Private Practice Promotion: Getting The Word Out About Your Gifts
1. Put your Web site address on everything you have.
This means put it on your business card. Even better if you have something to offer for free on your site - you can say "For your free report "Top 10 Tips to Raising Boys To Become Responsible Men" visit (your Web site address)
2. Visit the bookstore near your office.
You may or may not like this tip but I knew a woman who did this and got lots of new clients.
Find books that your ideal client would be reading. Say you work with women who get into bad relationships. You might pick out the book "He's Just Not That Into You." Then you could place a business card inside the book (or in several books) and replace it on the bookshelf. This works well if you have designed your business card as we discussed earlier. (Now I know this may not appeal to everyone but I just thought I'd share it.)
3. Interview experts in your field and put them on your website.
This may not seem like "promotion" but let's take a better look at it.
Let's say you work with children and divorce. There is a particular book that you recommend often to families. What if you were to call the author and ask if you might interview him or her for 30-60 minutes and that you intended to put the interview on your website as a resource? Many times these authors are quite pleased to be asked. They like the idea of increasing their presence in the community. After you record the audio and place it on your website, your credibility is immediately raised. People begin to see that you "hang out" with respected experts and thus your status increases.
4. Interview experts to build relationships and referrals.
When I first started out, I interviewed several therapists in my area. Since I was looking to build a cash-paying practice, I interviewed successful therapists that had full practices without third party reimbursement. I asked them if I could buy an hour of their time and interview them about their successes. I interviewed several and only one ever took my money. And, truth be told, the advice they gave me was often a bit outdated. (They didn't discuss the technology of today.) But my interest and their generosity gelled nicely. They began to refer to me as their practices were full. By the way, if you use this strategy, choose your private practitioners well. The goal is to build relationships with senior clinicians who share your values and who have full practices. Of course you can interview others as well as you might have different goals. Say you work with men, you might want to connect with therapists who work with women or who are couples experts.
5. Consider joining online groups (Social Networking).
This might be Google or Yahoo groups - or Facebook or LinkedIn. But please make sure you "lurk" for a while (at least 3-4 weeks) before sharing your ideas or resources. We here at Therapist Leadership Institute and Be A Wealthy Therapist are actively testing the new social media and social networking channels for ideas to help you promote your practice. While we don't have anything definitive to offer quite yet, I do know that it is a great time to be "listening" and seeing the pulse on your target market's concerns.
However if you do decide to join a group - and after you are clear on the rules - share some resources. If you see someone struggling in the group with a particular issue, you might offer a title of a helpful book.
The one huge thing we have learned from our "toe-dipping" into Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter is this: Do not try to promote yourself. Build relationships first. Just like in offline networking, you don't enter a group and start talking about yourself. Watch others. Emulate those who are doing it well. Share resources with kindness. You will find that people will want to know more about you. And that will lead to clients and referrals.
6. Finally, consider writing press releases about your practice or an event.
Press releases can be the "unsung" hero of promotion. A press release is a short article that promotes something.
In this case it may be your practice or an event you are hosting. In your press release, you speak in the third person about yourself and also try to tie it to a current event. Let's say you are Marilyn and want to write about your practice. You might write: "Marilyn Bonham, LCSW reports that 'The economy is having an interesting effect on marriages in wealthier families. The cost of divorcing is so high that many couples are choosing to seek marriage counseling instead.'"
Then you may go on with 5 tips to find a good therapist. This press release can be submitted to your local papers as well as online submission services.
by: Casey Truffo
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