Marketing Your Private Practice to Create a Steady Stream of Ideal Clients

“Where do I start? What do I do first?” Have you been asking yourself those questions as you think about marketing your private practice? I remember how thrilled and apprehensive I was when I began. There is so much about running a practice that we’re not taught in schools, especially marketing.

Your private practice will only grow if you get the word out that you’re available. I’d like to share with you some key ways to market your practice.

Successfully marketing your private practice begins with the proper mindset.

Marketing is all about being open to the possibilities before you and being intensely interested in the people you want to serve. When you approach it with a feeling of abundance and can use every event and experience in a positive way, you’ll naturally attract your ideal clients. So more than anything, you must create within yourself a safe place to receive the attention that marketing will bring you.

Remember, without marketing you won’t have clients and without clients you won’t have a private practice for very long. It can be hard getting your foot in the door when you’re new to a community. In all likelihood, if you don’t have a sound marketing strategy, you’ll be spending most of your time calling doctors and community centers looking for clients, trying to pull them in. What I suggest is that you create a strategy that ATTRACTS your ideal client to you. How can you do that?

Marketing Your Private Practice through Community Connections

Reach out to your community by creating collaborative relationships with schools, community centers, religions organizations and the like. Some ways you can do that are:

Offer educational classes or speak publicly to showcase your professional skills. Think deeply about what you have to offer. Can you present classes on creating the ideal work/life balance to business owners and professionals? Can you provide a workshop that trains either staff or members of the community about mental health issues or services where you live? Is there a community college that you could teach a class on stress management or communication skills? Can you speak on a local issue such as drug and alcohol abuse, compulsive disorders, domestic violence and so forth? Even if you start by providing these services for free, it’s a powerful way to market your practice, gain name recognition and get client referrals.

Offer expert advice in trade magazines, newspapers, and online websites such as PsychCentral.com and Psychology Today. Writing a professional article that is interesting to readers is another good way to market your practice. It increases your name recognition and establishes your professional credibility when prospective clients see you contributing your expertise to publications and websites that they trust. These venues often list their writing requirements on their website.

Start an online or community group. Have you thought about starting a support group at a local community center, church or business so you can share with them non-therapy life tips? You can also start an online group via Meetup or Facebook.

Become a business consultant. Many businesses would welcome ongoing training in non-therapy topics such as stress management, productivity skills, communications skill, life/work balance, and so forth. Think creatively and offer specialized consultations to specific trades. Perhaps offer relaxation methods to tax preparers at tax time or meditation tips at a weight loss clinic. Look around your community and see what is needed and offer it. The beauty of it is that you can tailor it to showcase your strengths.

Marketing can create stress, especially when you’re new at it. Are you ready to address the self-limitations that are holding you back from building a successful private practice? Often it helps to have an objective coach who has already been there, done that, and can guide you through it. Feel free to contact me and we can discuss one-on-one coaching options so you can build a strong and healthy practice.