Why Being Marketing Shy Is No Longer An Option

As of right now, there are over 10 million posts with a hashtag #selfcare on Instagram. This largely inclusive hashtag has posts on beauty, health, mental health, weight loss, fashion - you name it!

What can this information tell us? Yes, people are looking for help on how to take care of themselves. But, they are also shouting it from their virtual rooftops and the message is clear: Expert opinion, please.

Mental health help cannot be reduced to a clever quote or meme. People need help. According to Mental Health America 2017 data: 56.5% of adults with mental illness received no past year treatment, and for those seeking treatment, 20.3% continue to report unmet treatment needs.

This statistic is not only surprising (at least to me), but also indicates an opportunity to reach the people who truly need your help. I don't have the data on this, but I am positive that a significant number of the people who haven't received the mental help they need try self-care and might even be looking on Instagram and other social media platforms for the experts who can help them.

This is why it is so important to create your marketing message for the people who are looking for your help. They are your motivated audience and they are ready to become your clients. Maybe not all of them can afford you, but some can and they are ready to invest in self care. If you are not marketing to those people, you are doing them a disservice. You are letting them listen to amateur opinions about their mental health.

In his book, This is Marketing, Seth Godin writes: "If you hesitate to market your offering properly, it's not that you're being shy. It's not that you're being circumspect. It's that you're stealing, because there's someone who needs to learn from you, engage with you, or buy from you."

This is the time to create your marketing message that speaks directly to your audience, your ideal client and then market your services so you can educate, engage and convert.