Five Steps to Developing Your Brand Identity as a Therapist

The first step in developing your brand identity is identifying what your identity is. What makes you unique as a therapist?

• Specific training or credentials
• Working with special populations (i.e., disabled individuals, geriatrics, individuals with addictions, middle-aged women)
  

Next, identify the target audience for this brand. Who needs your help? What is their gender? Age? Work status? Where do they live? What do they read/watch? What other professionals or companies serve these clients? (Schools, churches/clergy, physicians, other therapists, nonprofit organizations)

Cultivate a list of outcomes these clients can expect -- what are the results?

Develop your message: What do you want to say to your target client? What problems can you help solve for them?

Next, develop your messaging strategy -- how do you want to communicate with your prospective clients? (website, brochures, newsletters, articles, public speaking engagements, fact sheets, fliers, posters, banners, magazine ads?).

Finally, develop your "product" -- what services or product will you deliver them to generate revenue? These can include: individual sessions, groups, phone coaching, on-site consultation, tapes, books/booklets, etc.

These are the first steps to marketing your practice online and offline.

Looking for EAP Affiliations?

I came across this website -- EAPBridge.com -- and found it to be an interesting concept. For $18/year, your application is submitted to EAPs across the nation for consideration to join their panels. While I'm generally not a fan of paying to join individual provider panels, you might find this a useful strategy to find out about a large number of panels at once. (Basically, it's like paying $18 for a mailing list of EAPs who have indicated an interest in receiving information about providers.)

There is at least one Omaha-area EAP on their list -- Best Care EAP -- which is affiliated with Methodist Health Systems. I'd be interested in hearing from therapists who may have used this service ... and please note, this is NOT an endorsement of this service, as I don't know much about them beyond what I read on their website.