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In Practice: The Business of Tarot!
The Business of Tarot
by Bonnie Cehovet |
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Let's go develop a marketing plan! This sounds simple, but can sink a business before it even begins if the business person has no clue how to go about doing it. We get all excited about our new business - then are not really sure where to market ourselves, how to market ourselves, how much money we want to put out, and where it should go. It is often very difficult for those in the metaphysical business to even think of themselves as being in business. We generally think of ourselves as healers or counselors, and have a difficult time putting a price on what we consider to be a gift.
Before we even consider a marketing plan, we should ask ourselves the following questions:
1. What is the focus of my business?
2. What is my marketing budget?
3. What fears to I have about money?
4. What fears do I have about success?
Focus on each question in turn, and draw one card. Place the cards vertically - i.e. under each other. Now go back and draw a "What do I need to know?" card for each question. The difference between what you "thought" and what you "need to know" may be marked. Do a third draw for each question - this draw will be an action that you can take in each of these areas to bring clarity to the situation.
Now that the shadows have come out to play, we can start on our marketing plan! Many Tarot readers that want to go professional feel that they can do so with no budget for promotion - I mean zero budget! Many think that an Internet site, which can be free, will suffice as "advertising". Then they go one step further - believing that if they offer some form of "free reading" as a come-on, that they will get business. What usually happens here is that they give away valuable time and personal energy doing readings for people that have no intention of taking their wallets out of their pockets!
Repeat after me: I am a Tarot professional, and I charge for my services. Write down what your financial goals are for the next three months, six months, nine moths and twelve months. They should be realistic, but they should be high enough to sustain your lifestyle and more. Do not write down what you THINK you can make - write down what you WANT to make. Then start acting AS IF you were already making this amount of money. Appearance may not be everything, but it does have it's place.
OK, now we can take a look at creating a marketing plan!
Mission Statement:
The first thing that we want to do is to develop a mission statement. This is a statement that shows us where the focus in our business is going to be: what services we are going to offer, and what the benefits are to our clients.
Marketing Challenge:
From our mission statement we can determine who our competitors are. Our challenge is to market ourselves so that our services fit the needs of prospective clients better than anyone else's services. Write down in a paragraph or so who you see as your competition. Draw a card for what aspect of your service you need to emphasize to beat that competition. How do you feel about this? Are you comfortable with emphasizing this part of your services? Draw a second card that tells you how you can implement marketing on the services that you need to emphasize.
Marketing Objectives:
Take out your paper that shows your quarterly objectives. Focusing on these objectives will allow you to fine tune your marketing on a quarterly basis so that reaching your objectives is an attainable goal.
Defining and Targeting Markets:
You think John/Jane Q. Public are your market? Perhaps that is too large and undefined a market. As Tarot professionals, let's look at some things. Do you want to work with groups or individuals? Do you want to emphasize teaching, or do you want to emphasize personal consultations? Do you intend to work only locally, or are you interested in doing local/regional/national seminars? Do you want to work primarily in person, over the phone, through the mail or by e-mail? Do you want to consider doing work with businesses? Once your market has been targeted, it will be easier to define how to market to it. You will have a clear picture of your prospective customer in your mind, and you will be able to think like they think.
Market Needs:
Once you have defined your market, look at what the needs of that market are going to be. You will be marketing in an entirely different fashion for a business market, as opposed to private consultations. Even with private consultations, you may want to define how you focus your readings: are they Life Path type readings, are they oriented towards career, finances, romance or some other area. A short list of what you want to focus on will serve you well. Look at the needs and wants of your target clientele. Come up with new ways to help your clients function in this ever changing world of ours!
Business cards:
First order of the day is business cards. This is how you network, this is what brings in repeat clients, this is what is out there 24/7 representing you. What information do you want on there? Do you want to use your full name, your business name, or both? Do you want to use a professional pseudonym? Are you going to include a street address? Are you going to include an e-mail address? Are you going to include a phone number? Are you going to include a list of services? Have you thought about a logo that will represent you well?
The most cost effective (read cheapest!) cards are basic white with black print and no logo. Adding a logo, colored text and specific font types will generally cost more. Anything other than your basic white card will cost more. Remember - you are balancing the cost of the card against how well the card will represent you to your clients/prospective clients. Go down to your local print shop and ask to see their sample book. You will enter a whole new, wonderful world! Or go online and check out the offers that different sites have. Match their services and prices against the local product and see which is the better deal for you. To find online printing sites, go to www.google.com and type in "business cards" - you will have plenty of sites to choose from!
Telephone directory listing:
This is an expensive listing, so it will be one that you need to think about. If you have an 800 line, this listing is worth it. If you are giving a lot of calls by phone, this listing is worth it. If you are going to put a concerted amount of effort into drawing in clients, then this listing is worth it. Remember - you can also refer prospective clients to a web site from this listing. If you are reading from home, and not using an 800 line listing, then you may want to have the calls going to an answering service, or to an answering machine. And you may want to think about getting a second line strictly for professional use.
Advertising:
How you advertise will be different for private clients and for business clients. For business clients, sending a letter of query explaining what you can do for them is in order, as is joining the Chamber of Commerce and networking. Work up flyers and brochures that portray you as a professional, and portray exactly what you can do to help a business be more creative. You might want to think about local radio and TV spots here too.
Advertising for private clients is a bit broader. I would start by placing ads in free and paid for newspapers, by putting out flyers around town (post offices and supermarkets are excellent places to place flyers), and by trying to get on local radio and/or TV programs. Attend local fairs and bazaars and hand out those nifty business cards! If you have a chance to read for a local fair, do so. If you can make an arrangement to read for say, one morning or afternoon a week in a local restaurant, coffee house or bookstore - do so!
You are your own best advertising. Offer to do group readings or parties - they can be great fun, and do get your name known! I saw an interesting proposal in a private Tarot newsletter recently. The reader was offering to do a group evening: a small talk about Tarot, limited readings for each person there, and a question and answer period afterwards. They requested that whoever wanted to arrange such an evening needed to get a minimum or six people together, and they would receive a free reading in return (the others in the group would be paying for their readings).
Contact local groups and offer to do a short seminar on the Tarot for free. Or arrange a paid for seminar of 2-4 hours where you talk about the Tarot, and are available for readings afterward. What you can do here is limited only by your own imagination.
Internet Site:
It doesn't hurt to have an Internet site, even when all of your business (or at least most of it) is local. The one caveat that I have here is: think twice before offering free readings as a come on to getting paid customers. It seldom works, and takes time and energy from you.
There are many decisions that you have to make when deciding to do an Internet site. The first is: do you want your own domain? This means that your url contains the name of your site, and that can be important. It is not expensive to obtain your own domain name, and I do recommend it. Domain names can be "redirected" - in other words you do not have to take your domain and place it on paid for Internet space. You can place your site on a free server, such as Angelfire, Geo Cities, or Tripod (there are many more), and redirect your domain to be found there.
For example, I have my own domain, thecrystalgate.com. My site is on Angelfire, so both of the following url's will find me: www.angelfire.com/nm/spiritualwarrier/index.436.html, and www.tarot.thecrystalgate.com. What you want to watch for are the pop-up ads on the free sites. I haven't done it yet, but part of my business plan is to pay to have the ads taken off of my site. (Moving the site would be a Herculean effort: there are over 500 pages, and they are all coded by hand and need to be moved separately.)
The next decision is how you want your site to look. I offer many things besides my services. I have information on the cards; deck, book and site reviews; personal interviews and personally written articles, as well as offering Personal Lifestyle readings. How much you put on your site is up to you. And you can put your site up easily - the free sites have templates that you can work with that will definitely get you where you want to go!
The future of your business is up to you. Look professional, act professional, expect to be paid well, have a specific service to offer and be willing to implement new ideas - it can work for you!
Stay tuned - next month we will be looking at added value venues and networking with other Tarot professionals,
Internet Marketing Resources:
Astro Services: www.astroservices.com/links/divination
Alternative Marketplace: www.alternativemarketplace.com
More Business: www.morebusiness.com
New Age Web Marketing: www.newage-webmarketing.com
OmPlace: www.omplace.com
SBA: www.businesstown.com/marketing/plans.asp
1Smart Puppy: www.1smartpuppy.com
Top New Age: www.topnewage.com/marketing_advice.html
Please contact me at Crystalgate@aol.com with any subjects that you would like to see discussed in this column. I want this to be reflective of the needs and concerns of the Tarot community at large.
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Bonnie Cehovet,
Tarot Master, and Reiki Master/Teacher.
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Bonnie Cehovet is a Tarot Master, professional Tarot reader and Reiki Master/Teacher.
Bonnie has been reading the Tarot professionally for over ten years. She has served in various capacities with the American Tarot Association, including Secretary and Web Assistant For Links. She is currently Certification Director and Secretary for the American Board For Tarot Certification. Bonnie is also a founding member of the World Tarot Network.
Bonnie has had her work published in the ATA newsletter, in Geraldine Amaral's "Celebrating The Tarot" print newsletter, on the World Tarot Network and other internet sites. She is editor for her own monthly newsletter "Gateway To Tarot" (Yahoo Groups).
www.tarot.thecrystalgate.
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