C.J. Hayden has a nice piece on marketing that many hypnotists might consider checking out . . . What You are Marketing is Yourself. In the rush to become a big business so many small businesses forget that one of their advantages over the faceless corporation is that they have a face, a persona, a human touch that the large corporations can’t emulate. Of course, I know some folks don’t want their photo or bio or the like on their webpages in part because they know they give off a creepy feeling to others. They really need to work on rapport skills so they don’t come off as creepy. Others, especially in the hypnosis business, are worried that their photo is unattractive. So, get a more attractive photo made or do some self-hypnosis and work on body image or self-acceptance. If the hypnotist doesn’t like himself then why would the public think he can help them learn to love themselves. No, you don’t have to be super thin to help others with weight loss, but you should exude a sense of confidence in yourself. That also doesn’t mean cheating your photos . . . one very well known British hypnotist is overweight, he looks like he may be my size, perhaps a bit bigger, but his photos on his webpages have been artificially manipulated in an effort to make him look smaller. It’s easy to do it, go to photoshop and use the tool to change an image size but uncheck the lock ratio option so you can make the width smaller while the height stays the same. It’s an old trick and it’s obvious. It also makes you look like a really thin very fat person. Don’t do it. It will give the impression you are a liar and deceiver. Either put an honest photo up or no photo at all. Yes, you can be playful with photos as well – note the Eye of Experiential Trance on my forehead for my blog right now – but don’t give the impression you have something to hide about yourself or you are trying to manipulate others’ impressions.

All the best,
Brian

Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [phillips@nccu.edu.tw]Certified Hypnotherapist
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.briandavidphillips.com