One of the most common questions asked by mind/body/spirit (MBS) practitioners as they start their new business is, “How will I market my business?”  “How will people find out about me?”  If you are asking these questions, you are not alone!  And it is the critical question to be asking if you want to succeed.  Below is a marketing methodology that would be appropriate for the MBS industry. 

Some marketing concepts to set the stage… 

What is marketing? You need a good working definition of marketing.  Marketing is taking action to create, grow, maintain or defend a market.  Since the metaphysical market is so new, we can drop off “maintain and defend” and focus on “create and grow”.  The critical part of this definition is action.  We need to understand marketing and our market enough to take action and grow our businesses.  The actions we take should have the goal of creating name exposure and, hopefully a word-of mouth effect.  Word-of-mouth is one of the most effective ways to market. 

What is a market? A market is:

1. a set of potential clients…
2. for a given set of products or services…
3. who have a common pain, need or desire…
4. who talk to each other when making a buying decision.

The third piece of the definition emphasizes the pain that the potential client feels and the final part shows the importance of word of mouth – they talk to others when purchasing. 

What is Pain/Impact/Vision?

Pain is what a prospect feels.  It is the reason they would take action to buy your product or service.  The more pain they are in, the more likely they are to look for help.   Pain can be physical or emotional, backaches or loneliness. 

Impact is the impact that this pain has on the person’s life.  How does this limit their ability to live their lives?  How does it keep them from experiencing joy, happiness and peace? 

Vision is your solution to their problem.  How you can eliminate or alleviate their pain?   

If someone is in pain, they want to go to “the expert” to alleviate that pain.  They want to go to someone who understands their pain, what causes their pain and how the pain impacts their lives.  They want to feel hope that what you have to offer will help them.  They want to go to you for advice and help.  They want to believe in you.  They want to go to “the expert in this industry”.    Your marketing should highlight the experience that you have and how you are knowledgeable in the areas where they have pain. 

What is an Adoption Life Cycle/Discontinuous Innovation?  An adoption life cycle is a model for understanding the acceptance of new products, services or ideas.  Our attitude towards the adoption of something new is significant, especially if it requires us to change our current way of thinking.    If the new product or service is just the new or improved version of an old product, it is easy for the buyer to purchase because they already understand the basic premise (e.g. new and improved Pledge furniture polish).  If a new product or service has no real predecessor product or service, it is called a discontinuous innovation (e.g. the microwave oven or a VCR or the electric car).    The MBS industry stretches discontinuous innovation to a new limit because we have people question some of their belief systems.  We need a marketing model that copes with this huge issue.  So marketing becomes more of a challenge and word-of-mouth, case studies and references become more important. 

Types of Buyers.   The adoption life cycle for discontinuous innovation markets is broken down into several groups, which are described below.  It also has two gaps in the curve.  In order to get over the gaps, you will need a strong marketing strategy. 

Innovators – The innovators already believe in what you do.  You don’t have to create a vision for them because they already have one.  They believe you can help them.  They are not a large group and they normally want things to be cheap.  They don’t care about your documentation materials or any frills; they just want the latest methods or products to help them.  They make great critics because they want your idea to work.  Their peers view them as the experts.  They are the beachhead – the group you need to market to first.  If you win their trust, they will be a great reference to help you win over the visionaries. 

Visionaries – The visionaries don’t have their own vision, but they can understand your vision if you explain it to them.  They typically will hear about you from the innovators.  They want more frills and documentation than the innovators, but only enough so that they understand your vision.  They are confident in their decisions and once they are happy, they love to tell others.  So, they are good references.  They are easy to sell to but hard to please.  So, set their expectations properly.  They are a larger group than the innovators, but not by much.  They see the potential of your solution/vision, so they are the least price sensitive – they are buying a dream. 

Pragmatists – They can relate to spirituality, but they are very practical.  They think (know) that some of the spiritual ideas will be a passing fad.  They don’t want to be pioneers.  They are content to see how other people make out before they buy.  You need to understand their values – they are practical.  They care about your documentation and how you support your vision.  They want reliability, references and a track record of your successes.  They want some proof or case studies.  They are hard to win over, but very loyal once won.  They plan to live with their decision for a long time.  You need to build relationships with them.  They are a very large group – 1/3 of the entire adoption cycle.  They are price sensitive.  They will increase your sales volume, but lower your price. 

Conservatives – They are similar to the Pragmatists with one additional concern – they are not comfortable with their ability to handle spirituality.  They will wait until something has become the established standard before they will buy.  They want a lot of support and documentation.  They are a large group – about 1/3 of the adoption cycle.  In my opinion, we are nowhere near this group yet.  We suggest you ignore them for now from a marketing perspective.  Let them come to you. 

Skeptics – They simply do not want anything to do with spirituality for personal and/or economic reasons.  They will only buy if your solution is deeply imbedded in something else – so they don’t even know it is there.  It is a small group.  Again, we are not even close to this group.  I wouldn’t bother to market to them.  Let them come to you. 

What is a Market Strategy?

Market strategy is how you get across the adoption life cycle of your product or service.  There will be a different adoption life cycle for each product or service (e.g.  one for feng shui, one for Reiki, etc).   To create your market strategy; you first need to know where you are on the curve.  Are you at an innovator stage or a visionary stage?  You will need to keep watching where you are on the cycle.  Some modalities are moving quickly – (e.g. Feng Shui, Reiki, Massage Therapy, Chiropractic).  Secondly, you have to understand the type of people in the stage where you are – really understand them.  Finally, you have to understand the people at the next stage so that you are prepared to move along the curve. 

What is a Market Segment?

In order to set a marketing strategy in a discontinuous innovation market, you should strongly consider breaking your potential market into segments.   

A market segment is one section of a market.  You will need to break your market up using natural market boundaries (geographic, age, interests, etc.)  We will talk about how to choose a market segment a bit later.   As you begin to think about segments, you can ask yourself three questions:

1. “What is their pain?  What pain is this market segment experiencing?”
2. “How does this segment communicate?”
3. “Does this segment already have a solution to their problem?”

When should you begin to segment your market?

You do not need to segment at the Innovator Stage.  At this point, you are still trying out your concept or product.  As you get into the Visionary Stage, you should consider a few different segments that you feel comfortable with.  By the time you reach the Pragmatist Stage, you should have your marketing focused onto one or two segments.   It is difficult to be the “expert” in numerous segments.  It is expensive and hard to manage.  It is more effective to be the “expert” in fewer segments as you start out. 

Why should you segment your market?

Segmenting your market is a good way to focus your marketing efforts.  Marketing your product or service can be expensive and time consuming.  If you focus on one segment, you can make a “bigger splash” in that segment.  A bigger splash will create more word-of-mouth effect.  Word-of-mouth is the most effective marketing tool of all.  If you can get people talking about your product or service and they have good things to say, your business will flourish.   

Another reason to market segment is that is makes other business decisions easier.  If you know you are marketing to senior citizens or people with disabilities, you would not choose a location with a second floor walk-up.  You might choose a location near the senior center.  Or you might work with the senior center to bring your service to them at their location, eliminating the need to rent space. 

What is the downside of market segmenting?

It is difficult not to try to market to everyone and anyone.  It is hard to focus on only one or two groups.  It feels unnatural. 

It might be too limiting for you.  If you feel that your divine purpose is to serve a broad group of clients, then you should follow your inner wisdom. 

Bowling Pin Method – The bowling pin method is one way to choose the best market segment for you.  It also helps you to choose the segments to approach after you have won over the initial segment.   When you are choosing a bowling pin or segment, choose one that has a compelling reason to buy – one that has a pain that nobody else is solving.  Try to pick a segment that is your own size – don’t choose one that is too big or too small.  You want to dominate a segment and create word-of-mouth.  If your segment is too large, you won’t create word-of-mouth. 

In the next row of pins, you would either keep the application and change the segment (Reiki for pain management for cancer patients in a specific geography) or keep the same segment and change the application (Reiki for depression for seniors in a specific geography)

Here is how that bowling alley would look…..

1. Write a list of what you love. Who do you/would you love to work with? What group of people/animals are you drawn to?  What groups do you already work with who bring you great joy?  Children, seniors, women, etc.  You can have more than one segment.
2. Listen to your inner wisdom or go to a coaching or channeled session for guidance.
3. What pain does each segment have?
4. List resources to research these pains and how they affects peoples’ lives.
5. What is your vision for healing their pain?
6. Do you have any experience with this?  List any case studies to support/test your vision.  Try out your vision on a few people from each segment.
7. List the pain/impact/vision for each segment.
8. Rank your choices.
9. Determine whether or not you can communicate your vision for your top three segments?  Try to write a brochure for your top choices.  Try to explain your vision to another practitioner, or to someone who is a specialist in each segment.

What if I choose the wrong segment?

We don’t think there can be a wrong segment.  There are so many people out there who are in pain and need your help.  Whatever you learn by following through on a segment will help you as you market to your next choices.  The lessons you learn from choosing the “wrong” segment might be just the lessons you need to learn. 

Don’t feel as if you need to choose only one segment.  You will want to choose enough segments so that you don’t feel trapped, but not too many that the marketing gets too expensive.  You can rank your segments and market to one at a time until you find the one that clicks for you. 

Finally, don’t forget that the first segment that you choose is only the front bowling pin in the alley.  From there you expand to other pins based on the experience you have gained and your reference base of clients from the first bowling pin.  We suggest you go for the easiest segment first – the one you know the most about. 

Common misconceptions about marketing.

What is a Marketing Funnel?

The marketing funnel shows how you bring a person from not knowing you, to hearing about you (suspect), to seeing and understanding your vision (prospect) to becoming a client.  Once a client, the funnel works to keep them as a client and for them to help you by bringing in new clients through word-of-mouth. 

Your marketing strategy should move people into your funnel and then through your funnel to be a client.  At the top of the funnel you would focus on broad marketing efforts – advertising, articles, seminars, etc.  As people hear about you and know your name – as they come down the marketing funnel -- your marketing will get more focused.  Although you would keep the general marketing going to keep new suspects coming in.  In the lower parts of the funnel, you would consider specific events, joint marketing, referrals from existing clients, alliances, etc.  We will discuss these in more detail below. 

There will be a separate funnel for each group along the adoption life cycle: innovators, visionaries and pragmatists.  We will skip conservatives and skeptics for now, as most MBS businesses will not be marketing to those groups until far into the future. 

You need to have follow-up communication in writing and verbally to move them down the funnel.  You need to know what you will say to a suspect when they reply to your ad or other marketing effort.  You will need to have marketing materials (brochures, business cards, other literature) ready if they ask for it.  How will they know that you really understand their pain and how it affects their lives?  How will you express your vision to them of how you will alleviate their pain?  How will they know that you are an experienced person/business in this area?  Once you get someone to pick up the phone and call you, you have to be prepared for what you will say to keep him or her interested. 

What are the basic marketing materials?

Business cards, generic ad, ad for specific events, flyer to post on bulletin boards or hand out, brochure that describes their pain and your vision, FAQ’s – a list of frequently asked questions and their answers, case studies that support/prove your vision, quotes from happy clients and product description/price list. 

You don’t need all of these to get started.  For example, innovators will not be interested in most of this – they already understand.  Marketing materials will get more important as you move across the adoption cycle.  Pragmatists will want to see your marketing materials in order to understand your vision and feel comfortable with you.  You will probably write your collateral many times as you perfect your vision, so we advise that you get small quantities of materials printed at first or print your own.  This will allow you more flexibility.   

Below you will see examples of marketing funnels for each stage of the adoption life cycle and the collateral that will most likely be appropriate.

A Few Tips on Marketing Materials:

1. Choose a business name or a tag line that describes what you do, if possible.  A tag line is the saying that you see with most major advertising – “Coke – The real thing” or  “Nike – Just do it”.
2. Don’t make your marketing literature too wordy.

Leave blank space

Use bullet points or italics to emphasize points

Use bullet points or italics to break up your materials

Keep your bullet points short

Use only 4-5 bullets

Put the most important bullets first and last

3. Always include a clear “call to action.”  A call to action is the next step a person should take if they are interested.  (Call to register for this seminar.  Call for a free consultation.)
4. Make sure that your contact details are included (phone number, email).
5. Include quotes from satisfied clients, if possible.
6. Try to express the pain and vision in your materials.
7. Include photographs and biographies.  A bio is a short description of your qualifications and experience.
8. Put information to the left and images/pictures to the right.  Your eye goes to the left first – you have been trained to read left to right.
9. The little stuff:

Timing of your marketing – think about the best timing for your marketing and work around that timing (e.g., advertise 2-3 weeks before an event, or immediately before an event – whichever you think will be more effective).

You might consider hand-writing letters to make your letter stand out from the junk mail. 

Send divine energy to the receiver so they read your materials with an open mind.

No matter which group you are marketing to, remember that you are trying to create a word-of-mouth effect.  In order to do this you have to think like your target market.  How can you get them talking about you?  How can you start a chain reaction so that they are spreading your vision? 

Find out where and how they communicate.   What magazines, newspapers and books do they read?   This would be the best place to advertise.   

Think about where they gather.  This may be New Age Bookstores, Internet chat sites, meditation groups, psychic fairs, etc.  You need to get them talking about you where and when they gather. 

What marketing materials do you need to reach them?  The funnel above describes some basic materials that might be effective at each step.  Remember that the innovators are the least sensitive about marketing materials.  You just need to get the word out there – wherever they are.  At this point you probably won’t have chosen a target market, so your ads, flyers and other materials can be general – they don’t have to address a specific pain/impact/vision.  You just need to be able to describe what you are doing and how it can help them.  Print the minimum amount of materials, as you should develop them as you gain experience with your market. 

How should you price?  Remember that the innovators tend to be the most price sensitive.  So, you need to know if price is an issue for them.  You want them to try what you are doing so they will spread your message.  They are great references as they are considered the experts by their peers.  Use the innovators to “seed the market.”   One idea is to suggest a recommended treatment.  You are the expert and they have come to you for help.  Set their expectations by suggesting a recommended treatment (e.g., three visits).  This also allows them to visit you more than once before deciding if your vision/solution works for them.  This gives you a bit more time to build their trust. 

The biggest differences in marketing to visionaries versus innovators are (1) you have to create the vision for visionaries,  (2) they probably communicate and gather in different places, and (3) you should start to narrow in on a few target markets.    What they have in common is that you are still trying to create a word-of-mouth chain reaction! 

As you think about your marketing strategy, think about one to three target markets, or a broad target market.  For example, you could target Reiki to seniors – which includes a tool and a segment, but not a specific application (see Bowling Pin Method above).  Think about their pain, the impact on their lives and your vision/solution.  

Don’t forget that they are buying a dream – set their expectations properly – don’t over sell what you can do. 

Find out where and how they communicate.   What magazines, newspapers and books do they read?   This would be the best place to advertise.  Following the Seniors example, maybe you advertise in a seniors magazine. 

Think about where they gather.  This may be at Senior Center.  They may all go to the same hairdresser.  They may belong to quilting groups.  They may volunteer at similar charities or be involved at the same church.  They may live in a senior community that sponsors activities.   Again, you need to get them talking about you where and when they gather. 

What marketing materials do you need to reach them?  The funnel above describes some basic materials that might be effective at each step of the funnel.  Remember that the visionaries will need more marketing materials than the innovators.  Your materials should help them understand your vision and ideas.  They will not get it automatically, but if you can describe it clearly and simply, they will get it quickly.  Your ads and flyers should have some mention of pain, impact and vision.  You will probably need some published FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions and their answers).  This doesn’t have to be too polished, just enough to help them understand and answer their questions.  Again, print just enough so you have the flexibility to change them as you gain experience with your target group. 

How should you price?  As you move into the visionary market, you might be able to increase your prices.  You have developed your vision with the innovators so your vision now has more value.  However, be careful here.  If you target your marketing to seniors, for example, price probably will be an issue.  Think creatively – do ½ hour sessions rather than an hour.  Go to their location to give treatments to save on your overheads – maybe you don’t need to rent a space.  Offer senior discounts on your products.  

What campaigns would be appropriate? 

One of the hardest leaps a business must make is the move from marketing to innovators/visionaries to marketing to pragmatists – they are very different types of people.  However, as we follow our divine paths, it is critical that we can take the leap and bring our spiritual work to a broader audience to allow the healing to be shared on a wider scale. 

As you move from Visionaries to Pragmatists, they will expect your solution to be practical and proven.  They will expect you to have marketing materials that express what you do and how you do it.  You will need to make them feel that you understand their specific pain and that you can help them with your vision.  They want your solution to work as you describe it to work.  They want to build a relationship with you.  They want to hear about your case studies for people like them.  They need something a bit more solid and polished.  They are looking for credibility. 

In order to present a polished set of marketing materials with case studies that relate to their pain, you will probably need to limit your target markets to one to two.  Don’t forget, as you capture a market you can grow by expanding to the next market in the bowling alley – so don’t feel restricted.  Look at this as a way to focus your effort and keep your marketing costs under control.  These ideas are to help you create a marketing strategy – not to limit you.  When in doubt, follow your inner guidance. 

Find out where and how they communicate and where they gather.   You can now narrow in on the specific magazines and periodicals for your target market.   They are more practical than the visionaries so they will probably belong to a different group and have more conservative interests.  Know your market – ask your clients what they read – your own client base is a good source of information. 

What marketing materials do you need to reach them?  By the time you reach the Pragmatists, your materials need to be crisp and clear.  You need to include quotes and/or testimonials of how your solution worked for other people like them – with the same pain as they have.  You will need to clean up the collateral that you used for the Visionaries and add things like more case studies and white papers.  (White papers are discussion papers that go into much more detail than a flyer or brochure.  They include case studies and “proof.”)  Your FAQ’s will need to be more complete and detailed as well – and you will probably need a longer and more extensive list of questions.  The FAQ’s will grow as you address the Pragmatist market.  Keep this document fluid. 

How should you price?  Pragmatists will drive your price down.  However, they buy differently from the Visionaries.  They will be loyal and buy for a longer period of time and more consistently.   So, you might introduce price discounting.  For example, if you buy three visits in advance, you get a certain discount.   Or if you purchase over a certain dollar value of product, you get a discount or a free product.   At this point, you will probably consider offering a wider range of products and services.  Some of this will just make sense.  You will be the expert on their type of pain, so you might recommend treatments that coordinate well with your main treatment (chakra work with meditation) so you may do chakra work alongside your meditation practice.  This will allow you to be a full-service shop for your loyal clients. 

What campaigns would be appropriate? 

Conclusion

We have tried to present a framework for you to start marketing your business.  The ideas above are meant as guidelines.  You might find a lot of the ideas to be plain common sense.  We hope that the ideas are not too costly and are practical.  Use your creativity as opposed to your pocketbook.  Network and use your contacts.  As you market, remember to whom you are marketing.  Make sure you know where you are on the adoption life cycle for your product or service.  Then put your creative ideas into action!! 

As you implement the ideas above, always follow your inner guidance.  If any of the ideas above do not feel right, then just skip them.  Do what brings you joy and what rings true to the deepest part of your being and let go of anything that does not. 

The marketing concepts above are based on several marketing methodologies including “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey Moore.  They have been adapted to fit the MBS industry. 

Look for other business articles in the coming issues, such as:

§         Business Planning

§         Legal Issues for a Small Business

§         Human Resource Issues and Payroll

§         Effective Collateral

§         Solution Selling

§         Sales taxes

§         Web Site Development 

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Joyce Scanlon has 20 years business experience, specializing in helping start-ups.  She has served as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and as Chief Operating Officer (COO), and currently runs her own small business which has operated successfully since its inception in 1997.  She has been a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Massachusetts since 1986.  She graduated from University of Lowell in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Business Management (MIS), and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Bentley College in 1991, with a Masters of Taxation, Certificate of Taxation.  Joyce is an Advanced Reiki Practitioner and volunteers at local Reiki clinics. 

Ann McLaughlin is a business professional with 30 years experience in the marketing, advertising, financial services and technology fields with an emphasis in start-up organizations.  She has assisted in several start-up companies and groups.  She graduated in 1986 from Bentley College with a Bachelor of Science in Economics/Finance, and completed the Corporate Entreneurship program at Babson College.  Ann is a Reiki teacher and Advanced Reiki Practitioner and volunteers at local Reiki clinics. 

MBS Business Advisors was founded by Joyce Scanlon and Ann McLaughlin to provide business guidance to mind/body/spirit businesses to help ensure their success.  Their mission is to provide sound, practical business information, incorporating spirituality and core values.  MBS assists in the many phases of building a business – starting up, maintaining, expanding – with services and solutions which are economical and cost-effective. 

MBS offers a variety of services including workshops (lecture format), hands-on clinics, free seminars/networking meetings, individual consulting, support services, as well as membership in an association.