Book Review - The Secrets of Spiritual Marketing

The Secrets of Spiritual Marketing
Lawrence Ellyard
O-Books
£9.99
www.o-books.net
ISBN 978-1-84694-224-2

This book has been brought in, unedited, from the US. It hand-holds the reader through the minutiae of marketing a spiritual health business, assuming that the reader is qualified and is ready to leap into the shark-pool that is self-employment.

The author is Founder and CEO of the International Institute for Complementary Therapists, with fifteen years of practitioner experience (and seven books) under his belt. He also has a background of advertising, graphic design and marketing and so when it comes to getting your business out there, he really knows his stuff.

The book is aimed mainly at those therapies requiring the use of a couch and a comfortable room, but a lot of what the Mr. Ellyard advises is perfectly appropriate for astrologers and such. Some of it is also patently obvious, too, like the need for a website, email address and a ‘phone…

Having said that, though, the author himself tells us that the book is designed to be either a ‘read-through’ or a ‘dip in’ so that those who already have some experience can skip the parts that they know about already.

There’s advice on making advertising stand out, targeting client groups, how to ‘sell yourself’ – that bit made me cringe – how to establish your website, organise business cards, and generally increase your profile. There are even handy-dandy blank spaces to write your own stuff (I resisted the urge).

It does have plenty of useful tips in it: for example giving three business cards to clients and asking them to pass a couple on to friends, using coupon lines in ad’s, sending fake cheques, ‘tryvertising’, and even getting into the record books are all ways of increasing business. Of course there are lots of other, more conventional, ways to boost sales and keep clientele – many of which I hadn’t even thought of - and these are set out in detail.

It’s a thoroughly thought-out book, and if you can ignore the slight American bias I would recommend it for new starters – and perhaps those who’s trade has gone somewhat stagnant. The price can be set against tax, I’m sure.