With mental health gaining awareness and being destigmatized, it’s never been easier to scale a psychotherapy practice. However, if you box mental health marketing into more traditional practices or even try and copy conventional health marketing, your results will fall flat.
Some businesses have cracked the code for marketing within this unique industry, and we want you to be next. We’re ready to help you take advantage of the increasing openness and acceptance surrounding mental health. Here are 7 expert tips to market your psychotherapy practice (with real examples!).
We specialize in marketing for mental and behavioral health practices like yours! Get your free growth plan to take the first step.
1) Show That Mental Health Is a Necessity
Don’t get us wrong. We absolutely value mental health and understand how critical psychotherapy is to a person’s well-being. And while it has made tons of headway even in the last decade, many people don’t place mental health on the same level as physical health or conditions.
Mental health is often placed on the back burner when life gets in the way – if it was remembered in the first place. Our point here is that you must meet your target audience where they are in their perceptions first – then you can change minds (literally) after clients get their foot in the door.
2) Find Your Niche
One thing you already understand about mental health is that it’s never a surface-level issue. Therefore, people will get the most benefit when their unique struggles are addressed with full understanding and expertise. Translation: if a potential client can find the exact info or help needed in a first-page, generic article on Google, you need to dive deeper.
The Center for Grief and Trauma has marketed their psychotherapy practice successfully by going all-in on a specific niche. You could consider doing the same to really see marketing growth! And before you ask – no, you won’t run out of potential clients or pigeonhole yourself out of business by niching down.
However, we understand how it might feel that way at first. If this is one of your main concerns, then it might be helpful to consider a tried-and-true example: your favorite restaurant!
We’re willing to bet that your first-choice restaurant specializes in a certain cuisine. So, consider this. Does a top-tier Indian restaurant worry about missing out on the people who are looking for a $5 burrito? Does the local vegan spot stress about going out of business because of the BBQ restaurant next door? No, because they have confidence in their niche, and work on being the best at serving their ideal customers. So, where can you provide the most value in your psychotherapy practice? Chances are, you can dive deeper than “mental health.”
3) Show Your Expertise
Anyone can make claims – whether it’s in marketing or education. The Lukin Center for Psychotherapy backs up their educational resources and mental health services using scientific evidence, research, and proven practices.
They claim the tagline “Driven by science, led by compassion” as a brilliant summarization of their value. Not only is it highly ethical for psychotherapeutic and psychiatric practices to offer research-validated treatment, but it also boosts their credibility with potential clients. As with any health service, reputation is crucial.
And while you don’t want to overwhelm your leads with too much information in your marketing, you don’t have to hold back when it comes to content or other resources. The most important thing is to make it accessible and welcoming to people.
Don’t worry about your expertise going over your audience’s heads. Trust us, they can handle it. But in any case, you will appear as an authority in your space – who is expected to be more knowledgeable than the average joe!
4) Own Your Local Market
Yes, we know you’ve probably tip-toed (or even taken the plunge) into local SEO. But what we’re talking about here goes much deeper than that. If you’re located in a particularly unique area, connect with the culture of your city or town.
Based in Manhattan, NYC Therapeutic Wellness has capitalized and made the most of the New York City market. Even with the rise of virtual and online therapy options, many people still prefer to seek in-person counseling. If that is your primary service offering, be sure to invest in your practice’s location, interior environment, and targeted location-based advertising.
There is always an inherent trust factor when reaching your local community, so don’t throw that away as you grow and scale your psychotherapeutic practice.
5) Be Inclusive and Welcoming
Mental health doesn’t need to be so sterile. When you realize your practice is connecting with real people with lives, personalities, cultural differences, goals, unique senses of humor… you can create an incredibly safe space that validates people for being human.
This is an incredible advantage that psychotherapy practices have over traditional health, wellness, and medicine. You get to reach people on an individualized, personal basis – not just checking them in and out of isolated treatments.
Ellie Mental Health is an amazing example of being inclusive and welcoming in their practices. The feeling is echoed throughout Ellie’s branding, messaging, and in-person locations. Just check out this statement from their website’s homepage:
“Seeing your therapist at Ellie is like stopping by a friend’s house (if your friend was a badass therapist). We have comfy couches, stylish art, and hot tea. We like to call ourselves professional secret keepers.”
How inviting does that sound?
6) Be Accessible & Convenient (Without Sacrificing Diversity)
We all love convenience and an easy choice. Drawing people to your psychotherapy practice is no different. But here’s where you need to be careful: Never choose accessibility over your ability to offer high-quality, individualized treatment.
Dana Group Associates is a behavioral health organization that has therapy appointments available fast and provides medication management prescribed by in-house psychiatrists. However, despite this ease of access, Dana Group still connects clients with the right fit from a diverse team of providers. Here are just some of the behavioral health areas they focus on:
- ADHD
- Adjustment issues
- Aging
- Anxiety
- Bipolar disorders
- Chronic Illness
- Cultural Identity
- Depression
- Family issues
- Grief & Trauma
- LGBTIQ+
- Stress
7) Don’t Use a 10-foot Pole to Touch on Psychotherapy
The last tip is something we don’t think many practices realize they’re doing: approaching mental health with kid gloves.
Mental health and wellness, as well as psychotherapy, are dynamic, complex, and rarely clean or simple. However, some marketing approaches water down messaging in an attempt not to scare people away. And while this is with the best intentions, we encourage you to dive deeper and start a conversation that explores mental health honestly.
This builds a solid, empathetic relationship with your audience that lets them know they’re not alone. So, don’t be afraid to share personal stories, explore stigmas, stats, or trends (no matter how chilling), or bring awareness to real causes. Because someone out there is dealing with it – and you could be the first step for them to feel better.
Partner with Beacon to Bring New Clients to Your Psychotherapy Practice
If you’re looking for a strategic partner to grow your psychotherapy practice fast, Beacon Media + Marketing is here to help. We offer mental health marketing services to scale your business – including content marketing, paid advertising, website design, branding, and more. Whatever you need, Beacon can take you to the next level for new clients and a profitable practice!
Want to know how Beacon Media + Marketing can grow your psychotherapy practice? Schedule your free consultation now.
