Today we’re talking about a few of my best networking tips for introverts, or really anybody who doesn't love networking events.

As an introvert myself, networking meetings are probably my least favorite kind of marketing, but I make myself go because I really do think they’re effective, and we’ll talk about why in just a moment.

By and large I think that most acupuncturists - not all but most - consider themselves introverts. 

Originally I came up with these tips to put into practice for myself. 

Because I know that networking is an incredibly effective marketing avenue, and I do think it's worth my time and my energy, but I am the queen of responding “yes” to a networking event invitation, and then thinking up flimsy reasons not to attend them at the last moment. 😬

And in the seven years that I’ve been teaching marketing to other acupuncturists, many of my students and 1:1 clients have also let me know that they often feel the same way, AND that these tips are very effective.

So let's dive in!

SHOW NOTES:

• Online course: Acupuncture Marketing for Introverts [$39, 2 PDA credits] - Great introductory-level marketing course with a focus on what kinds of marketing are a great fit for introverts
• Episode #14: Five Networking Tips for Introverts (Different tips from today's episode)
• Gretchen Rubin's books, The Happiness Project and Better Than Before
• Follow me on Instagram @michellegrasek and search for the post about Introvert Networking to share your tips for effective networking in the comments!

Support the show

Curious about Acupuncture Marketing School, the online course for marketing beginners? Join me inside! Click here to learn more.

Apologies for audio quality on this one, my friend! Today we’re talking about:

1) A relatively unpopular opinion that I hold about why you don’t need another acupuncture technique class. Ooh, controversy. 

I have a good reason, I promise. We'll dig into my thought process behind that and what it has to do with marketing.

2) I'll share our scholarship winners, wohoo!

3) And I'll touch base on the results we’ve had so far from the postcard marketing campaign I talked about two weeks ago.

PLUS - Acupuncture Marketing School is on sale for $200 off this week!

If you’ve been waiting, now is the time to jump in and join me. 

This is my marketing course for beginners. 🙌 So if you feel like you didn’t get enough marketing education in acupuncture school, or any at all, this is for you. 

It’s also for you if you feel overwhelmed by marketing and have no idea where to start, or if you’ve tried some marketing in the past but not had any results. 

Inside Acupuncture Marketing School, I walk you through the process of understanding the rules of marketing and how to apply them to creating a real marketing strategy for your practice, from start to finish.

The discount code SHOULD be applied already on the checkout page, but in case there's a tech glitch, you can use the code PATIENTBOOST to get $200 off.

And if you enroll this week, you also get access to the Patient Boost Bonus for FREE. This bonus training walks you through my exact strategy, my emails, etc. that helped me increased revenue by 33% last year from July to August.

>> Click here to enroll before the discount expires on May 23!

SHOW NOTES:

• Acupuncturist Scholarship Winner: Joleen Fuller's website and Instagram @golden.acupuncture
• Acupuncture Student Scholarship Winner: Leisha's website and Instagram @leisha.correa
• 🎉 Acupuncture Marketing School (15 PDA credits, NCCAOM) - On sale for $200 through Monday, 5/23!
• Take a look at what's included in the Patient Boost Bonus

Support the show

Curious about Acupuncture Marketing School, the online course for marketing beginners? Join me inside! Click here to learn more.

The doors are open for scholarship applications for Acupuncture Marketing School!

We’re accepting applications for four days only, today Monday, May 9 through Thursday, May 12th, at 11:59 pm Central Time.

In this bonus episode, we cover:

• How to submit your application for Acupuncture Marketing School
• Frequently asked questions
• Why I created Acupuncture Marketing School to begin with - a story that involves a patient not wanting to pay me

If you prefer to read instead of listen, you can get the scholarship application instructions right here.

Every year I offer two full scholarships to Acupuncture Marketing School, one to a practicing acupuncturist and one to an acupuncture student.

Acupuncture Marketing School it is a step-by-step marketing program to help you grow a meaningful and thriving practice. Of course, meaningful is based on your own definition of success what that looks like to you. No matter what kind of practice you want to build or what kind of patients you’re trying to reach, the course can help you.

My goal is to help you set up a strong brand and marketing structure so that you can build your dream business - one that serves you and your community.

Show Notes:

• Scholarship Application Instructions
• Handbrake for compressing videos to a smaller size before emailing
• Acupuncture Marketing School (15 PDA credits, NCCAOM)
• Follow me this week on Instagram @michellegrasek for fun updates on the scholarship competition!

Support the show

Curious about Acupuncture Marketing School, the online course for marketing beginners? Join me inside! Click here to learn more.

This week I’m excited to share a new marketing experiment that I’m trying in my acupuncture practice. 

If you're a regular podcast listener, you know I always encourage you to think about your marketing as an experiment. And I love to think of my own marketing efforts this way.

With any experiment, there's an understanding that it might not work out the way we want. It's just a fact of life.

Maybe it will work really well, maybe it won't. But we'll learn something in the process.

This perspective gives you the space and the freedom to get creative and try new things with your marketing. 

It allows you to put yourself and your practice out there with less pressure.

It also allows you not to take the outcome of your marketing personally. 

For example, if you have a marketing campaign that's a flop, that does NOT mean that you can't learn marketing. 

Instead, recognize that the outcome of any marketing campaign is simply data. Information that you can use to create better and better marketing in the future. 

💡 With that in mind, I'm trying something new at my practice this month! 

Listen in for all the details.

And a quick reminder that the scholarship competition for Acupuncture Marketing School is next week!

We'll be accepting applications from Monday, May 9th through Thursday, May 12th. 

If you want a chance to win a FREE seat in Acupuncture Marketing School, stay tuned. I'll be releasing details on exactly how to submit your application on Monday morning (4/9). 

Each year we give away one seat to a practicing acupuncturist and one to an acupuncture student. Everyone is welcome to apply. 

More info coming soon!

SHOW NOTES:

• Scholarship Waitlist Email Signup
• Postcardmania.com
• Acupuncture Marketing School

Support the show

Curious about Acupuncture Marketing School, the online course for marketing beginners? Join me inside! Click here to learn more.

Today we’re talking about the elusive concept of doing it all: in your business, your life, and doing it all well.

I’ll be sharing four tips that help me manage my workload, not feel crushed by my to do list, and find some balance between work and personal life. 

Before we dive in, a quick PSA:

🎉 Save 30% on Marketing Ethics for Acupuncturists! This online class is on sale for 48 hours only. The sale ends Tuesday, April 19th, at midnight.

Marketing Ethics for Acupuncturists is worth 2 NCCAOM credits in the Ethics Category. 

I know Ethics PDAs can by dry and boring, so I tried really hard to make this a fun class! 💃

We cover some totally different things that I bet you haven’t heard discussed in an Ethics PDA class yet, including:

• Ethical testimonial collection
• Ethical email marketing
• Examples of really terrible unethical marketing
• And more

We even watch a super short Monty Python video in the chapter about Ethics of Email Marketing. 🤩

Click here to save $15 (over 30%) before the sale ends at midnight on Tuesday, April 19th.

The discount code is already applied on the checkout page. Easy peasy!

Recently a Marketing Strategy client asked me how I do it all – run a practice and an online business teaching marketing, plus have a life, and keep all those balls in the air.

Spoiler alert - I don’t think I do it all well, all the time. But I'm always improving. Managing a business is a constant learning process!

Like everyone, I try really hard not to let those small details fall through the cracks. I'm happy to share what I've learned in my years as a business owner that helps keep me organized and on track.

And if you're feeling overwhelmed by all the administrative or marketing tasks that it takes to keep your small business running, know that you're not alone.

I think everyone asks this question, “How can I do it all?” at some point in their practice.

I think of this struggle like growing pains - it's a positive sign that you're at a tipping point in your business. You're busy, congrats!

Now it's time to step up and create new systems to support you so you can reach new levels of success and income in your practice.

Let's dive into the four things I recommend to help you through this phase, to move through what are essentially growing pains in your practice.

SHOW NOTES:

• Marketing Ethics for Acupuncturists online class - 30% off through Tuesday, 4/19
• Episode #5: Hiring a Virtual Assistant for Your Acupuncture Practice (Apologies, in the episode I said it was #27 - nope!)
• Episode #31: Setting Priorities in Your Business
• Templates for H

Support the show

Curious about Acupuncture Marketing School, the online course for marketing beginners? Join me inside! Click here to learn more.

This week we’re talking all about marketing budgets for your acupuncture practice. 

A few weeks ago, I gave a guest lecture at the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine all about digital marketing. 

After the class, one of the students asked a fantastic question: “What is your average monthly marketing budget?” 

And my really quick answer to that student was that I try not to spend too much money on marketing in terms of advertising. I really prefer organic marketing and the long-term marketing approaches that tend to be free but take more time and effort.

Basically, I made it sound like I don’t spend any money on marketing. 😳Which is incorrect!

And that’s what inspired this episode. 

It was a quick and dirty answer, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized it’s a little misleading. Plus I think it’s really helpful to know:  What exactly do I spend money on for marketing my practice? 

So today I'm sharing a detailed review of my marketing budget from 2021.

Everything I spent to get my practice more visible last year.

I'll be sharing the numbers, including my total annual spend and what that works out to on a monthly basis.

Let's get it going!

SHOW NOTES:
- Blue Host Website Hosting
- BluChic Wordpress Themes (my favorite!)
- Episode #28: The Easy Marketing Campaign That Made August My Highest Revenue Month in 2021 at My Acupuncture Practice
- Canva.com - Graphic Design
- Acupuncture Social Media Templates - Easy to edit using Canva Free account
- Later App (Instagram) - Get an extra 10 free posts when you sign up for a free account!
- Join the conversation on Instagram! >> @michellegrasek

Support the show

Curious about Acupuncture Marketing School, the online course for marketing beginners? Join me inside! Click here to learn more.

It's not too late for spring-themed marketing at your acupuncture practice!

Today I'm sharing eight spring marketing ideas to help you get visible in your community and get more patients on your schedule.

Of course, this time of year I encourage you to incorporate themes like revitalization, the opportunity for a reset or a fresh start, spring cleaning, and even tax season (!) into your marketing.

I hope you put one of these light, cheerful marketing ideas into action at your office.

Enjoy!

 SHOW NOTES:
- Acupuncturist Lindsey Thompson's Instagram @thompsonfamilyacu
- A Year of Email Templates for Acupuncturists

Support the show

Curious about Acupuncture Marketing School, the online course for marketing beginners? Join me inside! Click here to learn more.

Ever wanted to try Facebook ads for your acupuncture practice but had no idea where to start?

This week we’re covering some Facebook ad basics to help make your ads more effective and get a better return on your investment.

We'll be talking about:

• Four categories of Facebook ads that I usually identify for acupuncturists
• How knowing your marketing goal helps you decide which category of ad to create 
• The difference between creating a Facebook ad from scratch and hitting the “Boost Post” button
• Why my Facebook ads coach always used to say that hitting the “Boost Post” button is like throwing your money away

Ohhh, controversial. We’re going dig into that.

And before we dive in, a quick PSA:

If you’ve ever wanted to pick my brain about marketing, one-on-one, now is the time!

The price for my 60-Minute Marketing Strategy Session is going up at midnight on March 14th.

Currently the price is $197 and the price will be going up to $247. Plus I’m limiting this to the first ten people who sign up at the current price of $197.

>> Click here to learn more.

What can you use a 1:1 Marketing Strategy Session for?

You can use it for ANY marketing discussion that you’d like to have, but it’s often used for:

• Creating an effective marketing strategy that’s the best use of your strengths and your time
• If you have marketing questions and need clarity before taking action
• Reviewing your current marketing (website and/or social media) and providing tips and suggestions
• Help with content planning/brainstorming content creation

You can also use this session for questions about marketing or creating online courses, programs or services:

• Guidance on creating an online course, like what to include or how to put it together
• Help with the tech side of things, such as: course platforms, connecting your email marketing platform, etc.
• Help with increasing sales if you already created and launched a course, but don’t make sales very often
• Re-launching an online course or program to bring in revenue
• Reviewing your sales page, launch emails, or other marketing

I’ve been selling online courses, eBooks, programs, coaching (you name it!) since 2016 and helping other acupuncturists with this is REALLY something I enjoy.

In fact, online courses and programs provide half my income, so I’m happy to work with you!

In a nutshell, if you need help with ANY kind of marketing, for your brick-and-mortar clinic or your online course or program, I'm happy to help you in a Marketing strategy Session!

SHOW NOTES:

• 60-Minute Marketing Strategy Session
• Clairepells.com – Claire Pelletreau, Facebook ads coach

Support the show

Curious about Acupuncture Marketing School, the online course for marketing beginners? Join me inside! Click here to learn more.

Last week, my Year of Email Marketing Templates for Acupuncturists was on sale and as a result, I got LOTS of questions. 

Not just about the sale but about email marketing in general. 

So today I want to talk about a few things that hold us back from email marketing, and all of the reasons why we really should lean into email marketing as acupuncturists, as small business owners in general. 

I always recommend sending two emails a month.

I know the idea of two emails a month can be a little intimidating, not just writing that much content, but also the fear that you’ll be annoying your audience by sending two emails a month. 

So I want to talk about this a little bit – why I recommend two emails a month, and why this is NOT too many emails.

Email marketing is a very effective, low-cost and low-pressure marketing avenue. But so few acupuncturists are doing consistently, and that's shame.

Today I share my philosophy on email marketing as well as my top three tips for making your email marketing more effective.

I hope this episode eliminates all the reasons you might be procrastinating your email newsletter - Let's dive in!

SHOW NOTES:
- A Year of Email Templates for Acupuncturists

Support the show

Curious about Acupuncture Marketing School, the online course for marketing beginners? Join me inside! Click here to learn more.

How do you know whether you should raise your rates at your acupuncture practice?

Today I'm answering a listener question: "I raised my rates by $10 recently. I now charge $100 per treatment. How do I know I made the right choice?"

This episode covers four things to consider to help you make this decision.

Honestly, if you're already asking yourself this question, it's probably time to raise your rates!

And if you're worried about potentially losing people when you raise your rates, don't worry, we talk about that, too. It probably won't be nearly as many people as you're imagining!

Raising your rates has all kinds of benefits - listen in!

SHOW NOTES:
- A Year of Email Templates for Acupuncturists - On sale this week only for $40 off with code EMAILMAGIC (Expires 2/8)
- Audience Survey for 2022 - Thank you for participating!
- We Should All Be Millionaires book by Rachel Rodgers

Support the show

Curious about Acupuncture Marketing School, the online course for marketing beginners? Join me inside! Click here to learn more.