How to Grow Your Therapy Practice in 2022
It's officially the new year! A time often used to reset, set goals, and reframe how you want to approach the rest of the year.
Is the growth of your practice on your list of goals?
Here are some actionable steps you can take to foster growth in your practice this year.
1. Get clear on who you're serving
I'm sure you've heard it before, but it's important to niche down your practice. The idea of niching yourself down may bring up some uncomfy feelings of scarcity, and that's completely understandable. You may be wondering how you can grow a practice if you are narrowing your scope. The reality is: if you are speaking to everyone, you are speaking to no one.
Your potential clients are looking for a therapist who understands their unique struggles and pain points. They want to feel a connection. Marketing yourself to everyone often means you are writing copy that generalizes the struggle and pain points of clients in the hopes of blanketing all of them. What you’re actually doing, though, is diluting your message.
Think about the bloggers, podcasters, and influencers that you have the strongest connection with. There's a good chance you connected with their content because it feels like they are speaking to you. Seeing you, hearing you, understanding you. People looking for a therapist seek the same empathy and connection.
Niching down also allows you to get clear on your keywords for SEO, which we'll get to in a bit.
For a free resource that will help you niche down by exploring where your passions and expertise intersect, you can access our Define Your Niche workbook here.
2. Invest in a website that can do the work for you
Think of your website as an extension of you. Your website can do the work for you while you're in session, on vacation, or, heck, getting some well-deserved sleep! It's important to have a website built strategically so that it leads your clients to book with you, but also showcases your personality and attracts those ideal clients.
Gone are the days of boring, cold therapist websites. In 2021, therapists' websites can be more than where you post your hours and specialties. You can actually begin to bridge a connection through the copy and design on your site.
Not a designer? Not to worry! There are website designers that specialize in working with therapists. At Therapist Site Toolbox, we have 3 different offers to help therapists with their websites: pre-designed templates, Website in a Weekend, and custom design. Working with a designer who understands therapists is helpful as they will have a good grasp on the ethical limitations therapists face and the importance of careful self-disclosure.
3. SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's the process of optimizing your content to help you rank high in search engine results, like Google or Bing. The goal of search engines is to connect searchers with the best content online that satisfies their search requests.
Search engines aim to send searchers to sites that are easy to navigate and aren't complicated or difficult to use. They also aim to connect mobile searchers with sites that are optimized for mobile devices.
When someone searches "therapist in (your city)" or "(your specialty) therapist," you want your website showing up on the first page of results. There are tweaks you can make to your website to optimize your site's visibility.
An easy first step is to use keywords throughout your website and in your URLs that describe your business. Not too sure what keywords to choose? Think about what someone would type into Google to find you.
Another quick tip is to re-name the images on your website with your keywords. While Google can read the copy on your site, it can't read images. Rather than having Google read "IMG_3912," you want to provide Google with the image's context for example, "New York Therapist Your Name." Now Google can connect a location, an occupation, and your name to the image.
We have a helpful free resource that you can access here. It includes 13 things you can do to your Squarespace website to improve your SEO.
If you want to outsource your SEO to someone who knows her stuff, check out Kristie at TherapieSEO.
4. Share value through a medium that works for you
Here’s the thing: consistency is key. Choose a medium that you enjoy or comes naturally to you. If it’s not something that feels good, it will likely feel more like a chore or a burden than an actionable step towards growth.
If you're a writer, blogging is a great medium for you to share your content and value. Blogging has SEO perks as your blog posts can rank in Google for your practice's keywords and lead traffic to your site. Blogging valuable and relevant content for your niche can help to position you as an expert in your field.
It can also be a great way for your potential clients to get to know you. You can share your personality and experience with your readers so they'll get a sense of who you are and how you can help them. It's important to show up authentically in all aspects of your business so that the connection your potential clients are developing is truly with you. When blogging, that may look like using phrases that you commonly use or sprinkling your sense of humor throughout your posts.
If you aren't a fan of writing but thrive on video, you can utilize IGTV or YouTube to share mini trainings. You can create short 5 to 10-minute videos where you share actionable tips, psychoeducation, etc. that your ideal clients will find valuable.
Want to know our favorite content repurposing trick?
You can actually upload your mini trainings into a program like Rev or any other speech to text service and, for $0.25 a minute, it will transcribe your video using the Automated Speech to Text Transcription. With a bit of editing, you can then post your transcription on your blog to reap those SEO benefits.
5. Get on social media platforms as a therapist
You may be wondering if getting on a platform like Instagram is the right choice for you as a therapist. Ultimately, your private practice is a business, and having a social media presence can amplify your reach. Through your account, you can share valuable and relevant content to your ideal clients in easily digestible ways.
A platform like Instagram has a variety of features outside of posting to your feed to help you leverage your social media marketing and show up authentically for your clients, such as Instagram stories, Reels, and most recently, guides.
While showing up consistently on social media platforms is a great start, if you need more guidance or support here is a list of helpful resources:
Social Media Templates for Therapists - We create social media templates to match each of our website templates to help therapists create a consistent brand identity across platforms. You can check out our templates here.
Tara on Demand - Tara offers 1:1 marketing support specifically for therapists. She will help you develop a social media strategy that works for you and your niche, and refine your systems and processes to ensure you’re thriving in the social media space. You can check her out here.
6. Show up authentically where your clients are
To get in front of your ideal clients, you need to show up where they are. This means marketing yourself on the platforms that they frequent. If your clients aren't on Instagram, that may not be the best use of your valuable time. You may find your ideal clients hanging out in Facebook groups, on Pinterest, or Tiktok.
Do you know where most of your clients are coming from? If you aren't tracking this metric currently, it's time to start. The results may surprise you!
7. Provide a free resource
Sharing a free resource with visitors to your site will not only provide your visitors with additional value but can also act as a lead generator for an email list. When creating your free resource, think about a tool, strategy, or psychoeducation that your ideal clients will find helpful. Maybe that's a guided meditation, some self-care strategies, psychoeducation about mindfulness, etc.
Use a software like Canva, which has a free and paid plan, or Adobe InDesign to create a professional PDF for your free resource. If you aren't feeling keen to start from scratch, check out creativemarket.com for some great workbook templates.
To receive your site visitor's email in exchange for your resource, you can use an email marketing software like MailChimp, FloDesk (*this is what we use and love, we’re an affiliate with an offer of a lifetime 50% off discount!), or Squarespace's own Squarespace Email Campaigns.
8. Join HARO
HARO stands for Help a Reporter Out. It's an online service that facilitates connections between reporters and people who have experience with or expertise on specific topics. This is a great tool for getting media exposure that may lead to other opportunities, such as speaking engagements, other interviews, and client calls.
How it works: After you sign up, you'll receive two daily emails with lists of reporter requests by category. You can scroll through the lists quickly to see if any of the requests align with your expertise and experience. If you find a request that fits the bill, you can contact the reporter with an email pitch.
TIP: Include your qualifications in the subject line, for example, “Licensed Play Therapist - 6 years of experience working with children.”
The reporter will get an inbox filled with pitches from numerous people with different kinds of experience so you want to stand out!
For more HARO tips, check out this post by The Sow Collective.
Reading this list may feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to do all of these things at once. Instead, pick just one to start. You can gradually add new strategies as the year goes on, at whatever pace feels good to you!
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