Marketing Strategies for Therapists to Grow Their Private Practice
You have started a private practice. You probably have two or three appointments a day. However, you see a therapist's office across the street that has hordes of clients going in and out daily. So, what must he be doing differently? How does he gain so much clientele?
If you are not marketing your private practice, no one will know you exist. By developing a marketing strategy, you allow significant exposure to your therapy practice.
You may consider marketing your private practice as a sales pitch. But, online marketing strategies make your practice visible, attract new clients, and increase your profit.
Here are some therapist marketing tips for getting started in private practice.
Build a dynamic website
The first step is to design and build a website that will be your most effective marketing tool. Your website represents you and gives you a voice making it a significant investment. Include the following:
1. About Me Page
Tell who you are, your story, what you specialize in, and your credentials. What makes you stand out and why should people spend their time and money to seek therapy from you. Use this information to establish a connection with your potential clients.
2. Services
Showcase what type of services you provide. What is your specialization? Is it marriage therapy, family therapy, depression, psychotic disorders, or social anxiety disorder? Mention how long the sessions are, the cost for each session, any offers, sliding-scale fees, what type of insurance you accept, and cancellation charges.
3. Contact Me Page
How would your potential clients get in touch with you? Include your contact number, email id, and office address.
4. Pictures
Put pictures of your office space. People who visit your website would want to know the type of office space you have, the settings, the lightings, privacy, and anything that would convince them to choose your practice.
Once your website is ready, you can focus on the content and the marketing tactics.
Get in front of the local community.
Believe it or not, most of your clients would come from the local community. Consider marketing your practice to get in front of the people in and around your locality.
1. Google My Business
Get a Google My Business listing for your practice. Your clients can find you in local map searches. You could collect customer reviews on Google that will help your brand. When individuals search for a local business or look for a therapist near them, Google would decide to list your practice.
For example, if someone is searching for a family therapist in San Jose, California, then Google will scan its local directory. Depending on the specific search, it would display your practice.
2. Organic Search
Build your brand by marketing your practice on online search engines. When someone searches for something on Google, organic search is the "unpaid results" that are displayed. Use SEO strategies to generate website traffic, consistently rank high for a specific search term, and gain the trust of people.
Search engines like Google provide the best content for those who are searching. For example, if people are searching for therapy for substance abuse in California, then the top search results will bring in a lot of traffic and potential clients for that therapist.
Blog
Do you want your website traffic to increase? Then start writing. Add fresh and original content to your website frequently. Publish informative blogs regularly that act as online journals for your website visitors. You can use blogs to educate people and show your expertise as a therapist.
Focus on SEO, keywords, and make sure your blogs stand out from the competition. Blogs should try to solve your reader's problems and make them believe in you and your expertise. Content marketing for therapists is the cheapest way to boost credibility and search engine rank.
Build and improve your website's SEO
Even in this internet-dominated age, some therapists feel that focusing on SEO is not worth the time and effort. This is where you can capitalize. Become the leader in your community and your niche by working on your website's SEO.
SEO is a crucial part of online marketing. It will ensure that you are indexed, and people find you depending on what they search for on Google. By improving your SEO, you could stay ahead of your competition and subsequently gain more clients. Accurate SEO will ensure that your website ranks higher in the search query and will get you a lot of leads.
Focus on keywords, URL, backlinks, alt text for images, meta-description, title tags, and headings for your blogs.
Related: SEO Strategy for Therapists in Private Practice
Be active on social media
Literally, every single person, including businesses, uses social media. So, why should this exclude you from taking advantage of this?
Use this opportunity to show your audiences that your practice is active and trustworthy. Sites like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter bring traffic and potential clients for your private practice.
However, it is imperative to have a clear understanding of how to use social media for your therapy practice. Unlike other professions, therapy requires a different approach to leverage social media. Therapists should also abide by the regulations and guidelines surrounding the ethical use of social media for their practice.
When people share, like, and comment on your social media posts, Google will make you more accessible and rank you better. Build relationships with people, your reputation, and referrals by actively using social media.
Related: How Therapists Can Use Social Media for Their Private Practice
Newsletter and Email marketing
Email marketing is a smart marketing strategy to utilize. It allows you to share content, news, and information with your subscribers. Since people have to sign up to receive your newsletters, you'll know that people reading it are genuinely interested in your content.
You can send newsletters regarding the following:
- Information about your practice
- Office hours and address
- Facts, figures, blogs, and infographics related to your niche
- Events that may interest your clients
Networking
Talk to therapists, doctors, healthcare practitioners, and others. Many of them can be your referral sources. You may get some surprising benefits like getting an opportunity to write for a magazine or other websites, or finding insurance for your practice.
Related: How can Therapists Increase Referrals for their Private Practice
Networking with doctors is very beneficial. If doctors advise your therapy practice to their patients, then they are more likely to follow it through.
You can build your network with other therapists as well, who would refer their clients to you in case their schedule is full or when necessary. Build professional relationships and become a part of a trusted community.
Advertisements
Advertisements and pay-per-click (PPC) is a type of online marketing that is a long term strategy once you establish a steady client base. Essentially, with PPC, you are buying leads and visits to your site. When used cleverly, it can be an effective marketing strategy and lead generation.
Plan to send all paid traffic to different landing pages - articles, blogs, and other content - with a high potential for conversion. Therapist advertising is a slow process with a lot of experimenting and adjustments until you get the desired results. Instead of being the number one bidder, focus on getting what's worth the money you spend on PPC.
Ultimately, marketing for your private practice involves experimenting, measuring the data, and improvising. Your marketing efforts may fail, but that builds your confidence to improve and work on different methods. Have patience, learn from the results, and implement what you've learned to grow your private practice.
