Marketing strategies for therapists that are not ‘salesey’ or spammy.

The first place to start with marketing yourself and looking appealing to those who might need a counsellor or hypnotherapist, is by building a good website.

 A good website is one where you have concise information, stating exactly the kind of help you can offer a client. Clients don’t need to know your entire training history, or where you went to school. They don’t need a life story. What they are interested in is if you can help them with their problem and how you intend on doing so. So keep your wording brief and to the point. Waffly websites get less client interaction.

According to Contentsquare’s 2021 Digital Experience Benchmark report, the average time on any webpage across all industries is 54 seconds. That is just enough time for someone to look at what you do, how it can help them, and decide if they like what you have to offer.

YOU are important when it comes to building client trust. A lot of therapists feel self-conscious about getting themselves visible on the internet, but if you want to build a good word of mouth referral system, it is really important to get yourself known at first!

Your face should be in some of your marketing material. Whether that be Facebook or Instagram posts, reels, TikTok videos, your LinkedIn profile, or on your website.

It takes just one tenth of a second for someone to choose you as a therapist just by sight however, so make sure you have a friendly profile photograph. Even better, for google rankings, if you are technologically minded enough, include a brief video of yourself on your website.

A quick one-minute (or less) video is all it takes for someone to see if you’re the right fit for them! Smile, have warmth in your voice and state with confidence that they’ve discovered you, and you are able to help!

Building a mailing list for potential therapy clients without trying to ‘sell’ to them requires a focus on providing value and building relationships. Potential clients may have followed you on social media or checked out your website a long while before contacting you for an appointment.

The next marketing strategy that can help build a relationship is to offer something for free. You can do this in the way of a brief downloadable e-book, a worksheet, a short relaxation recording or an infographic on how to manage stress for example, and then promote your freebie on your website and social media.

The most important thing with this step is to gather the persons email address and make it clear on the opt-in form that you may send occasional freebies or offers, over time. The operative word is occasional.

In order to not become spammy or salesy, only send 3 or 4 emails in a year.

The opt-in form you use should only gather the person’s name and email address, so that the visitor doesn’t feel as if they are giving too much of their identity away. Once you have the email address along with the opt-in, you are then able to send the occasional email, with permission.

For more details about email marketing, please see the ICO website information as explained here in ICO’s Guide To Email Marketing

The real no-no in marketing from a GDPR/ICO perspective would be to send unsolicited emails to a person who had never agreed to them. It is generally considered to be bad form, and, whilst there are no laws to prevent you from sending unsolicited emails if you are emailing business-business, it could still leave a very bad taste!

Once you do have a number of ‘subscribers’ who’ve given permission to send newsletters or deals, nurture your email list with valuable content. Send out quality free information and content. Make your emails engaging. This may include interesting blog posts, articles, videos, or infographics.

Avoid sending too many promotional emails, as this will only alienate your subscribers, and make sure it is easy for people to unsubscribe from your mailing list if they no longer want to receive emails from you.

Other marketing strategies may include running workshops online for groups of people. Perhaps you would like to do a joint relaxation session or run a talk about what hypnosis is and how it might help people.

Talks in the community and at networking events are always good exposure for your business too. If you do face to face events be sure to take some business cards or leaflets with you, too!