturopathic doctors and psychotherapists alike are trained to be generalists, and marketing as a specialist rubs uncomfortably against that.

Plus, let's face it, a lot of us in the healing arts are recovering from poor self-esteem and low confidence. It stretches our own belief in ourselves to say out loud that we have expertise in anything. If I could give us all a pill for that, the magic med would erase all the early life programming we've experienced that damaged our self-concept as relates to the joyful quality we naturally have in childhood when we KNOW we can do anything.

But I digress. One way around this marketing need to project expertise, while still staying in integrity with the truth, is a very simple language shift. In the examples here, do you spot the difference?

• I'm an expert anxiety counselor. Or, My expertise is in eliminating anxiety and depression.
  
• I specialize in helping women with anxiety gain confidence and freedom from debilitating worry.

In the first example, the claim implies a high level of experience, extra rigorous training, or something beyond the average accumulation of education and years in business. (It also is rather egocentric, and just begs to be proven with statistics or some other quantifiable method).

The second example defines a narrow scope of interest and merely says this is where I put most of my attention -- it's what I like doing best. The focus remains on the client type, their problem, and the result they want, rather than staking a claim about myself. It directly states that my role is facilitation of the client's work.

The second example is much different in that it doesn't claim to know everything about anything. It simply states what is true from day one after graduation -- I'm a helper.

If you are graduating this spring as an ND or a therapist and you can't say you're a helper -- well, why did you choose this profession?

Two Key Strategies to Attract & Keep Affluent Clients

Just listened to a tele-class hosted by Fabienne Frederickson and Kelly O'Neil -- two coaches doing fabulously well in this downturned economy by targeting affluent clients. Affluence is defined by them as people with household incomes of $85,000 and up.

One key they emphasized is really no different from marketing to anyone -- and that is, know who your client is, understand what they want, save them time and/or money in getting it, and position yourself as the credible expert for providing it.

In addition, though, the affluent in particular want to be treated as special and important to your business. So little gestures of client appreciation go a long way. Ideas for coaches, counselors and NDs about what those gestures can be include:

1. send birthday cards with hand written note -- to household members that are important to them, such as their kids, and even their pets!

2. send thank you gifts when they refer someone who ends up to be a client -- bottle of wine, gourmet goodie basket, anything extra nice, and make sure your logo is on it!

3. give exclusive access to you -- via a special cell phone number or email address reserved just for them.

4. follow up, check in, give extra attention -- make them feel special, cared about, and like you really want their ongoing business.

Marketing Misconceptions

If I had to brainstorm a list of the most common misconceptions about marketing a private practice as a counselor, coach or naturopathic doctor, I'd name these ideas frequently voiced by my clients.

1. mass market advertising is the best way to make people aware of your services
2. all a professional website needs is a description of your services, including benefits, and your contact info
3. joining a networking group is essential for getting new clients
4. a postcard campaign to referral sources announcing the opening of your business will bring in enough referrals
5. spend a week or so on marketing and then get down to business

There are likely many more misconceptions, and I may start keeping a list! But really, what's wrong with these ideas?

Each of these notions -- except #3 -- is rooted in the idea that there is a magic formula for attracting client that can be accomplished once, and never need ongoing tending. Most self-employed professionals don't realize that building a business is a fulltime job in itself, and that marketing is the most time and energy intensive activity we must continually do if we want to be successful.

Misconception #3 is usually wrong because we join general interest business groups, which is not usually where our clients are -- or because other networkers are intent on getting us as their clients.

Instead of these misconceptions, the marketing truths we need to accept are these:

1. Marketing, like bookkeeping, is a necessary DAILY task -- make it an appointment with success!
   
2. For solopreneurs in the healing arts, niche-based, client-centered marketing works. General, provider-centered marketing doesn't work.
3. Marketing from your personality strengths is more client attracting than trying to copy what works for others.
4. Market only to your ideal client, and don't waste time and resources on a general public.
5. Potential referral sources need to know why sending us clients will solve a problem for them, or how it will increase client loyalty for them.

Need more how to info on marketing your practice? See www.TheNoHypeMentor.com

Do You Have Good Marketing Hygiene?

One of the biggest challenges new and seasoned solopreneurs seem to have is developing the habit of regularity when it comes to marketing. It's a central truth that for marketing to really attract clients, it needs to be done continually. Something -- just one little thing -- should be done everyday that serves your client niche.

A lot of self-employed professionals in the healing arts engage with the care and feeding of their business more like a firefighter than a gardener. We spend our days in crisis mode, putting out one fire after another, rather than patiently and methodically planting and watering seeds, and pulling out weeds. While we may get small flare-ups of clients who are likewise in frantic panic mindset, what we don't get is steady growth of name recognition in the marketplace and a bountiful harvest of ideal clients.

Having good marketing hygiene is like having good self-care hygiene -- it is the set of actions you do that take care of the daily health of your business. Whether it's interacting on a social media or discussion board site, blogging, updating your website, writing articles, giving a talk, attending a networking event or talking a potential referral source to lunch, it's crucial that you do at least one marketing related thing every day.

Plan it, schedule it, and follow through. Make it your business hygiene system for growing a thriving practice. Start today.

Are You Using Marketing Intelligence?

Asking our target audience what they're main problems are that they are right now willing to invest in solving is the action of getting basic marketing intelligence. Big corporate advertisers do this by paying research companies to host focus groups.

Solopreneurs can do the same thing. In fact, it's a good marketing strategy to do so. People love to give their opinions usually. And they like to talk about themselves, and complain about their problems. A focus group is a gold mine of marketing intelligence.

The basis of an invitation to come to a focus group can be that you are gathering information on the topic of ______for a special report you are writing, or for the development of a special tip sheet or CD or workshop. Pitch the invitation as you wanting info from the "in the trenches" experts (your target niche audience).

During the focus group, be sure to sprinkle into your listening a few free tips. Just because you are acting as an information gatherer doesn't mean you aren't still the specialist in your field. Never miss an opportunity to let people sample you doing your work.

Of course, you then do have to create the report (or whatever), but that becomes a further good marketing tool itself.

Gathering marketing intelligence is a standard phase of business development for all startups, and for any new major product or revenue stream launch. They can be fun, informative, and excellent networking -- all at the same time! A great way to leverage your efforts.

Let's Get Real

Solid client attraction marketing is not a quick fix. The field of dreams website mindset -- if you build it, they will come -- is a myth. Despite the hype from many internet gurus, there is no magic wand to wave that will turn a lack of clients into a prosperous abundance overnight.

Let's get real -- Marketing is a continual process. There are many steps to success, many pieces that must be well crafted and put into (the right) place, before most self-employed service providers have not only a full client load but also a waiting list.

And then, you have to keep marketing to keep that stream flowing. Marketing isn't something you can do for a few months, and then sit back and wait for something to happen. Or worse, it isn't something you can stop when clients start ringing your phone off the hook.

Attracting clients requires daily effort. It requires focused purpose, clear strategy, compelling language. In other words, it requires some planning, and a lot of follow through. And then it requires some evaluation, and re-planning.

What's your marketing plan? What marketing efforts have you accomplished today? How's it working for you? What will you change, based on the results you're currently getting?

Desperation Tactics are Counterproductive

A lot of coaches, counselors and independent NDs are feeling pretty desperate for clients these days. Some have already closed their practices, or have taken part time jobs outside their professional field. Others are scrambling around to find creative new ways to offer their services.

Desperation tactics such as drastically lowering or sliding your fees below your bottom line costs, or cutting your marketing expenses are counterproductive to attracting clients in this economic climate.

Instead, this is the time to reconsider your ideal client concept:

• is it a viable market right now?
• how have their problems or suffering shifted?
• what are they desperate to eliminate and willing to pay you to help them get rid of?

How do you need to change your marketing message to connect with those clients right now?

People just don't hire helpers who project a vibe of being as desperate as the client. Are you aware of the emotional energy you are sending out in your marketing and networking efforts? Does it exude compassion and confidence?

If not, it's time to look for what you CAN feel 100% confident about, in terms of promoting your services. Some strategic thinking about varying the ways in which you offer services, and having different price points -- including giving away more information for free -- can give you a well diversified client attraction plan that will work better than shutting down out of fear.

What a Niche is and What it Isn't

I'm hearing coaching students voicing reluctance to declare a niche in the same way that my counseling colleagues are reticent to do so. In the coaching spirit of reframing and shifting perspectives, I offer these thoughts:

What A Niche Is

A niche is a magnet. It's a way of presenting yourself as a specialist in helping an identifiable set of people with a defined range of problems, and drawing those people to you to aquire your help.

A niche is a focusing tool. It helps you determine how to put the range of your skills into language that people who will want them can recognize.


What A Niche Isn't

A niche is not a description of you. You are not the niche. Your clients and their problems are the niche.

A niche is not a way to limit who you work with. It's a way to better ensure that some if not most of the people you work with will be ideal for you -- ideal as in, have issues you really like to work with and feel exceedingly expert at, and who perfectly match your preferred way of working, your personality, don't blink at your policies, and think you're worth every penny.

A niche is not about the work you do. It's about getting clients so that you can DO the work you do. Despite believing that a good coach can coach anyone who is coachable (or that everyone is coachable by a good coach), that idea is not helpful in marketing. In fact, it's counterproductive because it promotes vague, overly general, and confusing messages.

The same holds true for naturopaths, who by training are primary care generalists. Specialize in a condition and/or a population, and you'll have a full practice.

Likewise for mental health counselors, who take comprehensive exams and then feel we can treat almost anyone. Maybe so, but prospective clients want a clinician with some expertise in their specific issue.

Prospective clients will not care or be impressed by the fact that you can coach, counsel or heal everyone on / with everything. That actually may sound implausible and therefore suspect. It will make your marketing backfire.

We all feel special and unique, and when we need help we want the specialist who is expert at our unique problem. We don't want the jack of all trades.

Ironically, holding yourself out as a specialist in one area will make you seem more client attractive to others in other areas. They psychology is that if you are an expert at one thing, you're probably pretty darn good at a few other things. Whether that's true or not, it works for the purposes of marketing.

And that's why niche marketing works for coaches and NDs like it does for counselors.

Before You Place that Print Ad ---

We all have gotten seduced into running display ads in local newspapers and/or phone books. For the most part, these never work for therapists or coaches, and don't work that well for NDs.

The reason is two-fold:
(1) The theory of mere exposure explains that people need to see an ad at minimum 7 times before taking action on it -- that is, assuming they perceive a need for your service and judge you to be the best person to fill that need.

Part of the failure of print ads related to this theory is that the ad is placed where your ideal client is not likely to see it. People rarely select a therapist from a phone book, although they are more likely to call an ND with a phone ad.

Another piece of this reason is that you've made the wrong assumptions about where your ideal clients can be found. For example, it seems logical to think that people interested in health in general would by extension be interested in mental health.

But folks who handle their emotions by going to the gym or seeking pharmaceutical solutions may not believe their depression or anxiety can be better treated by sitting and talking about it. Advertising in athletic related publications or trying to get referrals from general practice MDs could be the wrong venue for connecting with your prospective clients.

(2) The second part of the reason ads fail is when the ad itself is all about you, and doesn't speak compelling enough to the ideal client about their problem. If your display ad is only announcing your existence and credentials, it's unlikely to connect with people's suffering.

If your ad doesn't connect to their suffering, it won't be memorable, and hence, YOU won't be remembered as someone who can help them with their pain.

Strong, compelling, client attracting display ads are like strong, compelling, client attracting online profiles. They look prospective clients in the eye, name their pain, and imply a solution by contacting you.

If you must satisfy that urge to run print ads, be sure they are 90% about a problem & 10% your contact info.