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You have worked hard to build your therapy private practice. You went to school for years. You studied hard to obtain certifications. You’ve poured your life into becoming a therapist.
There’s only one problem. You need more clients. Unfortunately, being a fantastic therapist doesn’t mean clients will automatically come to you. You need a system. You need proven ways to attract clients.
Let me help you in that respect.
In this guide, we’re going to talk about proven ways for you to get more therapy clients. We’ll also discuss why you might be struggling to get clients, as well as ethical considerations to take into account when promoting your practice.
Before we talk about how to get more therapy clients, let’s touch on some of the reasons you may NOT be getting clients. Let’s go through a series of questions together.
Every therapy client has their own unique problems. No, we’re not all snowflakes or whatever it is you were told growing up. But everyone has their own troubles.
Some deal with trauma. Some have mental health issues. Some are struggling with family dynamics. Each of your therapy clients will come to you with specific concerns, questions, and challenges.
Most prospective clients want to see a therapist who specializes in their problems. They don’t necessarily want to see a generalist who handles everything from anger management to family dynamics to mental health services.
If you don’t offer specialized services to prospective clients, you may have trouble attracting clients.
Amazon and Google have changed the way people seek out therapy. The reality is that most people research therapy services online before selecting a therapist. Are you visible in the places where people are searching? Are you showing up in their social media feeds? Are you coming up in Google searches?
If you don’t have a strong online presence, you may have trouble getting more therapy clients.
You didn’t start your private practice because you wanted to do marketing. Nevertheless, if you aren’t consistent with your marketing efforts, people simply won’t hear about you. How can you get therapy clients if nobody knows about you?
Connecting with other therapists and medical professionals is an important part of growing any private practice. They can provide referrals to you that you simply wouldn’t get otherwise. If you’re not doing much networking, you’re probably going to have trouble attracting clients.
Finances matter to your prospective clients. A lot. Financial limitations are one of the primary reasons people don’t seek therapy. Do you make it possible for lower-income therapy clients to see you? If they can’t afford you, you’re going to have difficulty getting more therapy clients.
Now that you know what areas might be the source of your struggles to attract therapy clients, let’s talk about some concrete strategies you can use to grow your practice.
Unless you live in a podunk town with a single stop light and zero other therapists, you need to specialize your therapy services. You can’t be everyone’s therapist. You need to cater to a specific segment of the therapy clients.
Maybe you specialize in working with children. Maybe you’re an expert at helping people overcome past traumas. Maybe you’re the best at helping people with learning disabilities. You can’t be everything to everyone but you can be everything to a very specific group of people.
The more you specialize, the more expertise you’ll gain. You’ll become the go-to person in your specialty. You’ll be able to help people much more effectively.
So what is your specialty? What is your niche? If you don’t have one, it may be time to step back and decide exactly who your ideal clients are.
If your website looks like it was built in 2006 by a MySpace enthusiast, you’re going to have difficulty attracting more clients. You need a professional website that reflects your expertise. Remember, potential clients are going to be doing a lot of online research to find a therapy practice. You need a central place where you can talk about your therapy practice, the services you offer, who you treat, etc.
If you don’t have a good-looking website, you need one ASAP. Your site only needs to include a few pages, like a home page, an about page, and a services page. You can also add a blog to offer valuable resources to your audience. A platform like Squarespace can help you get a website set up in a matter of hours.
Social media can be an incredible tool for attracting potential clients if you know how to use it correctly. The key to succeeding with social media is consistently sharing valuable content. Content that helps your target audience solve their problems and challenges. Content that’s deeply meaningful and allows your audience to therapeutically address some of their issues.
What kind of content are we talking about? Think about some of the things you consistently share with your therapy clients. Maybe it’s a coping mechanism for stressful situations. Maybe it’s a way of reframing their thinking. Maybe it’s a simple breathing technique for relaxing the body. I think you get the point.
Share simple, yet valuable content that will enhance the lives of your prospective clients. Show people a sample of what they’ll experience if they come to you for therapy.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website so that it shows up in as many Google searches as possible. For example, if you’re a therapist in Houston, Texas, you want your site to show up in searches like “therapists in Houston”.
SEO is a huge subject that involves many different elements, including things like using relevant keywords, speeding up your website loading time, and using internal links between different pages on your site.
To make things easy for you, I’m going to provide you with two resources that will help you get started:
Like it or not, you have to network with other mental health professionals if you want to get more clients for your therapy practice. They will encounter many potential clients that are outside of their specialty but are right in your wheelhouse. You want to be top of mind for these referrals, so it’s important to establish relationships with them.
Go to networking events. Join relevant organizations and support groups. Take part in community events. Look to connect online as well, through social media platforms. I know you probably didn’t go into therapy to strengthen your social life. Nevertheless, that social life can lead to more potential clients.
Online directories are websites specifically designed to help prospective clients find your services. They usually categorize therapists by location, specialty, and insurance accepted. This makes it easier for potential clients to find you based on their specific needs.
Here are two examples of online directories for therapists:
Make sure to update your information regularly on these directories so that potential clients have accurate and up-to-date information about your practice.
You can also invest in paid listings on these directories to increase your visibility and reach a larger audience.
You’re a fantastic therapist and your clients know this firsthand. You want to have these satisfied clients leave reviews on your website and other review sites. Reviews are a powerful form of social proof and can be the thing that convinces potential clients that you’re the therapist for them.
Think about it for a second. Are you more likely to go to a 5-star rated therapist or a 2-star rated one? It’s a no-brainer. 5-star all the way.
Here’s the thing though. Most of your clients won’t leave reviews unless you specifically ask them to. Make a concerted effort to ask your current clients and former clients to leave reviews of your therapy practice on:
The more positive reviews there are of your practice, the more likely prospective clients are to choose you.
With our GrowthMap Review Accelerator, we are able to completely automate this review process, making sure that you get the highest-quality reviews on all of your platforms.
Another effective way to attract and retain clients for your therapy practice is by attending workshops and conferences. These events are opportunities to expand your knowledge and also provide an opportunity for networking with other therapists.
By connecting with other therapists, you can learn from their experiences, share best practices, and potentially even collaborate on projects. This can help you build a strong referral network, where you can refer clients to each other based on their specific needs.
Digital marketing is one of the most effective ways to attract clients. Through digital marketing efforts, you can reach an enormous audience that you wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Digital marketing involves but isn’t limited to:
Each of these elements is a channel for getting your practice and brand in front of your target audience. Email gets into people’s inboxes. SEO and Google ads get you into their online searches. Social media marketing puts you squarely in people’s newsfeeds and video marketing captures those who prefer platforms like YouTube.
Blogging is one of the best ways for you to demonstrate your expertise as a therapist and to get valuable content into the hands of people who need it. Unlike social media, which is usually short, quick, snappy bits of content, blogging allows you to talk about things at length. Social media is great for sharing quick tips. Blogging is perfect for sharing longer, more in-depth content.
Another huge benefit of blogging is that it can help your website show up in more Google searches. If Google sees you blogging with expertise in a variety of therapy-related subjects, they’re more likely to highlight you when people are searching for therapists.
Your photos and videos on your website and other relevant sites (directories, etc.) should look crisp and professional. If they look like they were taken with your cousin’s old iPod, people won’t think you’re trustworthy.
If you can, invest the money in having a professional take photos and videos of you and use these assets when promoting your practice.
There are several things you need to be cautious of when promoting your therapy practice.
First, avoid overpromising on how you can help patients. Yes, you are a fantastic therapist, but you’re not God. Don’t promise that you’re going to help people overcome every trauma they’ve ever experienced, no matter how small unless you’re really going to help them do that.
Second, don’t exaggerate your credentials or qualifications in any way. You need to be totally honest in your marketing efforts. Undoubtedly, you’ve worked very hard to become a therapist and it’s totally appropriate to display any degrees or certifications you have. But don’t add anything that’s less than above board.
Third, make sure you respect client confidentiality when sharing testimonials. Yes, those testimonials are powerful marketing tools that can be really convincing to potential clients. But make sure you never share any identifying information or personal details without a person’s explicit consent.
Finally, be smart when using social media to promote your therapy practice. Make sure you maintain proper boundaries as a professional. Keep your advice general, rather than focusing on a specific person you’ve connected with on social media. And never engage in any online discussions or debates about clients or their personal struggles.
In an ideal world, you wouldn’t need to focus on marketing your private practice. Clients would come to you and you could focus all your time on helping them. Unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way. If you want more clients, you have to put in the effort to get them.
Be systematic in your approach to getting more therapy clients. Start by focusing on one specific area. Maybe you work on building a strong online presence. Maybe you build a professional website. Maybe you up your networking game.
Whichever you pick, focus on that one area until you start to see traction. Then move onto to the next one and apply your efforts there. As you take this systematic approach, you’ll see your therapy practice begin to grow.
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