Linda Berry – Six Easy Ways to Market Your Astrology Business

The time to market your business is now! For beginning professional astrologers, the first step in growing your new astrological consulting business is to get customers. For those of you who are already up and running, the next step (now that you have clients) is that you must generate new business on a continuous basis. Even if you have dozens of clients and no time for marketing you must always be marketing! Why? Because there might come a day when the clients might not be there, a very slow month or two when the phone doesn’t ring – especially during the summer and the holiday time between Thanksgiving and New Years. These are especially slow periods because people find other ways to spend their money (vacations, gifts, etc.) than to get astrological advice for themselves. During these slow periods is not the time to begin marketing … the time to market is right now!

The following is a list of six easy and cost-effective ways to bring in new customers and keep current ones. Persistence is the key here! These marketing suggestions must be continuously used and not to be given up on after only one or two attempts. A usual response to marketing efforts might take up to as much as six months. Remember that you are selling an intangible service that everyone needs (at least we astrologers think so!), but none of them think that they need it, so it is up to you to convince them of its value — and this takes time. It might take even longer than other services that are sold because we also have to convince the general public that astrology does WORK!

Post Advertising Flyers on Free Bulletin Boards in your city and surrounding areas of up to at least a 50 mile radius. Best locations include metaphysical, spiritual, and holistic stores, shops, training centers, organizations, and churches. These would represent the best way to reach the people that already have an open mind about astrology. Other locations can include coin- operated laundries, grocery stores, and beauty and barbershops. These of course reach the general public but they also can bring in a fairly good response because people look at these bulletin boards on a consistent basis.

Write Articles for Magazines, Newspapers, and Trade Journals (both Print and Internet). One of the best ways to build credibility as an astrologer is to have your articles published in industry periodicals. This is also a terrific way to gain visibility as well! If you are a member of an Astrological Organization they should have a regular “E-News” that goes out to its membership and perhaps a printed “Newsletter” that goes out monthly or bi-monthly. The editors graciously accept and appreciate the contribution of well-written and educational material. This definitely assists them in putting together informative issues of their publications. It’s a win-win situation! And don’t forget your local metaphysical, spiritual, and holistic periodicals as well as general publications – everyone is looking for someone to write their daily, weekly, and monthly horoscope columns!

Be a Guest on Radio, Television, and Internet Talk Shows or interview type programs. This is much easier to bring about than you might realize. Start by doing some research on what’s happening in your local area media and what shows are available that would be interested in covering the subject of astrology in any shape, fashion, or form. Then, write a letter to the producer of these programs and follow up with an in- person visit or telephone call. Your initial contact should emphasize that your astrology background and expertise would be of interest to the listeners or viewers of the program — perhaps even helping to solve problems in their everyday life. If you are heavy into predictive, electional, and mundane astrology, even better! These show producers are always looking for qualified astrologers to help them with predictions of just about any kind that would entertain and educate their listeners and viewers. It’s a great way to get your 15 minutes of fame, and believe me, your phone will be ringing off the hook for days after!

Provide Proof of Your Expertise – selling astrology is not easy to start off with and nobody wants to be a fool, or be taken advantage of. Before buying anything, especially a product as intangible as astrology, everyone wants to know if what they’re paying for is worth it or not. In this case, the proof is in the testimonials from your existing clients. Nothing works better than “word of mouth” references because people want to know how the other person has benefited from your astrological readings and consultations. Use these testimonials in all of your printed (flyers, brochures, etc.) as well as Internet (website, e-newsletter, etc.) promotional materials and don’t forget to update them on a regular basis.

Provide GREAT Customer Service – this is the key to the success of any business, especially an astrological one! When setting up readings and consultations make sure your word is your word. If you tell people that you are going to give them your time, then you must take it one step further and value their time as well. Personally return ALL telephone calls and emails within 24 hours or less. This one thing can do more to grow a client base than anything else. Work at building a reputation for excellent customer service and this will lead into not only keeping existing clients but also getting more referral business than anything else.

Always Use an Email Signature – at the bottom of all your emails. Those few lines of contact information at the bottom of an email can really get some attention and most people love it when you make information easy to find. In fact, email is such a part of our lives now that most people are more likely to grab your phone number off your latest email than to dig up your business card in their files. So what should go in your “signature (sig)?” Your name, title, business name, and company tagline or byline. You should also include your address, phone, cell phone, fax number, email address, and website address. Now, also consider putting promotional info in your “sig,” such as an offer for a free astrology chart or report, a consultation discount, trial offer, two-for-one discount, business announcements (new service, new page on website, upcoming event or function, recent media coverage, speaking engagement, award won, etc.), a link to your latest press release, article, or website feature, an invitation to subscribe to your private email list or for your free e-newsletter, the list can go on and on. Just use this valuable NO COST tool NOW and see the responses immediately!

Linda has been a marketing consultant for close to 30 years and has owned several successful businesses, including her current Astrological Consulting and Training Practice which is located in her Spiritual DiscoveryTM Training Center. She is the owner, consultant, trainer and spiritual reader for Spiritual Marketing and Spiritual DiscoveryTM. With the “Marketing” side of the business she works with spiritual and metaphysical businesses and organizations developing affordable marketing programs. On the “Discovery” side she empowers people to discover their spiritual selves. Linda presents workshops for both sides of her business and also conducts one-on-one training. She has copyrighted “workbooks” to supplement her training which she developed as education tools for her very successful and award winning workshops. Being a professional marketing trainer and speaker, she has won numerous awards over the years, including those for her highly acclaimed marketing workshop “Don’t Be The Best Kept Secret In TownTM!”