Pink Spoon Marketing For Psychotherapists

Much has been said over the years about the power of thinking positive thoughts and focusing on what you want. Napoleon Hill wrote about this in the early 1900s as he interviewed many of the most successful businessmen of the day. Then of course there were books from Dale Carnegie and Normal Vincent Peale.

Many psychologists, most notably Marty Seligman, share the clinical benefits of Positive Psychology. Our culture really jumped on board the Law of Attraction with the release of The Secret a few years ago (along with all the books by Abraham Hicks and Michael Losier).

Now I am not going to get into a spiritual debate here. My intention is to invite you to notice how things go when you focus on what is wrong in your practice - or for that matter in your life. It is easy to do that because bad stuff takes attention and energy.

But for now, let's just take a moment to gently and gratefully remember the good stuff. Watch a cat stretch or a dog's tail wag excitedly. The world is filled with wonderful and very funny things and our time here is short. Let's have a ball!

A note about this article... It came from some conversations in my beta group. We talked about a pink spoon as the first (and no-charge) product in a multiple streams of therapy income business. But I think now all practice websites should offer a pink spoon - sooner rather than later.

Amber, my online business manager and I were talking yesterday about this. When we first started working together years ago, not everyone had email addresses. And most therapists didn't have websites and the online therapist locators didn't exist. Yet here we are - some of us have so many email addresses we can hardly keep track.

So, I am going out on a limb here and say that you need to give something of value away for free on your site. I don't think this is really optional anymore. We call this no-charge item a pink spoon - a free taste - just like the tiny taste you get at the ice cream store. This pink spoon is important whether you want a multiple streams of therapy income business or want to increase the number of clients coming into your practice.

Chris Anderson, business author of the book FREE writes that the culture expects to search the web and view and download information at no-charge. Take a look at You Tube - where you can view millions of videos at no-charge. My 83 year-old Dad enjoys sharing his favorites with us (He loved Susan Boyle and the Von Trapp dancing in the Belgium train station - but, really, who didn't?).

I predict that in the not so distant future, websites that market a practice without offering a no-charge informational product will be passed over in favor of those that do. Anderson suggests that sooner or later all businesses will need to learn how to compete with "free."

Actually this is great news for you! You have a ton of information in your head and in your heart that can help people. You helped the young mother who was terrified when she found out she was pregnant again. You helped the estranged couple to find love with each other again. A frightened child can smile again thanks to you. Your wisdom, day after day, session after session, heals and transforms. The powerful questions that you invite your clients to consider propel them to happier, more functional lives. Imagine how wonderful it would be if more people had a chance to experience that wisdom. By putting a no-charge info product (audio, report or video) on your website, you help people you may never meet in person. Plus you will create demand for people who want to go deeper and do one on one work with you.

What does it take to create your pink spoon? First, ask yourself "What would my web visitor be interested in?" Then decide if you want to create a written, video or audio product. Today you will find that there are some very simple tools to help you create your first pink spoon.

After that, you'll need some technical skill or a high school student to help you get it on your site. Then keep track of how many downloads it so you know how well it is working for you.

It is just about here that I find many bright, motivated therapists seem to, well, stop. They have thought about a pink spoon and have some ideas for content. But the transition from idea to product seems difficult.

Is this you? Do you find yourself with ideas but for some reason haven't moved ahead in ways you'd like? A client of mine in North America recently said "When I'm afraid it won't be perfect, I stop myself." Here is the advice I offered her: Focus on completion not perfection. While it is important to think about the content of your pink spoon and how you want to deliver it, don't let the desire to make is perfect keep you stuck. Set a date. Get it done. After all I can tell you from experience, it will never be perfect - you will revise it later. So here is your permission to make it just 'good enough.'

Breakfast Cereals

Yahoo Pool Tournaments - Don't Underestimate Your Opponents and Other Marketing Drivel

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Marketers often assume they're the only one on the street wearing the polka dot tie and plaid jacket. After all, no other salesman would DARE infiltrate your territory, right?

I sat there in the living room with my feet propped on the coffee table sipping a cola and holding my sleeping granddaughter. Her mommy, who could sell snow to Eskimos in the winter, was telling me about her busy day at work and shooting pool with some stranger on yahoo at the computer. The new player offered to play her for dinner, if she'd consider meeting a stranger. She shrugged and told him, okay, then took the first shot.

She drew back the pool stick with the mouse and let the first shot fly. The balls broke into a loose circle in the middle of the board and she typed darn into the board.

She talked about the new rookie in the store that thought he could outsell her, while she waited to take the next shot. They alternated customers as they walked in the door. The rookie made a mark on the graph as to how much each customer would buy, before they greeted them.

She drew back the stick and took another shot. Direct drop into the corner pocket, and the next shot deflected off the back bar and re broke the circle of balls in the middle.

He typed onto the screen, "You don't play this much do you?"

She told me how the new rookie was letting her have customers he didn't think would buy product and waiting for a better customer to enter the store next. Customers were purchasing equipment, some inexpensive, others more valuable, but all of her customers were buying something.

She took another shot and dropped the first ball. She dropped the second ball. She dropped a third ball and the forth ball knocked the 8 ball across the table out of her way.

He typed into the screen, "Oh, that was close..."

She told me about the rookie's disappointment when his high dollar customers weren't buying anything by midday. She hadn't told him she was making sales, or not, just listening to his comments. When he noticed she'd sold a set of ear phones, he seemed exhilarated by his last sale of a headset. She shrugged it off and kept cleaning counters.

She drew back the pool stick and took another shot, then typed her intentions onto the screen, "8-ball, lower right pocket."

How did you do that? Her pool opponent asked as she typed a comment into the board. She answered that she played pro-pool for money in the college dorms, it's all geometry. He seemed perturbed that she'd beaten him and hadn't acknowledged her expertise.

She left him with the table and turned to tell me what happened at work.

The rookie finished the day out with less than a hundred dollars in sales on his own tickets. Her tickets totaled more than $2,800.00 and she had three buyer contracts on new equipment purchased online through customers who'd been in the store. The rookie wanted to know how she'd accomplished that and she answered, with the most important lesson of my marketing career, "I never pre-judge my opponent or sell from my own pocket!"

Red Coffee Maker - Power a Winning Marketing Strategy

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Research of Olympic athletes revealed that those wearing red have a definite benefit over their competitors wearing blue. "We find that wearing red is consistently associated with higher probability of winning," University of Durham researchers Russell Hill and Robert Barton write in the May 19 issue of the journal Nature.

Red is the color that runs through our veins and unites all human beings and many other species. Red is strong and powerful, the red carpet is rolled out for very important people and stop lights and signs are red to insure well being, anger turns your face red and so does embarrassment. Much can be said about red, but it cannot be ignored.

For many people and companies that receive gifts, the importance of gifts has nothing to do with monetary value and everything to do with appreciation and for the giver the purpose of gifting is to be remembered and to be first in the heart and mind of the receiver. That is what is known as Branding.

Coffee is the world's most popular beverage. It is in fact the world's second most traded product, taking a backseat only to petroleum. Coffee is used in most homes and offices all over the world by people of all age groups. You can use the popularity of coffee and the good feelings associated with it as a way to be present in your client's home and office by giving branded red coffee makers as gifts.

By ten o'clock in the morning most people have already enjoyed their first cup of coffee, if it is from the red coffee machine that was given by you or your company; you will be on their minds from early morning till late at night every single day. This will give you a huge advantage over any competitor because your presence is consistent and pleasant.

Other Benefits:

• Your referrals will increase from this particular client in your field of business because of your constant presence. You will spend less time on selling because a quality referral is a sale; all you have to do is close the sale.

• You will never have to guess what gifts to buy for your clients ever again; you can just buy his/her favorite blend, or surprise them with a new flavor. You can personalize it for further branding of you or your company or both.

• You will always have an opening line to start a conversation because you have created a common point of interest, coffee.

• In a passive way you will always be present sharing every important conversation and meeting, you will be part of your client's life.

• When competitors visit your client, coffee will be served from your red coffee maker, it will be like kissing your girlfriend/boyfriend in front of your spouse, it will just not work very well. You will win every time.

The Downside:

• You must always conduct yourself and your business in such away that you never make your client see red or turn red because of you. Over perform and over produce and you will succeed.

2 Reasons Why Local Business Owners Drop the Ball With Local Search Marketing

Far too many local business owners are not getting on board with local search marketing. Listed here are some of the reasons and the ramifications of not doing so.

1. Many business owners are simply stuck-in-a-rut with their marketing. Even though their traditional advertising methods are outdated and don't work as well as they used to, it's easier to leave their head stuck in the sand and do what they have always done in the past. Change is difficult for most people.

2. Others understand they need to make some changes. However, they feel overwhelmed with all the information and "sales pitches" about online marketing. They have no idea where to even begin.

The only real hope for the first group is that they see the light before their old school marketing methods lead them to bankruptcy. As we say in Oklahoma, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

It is those in the second group I want to address. Actually, the more competitors who remain in group one, the more advantage there is for forward thinking business owners to take advantage of local search opportunities. Yes, it can seem overwhelming in the beginning. But with proper guidance and support, the process is quite simple when broken down into workable steps.

"Can't I Just pay Someone to Handle My Local Search Marketing"

The local Yellow Page rep would love to answer that question! The rep can easily hook up a business with one of their premium online listings for Only $300 per month.

Say what?

Remember that 95% of all Internet searches begin with Google, Yahoo, or Bing. YellowPages.com is not even on the radar screen!

To be fair, paid premium listings with YellowPages.com and business directories can help with local business listing and organic rankings in Google. But so do the free YellowPages.com listings.

(Ooops, your Yellow Pages rep did not mention they have free listings too?)

Remember, placements next to the Google map and in the organic listings are free those placements are the most productive and most clicked. Again, those listings cost nothing.

Before paying for any type of premium listings, first take advantage of the free advertising Google offers!

"OK, How About I Just Pay Someone to Get My Business Listed In Google Maps And In The Organic Listings?"

That's a better question. However, my first response would be, "Why pay a company $300, $500, $1000, or more to do something that is SO easy to learn?"

Secondly, and this is from my Internet marketing perspective: Why if these companies are so good at what they do are they wasting their time and resources in exchange for nickels and dimes? SEO experts have huge potential with their skills. I have to really question any business model that offers their so called "expertise" in this manner.

Don't get me wrong. I am a huge fan of outsourcing. If a business owner wishes to hire someone to help with some of the work involved, I'm all for it. But.....that is if, and only if, they understand the process and know exactly what work needs done and why.

Whether the owner does the marketing his or herself, has an employee do it, or outsources it to a third party, the owner must first learn the process and know what is required.

I strongly suggest business owners never simply "throw money" at local search marketing. It's a different marketing world now days; money alone is rarely the answer.

As an example of how productive free online marketing can be, some online experts point out that President Obama's huge campaign presence on free social sites like Twitter and Facebook were enough to guarantee his narrow victory in the last election.

Forget Monthly/Yearly Advertising Invoices!

Traditional advertising all has one thing in common; the cost is on-going! Got a Yellow Page Ad? The cost is monthly or yearly...Every month, Every year!...ditto for radio, newspaper, TV, billboard, or ValPak advertising. Monthly or yearly checks must be written in order to maintain exposure in those media.

Actually, this giant shift society is making towards the Internet is the best news ever with respect to advertising budgets!

Internet marketing is completely different! Not only are Google local business listings and their organic listings free, there is no significant on-going work required!

Any effort done today for achieving search engine traffic continues to provide traffic not only next month, but also for the coming years. In fact, the work is accumulative and the results tend to be magnified exponentially. Any business owner willing to invest some time up front in achieving good rankings will reap the rewards for many years to come...all with little to no costs and with very little ongoing effort required.

I am not suggesting that business owners should build and then neglect their online marketing. I am simply pointing out the vast difference between the costs associated with offline vs. online marketing.

Should Business Owners stop Advertising In The Yellow Pages?

Although I do know of businesses having so much success with their online marketing that they have completely discontinued their Yellow Page advertising, it's likely that time has not come for most local businesses. The fact is that there are still people who consult the Yellow Pages when looking for local goods and services.

As I point out in my 5 year prediction below, it is quite clear that a major shift is occurring in how consumers shop locally. The Yellow Pages may still be required, but their usefulness is decreasing steadily. Businesses must be prepared for this transition.

What is the most important marketing strategy for a business to implement during these changing times?

There is only one answer that will ensure your customer base increases. Develop online marketing as rapidly as possible while monitoring and tracking off-line advertising. There will come a time when Yellow Page usage drops to unacceptable levels and the return on investment for that type of advertising is no longer cost effective.