Marketing Feels Salesy Until You See It Through God's Eyes

Camille McDaniel (00:04.734)
Welcome back to another episode of Christ in Private Practice. I’m really glad that you are here joining me and for everyone who happens to be new, welcome. It’s always wonderful to have more individuals who have just found Christ in Private Practice podcast and decided to take a listen. I hope you stay for a while. So today I am excited about this episode. I think that it’s on.

It’s definitely one that is needed. It was actually one that was recommended from someone in the group in the Christ in Private Practice Facebook group. And I agree that this is definitely a needed topic and has been talked about for some time. And given everything that is going on in our world today, I know that there are a lot of therapists who are experiencing some

difficulties in practice referrals. They’re seeing some drops in that number of phone calls and they’re seeing a drop in the number of emails and maybe even some of the directory listings that they’re on are not actually giving them the referrals that they used to give and there’s just a lot of concern in addition to everything else that happens to be going on during this time of the year and it’s a lot. It’s just a lot for

mental health clinicians overall. you know, we’re going to talk about what we can do in our practice for visibility because we are at a time in the year where we’re looking at the year that is behind us, we’re thinking about what we’re going to do with the year that’s ahead of us, and, you know, we’re at a point of reflection. And today’s topic is going to be talking about

one reflective point that keeps bubbling up and that is marketing, know, and visibility and putting yourself out there and letting people know that you are even here, that you exist. And for a lot of Christian mental health professionals, that is a topic that brings some discomfort, you know, maybe a little bit of a knot in your stomach or maybe you just

Camille McDaniel (02:28.706)
totally are in denial and you tried to actually think of something else instead because you don’t want to even have to pick that topic up at all. It does not bring about excitement and you possibly have no strategy moving into this new year. You’re not like, I just can’t wait to market.

In many cases too, for a lot of mental health clinicians and whether you are operating your practice with Christianity or not, it also brings a lot of shame. It really does because as the member of the Facebook group was mentioning, it feels salesy. It can really feel salesy was

was the word that they used, but it also for some feels very pushy or maybe even less spiritual, like less faith-based, less Christ-aligned. So that’s why our episode today is titled, Marketing Feels Salesy Until You See It Through God’s Eyes. I…

I think the truth is that many of us, are called to build our practices, to grow and expand our practices in a variety of ways, but we feel guilty doing the very thing that’s helping people and going to help people find us. We’re feeling guilty, not in the doing of our skill, but in the…

business side of the doing. And that guilt, I think, comes from a lot of places that we’re going to talk about later in the episode. you know, the idea of marketing has just been really given a bad, I think, bad narrative. And we have adopted that narrative and that causes us to feel very uncomfortable.

Camille McDaniel (04:44.524)
when we even think about what we can do in order to market ourselves and market our practices. And if this is something that you have struggled with or are struggling with now, don’t worry, you’re not alone, but you’re definitely in the right place because we’re tackling it today. This month actually, this time of the year is actually perfect for this conversation because we are.

like I said before, in a time of reflection. And we’re just evaluating the decisions that we have made and the direction that we have found ourselves traveling over this year and the direction we want to go into for the next year. we’re thinking about our purpose and, you know, we’re trying to think about what we need to do in order to have the impact that we’re called to have.

And as Christian clinicians especially, we may be finding ourselves asking like, know, Lord, am I doing this correctly? You know, is my practice where you want for it to be? And then sometimes some of us are even asking, why does talking about my services feel so wrong?

Why does it feel like there’s some kind of maybe level of pride, greed, you know, something that is just not compassionate and not aligned with my faith in you, right? You know, so we want to take a look at why some of us do feel guilty marketing our practices so that we can grow. And this time of the year opens up the perfect door because we’re already in a

place of reflection, especially with everything going on in our economy today. And, and so there’s really no better time than the present for us to all just jump in and start taking a look at this topic and what we can do in order to get out of a mindset that really kind of has us like in a stranglehold and get into a mindset that allows us to be free.

Camille McDaniel (07:07.246)
to get excited about what we’re going to do in the new year that we have been given and how we are going to help people. as we move through this episode, let’s kind of start by taking a look at the problem and naming the issue surrounding marketing. And the issue is that marketing has just been, it’s been misidentified.

it has a bad narrative for Christian counselors. Somewhere along the way where marketing are like the idea of marketing, it kind of got mixed up with a lot of other adjectives that are really not good, but we do see it out and about and we see it on television and we see it all the time. mean, Chugs, they make movies about how people grow businesses on the backs of corruption and greed and all of this. But, you know, I think marketing kind of got mixed up.

with a lot of other negative narratives. Narratives around manipulation and pressuring people and gimmicks and self-promotion and all of that, know, salesy as like the person in our group was talking about. All of that, it does. It feels really salesy. It feels like, know, self-first, sales-first, money-first kind of culture.

and that behavior where it’s like, look at how great I am, spotlight on me, I’m so wonderful, I can help you do almost anything. And none of that feels Christ-like. So instead of us showing up confidently and excited about what we are going to do and how we’re going to share what we’re doing, Christian counselors just kind of go quiet.

We’re kind of like, know, I just, you know, I don’t have to say anything, the Lord will bring it. you know, and now the Lord can do anything he wants to do, but we do have to have faith in the gifts and talents that he has given us, you know, and we do need to move forward because faith alone is not what the Bible had called for us to.

Camille McDaniel (09:33.198)
to actually do. It doesn’t say just have faith and it’ll show up to your door. It says faith without works is dead. And so we have to actually move forward and work the gifts and talents that he has given to us. So there is a portion that we are going to have to do. And it’s not going quiet. We’re not going to shrink back and be invisible. Because if we do that, then

no one’s going to find someone who is not visible, right? I really, just kind of common sense. And it’s not that you don’t have the heart for what you do. Obviously, you wouldn’t be doing it if you didn’t have the heart and if you didn’t have the talent. So all of that is very real. But it’s just the narrative surrounding marketing that has really, I think, caused

a lot of Christian clinicians to just kind of shrink back, if you will. And what we know, if we don’t know anything else, is that the services that we offer are absolutely without a shadow of a doubt needed. Clients are literally praying for somebody like you. And I’m not even saying, I’m not saying that to try to like,

you up and you know make you just feel good about nothing. I’m saying it because I have had clients who have said I didn’t know what to do. I was praying to the Lord for what to do and he directed me to you. I’m like alright Lord thank you my number one referral source right but seriously people are out here in a really bad way and they are

really not always sure who to call, who’s going to be a right fit, where do I turn to, do I go to this directory, or do I ask my doctor, do I ask a friend, do I just go online and google it? You know there are so many things that come in front of people when they are looking for help. It can be super overwhelming. And so what we want to make sure

Camille McDaniel (11:56.93)
that we know if we don’t know anything else is that God did not call us to hide. He didn’t, he really didn’t. And I know for those of you who have been listening to the podcast for a while now, if I have not already said it a handful of times, let me say it again, because it is, it’s foundational. God did not call his people to hide.

the help that they were given. They were giving these gifts and talents as part of what they are going to do in the world. It’s your assignment. He’s giving you an assignment to help his children in a certain way. And the book of Matthew chapter five verse 14 says, city on a hill cannot be hidden. A city on a hill cannot be hidden and that also includes your practice.

your vision and mission, all the services that you are going to provide, your knowledge, your training, your voice. my goodness, you’re anointing to do this. All of this, it’s your calling. So it’s not marketing that is the problem. Marketing is not the problem. It’s your definition of marketing that is the problem.

your definition, how you have kind of been brainwashed, is that too strong of a word to say? You know, to view marketing in a way that feels very greedy and self-centered and pushy and salesy, the definition is the problem because when you look at marketing through the Lord’s lens, then everything changes.

And let’s jump into how does it change when we look at marketing through God’s lens? Because when we look at it through the eye of the Lord, then we start seeing that marketing is actually not about sales, not about pushiness, not about greed and pride and self-centeredness and all that kind of stuff, not about boasting and all of that. Marketing is your ministry.

Camille McDaniel (14:21.612)
Nope, you didn’t go to school to be a pastor, you sure didn’t. But marketing your practice as a mental health professional is your ministry if you see it correctly. And to see it correctly, you have to then start changing the narrative in your mind so that you see marketing as clarity, as direction.

that gives other people the direction to say, my goodness, this person understands my pains or my struggles. Yes, I feel so comfortable when I listen to what they have to say, what they have to offer. I think I’m going to give them a call or I’m going to send them an email. Marketing is permission for people to find you. Again, marketing is a lighthouse. You are calling people.

out of a storm, whatever that storm may be in their life. Marketing is an invitation for people to get healing. You are like, here I am to those people that God has assigned to you. So marketing is ministry. Like just take a minute to listen to those words. Like close your eyes, just

not if you’re driving, close your eyes and really just take in a couple of deep breaths and listen to those words again. Marketing is ministry. Marketing is your ministry and stewardship of the gifts and talents you have been given to call people out.

of a life storm that they are in right now. It’s not about manipulation, it is not about ego, it is instead of ego, it is visibility for the hurting. It’s not about vanity like look at me how wonderful I am, no no no no no.

Camille McDaniel (16:42.048)
It is ethical transparency. mean, you’re going to be ethical. You’re ethically putting out there your worldview and your practice, your services and how you offer those services, the modalities, the faith integration with those modalities. And that is just being transparent. That’s not pressure. You’re not pressuring anybody to come to your practice. If they hear what you have to say and they see

and read what you put out there and they decide it’s not for them, it’s not a right fit, okay, but for someone else, it will be the perfect fit. They will be so grateful to have come across your article or your video or your podcast. Yeah. Think about it like this. If someone was drowning, you’re at a pool party, right? Obviously not in this kind of weather, but you’re at a pool party.

let’s say it’s an indoor pool party and somebody happens to be drowning. You have a life, a life preserver. Matter of fact, it is right next to you. Are you going to say, you know what? I mean, I see them drowning. My goodness. gosh, I hope somebody helps. I mean, I have this life preserver, but you know, I don’t want them to think I’m being too much. I don’t want to be pushy. I mean, what if they don’t want the-

life preserver? What if they don’t like this color? What if they what if they don’t like the way I’m presenting the life preserver? Maybe, maybe I should just kind of, maybe I should just you know if the Lord wants them to actually get saved from drowning then maybe He will make it so that they get a little bit closer to where I’m standing and then I mean if then they’re right there I’ll reach out my hand and I’ll pull them on up. How ridiculous does that sound? It’s a little silly right?

Because if you knew that someone was drowning, which we already know, it doesn’t take much. There are statistics galore that are telling us that people are struggling with a multitude of challenges, whether it happens to be within their marriage, individually, with their children. There are things attacking people on every angle in their job or in their joblessness. All the different things are happening at this time. We know people are drowning and we have

Camille McDaniel (18:59.584)
a life preserver which are our skills, our clinical skills and we are doing nothing? Does that sound right? Don’t say anything because they may not like exactly how you’re trying to help them get, you know, get off of shaky ground or out of that tidal wave. Just see, see how it goes and then if they notice us while they’re being tossed around by the winds and the waves while they’re being tossed around, if they happen to notice us,

then we’ll say something. How much are you aware of every single thing that is going on around you when you’re in a crisis? And we already know this, we absolutely know this, this is the nature of what we do. We know that when people are in a crisis, they’re not always taking in all of the details, they’re not taking in all of the information, they may not know where to start to get help, they may be so overwhelmed that sometimes because of just decision fatigue, they make no decision at all.

So don’t we want to make it a little easier for them to get the help? But you know, we stop for a lot of reasons when it comes to sharing about what we do. And I think some of it comes to embarrassment. Some of it, like I talked about, the way that we have been given the message of marketing, the narrative around it, and some of it is just shame. And there’s, let’s talk about…

the idea of embarrassment and shame holding us back. I think it comes from a couple of places that I’d like to talk about on this episode to share with you. And then you, you know, if you have other things that pop up for you, write it in the comment section or send me an email, put it in the Facebook group, you know. But one of the things that I think coming up with regards to shame and embarrassment that stops us from really marketing is that, you know, we as clinicians,

We were taught this. We were taught not to highlight ourselves. We were taught not to make it about us, make it about the client. Stay small, stay neutral. Don’t bring attention to yourself because this is about the client. This is not about you. And that is all true, but it was as it related to the counseling room.

Camille McDaniel (21:29.23)
All of that that we were taught was all about like our clinical presentation, being ethical and professional. We never really got any information about how to successfully market and share what we have to offer. So we kind of took what we got in our training about

being neutral and not making it about yourself and making it about the client and you kind of stay back and kind of be a little bit invisible if you will or if anything you might maybe mimic what the client is bringing to the table but you’re not going to you know accentuate yourself too much. We took all of that and we applied it to business so that in our business life

We said, we don’t wanna be too much and we don’t wanna stand out and we don’t wanna seem like, you know, it’s about us. That doesn’t seem ethical, that doesn’t seem professional. And we kind of mixed everything all together instead of recognizing that there are rules for how we are going to be as clinicians when we are in the counseling room with our clients, but there are different things that we need to do.

outside of the clinical, the counseling space and room for getting clients to us, to our practice, to even know that we’re here. So, you know, that same system that told us to not make ourselves front and center, to be therapeutic, that does not apply when you are trying to build a sustainable career outside.

of the counseling office. Within the counseling office, yes, those are some good boundaries, some good safeguards, some sound clinical, you know, advice, because that’s the foundation. And then, you know, depending on culture and depending on the challenge, we might bring ourselves a little bit more into the counseling space, but always as appropriate and professional and ethical. Now, we need to put that in its own box.

Camille McDaniel (23:41.888)
our clinical skills once we are in the counseling room. And then what we need to do is take a look at what is needed outside of the counseling room because we want to build sustainable careers. We want to pay our fees. What kind of fees? Well, rent or mortgage or liability insurance, or we have electronic health records and we have…

continuing education credits that we need. And we have a whole host of other things, utilities and a lot of insurances and all of the different things that we are needing to do in order to keep up our training, our skillset, in order to be able to offer our skillset to other people with various ways that we do it, whether it’s in a brick and mortar office setting or whether it happens to be online. We have fees, okay? And we were never really taught.

that helping clients to actually find you is a really good thing. And that is actually called marketing. And so you’re doing a really good thing when you are marketing. Marketing is the bridge that gets a potential client to recognize that you have the ability to help them through their challenge and then gets them.

into your counseling room or your telehealth counseling space. It’s not unethical. It is absolutely essential. And so when we take a look at how embarrassment, you know, or shame might enter in the room, the first thing is that it enters in because we take messages we received in our clinical training and we are now applying those to business building instead of actually getting

business building training. The next thing that I think might contribute to the shame or the embarrassment is from the Christian culture, like our Christian faith. Some Christian counselors worry that they don’t want to look prideful, they don’t want to seem like money hungry and they don’t want people to think that they are selling

Camille McDaniel (26:04.768)
Jesus, right? When you are thinking about it that way, I totally understand why it may be difficult to market your practice and they don’t want to be judged for growing a practice because then again that may seem like you’re just about money instead of realizing like well that’s not how that works. We’re not saying money is the only thing. What we’re saying is is that the electric company will actually not take any other form of payment but money. That’s how that works.

So we do have to keep our doors open if we are going to help the people. Because with closed doors, a closed business, a failing business, we’re not gonna be able to use our gifts and talents at the rate and the extent that we are called to. Scripture though, is full of like strategy though and

and encouragement to use our gifts and talents to build, to reach out to people with a genuine heart, you know, being excited about it. We know that running a business well is good stewardship of our gifts and our talents and the monies that come into our practice.

for using our gifts and talents. So instead of us looking at it from a place that, you know, this is about pride or this is about being greedy, know, money hungry, we wanna be able to look at it from, you know, what the Bible talks about when we’re talking about multiplying, multiplying gifts and talents when we expand.

multiplying sometimes services, multiplying as far as finances. And when we multiply our finances, we are able to do more for our communities, for our families, who will then go on to do more for other people, you know, and the ripple effect can be far, far greater than we could ever even imagine. Again, running a business

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that helps people to heal, that is great stewardship. And for some who say like, okay, well, I don’t think that we should be healing people who are struggling with this level of challenge. We shouldn’t be healing people for money. It’s like, well, same way that the grocery store shouldn’t be feeding people for money. I mean, hey, I understand. I get what you’re saying.

we should be helpful and gracious to those who are in need. See I think that’s again we have to check our mindset. Are we feeling greedy because we think that people who are in a really tough life situation shouldn’t have to worry about getting healing only if they can pay for it. Well put that to the side for a minute because I don’t want to

combine what we’re talking about. There are a subset of people all around the globe who can pay for services. They are able to integrate into the way that society works and they either have the ability to pay cash or they have insurance or they have insurance and they can pay their co-pays. They are not struggling in that area and so we don’t want to cast a wide net and say everybody

should be able to get free services because everybody is struggling and that is actually not true. Although in this day and time there are a lot of people struggling, everybody is not struggling and there are many people who can pay your your fees or they have insurance coverage to be able to take care of it and you need to be okay accepting that. It’s okay to accept finances. That’s how you pay for groceries. That’s how you keep the lights on.

with money, yeah. The Lord wants to give us good things. He will send people your way who can’t afford your services. And he will send people your way who cannot afford your services. And they are two separate things. So let me just real quick speak to that. If you find yourself challenged and feel like this is all about a money grab because there are people out there who cannot afford to get the help, well then now what you have

Camille McDaniel (30:56.608)
is a business structure, maybe challenge. So maybe what you are feeling led to do is have a space in your practice where those who cannot afford your services can still come and get quality care and not have to worry about the cost. Okay, well let’s run the numbers. How many people can you serve on a sliding scale?

How many people can you serve pro bono without it impacting your ability to have sick leave, medical and dental, pay your rent or mortgage, keep the lights on in the office, pay for the electronic health record that you will need to use in order to keep their notes in an orderly fashion, right? So you have to be able to have the structure to help them. But I do hear that sometimes

Money, the whole issue of money might feel a little uncomfortable because underneath it, maybe you feel like it’s time for your business to give back in some way. All right, that’s fine. But again, you don’t have to cast a wide net over everyone. What you do need to do is identify where you’re feeling uncomfortable, why you’re feeling uncomfortable, and then start mapping out solutions, okay?

All right, I hope this is really helping. I’m excited about this topic. And I hope that this is helping to encourage somebody who is listening to this right now to get clarity because marketing is not salesy. It absolutely is ministry. Here’s another one that I believe contributes to sometimes shame and embarrassment around marketing. And that might be the actual clinicians.

And I think this kind of goes with what I was kind of starting to touch on with number two but the actual clinicians trauma or past experiences. Like a lot of clinicians have actually been like burned by salesy people in their own lives. It may have been a salesy, maybe it was a business coach or maybe they were scammed with

Camille McDaniel (33:16.622)
programs that they were trying to use in order to get help building their practice. And maybe they felt like someone was being very pushy and very salesy with them when they were trying to help them build their business or offer some consultation services, or maybe it has been something else in their life that wasn’t related to building their business.

where they have just had experiences where they felt as though people were coming on strong and people were pushing to the point where they were uncomfortable or they felt as though they were just a dollar amount and that after they paid whatever amount that the person just pretty much ghosted them and didn’t really reach back out, didn’t check on them. And so it just felt as though they were being used. Again, you know, your own personal experiences as it relates to this,

may also be bleeding over into your ability to do it for your own business. You know, maybe you felt guilted into selling or excuse me, buying something that someone was selling and you really, you didn’t feel good about it. You were like, I kind of felt like I was pressured into that or I felt kind of nervous because that person was also in my same field and they had influence. didn’t feel like I could really say no. You know, maybe they,

there were experiences where people felt kind of like they were guilted or shamed and embarrassed because maybe the price that was being charged was like, you can’t afford this. Or, you they noticed many other people were affording it and they felt like, well, why can’t I? And so you have your own challenges with money and with marketing and sometimes being scammed or feeling pressured and pushed, you know, kind of.

all comes together when it’s time for you to be able to share your gifts and talents. And so now for you, anything that feels remotely like marketing may trigger you kind of hesitating or freezing up or you feel fear or maybe even feel anger and irritation. And then you find yourself just kind of playing small. So

Camille McDaniel (35:33.288)
Let’s look at how we can break all of that in this episode with the time that we have left. So let me say this clearly, marketing is not an attack against you being humble. It’s not. Humility is recognizing that I depend on God.

I don’t think I depend on myself. I’m not trying to make myself, you know, the star of my own show or anything. Nope. You know, I, I depend on the Lord. I am humble. I understand that. I take my place and I know where his place is. But then hiding, you know, really is what we’re doing. And we call it being humble. We just kind of hide because we’re afraid, afraid to…

put ourselves out there or afraid to be seen or afraid that we’re gonna come across the same way as someone came across to us. And these are not the same. Humility and hiding, two different things, two different things. And so sometimes hiding is kind of like masquerading as humility, but it’s actually just fear. It’s fear. And that is…

not a good shepherd. know, fear is not what we want over us. So let’s work on reframing marketing. And we can actually, how about we can reframe marketing with one sentence. And that is marketing is simply communicating how you can help so that the people God sends to you can find you. Okay.

Marketing is simply communicating how you can help so that the people that the Lord sends your way can find you. That’s it. No pressure, no performance, no sales pitch, no gimmicks and tricks, just clarity that will eventually lead to trust being built, safety.

Camille McDaniel (37:55.246)
being created and connection and connection leads to people feeling like you do actually care and that leads to people feeling safe to come forward and can allow you to create like a lot of healing. So you know in this month this is this is a really good time to be really looking at this and reflecting on this because we are resetting.

you know, resetting our intentions, resetting our vision. We are reflecting on what we have done so far in this year. We are planning for the future. We have vision. We are checking ourselves. Is there anything that we need to change that we need to do differently so that we can bring forth everything the Lord is calling us to bring forth? you know, clinicians want to know.

You know, there are a lot of clinicians who are just kind of sitting around asking themselves, like, what do I need my next year to look like? And what do I need to do to change? And Lord, know, help me if I need to change anything within myself or if I need to get different training to go in a different direction. They’re thinking, how do I just stop being afraid? You know, so this episode will prepare.

you to start preparing your heart before the new year begins. All right? So let’s just remember what makes marketing feel real salesy. Well, it’s basically if it’s if it’s the pushiness like that’s what makes marketing feel salesy. If it’s the

you being the center star and kind of doing all these gimmicks for attention, that makes it feel salesy. If it happens to be that you are driven by the money and that only, that can lead you to making salesy decisions in the way that you reach out to people. And that’s not what any of my listeners of this podcast are trying to do. Okay.

Camille McDaniel (40:20.174)
It’s not. Marketing only feels salesy when you may be talking to the wrong audience. Now sometimes when you are talking to the wrong audience, you can then start to notice that you’re having to do a little bit more work, you’re having to explain a little bit more, you almost feel like now you’re justifying.

you know, why you do what you do and how you do it. It’s like recognizing when you’re talking to the wrong audience can really help you to stop and kind of like pull back a little bit. Marketing can also feel salesy when you’re like you’re copying someone else’s identity. Like if you’ve noticed that you really like the way someone presents because it really aligns with like the way that you want to receive information or the way you want to be guided.

and you start then trying to copy that. You’re starting to sound like them. You you’re starting to do things like them instead of just being yourself. You have people who have come to you or worked with you or interacted with you for a reason. There’s something about you all by yourself that attracts people. You want to tap into that. Now there’s nothing wrong with seeing something that someone else does and say like, you know what?

That one piece, I do like how they write that or I do like how they say that. I think I might incorporate that. But that needs to be a very small percent compared to everything else that you do because you want to make sure you’re bringing forth you, not someone else. You don’t want to feel like you are putting out someone else’s identity, you know? And the other thing you don’t want to feel like you’re doing is performing.

You know, so if you’re, if you’re finding yourself trying to figure out, my gosh, what is, what’s the next big post that I can create? What’s the next big video I can do? And how can I act in it? Like if it’s, if it’s coming across again in a way that does not naturally work for you and your personality and how you show up in this world, then stop for a minute and just really take a moment to think about who are you? What makes you awesome? Why do people like to talk to you and come to you and receive help from you?

Camille McDaniel (42:33.954)
You know, start to think about you. All right. The other thing that you want to remember to keep in mind is that whole lighthouse. I’ve talked about that just a couple of times because it’s really important when you think about marketing through like the lens of the Lord, you are you are the lighthouse. He has put gifts and talents in you. You’ve heard me talk about this before.

A lighthouse does not have to chase the boats. It doesn’t have to compete with other lighthouses. There is no major scream into the ocean. You know, that’s not what a lighthouse does. And a lighthouse doesn’t feel guilty for shining. It doesn’t dim its light to avoid offending someone else or shining too brightly. A lighthouse does what?

It just stands. It just shines. It guides people out of the storm or out of the waters. It invites people toward them. It protects people because they get to shore safely. It warns people. That’s Christian marketing. Not chasing, not begging, not convincing, not sales. Okay?

and the right clients, the actual ones with ears to hear, they will find you. They will find you because your story and your voice and your lane and your worldview were designed to reach them. That’s the part where faith kicks in. Do everything you’re supposed to do. Look at marketing through the eyes of the Lord and the gifts and the talents that he’s given you.

Go ahead and market composing the message that you know your target audience wants to hear, needs to hear. Get out there and start talking to some of your colleagues, finding out what they do, sharing what you do and how you help people to heal. Start sharing with your target market. Start sharing with people who actually also work with your target market.

Camille McDaniel (44:55.096)
whether that happens to be school counselors or pediatricians, dentist offices or gynecologists, whomever, you know, and get excited about sharing the gifts and the talents that you have been given that you know are going to help the world heal. All right? So this is not going to be as hard as you think it is. It really isn’t because you are going to be changing the narrative.

And as you change the narrative about marketing, it is going to help you craft the website that is going to have the right language to make people feel comfortable calling or emailing you. It’s going to build trust. It’s going to remove confusion, because it’s going to be very clear. The good marketing language is going to reduce people just not showing up.

you’re going to really be finding the clients that are needing what you have to offer. It’s going to be establishing your clinical identity and it is going to show that identity and show that care and show that help on directories in the way that you compose your copy, your written copy or in brochures and business cards and whatever type of networking and marketing that you happen to be doing because you’re going to

attract the people that align with your specialization and you’re going to make connections with people who happen to refer can refer to you and see you as a needed resource in their practice. Like there are a lot of doctors offices that absolutely welcome a a good like assessment so that when they happen to be seeing their clients they can know whether or not this person is you know maybe

struggling with some depression or whether the doctor needs to start maybe even implementing in their own questions how well the person is eating because I have come across so many clients who are adults but their caloric intake is really low for an adult and you know you could be experiencing depression or you could be

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experiencing a lack of vital like you know nutrients, minerals and vitamins because you’re not really eating like you’re supposed to. So there are so many different things that can be created for your referral sources. Create assessments for doctors offices and have your name and your information listed. Give before you ask to receive. So give them screeners, give them assessments that maybe they don’t even know

are available because you’re gonna create them. If you happen to work with attorney’s offices, what’s something that an attorney’s office could definitely use from a mental health professional? It will depend on who you’re working with. If you happen to have children that you are working with who are going through certain struggles and they need an expert witness, maybe what they would need to know is how you have actually helped a multitude of children who need to go before a-

a judge or whomever and how your counseling efforts have allowed them to present their thoughts and feelings clearly and without any confusion. You know, I mean, like it doesn’t always have to be an assessment. It might just be information on how your services can better assist them in doing their job. You know, if they need children to testify for certain things that are very difficult, might it be helpful if they had an expert who is very used to working with the legal system?

and who can help these children to untangle all of the life experiences that they are having and to be able to put it into a format that an attorney and a judge would understand. Whether that happens to be through play therapy, which is not always verbal, or whether it happens to be verbal. And this goes on and on depending on who you happen to be working with the most.

You know, I mentioned gynecologists, why? Because sometimes when you have individuals who are postpartum or going through their pregnancy, there’s a lot of different hormonal changes. And sometimes you have gynecologists who are, or OBGYNs, who are looking for some support for their patients. And you know, for OBGYN, who is seeing somebody who is pregnant, you might be seeing your doctor.

Camille McDaniel (49:44.362)
every single month, sometimes every single week, depending on how your pregnancy is going. So there are a lot of ways that once you actually change how you think about marketing and better align it with the way the Lord is looking at it based on the gifts and talents he’s giving you, you can get really excited about the fact that you have been given a strong ability to help individuals who are lost, who are broken, who are meeting direction.

and they need it like yesterday. Remember, marketing is ethical if you are doing it right. Marketing is helpful. Marketing your God-given tip, gifts and talents. Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that. So whatever you have, whether you have courses, whether you have services, whether you have workshops, if you have a summit, if you have group,

programs or you have a book or you have different, you know, pamphlets and guides, get it out there. Get it out there. The world needs it. As I said before, the statistics on how things are going in the world tell you that there are a multitude of challenges that people are experiencing and it’s only getting worse and worse by the year. So there is no like better time than now.

than now. And there’s a lot of different language that you can use to allow you to feel easy about it. I’m just gonna give a few tips, like four or five things that you can think about as far as how to market without feeling salesy in addition to what I mentioned with regards to assessments or information that you may provide to referral sources. And the first one happens to be like,

Let’s talk about the need, not necessarily about, know, not always about the stats on how many people you have helped type of thing, but like the need, like I keep on talking about how look at the statistics on different challenges in the world that are getting worse. Let’s talk about the need, like, you know, 50 % of

Camille McDaniel (52:09.558)
I don’t know, I’m just making this one up. So please don’t think that this one happens to be an actual statistic, but let’s say it was like 50 % of all teenagers between the age of 13 and 16 have been experiencing a heightened sense of fill in the blank for the last three consecutive years. And because of this, we had at this practice,

have taken a dedicated interest into reducing as many numbers in the community as possible. So look at speaking to the need. There’s this need. And there’s no pressure in that, honestly. You’re just talking about the need and then you’re talking about those solutions that your practice is offering because of the need.

Another thing is you can use language that is very inviting. So you don’t have to feel like you’re being salesy. Again, just inviting. like instead of something that would say, need this if, no, you can just present information and then at the end of it, you can try and say something like, if this speaks to you, if this resonates with you, you see how that can feel a lot less pushy. The other thing is,

share stories instead of sales pitches. Like this is, you know, you’re not selling Black Friday deals. Well, some of you might be like if you have courses or if you have books, but you can do that by explaining who you serve. You know, what’s the reason? What’s your why for serving this particular clientele with this particular challenge? Tell the story.

How did you come to identify this particular challenge as something that really resonated with your gifts and talents and clinical skills and a desire to help? What’s the story behind your why? Tell the story. Tell the story and then share how you now present solutions for that particular group of people. And you know, the other thing is,

Camille McDaniel (54:27.842)
Continue to be in your word, continue to be in prayer so that the Lord continues to lead you with the scriptures and speak to you through the Holy Spirit so you can feel grounded and you can feel at peace and steady as you’re moving forward. And then repeat your message consistently because people need to hear.

the same thing from you multiple times, like seven to 12 times before they sometimes can even take action. Did you know that? Like now that’s a statistic you can stand on. People need to hear or see a thing like seven to 12 times before they may take action. Why? Because remember, they have to build trust. They have to feel as though you not only are speaking,

they’re according to what they’re struggling with, but that they can trust you. Because you know, we hear something from someone and we’re like, that sounds great. That person is really good at that. But that doesn’t mean that they’re good all the time, right? So they may want more. They may want to just hear a little bit more, get a little bit more reassurance. So don’t forget that. People need a repeated message. Now, think about how you also

receive things sometimes people have to repeat, people have to share, you have to go online, you have to kind of search a little bit, you need to maybe see some reviews or anything like that, all right. So again I want you to think about this simply because it’s it’s really you know it’s it’s powerful all right and and I want for you to get started and start by writing just one sentence for yourself of how you help people.

and I want you to post it somewhere. How can you help? How can your services help? ease something. Now remember, we have to be ethical in our marketing, so we’re not gonna promise anything, because we can’t promise results. But we can talk about how we help. How we help, right? And post it somewhere. One sentence about how you help. One sentence about who you help. How about that?

Camille McDaniel (56:44.278)
whether you post it on your Instagram or you put it on another social media platform, you write it on the Facebook page or maybe you even list it as you start to change some of the wording on a directory listing. You know, just one sentence, put it in an email and share it with one of your potential referral sources. Just get started. Just get started. You can do this. People absolutely need what you have to offer and I hope that

in this episode. It has given you a lot to think about. It has challenged you to think about the narratives that you’re used to and maybe some of your own past experiences that may have contributed to the narrative that you had about marketing. I hope that you are now able to see it through the lens of God and that you can start getting excited about being able to share. It’s fine. Take some practice. know, get someone who you can be accountable to.

as you have practiced, as you’re practicing this, right? And absolutely share, share with me. I don’t mind holding you accountable. I’m sharing the Facebook group. So if this episode has blessed you, I want you to also share this episode, all right, with another clinician who you feel can really benefit from this because maybe they are also struggling with visibility and they’re struggling with confidence.

just to know that your growth is not selfish, it’s not, and your marketing isn’t either. But this is a ministry and we are going to steward our gifts and our talents according to what the Father has asked us to do. And with all of that, I hope that you are able to do the practice. I hope you are able to post somewhere. I’d love to see it if you do.

and I will be back next week with another episode and this time we will have a guest. So until then, God bless.