The only type of marketing ANY Hypnotherapy business can afford to do is Direct Response Marketing. If you’ve been following my teachings, you’ve heard this message before, and you’ll hear it again.
When I give a talk, like my recent session at the National Guild of Hypnotists annual convention, almost without fail I hear the question… "But what about Brand Building?", so it’s time I explain how brand building really works for a small business.
Since the widespread acceptance of television in America, and later around the world, advertising experienced a drastic change. Previous to this, virtually all businesses large and small used Direct Response Marketing.
Top agencies like Ogilvy & Mather were built on Direct Response and willingly credited Claude Hopkins (author of the must read classic Scientific Advertising) as being a huge influence on their methods.
But TV had a huge impact on changing the way marketing was done, especially as the time segments got shorter. The focus went from benefits to repetition of the logo, and attempting to create an emotion with the logo so that the viewer would attach the feeling to the logo.
Also association with celebrities (wear the same shoes as Michael Jordon) or with a lifestyle (foods only wealthy people eat) are made.
The theory being when it came time to buy a product, the viewer would remember the association when seeing the logo and this would influence the purchase.
There are four major problems here:
- There is no reliable way to MEASURE if this type of marketing works. If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
- You need a HUGE advertising budget to use these methods for ‘brand awareness’. Unless you want to compete with giant corporations like Nike… just don’t do it.
- These kind of ads cause CONFUSION. You know you’ve seen an ad on TV and wondered what was that about?!?
- Consumers see so many of these ads, we have learned to IGNORE them. Admit it, you run to the bathroom on the commercial breaks.
Brand Building 101
It’s really easy to build a powerful brand and a reputation as the top-dog in your area. It’s all explained by this simple equation:
Let’s take a look at each of these pieces.
Attract The Best Clients
Once you have built Direct Response Marketing Systems to the point where any time you need more business, you just ‘turn on the faucet’ and your calendar is booked for weeks or months in the future, at that point you have a money-making-machine.
You can outspend your competitors, attract only the clients you want to work with, and get top dollar for your services since you have positioned yourself as THE EXPERT in your field.
These systems will include multiple lead-generation systems and at least one referral system. You’ll use multiple media including Yellow Pages, direct mail, print ads, banner ads, Google ads, public speaking, etc.
Your marketing, pre-qualifies prospects so you don’t waste your time with ‘tire-kickers’. It gets the prospects PERMISSION to send them more information, and you have a follow up sequence that EDUCATES them and leads them to the conclusion that you are an EXPERT and the best possible choice to solve their problems/wants/needs.
Your marketing then makes them a no-risk offer that is so irresistable, they can’t wait to come in and see you, and are thrilled when they finally get their first appointment.
This type of marketing does not put pressure on the prospect to buy, and is actually fun for the business owner since they get to talk about their favorite topic – Hypnosis!
Now, I’m not going to go into the details about how to do this here, there are many articles on this blog on how to do it.
Why Not The BEST?
And the single fastest way to drive a business into the toilet… have great marketing and crappy service. Word will spread faster than a rumor on the Internet and no one will go.
You might be able to get away with average or even mediocre service, but why would you want to do this? If you want to be average, get a government job.
If you love what you do, this part should come naturally. And you can still strive for top-quality service even if it’s your first day in business. You know what good service is, and you definitely know what bad service is, so strive to over-deliver. You and your business will be rewarded and you’ll build a loyal referral network from both consumers and other businesses.
Smart, Simple, & Measurable
You don’t build a brand by repetitious advertising that beats your logo into the subconscious. You build your brand by learning how to build superior direct response marketing systems and providing awesome service and killer products to your clients.
It’s really simple isn’t it? If you don’t have a way to get prospects into your marketing funnel, you can’t build a brand.
If you don’t use Direct Response Marketing, you have no way to measure if your marketing is working or not. You need to be able to calculate the ROI (Return On Investment) for each dollar spent. You need to know IMMEDIATELY if an ad is effective or not.
So once you decide to open your hypnotherapy practice, the single most important thing you can do is learn how to market your services and attract the kind of clients you want to work with.
Once you have that, you can then leverage your brand in your marketing to even further strengthen your message.
Technorati Tags: Brand Building, Advertising, Marketing, Hypnotherapy, Hypnosis
