Authentic Marketing for Holistic Practitioners

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

I've had back problems for over 20 years.

One day I woke up to an excruciating pain in my left buttock. Yes I truly had a pain in the butt. And it didn't go away.

And that started me on the path of working with Holistic Practitioners.

When you go to a doctor with something like this, they don't have much sympathy and send you home with a prescription (or worse, they want to operate). But when you go to a holistic practitioner, they actually do something that gives relief.

I've been to chiropractors, acupuncturists and bodyworkeres of every type from shiatsu to Rosen, from accupressure to plain old deep tissue massage.

And I'm glad to report that they've all helped me diminish that pain considerably.

I now go to a massage therapist, Karen Mayer, every two weeks in Boulder Creek, who has not only helped my back and overall well-being but has become a close friend to me and my wife.

Karen isn't just a good massage therapist, she's a good marketer of her services. It helps that she's an extrovert and knows everybody in town. As a result, her practice is always busy and I sometimes have to fight to fit in my bi-monthly rubs.

But in my experience, Karen is the exception.

Most of the holistic practitioners I've worked with haven't been great marketers and many of them ended up as clients. In the early days of my business I traded many bodywork sessions with marketing coaching sessions.

Of course, struggling with marketing is common to most professional service businesses but holistic practitioners, by their very nature, often find marketing particularly onerous.

One, they tend to be sensitive people. Most are not extroverts like Karen, but extreme introverts. They don't like getting out there and meeting new people. They'd prefer to retreat to the safety of their studio.

Two, they don't like the whole concept of marketing and selling. They see it as a rude intrusion. Hype of any sort puts them on edge and they don't ever want to be cast in this mold.

Three, they are focused on their profession, not on making money. In fact, the idea of making money is rather distasteful to many of them. They don't see themselves as business people but as practitioners of the healing arts.

So do holistic practitioners ever get around to marketing themselves successfully given the above three mindsets? In working with them, I've shown them how to stay true to themselves and still attract clients.

Here's how I've approached these three areas:

Sensitivity

Sensitivity is good. It means you're tuned in, you're a listener, not a talker. You care for people and feel deeply for them. And you don't love talking about yourself.

Sensitive people can become excellent marketers by putting themselves into situations where they can slowly grow relationships with prospects and clients, and build trust and intimacy that lead to referrals.

Dislike of Hype

Again, this is good, because real marketing should have nothing to do with hype. Real marketing is education and sharing value. Giving hands-on demonstrations or introductory sessions can be a great way to gain new clients without any hype.

Money Aversion

There is nothing wrong with making money, but it should never become your central business focus. Riches come naturally when you serve people at a very high level.

Nevertheless, you need to charge what you're worth, respect your value, and encourage people to try out your services. Persuasion doesn't have to be pushy, it can be an invitation.

Holistic Practitioners can Become Great Marketers

The truth is, if you're a holistic practitioner, you can become a great marketer of your services. But you need to let go some of the false stereotypes about marketing. Marketing can and should be an authentic expression of yourself.

In fact, you may find that marketing is as fulfilling and as exciting as your professional service when you see it as something that will make your work available to more people.

I'd like to invite you to join myself and my holistic practitioner friend, Rue Hass, in a complimentary teleseminar next week entitled, "Marketing for Holistic Practitioners."

Date: Thursday, March 25

Time: 12 noon Pacific

Where: By teleconference

Reserve your space: www.actionplan.com/tc/tc_hpw.html

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you're a Holistic Practitioner, or in fact any professional who has a big resistance to marketing, the truth is, authentic marketing is just the opposite of hype and pressure. When you discover the difference that this kind of marketing can make, everything changes.

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How do you market yourself as a Holistic Practitioner? Please share your answer on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below.

Comments

[Andrew Wyka]

Great information on the blog. I have a 100% all natural product that I am looking for health practitioners to help promote. I would like some help in this area. I want to lower the world's High Blood pressure 1 heartbeat at a time. I do need help in getting in touch with this community to help them with their customers and increasing their customers lives by removing some of the stress they may have with their bodies. Our target market in the US, UK and Australia. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions and or wants to help please let me know. I welcome all your valuable feedback.

[Rachel Sheard]

Many of my new clients find me on Google, and just using organic search listings, I don't use the adwords. From there, I just try to build up the client experience the very best I can. I admit, I don't always start that off on the right foot, if my kids are being noisy when a client calls to make an appointment, or my chronically-late self is struggling to get to my massage office before my client arrives... Once I'm in the door, however, the magic begins.
I make sure my clients understand I don't provide a cookie-cutter massage, unless that is what they want. I talk with them and find out exactly what they need for that session, how they want the time spread out. I've had many clients assume that I will just "do my thing," and I have to reiterate, it's not about ME doing MY thing--they are there for a reason and my job is to fulfill that need.
I also send a thank you letter, encouraging them to pass on the info I give them at their appt (intro letter with faq's, my brochure with spa services listed, massage facts brochure, and brochure specific to the bodywraps I do) bc referrals are greatly appreciated and rewarded, also encourage them to post a testimonial about their experience with me on online search sites, and offer a reward for that as well.
In addition, I *try* to send a birthday card with discount (or free upgrade, as I try to get the basic 60 minutes paid for, then increase the length of time from there to add value for them), and have a more in-depth system I call Follow Up or Fail, but unfortunately, I struggle with time management, and those things don't always take place like they should.