Excellent feedback on marketing seminar for therapists

Feedback for the marketing seminar for therapists on 25/3/2011.

“A big thank you to Paola Bassanese for her recent seminar on marketing for therapists.

The development of effective marketing and promotional strategies are essential to becoming a successful therapist in today’s competitive markets and are skills that are lightly touched upon in many practitioner trainings – where the emphasis (as it should be!) is on developing safe and competent therapists. This does mean however that many therapists are unsure of how to effectively market themselves, on which mediums and how much or little they should invest in this. Being a therapist can be a lonely road in terms of managing and understanding the business aspect of our practices. Coming from a marketing background prior to retraining as a therapist Paola brought a wealth of core knowledge about the fundamentals of marketing which she has refined and applied to developing her own very successful massage practice.

 

The seminar looked at both online and offline marketing and networking. I think what was great about Paola’s approach to marketing is that she emphasised using methods that don’t cost anything! We should move away from thinking about marketing as a paid for process in publications and the internet (which is what the advertising industry obviously encourages!). These methods while sometimes can bear fruit are often a very good way of losing lots of money! The seminar looked at ways of networking and disseminating our work in a variety of modes including the now crucial social media i.e. facebook, twitter etc.

Paola’s marketing philosophy requires engagement and effort from the practitioner, but this shouldn’t be viewed as redundant or dead time, but should rather like an opportunity to enrich your ‘brand strength’. Because as therapists we are our own mini brand and clients come to see you the therapist, just as much as they do to experience your actual techniques. Therefore it is imperative to be fluid and practiced in how you introduce and dialogue about your work.

All in all I thought this was a fantastic seminar and I highly recommend it to complementary therapists who wish to develop and refine their understanding of marketing.”

Nico Thoemmes, Practice Manager, White Crane Clinic