A lot of therapists I’m talking to say that their Number 1 concern right now is that not enough referrals are coming into their business.
This is making them anxious about their income.
We can blame the economy or funding decisions changes, but some practices are not having this problem.
These practices continue to have waitlists.
What these practices do well is have brand and marketing messages that make them choosable. Desirable.
What’s problem I repeatedly see in therapists’ approach to private practice marketing that results in problems getting enough people walking through the door?
Speaking to everyone in their branding and marketing.
You may have heard the famous marketing saying “when you speak to everyone, you speak to no one”.
It’s true and this is what it means for therapists.
When you use general messages in your marketing, you just sound like every other therapist.
You don’t give people a reason to choose you.
And you then compete with every other general I take everyone psychologist in town.
Right now you’re probably thinking, I can’t do that.
I don’t want to exclude any potential clients because I make my marketing messages more specific.
No way I’m risking that. I need more clients, not less. I see my coaching clients get similarly nervous when I introduce the idea.
But consider this.
What you’re doing right now isn’t making you choosable.
One of my coaching clients has a list of issues she doesn’t work with on her website and instead of excluding clients, it helps people choose her.
By saying I don’t work with everyone, more people (not less) choose to work with my coaching client. They even talk to her about it with interest at the first appointment.
And if you’re thinking, “But I’ve got staff who do different things”. The scaled practices with 27 plus staff who don’t all do the same thing, still get lots of clients with messages that call in some clients and exclude others.
Need help to make yourself choosable? Grab my training Marketing Magic: Sell it Out, Attract Dream Clients.
This training goes through all the steps to create choosable marketing messages.
They’re the same steps I use to create marketing messages that make me the one people want to work with, instead of my competition.
Yours in thriving
Nadene
PS You can pair Marketing Magic with Referrals Magic at checkout and get a special price. Check it out here.
PPS My podcast producer just sent me the trailer for my podcast Thriving Therapist Talk and it sounds awesome. Podcast launches next month (early September).