How to be a Publicity Siren using the Planetary Deities.

You’ve paid for certifications, attended countless workshops, and dismissed your parents’ concerned emails about life goals. You’re finally confident in your holistic wellness and witchy business services, and you even have a few paying clients. But paying rent still feels like a monthly magic trick. Sound familiar?

The most common business-related question I get from wellness coaches, spiritual teachers, artists, performers, and otherwise magic workers, is this: how do I reach more people?

Like you, these lovely beings are amazing at their craft. They are full-power women and awakened men who impact the world one seeker at a time. Many of them have reached a level of notoriety, but still experience blocks when getting the word out beyond other magical people. While it’s not the only way, a presence in the media is certainly beneficial in expanding your audience.

Here are a few things you can do right now to boost your visibility (and the planet deities who can help):

1) Be a thought leader with Mercury. You are an expert, so be an expert! Allow me to indulge in an ardent display of business jargon: pitching yourself as a thought leader is low hanging fruit. Think of a topic that’s relevant to your offering or expertise, and write an article about it. It should be something that’s immediately helpful to the reader. A sales pitch won’t go very far with editors.

Then, take a deep breath, blow a kiss to communication-ruling Mercury (feel free to wait until we’re out of retrograde), and send your article to a lifestyle or health publication that already has a large following.

Don’t feel limited to the spirituality blogs. You’d be surprised at how many mainstream publications are looking for alternative wellness content. You may have to write in slightly more approachable terms (“dive deep into your shadow through Earth-shattering cosmic resonance” becomes “explore your negative thoughts”)—but, overall, gone are the days where metaphysical topics are taboo. In fact, they’re trendy. That means you are trendy! Take advantage of it.

2) Create a media list with Saturn. This is the grind. The part you thought you were escaping when you decided to be a professional witch. But Excel is still your friend. And so is our practical workhorse planet, Saturn. Set aside a few hours a day to research publications, journalists and influencers who might find your service relevant to their coverage scope.

First, create a list of at least 50 publications you’d love to be in. Then type in relevant search terms, like “spirituality,” on the publication’s website. The people who have written those articles should be the people you put on your list.

Finding the emails can take some digging. Hopefully, their email addresses will be listed in their bios. If not, try and find the email format that the publication uses—for example, [email protected]—then plug in the names of the writers.

Another nifty trick: Rapportive. This is a Gmail plug-in that will display a person’s LinkedIn information if you’ve entered the right email address. So now you can be officially creepy, and a well-connected pitch witch. You’re welcome.

3) Send (short) emails to the media list with Neptune. Invoke empathetic Neptune for amplified intuition. Tune in to how you can be helpful to the person you’re pitching, rather than the other way around.

Keep the first email short (no more than a few paragraphs) and targeted to that person’s beat. If you already know someone in a different department or beat, it doesn’t hurt to ask for an intro.

In your email, introduce yourself, explain why your service or product is unique (read: why they should write about it), and ask if they’d like a trial session. If you have an event coming up, invite them to attend free of charge. Engaging with a writer in person helps tremendously in securing a story. It’s also just nice to interact with humans sometimes.

You’ll probably hear far more crickets than knocks on your door. But remember that these writers receive hundreds of emails a day. Don’t get discouraged or take it personally if someone isn’t interested.

The key is finding just the right person with just the right story angle at just the right time. Do you see why being magic might be helpful in this process?

4) Expand your network with Venus. It’s time to close up the Excel sheets and let your magnetic Venus shine. Try going to conferences and networking events that aren’t intuitively a place to find mystically-inclined wellness clients. You can peruse Eventbrite for events by topic.

If you’re interested in doing corporate wellness, you’ll find that pretty much all tech startups and many larger corporations are open to getting a little weird in the office these days. It’s actually kind of required in order to attract talented employees.

Go schmooze with CEOs. I promise they’ll find you refreshing in a room full of overly-rehearsed app pitches. Again, keep it simple. Don’t open with a detailed description of the Venus invoking ceremony you did before this event. From experience, getting too woo woo, too fast, can turn people off. Gauge their interest first. Here’s a good way to explain why you’re there:

“To be honest, I’m not directly connected to [insert industry or company], but I’m interested in learning more about it. I know there’s a problem with employee burnout, and I offer wellness services that help boost energy levels, focus, and self-esteem.”

Chances are they’ll at least be curious. And if not, consider it practice for the next conversation. Hopefully, you’ll leave with a few new contacts and possibly some client leads. The free beer and wine doesn’t hurt either.

5) Follow up with Mars. And then follow up again. The masculine backbone and assertive attitude of Mars is crucial for putting yourself in the game. Whether it’s a blogger or a potential client, casual follow up emails are always advisable.

Of course, there’s a fine line between being persistent and being annoying. That’s probably the hardest part of pitching anything. But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve followed up a week or two after an original email was sent and received a response similar to this: “Oh, thanks for following up! This totally slipped through the cracks. I’d love to chat.”

Some people say to keep following up a second or third time. Overall, I’m a fan of not looking—or being—desperate. As a general rule of thumb, if they haven’t responded after two attempts to engage, I’d mark them down as “not interested.” But unless they’ve specifically told you to get lost (unlikely, because you’re a magnetic force of Venus), there’s no reason you can’t check back in a few months later with an update on your program or offering.

~

Ultimately, the most important thing for building any business (hey, Jupiter!) that people know about and love is the product itself. First and foremost, focus on your craft and on keeping your current clients happy.

PR is icing. Spread it around with magic.

 

 

Author: Teresa Bigelow

Image: Damian Zaleski/Unsplash

Editor: Emily Bartran