MHM#05 Allocating your marketing budget

When it comes to marketing and growing a therapy practice, I often get asked, "What should I spend money on when I can't do everything?" 

It's very normal in the early days of growing a practice to do most things yourself. 

I'm a big advocate for imperfect action. If the only option you have to get your practice started is to build your website yourself, then build your website yourself. Most successful Practices (in fact, all successful businesses) begin with one passionate person working with the resources they have to start moving forward.

When you've moved beyond those very early days and have enough consistent revenue to invest back into the practice, here are my recommendations on allocating this to create further growth and increase efficiency. 

1. Invest in professional website development 

As your practice grows and generates revenue, it's crucial to start upgrading your online presence. A professionally designed website will accurately reflect your brand, resonate with your ideal clients, and improve your visibility on search engines like Google. Expertise in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is invaluable for enhancing your site's ranking, making it more likely for prospective clients to find you online. 

2. Launch a Google Ad Campaign

While SEO is essential for long-term visibility, seeing the results can take considerable time. Set up a Google Ad Campaign to fast-track your practice's online visibility. Allocating around $10-$12 a day towards Google Ads can significantly increase your website traffic by ensuring your practice appears at the top of search results on Google. This strategy allows you to quickly become visible to prospective clients who are actively searching for a therapist while your SEO efforts gain momentum in the background.

3. Buy back time to create more content and nurture referrer relationships

Building your online presence through consistent content creation (blogs, videos, social media posts, etc) is essential to building a thriving practice. So is reaching out and nurturing relationships with referrers.

However, content creation and referrer relationships require an ongoing allocation of your time. 

As you grow your practice, it's important to consider the best use of your skills, knowledge, and time outside therapy sessions and the best use of your money. Investing in administrative support means you can delegate admin-related tasks like managing enquiries, managing your diary, billing, etc, freeing up time for content creation and connecting with referrers.