Back in 2014, we could see
a storm brewing on the horizon.
And preparing for it has been a driving force in everything we've done since.
The storm I'm talking about is in the advertising industry.
And it affects how we, as Hypnotherapists, can reach new clients.
- Local papers have all but died out
- Yellow pages got so thin they stopped printing it
- Online ads have been getting more and more expensive
- The restrictions on what you can say are getting tighter
- Data protection and privacy rules mean you can't target health issues
In short, advertising has become (and will continue to become) harder and harder for healthcare professionals - not just Hypnotherapists, but in every discipline.
It's why, a few years ago, we impressed on you the importance of article (content) marketing - before it was really a "thing".
And our AuthorMate service helped lots of you before we closed it down.
But the storm was getting bigger.
And even though articles were (and are) still a very important part of an overall marketing strategy, we knew it wasn't going to be enough.
We could see people becoming so overwhelmed with 'content' that they needed another way to sift through the options to find the best person to help them.
(That's *YOU* BTW)
That realisation dawned on us one Spring evening in 2017.
Paul and I were in Ryde for the Easter break. The kids were playing on the beach with our wives and we wandered off into town to get some supplies.
As we walked through the high street, thoughts turned to where we might have dinner that evening... and there were two restaurants that looked promising.
Both were open for lunch and the menus looked good... but there was one big difference.
One was packed with lunchtime diners, the other was all but empty. And the busy one had better reviews on TripAdvisor.
Which do you think we booked for that evening...? The busy one of course!
It sparked a conversation about social proof and the power of reviews, and how important quality testimonials are to the success of a hypnotherapy practice.
The stats are pretty mind boggling… according to consumer research:
- 88% of consumers use online reviews to determine the quality of a business
- 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site that has user reviews
- Positive reviews can increase trust by a factor of 12 times
- Credible reviews increase sales by an average of 18%
In other words, credible reviews make potential clients far more likely to pick up the phone and make an appointment.
From that conversation, Trusted Practitioner was born.
I know, I know... we've told you this before.
But as I said to one of our Hypnotension members last week (will mention no names), we keep going on about it because we care about each and every one of our Hypnotension members and we want you to succeed.
And regardless of whether you choose to use the solution we offer, we hope you at least take the message to heart and give it some serious thought.
If you do that, we’ve succeeded in our mission to serve your best interests, even if you don't like the medicine.
Kind regards,
Rob & Paul
Ps - We've got an internet-wide offer going on at present which ends tomorrow night which you might not want to miss. See this post on our Facebook page for details.