I often say that everything is hypnosis. So is marketing your business. You also see that marketing has evolved tremendously in the last hundred years to be more hypnotic. This was necessary because in the past (say before the 1930s) we only bought what we needed. So to buy something of luxury it was necessary to make that necessary in the minds of the customers.
But how do you do it?
What is hypnosis
To answer this, it is important to first know exactly what hypnosis is. When you are under hypnosis you are in a state where you are open to suggestions. This state is very similar to relaxation, but it is not.
A hypnotist can put you under hypnosis with the suggestion "go into hypnosis" then deepening techniques are used to enhance the state of hypnosis. Research with MRI shows that this state is also reflected in brain activity that is slightly reduced.
This makes it easier to go along or be more responsive when a hypnotist gives you a suggestion, such as "you are the best entrepreneur/employee." This then directly affects how you feel because you go along with it. You feel you become stronger and more confident, so to speak, because of such a comment.
Hypnosis is therefore also often used to solve personal problems. For example, with a variety of techniques, such as such suggestion to gain more self-confidence, for example.
A technique also commonly used in hypnotherapy is visualization. This can be a guided visualization or you visualize an idea as something very tangible. For example, if you are afraid you can visualize that idea of fear as a cloud dissolving or something similar. Especially with children, this can be very helpful in releasing fears or the state of anxiety.
So a visualization can influence beliefs, ideas, feelings and behavior. This can all be done with hypnosis, which is super cool when you use it to improve people's lives.
This is one of the reasons why hypnotherapy is so popular and effective.
What is marketing
Marketing has the same goal as hypnosis, but instead of improving someone's life (which of course is also a goal), what matters to the person doing the marketing is that the person receiving the marketing message goes to the store and buys something because of it or becomes a client with you if you are a coach, for example.
Because there is so much advertising around you now, it is very difficult to get people to buy your products or services. Therefore, with marketing messages, entrepreneurs often want to influence the beliefs, ideas, emotions, feelings and behavior (going to the store and buying something) of the recipients of the marketing message[1].
This involves influencing beliefs about the product or service. For example, how necessary it is to have.
Using hypnosis for your marketing
Because marketing seeks to influence the same things as hypnosis, but often for a different purpose, it makes sense that you would want to use hypnosis for your marketing.
In hypnosis, one of the first steps is to create docility. Indeed, this is what a person is when he is under hypnosis. Although he will never do anything against his will.
So how do you do it? Because it's not like the television, poster, PC or phone allows you to grab someone and force them to follow you. Even during a hypnosis session, you don't do that.
For example, one reason television was so popular for commercials is because television makes people very docile. You sit down in front of the television. You relax and your eyes are focused on 1 point. (It's like hypnosis)
Thereby, you are not expected to do anything while watching television. You just watch the program, follow the storyline and that's it. You also notice this because you begin to identify with the main character in, say, a movie. His goals become your goals, which is why you can become totally absorbed in a movie and sympathize with the main character's emotions. If he drinks Coca Cola, you want it too if you think it's important to be "cool." This is one of the reasons why product placement is so popular.
So for marketing, some channels are very useful for that following. In doing so, you give certain suggestions, such as "real men like beer." A person who wants to identify as a real man then thinks "yes, I want beer" and can thus become motivated to go to the store or to remember this while shopping.
So like hypnosis, marketing is about the suggestions you give. The visualization, if it's a video advertisement, that inspires you about what your life can look like. One of the reasons why many soda commercials are always about celebration and a fun active time. As a result, you link those two things in your beliefs and have soda in the fridge at every birthday party. Whereas otherwise you might just drink water and tea.
Marketing Hypnosis
So how do you go about marketing hypnosis properly? What suggestions help people choose hypnotherapy when they suffer from a problem, a fear, a "disorder" (which I don't believe in).
Initially, marketing for hypnosis also involves gaining followership. To do this, you must first grab attention. Like television, you can create a video explaining what hypnosis is, for example, and distribute it on social media.
When people watch social media, they are somewhat more active than when they watch television, but watching a video remains a compliant activity. Then again, if the video is interesting enough to grab their attention, you at least have an audience that wants to listen.
Grabbing attention can be done with color, eye contact (looking straight into the camera) or with a unique action.
Then it's still important to give good suggestions about hypnosis. So you do not say "hypnosis is not scary." Because in this the word scary appears and then people focus on that. It is better to say "Hypnosis is safe". This suggestion immediately gives you a different feeling than a suggestion with "not scary."
Other suggestions may include:
"Hypnosis is scientifically proven."
"With hypnosis, you only need a couple of sessions to get rid of problems," he says.
"Hypnosis creates liberation."
Depending on the focus of your hypnosis practice, you can also choose other suggestions. These are just examples.
Then, if you have proof of effectiveness, such as through clients waxing lyrical about you in references, you can add that to your marketing message as well. Ultimately, evidence and seeing how it has worked for someone is also a good suggestion that it can work for others.
The suggestion of help
Ultimately, the most important suggestion, whether for a company selling something or a hypnotherapist, is that you want to help people with something. As a hypnotherapist, you want to help people break blocks, change unhealthy patterns, overcome fears, become healthier.
Especially that you offer help is something that is attractive to people, because who doesn't want to be helped?
Want to know how hypnosis works and how you can use it to help other people? Then come to the hypnosis playshop to learn in 1 day how to hypnotize people and check if they are really in the state of hypnosis.
Instead, would you like to get started directly on techniques to help people, and maybe even open your own hypnosis practice? Then enroll in one of the training courses of the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands. These are given in Zwolle, Wormerveer and online.
[1] https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/13522750210432977/full/html
