Marketing for Therapists: The Necessary Uncomfortable

Marketing is a tricky subject among therapists. While it can be uncomfortable to promote yourself in a role meant to be selfless, what else could be more selfless than getting yourself seen by the clients who need you most? Marketing is a necessary part of any business, especially for therapists. It is a great way for therapists to get seen by your ideal client audience. It’s not just about how to make money, it is also a way to help your potential clients get the help they need.

Therapists marketing themselves and their practices have become much more common in the last decade with the rise of social media and even more so recently with the fallout from the pandemic. Social media marketing has become a powerful tool that is not only used for selling products, but also for getting clients. Marketing for therapists is not that much different than marketing any other business. You can use a variety of marketing strategies to get potential clients’ attention including through social media, your website, advertising, and the ideal – word of mouth.

Building a Marketing Strategy for any Business

The first step in any marketing strategy is understanding who you are, what you have to offer, and your target market. Once you know this, you can begin actively marketing your practice. Marketing is also a way for therapists to grow as professionals. All therapists need to be seen by the right audience and get their ideal clients. A thorough marketing strategy implemented well is a great way to make sure that your practice gets the recognition and growth that it deserves. So, next time you are thinking about marketing, think about how it can be a therapist’s best friend.

Once you’ve gotten your strategy, active forms of marketing can be done in a variety of ways.

Proactive Marketing Ideas

The first way we will discuss is to be proactive. Being proactive includes giving yourself a website with a blog, a newsletter, and social media pages. It also includes creating content that people want to see and then asking your friends and family to share your work on social media. It also means getting involved in groups on Facebook, What’sApp, Instagram, Telegram, and more in order to promote your own social media pages and spread your reach.

Reactive Marketing Ideas

Another way is to be reactive. Reactive marketing includes getting reviews or testimonials and putting them on your website. It also includes using your website to make referrals. In a therapy role, it is not advised to ask your clients for testimonials, however, for the forward, long-term thinking therapist, getting reviews and testimonials for digital products, and endorsements from collaegues can all help to humanise and connect you with your target audience.

Advising Yourself Make You Cringe?

If you are a therapist who is not comfortable marketing yourself, there are a few things you can do to get your name out there. The first thing you can do is ask your current colleagues and other therapist friends for referrals. Talk to them about your ideal client, availability, and often to send referrals that aren’t your ideal client their way.

Feedback from Clients

Ask your clients what they think about the services you provide, what you could improve on, and what drew them to you specifically as a therapist. Who better to tell you about the effectiveness of your current marketing campaign than current clients?

List on Directories

You should also start advertising your services on well-known directories for therapy services such as A Change for Better, Psychology Today, and TalkingWorks from day one. They may not bring in the desired result right away, but while you’re starting up, the boost to your credibility, visibility, and access to an established client base can prove helpful if not for building your own client base, but for networking with others who have access to your ideal target audience.

Build a Website

Yes, this is actually something YOU can do with a little bit of tech knowledge. Still not comfortable? You can get an afforable company like Our Office Online (OOO) that specifically builds websites for therapists to do it for you. To keep costs down, look for lifetime licensing deals as the yearly expense of the website can become quite much after 5-6 years. OOO offers lifetime licensing options for thrifty therapists looking at a 5 year or longer business. You can reach out for more information about their lifetime licenses by emailing: [email protected]