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What? A dead-end? You mean, my credentials, training,
and experience aren't important? That the unique ways in which I work, and the wonderful benefits of my services aren't
pertinent?
No, of course not. There's definitely a place for these bits of information.
(Hint: that place is on the bio page of your website).
And yes, I do mean that they aren't your strongest marketing pitch. Here's
why:
When we are in emotional distress or have a health problem that is disrupting
our daily functioning, damaging our relationships, endangering our job security, or otherwise making life miserable or sleep
impossible, we are very focused on our own subjective experience. At these times, we have little patience or attention
span with which to wade through the CEU credits of prospective helpers.
In other words, when you focus on your own qualifications in your marketing, it
makes your prospective client's brain glaze over.
When we are in distress, most of us are very self-absorbed and self-centered --
this is human nature. We want to feel like someone sees that distress, hears our cry for help,
and will give us relief by providing direct help for our specific problem.
As a marketer, when you speak to our distress, ensure that you hear our cry, and
offer an indication of having specific solutions for our specific problems, you are emotionally connecting with us, and
we are compelled to connect with you -- by making an appointment!
Need
a brief marketing consult ?
Just click on the spinning star
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Being Specific
Doesn't Equal
Giving Guarantees
I hear a lot of therapists balk
at writing their marketing message in a way that appears to give a guarantee or a promise that clients will get
a certain result.
When we hold this concern, we are thinking like a therapist
and not like a marketer.
For the purposes of marketing, this concern is self-defeating.
I also believe that this concern is fatally paternalistic, boundary
violating, and disempowering.
It's paternalistic because it takes responsibility away
from the client, and positions the clinician as omnicient. It feeds the power differential, and contributes to the dependency
clients feel towards their clinicians.
It's boundary violating because when we resist talking about
specific solutions out of fear of creating a guarantee, it implies that we offer our clients no choices and do not follow
their agenda for themselves. It violates their ethical right to autonomy.
It's disempowering to them and to us to withhold mention of
possible specific solutions. It disempowers us because it reduces the sense of feeling seen and understood, which reduces
the impulse to make an appointment. It disempowers the client because it removes from their decision process the information
that is most important to that decision.
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