Tips for Marketing Yourself as a Therapist
If you are reading this you probably are either running or starting a private practice, group practice, or job as a mental health professional- CONGRATULATIONS! We can never have enough therapists out here helping people.
If this is the case, you might be starting to look into options to market yourself to get to those people that you now have the skills to support. So where do you start?
For me personally, marketing started off as an uphill battle. As a Type A, Capricorn lady- time is an asset. And thinking up, creating, and posting regularly on social media was not something I wanted to do in my “spare time” between clients or on my admin day. Because of that uphill I climbed to get to where I am now, where most of the content I am posting is automated- I wanted to share some insight into ways to help manage, create, and minimize the time you are taking to market your practice!
Our Top Tips for Marketing as a Therapist:
Make sure your business logo, coloring, and overall mission is cohesive. If you are not sure about what you are trying to represent, share, and portray as a company or person- it will confuse people looking at your marketing. Think of yourself as a brand- you want people to be able to see your marketing and know who it was created by instantly.
Be consistent. Depending on which social media tools you are using- make sure to create a schedule to post regularly. Regularly means different things to different people. So create a schedule for yourself so that you are consistent with posting.
Create Authentic Posts. Whatever that means to you- think about how you are representing yourself, and what you want your messaging to be. For example, being a grief counselor, I reflect on what I would want people to know about grief and grief support- and try to create posts that feel authentic about grief processing. Even if you use a pre-set of Canva Templates like the ones I sell on the Shop, customizing them to align with your mission and messaging allows for a more authentic social media presence.
Automate Your Process As Much As Possible. Something I go into on the Time Management Ebook is that automating can be an employee you didn’t know you needed. There are many apps out there that can automate or alert you to post so that you aren’t missing your ideal times to post content. Automating helps release that to-do list from yourself and put it onto the app instead.
Ask a Friend to Review Your Marketing. One thing that helped me while I was early on was having a friend read my website, profile pages, and marketing plan to make sure I caught any typo’s or grammatical errors. Having fresh eyes on your work can help catch these tiny errors before a potential client does. Asking a friend could also help you see if the marketing you are putting out there IS cohesive- or if it might be time to readjust.
Keep Your Marketing Updated. A pet peeve of mine is when clinicians change something- whether it is their license type, certifications, demographics they serve, cost, etc- and don’t change it! Do a sweep across all your marketing, and make sure it all aligns. If not, depending on what it is that is incorrect, there could be consequences. False advertising is not taken lightly in this profession.
Don’t Let Social Media Overwhelm You! If I could go back to Day 1 Simone and tell her something, it would be this. Because social media can sweep you out like a violent rip tide- and then you are drowning in the sea of mental health content, wondering how anyone would find your content at all. It doesn’t matter if something has already been said, or thought of- be yourself, and people will connect to your vibe. Having that separation such as automating, or limiting time on social media can be great ways to externalize and let go of the false pressures of performance.
If this blog post doesn’t feel like enough, think about working with a biz coach about ways to strategize your marketing. I currently offer this, and also have a section on Marketing in my Launching Y our Private Practice ebook (which is a lot cheaper than 1:1 coaching). If this has been helpful, please send us a comment! We love to hear about how other professionals are doing, and their own tools to create less stress when it comes to marketing.
