At Therapists Rising, we’ve had the honour of teaching and supporting thousands of therapreneurs (that’s what we call therapists turned entrepreneurs!) to market themselves, and their life changing offerings and services, more successfully.
Because while all of them come to their helping businesses with huge hearts, years of experience, and a deep devotion to improving people’s lives…
The majority have never been taught how to market and sell (it’s unfortunately not covered in a psychology or nursing degree – haha).
And if you want a thriving helping business that allows you to offer your services beyond the confines of the therapy chair AND impacts the lives of your dream clients for years/decades to come, you have to learn how to effectively market and sell.
Before I dive into sharing one of the key marketing mistakes I see therapreneurs make, I want to say that…
Selling doesn’t have to equal sleazy, and marketing doesn’t have to equal manipulation.
You may have heard similar messages to this before but as someone who, never in a million years thought I’d be passionately sharing about and teaching therapists how to market, it feels important to shout it from the rooftops again and again.
You see, I spent 8 years working in sales while completing my various university degrees, and I saw firsthand just how gross and manipulative so many selling and marketing strategies were.
The typical ‘bro marketing’ tactics that fed on people’s pain left a horrible taste in my mouth, and I was determined to find a new path forward once I left the ‘Therapy Chair’ and started my own business.
Which is why, at Therapists Rising, we teach people how to sell ethically, authentically, transparently and with integrity, because when you do so, selling becomes about sharing and being of service…
And making sure that the people, whose lives would be profoundly impacted by what you have to offer, know that you, and your services and offerings exist.
When we approach marketing from this place?
It empowers our audience to say “Hell yes! I need this thing!” or “Hell no, that’s clearly not for me” so they can make an informed decision about what they choose to invest in.
Selling and marketing is a fundamental part of running a sustainable service and impact-driven business (and keeping you away from the 1:1 ‘Therapy Chair’ trap!)…
So the sooner you can work on your complicated relationship with marketing the better – both for you and the humans who need what you have to offer.
With all that said and done, let’s dive into one of the key marketing mistakes I see therapreneurs make.
Their marketing and sales materials are a bit … dare I say it … bland … vanilla.
(Sidenote: this is said sans judgement! You don’t know what you don’t know! But you’re about to know better *wink*)
Why is this a common theme amongst therapreneurs?
Because in the helping careers they’ve spent years training for and working in they’ve been told to be ‘professional’ and follow protocols, rules, templates and frameworks…
And in that, not share their personalities, tap into their creativity, step outside the box or heaven forbid, talk or write ‘casually’ (aka like an everyday human!) or in a way that resonates with and speaks to the very people who need to hear it!
And while this may be the norm in the therapy space…
People expect something different – something more personal and human, and therefore personality infused – in the ‘real world’.
In all seriousness, I’ve lost count of the number of therapreneurs who’ve come to me and shared something similar to…
“Hayley, all I’ve written are casenotes, and all I’ve read are research papers for the past 5+ years. I don’t remember how to write like an everyday person!”
Rest assured – you. are. not. alone!
So, how to infuse your marketing and sales materials with more ‘rocky-road or chocolate with sprinkles’, so you can grab the attention and hearts of your dream clients and ultimately, sell and change their lives?
Let us count the ways!
1. Share your uniqueness
Many therapists and health professionals have been taught to repress their personality and individuality…
And come to their clients as somewhat of a ‘blank canvas’. And we get it…
But this won’t get you far outside of the therapy clinic.
People want to connect with people and the more you can embrace the parts of you that make you, you…
And infuse this into your marketing and sales materials…
The easier it will be to call your dream humans in.
Feel like you don’t know who you are, because you’ve been wearing your therapist/health professional mask for so long?
That’s okay! Tread gently, get curious and embrace the person you meet on the other side of your exploration.
Trust me when I say, there are thousands of people who will want to be supported by you – but first, you have to give them a chance to see you and feel you!
2. Be creative and original
The internet is a busy place, and in order to get seen and loved by your dream clients, you need to stand out. Enter: creativity and originality.
I want to be clear that when I invite you to be creative and original, I’m not asking you to magically transform yourself into some ‘artsy’ person (if that’s not you!), and I’m not asking you to reinvent the wheel and come up with a brand spanking new idea/way of doing marketing that no-one’s ever thought of before…
I’m simply asking you to think outside the box.
While this may come easily to some, for many therapists and health professionals who’ve been trained to follow prescriptive formulas, learning to tap back into their creativity and express themselves originally can take time, and it can feel uncomfortable and ‘bumpy’ (you’re essentially learning a new skill!)
So what do I suggest you do to infuse your marketing materials with more creativity and originality?
Firstly, limit how much content/marketing you consume from others. While yes, this can help to inspire us at times, for the most part, it pollutes our minds and stops us from being free thinkers. If you do follow people, make sure they’re people who are doing things their own way, and who inspire you to do the same!
Secondly, remember to always put yourselves in your dream client’s shoes (I know this sounds obvious but you’d be amazed how often this gets missed). When you create something ask yourself, “If I were my dream client, would this stop me in my scroll and engage me? What’s one small shift I could make to infuse this piece of content with more (on brand) creativity and originality?
As I said, learning how to flex this muscle can take time! Get curious and try to enjoy the process!
3. Focus less on what you offer, and more on how it will change people’s lives
A lot of marketing and sales material that struggling therapreneurs create tells people what they’re offering – aka a compassion-focused workshop for women who want to have a more positive relationship with their bodies, that will be held on this date, with X amount of spots available, at this time, with more information being available at this web address.
If you were the woman you had in mind when creating this workshop, do you think that, in amongst the busyness of and competing interests and responsibilities in your life, would this inspire you to take action?
Likely not.
Yes, you need to tell people the what…
But first, you need to grab their attention and get them excited to know more! THIS is what will stop people in their scroll and motivate them to invest.
How will your offering change their life?
How will it solve a problem they have?
How will it make their life better?
THIS is what the most successful marketing materials speak to, NOT the details… these can come later!
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And there you have it, one of the key marketing mistakes I see therapreneurs make, and three simple but revolutionary shifts that will take you from hearing crickets, to having your dream clients signing up for your programs and investing in your life changing offerings.
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