Show Notes

Kayla: Welcome back to the Designer Practice Podcast and I’m your host Kayla Das.

When it comes to marketing your private practice, there are certainly a lot of ways you can put yourself out there, but there are also many myths when it comes to marketing the quote unquote right way.

That’s why on today’s episode, I’m sitting down with Michelle Grasek, Acupuncturist, practice owner, and marketing expert to discuss these common myths and how to move forward in your practice if any of these myths are holding you back.

Hi, Michelle. Welcome to the show. It’s great to have you here today.

Michelle: Hello. Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Introduction

Kayla: Before we dive in, please introduce yourself, where you’re from, and tell us a little bit about your own career trajectory from a private practice owner to a marketing expert.

Michelle: Sure. So, I have been an acupuncturist for about 13 years and I am located in the Finger Lakes region of New York. And generally, whenever I say New York and I’m on a podcast or something that has listeners from everywhere. They assume I’m from like somewhere near New York city. So, I always like to clarify and say I’m about an hour and a half from Canada in a town of 9,000 people. So quite small and kind of the opposite of Manhattan.

And I got into marketing kind of on accident. I had a natural interest in building a website for my first practice and I found it really absorbing. Patients would show up for their treatment and I would not even realize that they were waiting for me because I was working on my website. And eventually this wonderful woman sort of fell into my lap. I did a Groupon, which I do not recommend. This was like maybe the first six months of my practice. And this woman came in and she had purchased two or three sessions at a steep discount and the sessions ended. We had been doing cosmetic acupuncture and she said to me, “Okay, I have a proposition for you. I love acupuncture. But I don’t want to keep paying you.” And I was like, I just don’t know where this conversation could be going. And it turned out that she wanted to do a trade with me. She was a marketing strategist in that city, and she had a lot of experience. And she proposed me giving her treatments on a weekly basis. And then once a month, we would sit down together and we’d go through my marketing. And we did that trade for three years. And so she taught me pretty much everything that I know about marketing, but the most important thing she taught me were about perspective to be creative in marketing that it’s okay to be enthusiastic and have fun with it. She’s a really effervescent person and that just felt contagious to me.

So then when we ended our trade, I moved to a different city, so we couldn’t trade anymore. I realized that a, I missed her. I missed talking about marketing. And I was having conversations with other acupuncturists who are roughly three or four years out at that point, like I was, and just came to understand how lucky I was to have her. Her name is Deb. She’s given me permission to share all of this. And realize that everybody needs a marketing mentor like Deb, but it’s very rare that you just have someone dropped into your lap who wants to do a trade, right? Like they’re not asking you for money and they just have this beautiful perspective on a topic that a lot of wellness professionals really don’t like.

So, I started writing a blog for a couple of years and then about marketing specifically for acupuncturists and eventually realized that I was getting the same questions about marketing over and over again. So I put together an online class and now I have a podcast. Both are called the Acupuncture Marketing School. But none of that would really exist without Deb. And so that’s really how I got started and came to love it and realize that all healthcare industries really need this perspective on marketing.

Kayla: That’s a beautiful story. And something I really took away from there is that we all need that little help every now and then, right? We need that inspirational person to kind of help us go through any hardship that we’re going through. And I know as mental health therapists, that’s who we are to a lot of our clients. So, making sure that we actually get out there and our clients find us is huge because we could be that person for somebody that really needs that help, that support, that inspiration.

Yet, if we’re hiding ourselves, if we’re not marketing ourselves, or we’re following these myths that we’re going to talk about today and we believe that they are true, we’re not going to put ourselves out there and we’re not going to be found by our clients.

Michelle: Absolutely. Yeah. That’s one of the first things that I teach my students is that your mindset has a huge impact on the decisions that you make. Because it’s sort of like you’ve, for many of us, we’ve already decided whether marketing is going to work or not. And if you think it’s not going to work, you’re not going to try, or you’re certainly not going to give it your best effort. You’re not going to be consistent. And that’s such a shame because it’s the same for acupuncturists. And I think so many wellness professionals. You have to let people know that you exist and that you can help them. You have to help them find you.

Kayla: Agree a hundred percent. So, what we’re going to do today is we’re going to go through these common myths. And this is actually going to be a little bit different than my traditional guest episodes. So, for our listeners, as you know, normally I do kind of a question-and-answer type episode with guests. But today what we’re actually going to do is I’m actually going to list the common myths and that both of us have heard of throughout our times working with practitioners. And then Michelle is going to debunk these for us and provide some helpful tips and strategies.

Now in saying that it’s very possible I still might have a few questions and I still might put a few questions and comments in here, but it won’t be our traditional question and answer. So, this is going to be super fun. So, I’m super excited.

Common myth #1: Marketing my practice will feel gross to both me and my ideal clients.

So, let’s get started. Common myth number one, marketing my practice will feel gross to both me and my ideal clients.

Michelle: So usually when I teach marketing, the first thing that I bring up is a new definition of marketing that I don’t think too many people have heard of, but I find it incredibly helpful for this particular myth. And the way that I like to think about marketing or the definition I like to use is that “Marketing is simply letting the people who need you know that you exist.” And this is two parts. And I think we actually mentioned it already.

The first part is you have to let people know that your specific discipline can help them, right? So, in my case, it would be, you have to let people know that acupuncture can help them with their fertility challenges or their knee pain, et cetera. And you have to let them know that your clinic conveniently exists in their community. So, you are the acupuncturist for them. And I think that this perspective removes a lot of that heavy gross feeling that we feel as marketers or as business owners when we’re worried about like coming across as salesy or sleazy because it comes down to sharing information and empowering people so that they can make the best healthcare choice for them.

I always ask my marketing students to think about the moment that or just to imagine because they probably were not there for this, right? But if they have a favorite patient who’s had incredible results from acupuncture, think about that moment when that patient learned that acupuncture could help them right? And that like little bubble of hope in their chest when they’re like, “Oh, maybe that’s a natural route I could try.” And if they never had that information in front of them, they probably would have chosen a different path in their healthcare journey. And so, it’s really wonderful to just acknowledge that your marketing is teaching something to people that could change the trajectory of their life. And I don’t think that’s an overstatement for most healthcare providers. It makes such a big difference to them. And if you’re worried about your marketing coming across as sleazy, just return to that place.

I usually tell my students to write that definition of marketing on a little piece of paper and stick it over their laptop or wherever they’re usually doing their marketing work. And so, the phrase again is that “Marketing is simply letting the people who need you know that you exist” because you can’t change the trajectory of their life if they never find out that you exist.

Kayla: 100% agree. And something that crossed my mind was how as healthcare professionals, we are in the field to help and marketing essentially is helping. We’re helping them understand. One, why whatever service we’re providing is helpful for them. And two, to give them the information that they need to make that informed decision on their provider. So, 100% agree.

Common myth #2: Marketing my private practice means that I’m money-hungry, greedy or a “sell-out” to my profession.

So common myth number two, marketing my private practice means that I’m money hungry, greedy, or a sellout to my profession.

Michelle: Man, this is such a like deeply ingrained one. I think all of the money mindset ones are really tough and I always commend people for when they can recognize them in themselves and start to unravel them because these are some of the stories that like our parents gave us and our parents parents. These are the ways that we learn to think about money and wealth and income, that sort of thing.

So, let’s take the sellout angle. So first of all, I mean, everything we just talked about in the previous myth, I hope resonates for this. You can’t really be a sellout if your goal with your marketing is genuinely to educate people so they can make an informed decision about their healthcare. And one thing to consider is let’s say you do some marketing, for acupuncturists, it could be about acupuncture and wrist pain. So, let’s say that you do some marketing, like an Instagram post about acupuncture and wrist pain, and someone reads your post and they’re like, “Huh, that’s interesting. I didn’t know acupuncture could help for that,” but they don’t take an action. They don’t make an appointment or anything like that. You kind of have to let it go, right? You don’t know what’s going on with them that they decided not to take an action. Maybe they don’t have wrist pain, maybe it’s not bothering them that much, but they are filing it away for later. And so that is hugely important because you are giving them that information, but then you’re also releasing it into the universe, so to speak. Because I think that we tend to really hang on to the outcome of our marketing and sort of obsess when we feel like it didn’t work as well as I anticipated. When really, if you’re just informing and educating people, it’s like a gift, right? It’s totally up to them what they do with that information. They may use it later when it’s a better fit for their life.

So, there are a couple books that I typically recommend if people have a hard time with the money aspect of things. The books that I recommend are the Art of Money and then also, Get Good with Money as well as We Should all be Millionaires. Just as an aside, if you’re feeling like these really resonate. And, I guess, I would say to keep it brief instead of going on too many tangents. If you feel like people in your community are going to think that you are greedy because you are doing marketing, I would say, try to take a step back and think about some of the neutral marketing that you have seen from other small business owners in your community and really genuinely ask yourself and search internally. Did I ever feel like that person was being greedy? Because you probably didn’t.

And I am certain that there are some advertisements in your community that you really don’t like. They just hit you all the wrong ways. You are not going to do those kinds of marketing because you’re already very sensitive to it. And so that’s something I always remind my students. If you already are, what are aware of what you really don’t like and what comes across to you as sleazy or greedy, you’re never going to create that kind of marketing. It’s not going to be in your DNA.

Kayla: I 100% agree. And I know for mental health therapists in certain professions in the therapy world, specifically say social work, because I’m a social worker myself. Sometimes when we go into our trainings, we do so because we want to help underserved individuals. And we believe and we think that the only place that we can work is a non for profit or public sectors.

However, I hear from therapists sometimes that they feel that they’re stigmatized or considered lesser than if they do decide to go into private practice or set up their own business as a result of this. And I’ve heard therapists say they feel like a sellout or the C word, a capitalist, right?

And, the truth is that by creating additional business models or additional services, maybe even leave business out of it, creating additional services is really helping other sectors because there can only be so many public or not for profit jobs available and services available to clients. So, you’re actually serving a niche of people who don’t need to go into public and not for profit that leaves space for other people.

And I’m sure there’s a lot of ways to look at this. And I don’t want to go into like a industrial social work type of class here. But I also want to bring it back that because you chose private practice or because you decided to open your business, you’re not a sellout. You’re not a capitalist because you’re not going to make millions of millions of dollars. You’re going to make a living. Hopefully a good living. But in saying that because your values and because your vision is set up to help people that will always come first, you are not a sellout for doing so.

Michelle: That’s such a nice way to put it. And I always think it’s wise to diversify your income so if you’re working part time for a not for profit and you’re able to have a private practice on the side, that is just really good for financial security. Especially after 2020, who knows what can happen.

And I had a conversation with someone recently, we were talking about does closing a practice after 10 years and this person like technically not reaching the goals that she thought she would reach, mean that her practice was a failure and I’m like, “Well, of course not. You supported your family and you made a profit for 10 years. That sounds like a fabulous success. It’s like, we can’t see the future. So, we didn’t know if you were ever going to reach those huge goals that you had.” And I kind of feel like leaving a job, like if someone was in public service and then they decided to shift into private practice completely. It doesn’t negate all those beautiful years that you spent in public service or working for a non-profit. That’s still a huge contribution to your community and it still stands. It just doesn’t go away.

Kayla: I agree a hundred percent.

Common myth #3: I’ve listed created my website and listed myself on a therapist directory and I’m not seeing traction so this means that marketing just doesn’t work at all.

So common myth number three. I’ve created my website and listed myself on therapist directories, and I’m not seeing traction. So, this means that marketing just doesn’t work at all.

Michelle: Ah, yeah. There’s a movie, I don’t know if anyone else has seen this, but it was about building a baseball field, the field of dreams. Building a baseball field, and not telling anybody about it and just expecting people to come play baseball on the field. So sometimes I call this the field of dreams approach to marketing, where we just put out our shingle. Sometimes it’s literally a sign outside of our office. Or we put up our website and the modern version of a shingle and we wait. And we list ourselves on all the directories, or we’ve got our Google business listing. So that is a really important first step for establishing yourself as a professional and an authority in a new place, right? Like if you just graduated, you want to build out a website so that people have a space to come investigate and see what you’re all about. But you have to then do work to drive people towards the website. And that could be anything right? That could be social media, that could be getting out in the community and handing out your cards with your website on them. But my point here is that it’s not that marketing doesn’t work, just because you put up a website and nothing happened. With small businesses, they naturally just don’t get a ton of traffic, especially when they’re just launched. So there are many other things that have to be done afterwards to drive traffic towards them.

And I think a bigger question here is– or consideration is, when we try any kind of marketing and it doesn’t work the way that we expected, and then we say like, “Oh, marketing doesn’t work or it didn’t work for me this time.” And then you sort of extrapolate and say it will never work again because it is disheartening. I could totally acknowledge that you put a lot of time and effort in and you’re hoping for big results. But a lot of marketing takes at least three months to mature. That’s what my marketing mentor taught me way back in the beginning. And that means that you have to be repeating your marketing efforts over and over.

So, it’s not that the marketing that you set up didn’t work. It probably needed more time or you have to keep repeating yourself. I always say that if you get to a point where you feel like you’re saying the same thing over and over in your marketing, you probably are in the exact right spot, like that’s the sweet spot.

But I always tell people like, don’t give up just because you tried one thing and it was disheartening. There are a million different kinds of marketing that you can try, and some of it is simply about experimentation until you hit on something that is a good fit for you that you can do consistently. And that also is successful in bringing you patients.

Kayla: That’s great advice. And something else is that when we think of our website and our therapist directories, especially if we’re just starting off, they’re pretty passive in nature, where there’s a difference between say passive and active marketing.

And when we think of passive, it will take some time because now we’re relying on SEO. We’re relying on just one thing that we’ve created, and especially if we’re not tweaking it. And I’ve said this on the podcast several times, but I’ve updated my website several times, and the same with my therapist directories, several times over the years. And the reason is because things change. Your ideal client changes. Who you work with changes. The society changes, right? Like even like the pandemic, I mean, people weren’t seeing people in person. So if you were primarily an in-person therapist and your website and your therapist directory was all about in-person, you probably weren’t going to see a lot of traffic.

The other piece to also think about too, is that depending on your profession and depending on what time of year it is, or depending on what season it is, you might see less clients or more clients wanting sessions. And I know for mental health therapists summer tends to be more of a lull. Then say the fall or the winter. Usually Christmas, depending on who you work with, because there’s actually certain populations that you might actually see an increase over Christmas because of different issues and different concerns that show up for them. But other populations, you might see less because people are spending time with family or too busy to come to session. So also understanding that depending on what season or what months you are in, expecting that immediate result might not necessarily be realistic for all of the reasons that both you and I had listed.

Michelle: Absolutely. Yeah.

Common myth #4: I’m not a marketer, so I’ll never be able to figure it all out to actually get clients to come to work with me.

Kayla: So common myth number four. I’m not a marketer, so I’ll never be able to figure all of this out to actually get clients to come work with me.

Michelle: I always tell my students; you can learn marketing. Marketing is much easier than acupuncture school, than getting a degree to be a therapist. I mean, if you even think about the emotional investment that people put into their education, like marketing is simple by comparison. And I think it’s important to note that you don’t have to have this huge body of knowledge about marketing. You don’t have to have a bachelor’s degree level of marketing information in order to truly be good at it.

When I am teaching my marketing students, we go over like eight or nine core marketing concepts that really serve them incredibly well for the life of their practice that they can apply to creating any kind of marketing, whether it’s a Facebook ad or a blog post. And so, knowing some really basic marketing concepts and just practicing them over time will actually make you an excellent marketer.

But I do see this really often where people are so intimidated by marketing just because it feels foreign, which I think is normal. And so I always encourage them to think about their education for their specialty and what fantastic labor of love it probably was and they got through it by dedication and being willing to make mistakes and start over and put in the work. And you can learn marketing in the exact same way if you just decide you’re going to be committed to learning a little bit and to practicing, be open to making mistakes and trying again, you will certainly get better and better at marketing.

Kayla: And I think sometimes we overanalyze or over think of what marketing is. And we think it’s this really tough concept because we are thinking of, say, the car salesman and that doesn’t resonate with us, but really marketing is about putting yourself out there authentically. And that’s what I come from. It’s empathy-based marketing. It’s about how can we be our true authentic self. It doesn’t have to be as complicated as it seems. Are there strategy? Sure. Are there certain things that tend to work more than others? Yeah, but a part of marketing is also that exploring and just trying new things out and seeing what works and what doesn’t work.

Michelle: Mm hmm. I sometimes ask my students to think about like how a science experiment is constructed. And how important it is that the scientists themselves are unbiased, right? They’ll never get a paper published if they are clearly biased towards one result or another. They have to give the experiment space to either succeed the way they secretly expect or to just fail spectacularly to have totally different results, which is not really a failure. If you think about it, it’s just a different result. And I think going into your marketing with that same perspective is really helpful. You’re like, “Okay, I know I’m going to put some time and energy into this. And I’ve done the best I can, and I’m ready to launch it. And it doesn’t go exactly how I anticipated, that’s also acceptable because I will learn something that I can put into practice next time.” So that all of that time and energy that you spent is never a waste. It’s just a learning experience.

Kayla: That’s a really great example or analogy, because I think that’s very relatable for anyone that went to school, right? We’ve all read research studies, maybe been a part of them or whatnot. And yeah, it’s not that you’re going to fail. It’s that you either get one result or you get the other. And then if you get the other, the one that you didn’t expect, then you shift or you pivot, or you work with it.

Michelle: Yep. Yeah.

Common myth #5: Marketing has to be difficult or expensive for it to be effective.

Kayla: So common myth number five. Marketing has to be difficult or expensive for it to actually be effective.

Michelle: Yeah, and I think this relates a lot to what we just talked about, that there are some like basic concepts in marketing that once you feel confident in them, you can move forward. I’m a huge fan of free or no cost marketing avenues, but those usually take your time and effort. And I always say that marketing always costs something. It’s either your cold hard cash, your time, or your effort typically.

So, in the beginning, when people have been out like one to five years, I really encourage them to lean into all of the free marketing opportunities that exist. Social media is a good example. It can be a little frustrating because the algorithm is always changing and it feels like– sometimes I have clients who are like, this algorithm is thwarting me at every turn. I’m like, ah, yes, that’s everyone’s experience, right? But it is this incredible free opportunity to get in front of real-life people in your community. They’re local. They could actually come to your clinic. And so, I think it’s really helpful to lean into all of the free marketing opportunities that are out there.

And like we’re both saying experiment as much as possible until you find that sweet spot, that intersection between what works for you and your strengths and your personality and what’s actually bringing patients in the door. And then you can really lean into that. And then over time you will get much more efficient. It will require less time and energy.

So sometimes I think people are assuming marketing has to be expensive because they are thinking about large scale, complex Facebook ads, which can cost thousands of dollars a month. But if you are a solo practitioner, and especially if you just started, I really don’t think any of that is necessary. You can get so much traction in various places on the internet for free. Like as long as you’re willing to show up consistently and keep sharing your message, you will find that people in your community are going to gravitate towards you and end up becoming your patients.

Kayla: I agree a hundred percent. And even from my own experience, when I first started, you know, I put money on the table. But I actually have not really seen a whole lot of results from that. Because what often happens is if we don’t even have that framework for our own business. And again, who we work with or what we’re doing or what services we’re providing or even our own values mission. All of this kind of framework that we need to know for our own business. Sure, someone will take your money. If you want to hire an SEO expert, they’ll take your money. If you want to hire a web designer, sure, they’ll take your money.

But if you don’t necessarily have a clear understanding of what you want them to do, they’re likely not going to do the work that you are expecting them to because they can’t read your mind. They’re not in your sessions. They don’t know really what you do. They are marketing professionals or SEO experts or whoever. But they’re not acupuncturists. They’re not mental health therapists. They’re not dietitians. They’re not any of those. So as a result, if you don’t have that clarity, spending all of this money on marketing upfront is not likely going to be helpful. Now does it mean that everything is going to be free? Probably not. Like even when we think about therapist directories and things like that, sure, there’s a little bit of a cost, but there’s a difference between say $30 a month, then $3,000.

Michelle: Yeah, and I think it’s really important that before you hire someone for something like Facebook ads or Google ads or SEO, that you have a little bit of experience in the backend of those platforms so that you understand what they are telling you that they’re doing. And that helps you to be able to guide them to create the marketing that you really want and what you’re looking for. And I think this happens an awful lot with at least that I’ve heard with acupuncturists and SEO quote experts who say things like, “Well, I can’t really explain what I’m doing in your website because you wouldn’t understand.”

But if you spent a little bit of time researching on the internet, cause that’s free, you can have a basic understanding of the things they might be doing, and you can press them and make them explain it before you hand your money over. And I think that is a smart approach.

Common myth #6: I have to advertise the exact same way as others in my profession advertise to be successful.

Kayla: So, common myth number six, I have to advertise the exact same way as others in my profession advertise for me to be successful.

Michelle: So, to be contrary, I might argue that if you advertise in a remarkably different way than everyone else, you’ll probably stand out and your marketing will do much better. You’ll have a lot more eyes on your marketing and a lot more interest.

But I understand what this question is saying. It sort of feels like– kind of like in acupuncture, there’s a typical model of care that’s one to one. And usually, you’ll see one to three patients at a time and you’ll be in your solo clinic. So, it’s like, everybody thinks they have to go into that style of practice. And its sort of the same for like, “Okay. Well, how are people marketing who are successful in my community, what did they do in the beginning? And I should just repeat what they did.”

On some levels that will work on other levels. Marketing has changed an awful lot since that person probably put out their shingle. And I would say that any marketing effort is going to be successful if you are committed to doing it regularly, right? If you can commit to showing up and getting visible consistently, whether it is attending networking meetings or making videos on Instagram, whatever it is. Even if no one else is doing it in your community, or if no one else has had success, if you just stick with it. It’s probably going to work over time. And again, this is why I always tell people marketing is so individual. Think about it like that experiment, try things out and be willing to fail and move on. If you gave it your three-month shot and it’s no good for you and you’re just like, I’m an introvert and I hate these networking meetings. And I never talked to anyone and I’m not getting any patients like, okay, stop torturing yourself. It’s okay. Pick something else, right? And then just lean all the way in. You don’t have to do marketing the way that other people do it, especially if it is making you miserable. Because I feel like that comes up a lot with people. They’re like, I’m doing what the internet gurus say I should do, but I just really don’t like it. So that’s okay. You don’t have to continue.

Kayla: I love that you add personality into that because, yes, like sometimes depending on what our personalities are like, we might feel that we have to do X, Y, and Z and it might not feel authentic.

And I’ll give a personal example. This is more with my business coaching than it is with my private practice. But when I first started, I was watching all of the gurus and, you know, have webinars, get in front of people live, do all of these things. I was trying to do Facebook lives. I was having pop up trainings and I felt so anxious. I felt so nervous. At the end of it, I never felt good. I actually felt terrible about having to go live. And that’s why I actually love doing podcasts because I can edit. I feel like I’m more in control when I can edit my podcast if need be. So, it’s really understanding, who you are and what works. And it doesn’t mean that you totally have to shift because even in my example, I’m still doing this, not necessarily live, but I’m doing this kind of like educating type modality. I’m just not doing it live so that feels more comfortable for me and whether you’re an introvert or you’re an extrovert, right?

If you’re an extrovert being around people and being in person and doing all of these things, networking might be really important for you. But ironically enough I’m an introvert and I’m a very process driven person I love being behind the screen and not being seen as funny as it is. But as a result, I choose my marketing to fit with who I am. Not because other people are telling me I might try different things, but I also acknowledge what’s making me feel very, very uncomfortable. And not that we should never be uncomfortable, but if we know that we’re trying it over and over and we’re always feeling terrible at the end, it’s probably not the right way for us. So maybe there needs to be a pivot or a shift. And considering who we are as individuals is okay in your marketing.

Michelle: Yeah, I think the more we play to our strengths and are honest with ourselves about what makes us feel terrible over time, like you said, if it’s consistently making you feel terrible, that’s a pretty clear sign. Then, the more effective and happier we’ll be in our marketing, even though you might always feel like I have to do my marketing, but you know, that it’s like the least of all evils. You’re like, “Okay, but at least I get to do this, which is not so bad.”

Kayla: Agree. And it doesn’t mean you always have to love it, but it’s what’s really absolutely draining me and what is reasonable, doable and fits who I am as a person.

Michelle: Yeah, that’s a beautiful way to put it.

Common myth #7: I have to use clinical terminology in my marketing material to ‘boost’ up my authority and expertise.

Kayla: So common myth number seven, and this is our final one. I have to use clinical terminology in my marketing material to boost up my authority and expertise.  

Michelle: This is such an interesting one. And I do think it crosses a lot of different disciplines that we feel like we have to sound smart so that people trust us and they want to come see us. So, we sort of have to, like, use our words to make sure they know that we have our education. The unfortunate thing is that when we do that, people often just don’t know what we’re talking about. They sort of miss the message that we’re trying to drive home to them about how much we can help them.

And what I usually tell people is to always do your best to structure your marketing copy or the words that you used based on how your ideal client would talk. Think about the questions that they would have. And if they were sitting in front of you, how would you answer them in a way that would feel compelling and motivating to them and would really hit home for them? And I think for the most part, we probably wouldn’t use too much jargon, when we are just trying to help someone understand like, “Well, this is why you need this many sessions and it is important to come weekly, you’re building and it’s important for consistency.” But you probably wouldn’t toss in a ton of language that they didn’t understand if you were genuinely trying to connect with them on that level. And so that’s all your marketing really has to represent is ask yourself, like, how would my target market need to hear this information, right? And just try not to go above their head.

One other thing to think about is your marketing should answer questions as opposed to generating more questions, if that makes sense, right? The confused mind says no. That’s an old marketing adage that if people feel uncertain what you are trying to tell them, or if it’s a good fit for them in particular, they are just going to move on. They’re going to get distracted. So, you’re trying to provide them with clarity instead of making them say, “Hmm, like, I’m not really sure.” Okay. And so, I think again, like always try to talk the same way that you would, if your client was sitting in front of you.

Kayla: Beautiful. I couldn’t add another piece because that was beautifully answered.

Additional Marketing Insights and Tips

So, Michelle, when it comes to marketing, do you have any additional advice, insights, or tips for listeners who currently feel stuck when it comes to getting clients into their private practice?

Michelle: So usually, the first thing that I recommend when someone asks, how can I get more clients on my schedule? Like next week, what can I do that’s going to work quickly. I ask them to evaluate where are their clients coming from right now? And can they lean into that avenue that is already working, right? Like that’s a spigot that’s already turned on. And it’s going to be easier, probably, to coax more people out of that than starting something brand new. So, if you know that you are primarily getting clients from referrals, then you’d want to ask yourself, “Well, what are all of the ways that I can increase my referrals?” I could ask my current clients, I could tell them, outright. Did you know that I am accepting new clients? We’re taking new patients.

If you have an email newsletter that you send out, you can put a little blurb at the very bottom that says that exact thing, like “we’re accepting new clients. It’s always an honor to take care of your friends and family. If you can think of someone who needs this kind of help forward this to them.” Right? And I think that we underestimate the power of being crystal clear with that request. We’re just like, “Oh, if people wanted to refer someone, they would.” Like, Nope, you want to insert the idea into their brain and ask them in a way that helps them remember that you’re a small business owner and they’re helping you, right? You are a member of their community and vice versa. And I find that that really makes people willing to take an action and kind of be bold and say like, “Hey, this practitioner help me a lot. I think they could help you too.”

But whatever it is that your patients are coming from, try to lean into that avenue and as much as you can and really get like as much juice out of it as you possibly can.

Free Marketing Ideas for Wellness Practitioners Guide

Kayla: Fabulous. So, I know you have a free resource that can help listeners with marketing authentically in their private practices. Can you tell us a little bit about this free resource and how it can help listeners?

Michelle: Sure. So, I put together a big list of authentic marketing ideas for wellness practitioners. And the reason I wanted to focus on the authentic piece, of course, is because that seems to be what is the most important to us as wellness providers that really matters so deeply to us, which makes sense, right? That’s kind of who we are at our core. And these are just nice, low-key ways to get in front of your community and get visible.

And there’s 37 of them in a checklist. So you can go through and you can eliminate the ones that you’re like I don’t know if that’s a good fit for my personality and my strengths. And then you can just take your time and go through the rest. Every time you’re like, I need a little inspiration.

Kayla: Perfect. So, to sign up for Michelle’s Freebie, 37 Authentic Marketing Ideas for Wellness Practitioners, head to kayladas.com/michellegrasekfreebie

That’s kayladas.com/michellegrasekfreebie.

Or you can simply scroll down to the show notes and click on the link.

Thank you, Michelle, for joining us today on the show to bust these very common marketing myths that we have both heard and probably will hear again. And providing us helpful tips and strategies for us to be able to shift our mindset and be able to move forward in our practices so that we can market authentically.

Michelle: Thank you so much for having me. It’s been a pleasure.

Kayla: Thank you everyone for tuning in to today’s episode, and I hope you join me again soon on the Designer Practice Podcast.

Until next time, bye for now.

Credits & Disclaimers

Music by ItsWatR from Pixabay

The Designer Practice Podcast and Evaspare Inc. has an affiliate and/or sponsorship relationship for advertisements in our podcast episodes. We receive commission or monetary compensation, at no extra cost to you, when you use our promotional codes and/or check out advertisement links.