Marketing Yourself and Your Services
In my work as a clinical supervisor, coach, and consultant, I often receive questions about how to market one’s services.
If you are not trying to obtain clients or business, think about marketing as something you do that involves expanding your relationships. We all need to have a network of colleagues and friends to give and receive support in our personal and professional journey.
If you are considering a change in your employment, it is not wise to wait and develop your relationships at the time that you are seeking support.
Marketing Online and Via Social Media
To market yourself means to “put yourself out there.” This means you need to develop a deeper understanding of your strengths and challenges.
In today’s market, you have to develop skills that include technology. This includes having a website. It could mean having web-listings (like TherapyTribe, GoodTherapy, or Psychology Today). Increasingly this means being engaged on social media.
If you have a traditional mindset about therapy you might think that this is not the way you want to find clients. Because naturally you want to maintain an effective therapeutic boundary.
It is important to remember that people refer to those that they know. They make referrals to people that they believe they have some sense of – both personally and professionally.
Even though I no longer accept new therapy clients, I frequently get referrals from people I am connected with on social media. The referrals are not for themselves. Instead they are for people they know are in need of help.
Because most of my services are for other therapists or coaches, social media (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube) have become effective ways for me to reach many people at one time.
Marketing for Introverts
Additionally, as an introvert…sharing with others via my weekly e-blast or on social media allows me to conserve some of my energy as I manage a multitude of professional relationships.
For the purpose of this discussion-
- I consider introverts to be people who re-charge or re-energize by having time spent alone or time spent with one other person or a few other people.
- Whereas extroverts are those who re-charge by spending time in social settings…often with many other people at once.
In my experience, the process of sharing about myself or my work requires a tremendous output of energy. When I am marketing, I am projecting information about myself or my work out into the world. This could be:
- via e-mail;
- via dialogue and networking in person;
- or increasingly via social media.
Most of my marketing is what is referred to as service marketing. I like to provide useful information for my colleagues and community. Because this is something that I enjoy, it connects effectively with my marketing efforts.
Through service marketing like my blogposts, video, or social media posts…people are able to connect with me. They are also reminded about me and my services periodically and therefore when they may need the services I offer (like supervision, consultation, coaching, workshop facilitation and organizational development), they are more likely to think about my practice.
Marketing via Engagement
I don’t know anyone who “enjoys” it when someone is trying to sell them something. However, we almost all enjoy when someone shares genuinely useful information in an engaging manner.
In social media marketing this is what is referred to as “engagement.” It has to do with whether or not people viewed your message and responded to it by indicating that they “liked” it. It can also involve people commenting as well as sharing your message(s) or “posts” with others.
I often receive engagement from my weekly e-mail/e-blast. Some of my readers e-mail me to let me know know what they thought and how they might use the information provided.
Going Live on Facebook
Below is a video that I shared on my personal Facebook Page. In the video, I share some of the key concepts that support me in my marketing efforts as a self proclaimed introvert. I recorded it once, however-
- I am using it in my e-blast;
- as well as on my website and on my YouTube channel.
This video that I recorded is referred to as “going live” on Facebook. This means that the video is being viewed by others in real time as I am recording it. At the beginning you can witness a fair amount of interaction between me and my relatively small audience.
Perhaps 10 people viewed the video while it was being recorded last Wednesday. So this was a week ago from the day that this blog post is being sent out via e-mail. Today (1 week later) it has 278 views and 58 responses. The responses include comments as well as “reactions” which you will hear me referring to in the video as “likes” or “loves.”
What is your Marketing Strategy?
If you are accepting new clients, you might consider the various ways that people can find out about you and your services. Are you marketing your services? I don’t mean “Are you on insurance panels?”
What I want to know is… how many different ways can people legitimately find out about what you do and how awesome you are at what you do? Yes we are ethically mandated to by honest in our advertising. However, that is not mutually exclusive as it relates to sharing your insights about your philosophies on supporting people through “difficult life transitions” like loss of employment, the end of a relationship, an empty nest or a divorce etc…
People will refer to you and continue to refer to you once they have a sense of who you are. If you find yourself thinking “But I am shy” or “I am private,” just know that people still only know what you decide to share. However, it is important that what you share is genuine and from the heart. Because that is how people truly connect.
Copyright © 2016 Ruby Blow. All rights reserved.
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