Marketing Your Practice Online and Offline

As promised, here are the notes from my presentation on "Marketing Your Practice Online and Offline," at the APPT Fall Conference "Back to Basics" on Nov. 7.

• There is no secret formula or magic bullet to filling your private practice - the key to success is to select a few simple, effective tactics and do them consistently.
• These should be things that you are comfortable doing: newsletters, talks/workshops, writing articles, networking, articles, etc.
• In order to build your private practice, you need to cultivate relationships -- with prospective clients, new clients, referral sources, and influential individuals (this can be members of the media, insurance company representatives, and affiliates).
  

People do business with people they know, like, and trust.

Tell people what you do -- over and over again. And get your message to the same people over and over again -- because consistency creates familiarity.

Be sure you track how you are getting clients. Ask them how they heard about you.

In Ellie Fields' presentation in the morning, she mentioned that you can be a generalist, but should have something to hang your hat on -- something you are known for.

There is a five-step process to cultivate your brand identity.

You do NOT need a website, but you should have an online presence.

Call other practices (mystery shop) -- block your caller ID. Pretend to be a client seeking therapy services. Look at their websites. Google other therapists. Google yourself!

There is still a lot of value in printed pieces. Not all clients are technologically savvy -- nor are all therapists. Printed brochures are still very much widely used! And on-demand technology (print-on-demand, or color copying) lets you print as few or as many as you need.

DO put your website address (your domain name) on everything.

Do make sure your business card is a mini-brochure.
Free Samples - Business Cards, Return Address Labels, Rubber Stamp and Many More!





Your business identity is vital to creating your brand identity. A professionally designed logo will help you build visibility and credibility.




If you are thinking about going out on your own, get a dedicated business cell phone, domain name, and associated e-mail address. Then you can create your business card.

I'll share more marketing tips from my presentation in a future blog post!