10 Marketing Tools that Do NOT Work for Hypnotherapists

Marketing is the number one skill you need to keep yourself and your family fed as a hypnotherapist. I have included a list of things that have NEVER worked for me over the last 30 years in building my practice. I want to share these with you so that you won’t waste valuable time and money on ineffective methods.


1. Business Cards:

People throw away business cards almost as fast as you give them out. I have many business cards lying around my office and many of the area codes have changed and I can barely remember where or why I even accepted the business card. Is that your experience as well?

2. Sending out neighborhood card packs.

These cards packs are put together by an advertising company with your advertising on a pretty glossy finished 4” X 6”or larger card stock. Unfortunately the market of people wanting your services never receives these card packs because of property owner associations and guarded communities. The people least likely to afford hypnotherapy may actually be receiving your cards and they will never read your ad because they don’t have the money to pay for any of the services advertised in the card pack.

3. Phone book yellow page advertising:

Back in 1977 I used Yellow page advertising when I had a hypnotherapy practice in Elgin, Illinois. In one year of tracking my clients, not one came via Yellow Page advertising. When the Yellow page sales representative called to have me renew for a second year, I told him I received no sales or even inquiry calls from the Yellow Pages. The salesman said, “Well maybe you need to take out a bigger ad!”

4. Internet Websites:

I train other hypnotists on a worldwide basis so the Internet helps me a great deal. If you are a hypnotherapist, who doesn’t want to travel, the Internet stinks as far as getting you new business. The only reason I get as much business as I do over the Internet is I have been on the Internet since 1995 and have published over 11,000 articles and 5 books, and presented in high schools and colleges all over the United States. Hypnotherapists stay away from the Internet and you will save a ton of money and frustration.

5. Setting up an office in shopping center with heavy foot traffic.

People shop for stuff in crowded shopping centers, not work on deep rooted problems. Shopping centers are places for bargain hunters. Bargain hunters are only interested in price and rarely interested in paying whatever it takes to eliminate a life long or a life threatening problem.



6. Lead Generation Organizations:

Lead generation organizations are great for many service oriented businesses like construction, plumbing, electrical, real estate, mortgages, insurance, and many other home services. However, they stink for hypnotherapists. The reason they stink for hypnotherapists is because you have to give referrals to others in the group each week and your clients come to you with the most personal information imaginable. They will quickly lose confidence in you and clam up if you start recommending their name so others can sell them insurance. You have very privileged and confidential information just as a physician or psychologist.

I have belonged to networking groups where physicians belonged and they joined only to receive referrals and not participate in giving out any referrals in return. The group did not work well for either party.


7. Local Chambers of Commerce:

I have belonged to local Chambers of Commerce both in Illinois and in Arizona over the past 30 years. As soon as I receive one lead, I will take number 7 off of my list. It is always a few hundred dollars worth of advertising yearly, and yet I have never received a single lead in return for my annual dues.


8. Church Groups:

Since the most frequent question I receive as a hypnotist is, “What religion are you?” I have found that most church groups feel weird about having a hypnotist speak to them or present self-hypnosis classes. Churches like Unity Church that will bring in angel experts people who God talks to, and space alien experts, resist bringing in people who offer help with hypnosis.

9. Newspaper Classified Advertising:

Does anyone read the paper in your neighborhood? Does anyone go beyond the sports section, the horoscopes, food coupons, or the automobile ads? I have used classified advertising in two different states with minimal luck. I know of some hypnotists who advertise in home shopping newspapers, however again they are working with people who are most interested in bargains and not in self-help.

If you are a hypnotist and are getting more money and clients than you can stand advertising this way, congratulations! You are my hero. I want to have your child.



10. Newspaper and Magazine Display Advertising:

Yes, this is the costliest advertising other than television. I have never had any luck with display advertising either in local newspapers or national magazines. If you want to build a great practice as a hypnotherapist, you can do so without costly and ineffective display advertising.



Summary:

The above list includes marketing tools that do now work well for hypnotherapists. In my one-on-one personal training as well as my hypnosis home study program, you will learn not only how to hypnotize but even better what tools to use to build your business and sustain your business over the years. Most of these tools will cost you little or nothing.

“My mission in life is to help you achieve your mission in life.” Wayne F. Perkins

Hypnotism Education