How do therapists get clients

And we would never take advantage of someone, especially if they were vulnerable. It is very true that we need to be mindful of the message we send to people about our practices.

In fact, most of our codes of ethics have something to say about how we advertise ourselves. Advertising or marketing should never be salesy or coercive. And most marketing professionals would tell you that as well. A better way to think about marketing is to simply think about it as getting your message to the people that need it the most. In other words, marketing is about helping people solve their problems.

It is about giving them a solution to something they are struggling with. Imagine you needed a therapist. How would you find them? Or imagine you were struggling with a particular issue, who would you go to first to ask for help? Would you talk to a friend, doctor or clergy person? Or would you just start researching your particular problem online? Maybe both…. Simply put, a marketing strategy is simply helping people find you and letting them know how you will be able to help them.

A good marketing strategy will make you easy to find and let people know how you will help them with the problems they are struggling with. Obviously there are so many different ways to market your practice.

And it can be overwhelming to think about. Marketing can be done through websites, social media, online ads, business cards, brochures, rack cards, directories, personal contacts… the list goes on and on. All of these can let potential clients or referral sources learn and know about your practice.

Without a doubt, in order to have a successful marketing strategy for your practice, you need to have a good online presence. For this happen you absolutely need to have a good website. Your website will be the hub for people trying to find you and your services. Your social media, printed materials, directories and even all personal contact should point people to your website. That is why knowing your niche or your client avatar your ideal client is so important.

You need to know where your potential clients spend their time, where they might look for help and how they will go about finding you. Then you will know where to put your efforts, in particular, around social media.

So for example, if your ideal client is something female, Pinterest would be a good place to focus with your social media efforts. If your ideal client was male something, Twitter would be a better place to put your efforts. Here is a cool infographic that shows some interesting stats on social media use:. One of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to their website is making it too much about themselves. Instead your website needs to be about your potential client and the pain they feel.

Certainly tell about you, but the main focus should be about the client. The other thing a good website does is make it obvious what a person can do to get the help they need. In other words, have your contact information front and center. Make it easy for people to know how to make an appointment with you. Also, create a clear call to action message.

This is marketing It does not have to pushy. This is when potential clients are considering the idea of therapy, but not yet ready to call for an appointment. Click here to register for our upcoming free webinar. Relevant website content. The more valuable content you have, the more you will keep them coming back to your website again and again.

Ongoing email contact. While being exclusively private pay has its advantages , one of the best and most consistent ways to increase referral traffic is by contracting with an insurance company.

Insurance companies are powerhouse referral networks. Your prospective client can find you by simply searching through a list of in-network providers. The two are not the same and can have a different impact on your ability to pull referrals. Your website will act as an education portal. You also need a blog because it will help you build search engine referral traffic.

Then, when someone searches for this very topic in Google or Bing, your article will return high in the search results. Blogging is also a great way to show your expertise in a subject matter. Make sure to always reach out regularly to thank clients for referrals. However, when sending thanks, remember to never mention any client names in order to protect client confidentiality. Acknowledging clients for their effort will encourage them to keep referring additional clients to you.

The more referrals you have, the higher the likelihood that some of those will work out. This shows you appreciate their help and will keep the door open for future referrals as well. TheraNest makes it easy to reward loyalty. The reason is simply because while certain settings might have more people with social anxiety, the overall numbers are low in terms of percentages and the percentage of those that will actually look at and act upon your flyer gets to be even smaller.

Marketing has changed dramatically in the past 5 years. In the old days, marketing was a distinctly outbound activity. You tried to get your message to buy in front of the right people. Or, in other words, attracting customers.

The internet changed everything. In fact, blogs changed everything. Google changed everything. Essentially what that means is that you create content for which your potential customers search.

When they find that content, you lead them to another piece of content until eventually the potential client is ready to buy your services. If a potential client is simply researching a problem they think they might have, they are a long way away from actually wanting to book a session. They get there after a process. That process consists of researching their problem online. Only after all of that research will booking a therapy session enter their mind.

Therapy is expensive.