Behavioral health services play an essential role in helping people improve their physical and mental health. From addiction and substance abuse to food disorders and negative relationship patterns, there are many people struggling with behavioral problems that could be resolved with professional treatment.
However, marketing for behavioral health can be challenging. First off, some people might be unaware or unwilling to seek the treatment they need. For many people, the stigma of mental illness and behavioral health care can be a barrier to getting care.
Additionally, the behavioral health market can be competitive. If there are other clinics in your area offering similar services, you might not how to effectively improve your advertising tactics and appear at the top of searches when people near you are looking for behavioral heal support.
So, how do you curate a plan that effectively gets real clientele leads? Gaining new leads for your behavioral health practice and connecting with people who need your services requires a specialized marketing strategy.
At Beacon Media + Marketing, our behavioral marketing services focus on helping you stand out from the competition with a strong brand and content that educates, engages, and builds trust with your ideal client. Here are five elements to include in your marketing strategy for behavioral health to take your clinic to the next level.
Ready to work with a Behavioral Health Marketing Agency that really gets your industry? Learn about our full suite of mental health marketing services.
Why Should You Market Your Behavioral Health Service?
There are a few key reasons why it’s essential to market your behavioral health services. One of the main goals is to gain more clients for your practice or clinic. As you continue to build your clientele with a solid digital marketing strategy, you’ll have new opportunities to expand your services, hire new staff members, or even open new locations to accommodate this new growth and help even more people.
And that takes us to second reason why behavioral marketing is so important: to help people in your community. When people are struggling with their behavioral health, they might not know where to turn. Whether they’re ready to seek help from a professional or are looking for tips online, the goal is that you can be that resource for them. If your website is hard to navigate or you don’t have content online, you’re missing out on the opportunity to help that person when they need it most.
By marketing your behavioral health service, you’re allowing your practice to be one of the first places people look for help. With an online presence, you can help bring awareness and empowerment to those struggling with behavioral health problems.
There are people who need your services, and we’re here to help you reach them. Contact Beacon Media + Marketing for your personalized behavioral health marketing strategy.
What Elements Should You Include in Your Behavioral Health Marketing Strategy?
Now that we’ve gone over why you should market your behavior health service, it’s time to dig into the specifics. The following elements are ways to help effectively market your practice, clinic, or facility to have you appear at the top of searches and make an impact on the people you’re to help.
In other words, creating a strong and persistent online presence will ensure that you will always be one of the top considerations for help. You won’t need to rely on physician recommendations which still helps— and can tap into a new client base. So, here are five elements to consider when creating your marketing strategy.
1. Website
Your website will be one of the most important aspects of marketing your clinic. When people search for behavioral health services, your website will be the first impression of your practice.
If your website is poorly done with bad web design or doesn’t function properly, this leads to a high bounce rate. The design is crucial since it reflects your brand and will show whether you’re professional or not. This can include the pictures on your website, so make sure they reflect what you want to portray to potential clients.
Then the functionality includes your website having low load times, easy navigation, understandable information, and a straightforward way of contacting you. Your website needs to include the details of your services so they will know if you can help them. When you have a poor website, people will leave and not consider you for help.
To get your website highly ranked on search engines, ensure it is SEO-optimized with good keyword headings and content on each page.
Want to learn how Beacon can take your website to the next level? Learn more about our website design services.
2. Local SEO
One of the most important factors you have to consider for your marketing strategy is targeting local SEO. Even if you’ve identified your target audience, being one of the top resources when someone searches for behavioral health services in their area is critical.
A great resource for showing up in local searches is Google My Business. It will put your clinic or facility as an available option if you have a physical location and not a remote service. The available information will include your service’s name, your hours, the location, a website link, and show reviews.
To put yourself as an available resource within a specific area for one or more locations, ensure that you include the location of your city and state in various online areas. Also make sure your profile displays links to other platforms. This can include:
- Website
- Social media platforms
- Blogs
- Ads
3. Branding
The branding of your practice, clinic, or facility is crucial to drawing people in. This is an excellent opportunity to figure out your behavioral health service and why it’s important to you.
Then for your clients, it’s a great way to get to know you. It’s a way to familiarize themselves with your mission statement and how choosing you is the best option for seeking behavioral health support.
Your branding will include choosing fonts, colors, logo, mission statement, etc. These factors should help your potential clients learn who your service is and give them the right feeling. For example, if you want to portray a calm emotion, you can consider using cool tones in your logo and brand colors.
It’s critical to keep your branding concreted through all platforms, from your social media accounts to your website. Discovering your brand takes time, so you should expect that this part of your marketing strategy will take a significant period to complete.
Are you not sure how to brand your behavioral health service? Contact Beacon Media + Marketing so we can help you discover your brand.
4. Content Management
The content provided on your website can be invaluable to some. The information provided on your website can help someone understand the depth of support they can receive from your services.
However, if you add blogging into your marketing strategy, that is where you can help change someone’s life. Many people struggle to admit behavioral health problems about themselves or their loved ones, making it incredibly hard to know when or how to reach out for help.
Blogs provide a way for you to be a resource in your community. People will likely have questions about behavioral health, and writing blogs allows you an avenue to answer them without taking the time to provide phone calls for each person.
When people search for their questions, your blog may be one of the top resources. This will answer their question and build your brand awareness and credibility. Creating a blogging strategy for your marketing will increase your reliability and traffic to your website.
5. Organic Content
The internet has become a valuable place of influence, which means that you being online can help normalize conversations surrounding behavioral health. Your social media presence can build your credibility and reach.
Social media marketing allows you to create educational information that will destigmatize behavioral health and create a bond with people in your community. People will also trust you as a resource and feel the need to seek your help over others.
Even though advertising can be a way to reach a new audience, there are stipulations and restrictions surrounding alcohol and drug addiction, so it can be hard to get the people who may need your help. This makes your online presence through social media critical for reaching people who may not know yet need help.
Your organic content should reflect your brand and who you are as a practitioner. It’s a great way to create a strong bond with people in need. And when the time comes for them to ask for help, you’ll be the service they go to.
Why Should You Choose a Marketing Agency to Help You?
Getting help from a marketing agency can greatly benefit your practice, clinic, or facility. Marketing takes extensive time and effort, which should be used on your clients. By getting help from a marketing agency, you’ll make treating your clients the priority.
Trying to stay on top of your website, social media, blogging, and advertising can be overwhelming. Each of those should be working together in the same direction so you have a cohesive and effective marketing strategy. Although you can learn about each tool and how to properly SEO-optimize your content, marketing is constantly evolving, so you’d have to learn more continuously.
Choosing a marketing agency like Beacon Media + Marketing means that we can take that responsibility off of your plate. You can focus on what you’re passionate about. We’ll create an effective marketing strategy that will take your business to the next level.
We have a variety of services to choose from, including website design and development, branding, social media, advertising, blogging, and more. Whatever you need help with, we can be there for the whole process. Our staff can help you understand the data behind your marketing and how we can continue to do better.
If you’re ready to focus on your passions and let someone help you through your marketing strategy,get a free consultation to learn how we can help you!