MHM#10 7 marketing tasks to grow your therapy practice

As a marketer, a big part of my job is keeping up to date with changes in marketing trends, platforms, consumer behaviour, etc., and then thinking about how this applies to solo/small private therapy practices. 

I love working with small therapy practices; the entire purpose behind my business was to work specifically with solo or small practice owners. When recommending marketing activities, I think about what makes sense for a practice at this size, in terms of time, resources, and budget, but also their comfort zone. Typically, the practice owners I work with have not ventured too far into the world of promoting themselves yet, so the idea of creating video content and putting themselves out into the world can feel a bit daunting. 

As a solo/small practice owner, here are 7 marketing tasks to grow your Practice.

1. Review and update your website content. Make sure it accurately reflects your Practice and what you offer, resonates with and provides heaps of value to your ideal clients. Add a blog section to your website and consistently add new blog articles—this could be weekly, fortnightly, or monthly—pick a realistic schedule for you.  

2. Set up a Google Ad campaign. Search Engine Optimisation is incredibly hard, and the amount of content you would have to write and backlinks you'd have to acquire to get your website to the top of Google is unrealistic. Don't get me wrong, SEO is still important; we just need to incorporate other marketing activities to get you in front of prospective clients more efficiently. Google Ads can quickly get you on the first page of Google in front of people actively searching for a therapist.   

3. Reach out to, build, and nurture relationships with referrers.
Building a network of referral sources is invaluable and essential to growing a therapy practice. Search for solo/small therapy practices in your local area, make contact, and suggest you collaborate and cross-refer. 

4. Create an Instagram account. Instagram is a powerful platform for therapists to share their voice and connect with their community. Post content your ideal clients will find valuable 2-3 times a week. Remember to include #hashtags - these are key to pushing your posts out further. 

5. Create video content. Videos can be scary, but there is nothing more powerful to help prospective clients connect with you and get to know you. Post your videos on Instagram and boost them (put a small budget behind them) to increase the reach of your videos. Boosting helps you get in front of a lot more people and to grow your Instagram followers. 

6. Develop a lead magnet. A lead magnet (a valuable free resource) is a great tool to grow your email list. Your email list is one of your most valuable marketing assets. A lead magnet needs to provide enormous value to your ideal clients so it leaves them thinking, "Wow, this was so helpful. I can't believe they gave this away for free!" A lead magnet could be a PDF guide, video training, workbook, etc. Promote your lead magnet via Facebook and Instagram ads. 

7. Distribute newsletters with valuable content to nurture your email list. Over time, a proportion of your email list will convert into new clients. The blog articles you write for your website become your newsletter - a big way to increase efficiency in marketing is to multipurpose your content. Like your blog articles, create a newsletter schedule that will work for you - this could be weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. Consistency is key, so pick a schedule that's manageable and won't leave you feeling overwhelmed and dreading the task.