Digital marketing for mental health practices and therapists: how to drive revenue with targeted campaigns
Here at The Brains, we’re specialists in various fields of marketing. However, when it comes to marketing for therapists and mental health practices, there’s no question that we really know our stuff. Our impressive portfolio of clients have all seen increased bookings, a reduction of advertising costs and improved retention rates as a result of our expert guidance.
In this instalment of the digital marketing 101 series, we’ll be taking a look at how mental healthcare specialists can drive revenue using targeted campaigns. We’ll be delving into some of the best marketing strategies available for mental health practices, as well as some typical do’s and don’ts you should know before you get started with a campaign.
If you’d like to read the first three editions of our digital marketing 101 series, you can access them here.
What is marketing for mental health practices?
Mental healthcare marketing is the method by which mental health clinics and therapists attract new patients online. The overall process is relatively simple, and works very much like any other digital marketing strategy.
- Define your target audience
- Reach out to your target audience
- Convert them into paying customers
- Retain them and turn them into returning customers
While it seems straightforward, mental healthcare marketing can in fact become quite difficult and time-consuming if you don’t have the knowledge or the tools to implement the correct strategy.
To help you better understand the digital marketing process, here are some useful questions you might want to ask yourself before you begin:
- What are the exact services that you’re offering? Be specific.
- Who is your ideal client? You probably already have a good idea of who you’re looking to treat, but it’s always good to be exact so that your marketing strategy can be more laser-focused.
- What gender/s are you targeting? What is the age group of your prospective clients?
- How much will you charge for your services?
- Where are you going to be offering your services? Are there any other clinics or therapists similar in the area you’re going to be targeting?
Once you can confidently answer all of these questions, you’ll be in a much better place to start planning your campaign.
What are the key benefits of a marketing strategy for therapists?
The bottom-line benefit is that a well-executed digital marketing strategy will result in you having more paying clients. It’s that simple.
Digital marketing campaigns are vital for any business these days, and mental healthcare practices are no exception. However, not every strategy is guaranteed to bring in results, so if you’re looking to know more about building a campaign that is guaranteed to generate leads, you might want to talk to one of our experts.
The benefits of a well-planned, targeted campaign:
- As we’ve already mentioned, the number one benefit of having a good digital marketing strategy is increased bookings. That’s the whole point of implementing a campaign in the first place, right? If your campaign is successful, you’ll be reaching out to people who may need your services but have never heard of your practice/ clinic. Even if you don’t get conversions right away, you are still planting the seed for potential customers down the line.A good campaign can significantly increase your return on investment (ROI), so it’s worth investing in if you want to see your revenue increase.
- Another feature of a well-executed digital marketing campaign is building your brand name and reputation. Mental health is a very sensitive subject, and a lot of people will not be willing to trust a service that they don’t know or haven’t heard of. Building a campaign that demonstrates what you offer and the services you provide allows potential customers to get to know you better. So, adding a bit of personability to your strategy can go a long way.There are lots of ways you can reach out to your potential audience:
Blog posts
Videos
Social media posts
Case studies
Client testimonials - Choosing who specifically you’re going to be marketing your services to allows much greater control over the patients you’ll have at your clinic. Say, for instance, you only want to deal with elderly patients who require a specialist treatment. You can gear your strategy so that your campaign will only target patients within your required age bracket and mental health needs.You might be wondering why we’re suggesting that you pick a niche audience – surely it makes sense to have a broad range of customers?
However you choose to distribute your content, it’s always helpful to build your online persona so that people can have a better understanding of who you are.
Well, studies have shown that you stand a better chance of creating long-lasting, returning customers if you target a specific audience. This is because people search the internet for incredibly specific services, so if you can capitalise on that, you have a better chance of dominating that target area. For instance, you might want to advertise yourself as a ‘cognitive behavioural therapist for older adults’, instead of a ‘therapist for the elderly.’ It pays to be specific!
Why practices tend to struggle with marketing
Becoming a mental healthcare specialist takes years of hard work, and during this time, most people don’t plan how they will market their services once they become qualified and set up their own practice.
Reaching clients and attracting them to your practice above all others will most likely require a targeted digital marketing campaign from a professional agency, but before you get started with that, here are some do’s and don’ts to keep in mind:
Do: competitor research
Spend time finding out if anyone offers a similar service in the area you’re targeting. As you can imagine, trying to capitalise on an area that already has a reputable, established clinic could be difficult.
Don’t: hideaway
Let your clients and potential clients get to know you and the services you offer. People will be much more inclined to ask you for your services if they feel they know more about you as a person. You can do this with a simple blog post or a short video, and the results can be excellent!
Do: stay consistent
It’s easy to get excited about creating content and engaging with potential clients, but it only takes a few weeks to lose motivation. You must remember that your potential / existing clients will want regular updates, and if they feel you are slacking off, they might lose interest.
Don’t: neglect your website
It’s the first place your potential clients will come to, so make sure it’s memorable and easy to navigate. Otherwise, your prospects could lose interest and go elsewhere.
Do: hire an agency
Hire a digital marketing agency that knows how to market mental health services correctly to ensure you generate high-quality leads. We recommend that you spend time finding the ideal agency for you, that can promote your services in the correct way. Remember, mental healthcare is incredibly niche, and you don’t want to leave your campaign to a company with little experience in the field.
At The Brains, we have a history of delivering exceptional mental healthcare marketing campaigns, offering a number of PPC, lead generation and healthcare SEO services. If you’d like to know more about what we do, head to our page all about marketing for therapists.
Why choose The Brains?
If you’re a mental healthcare practitioner, therapist or clinician, you’ll know how important specialists are when it comes to solving niche problems.
Here at The Brains, we’re an expert search engine marketing agency. We’re also specialists in marketing for therapists and mental health practices, and we’ve helped our clients achieve outstanding results over the years.
- Private clinics, on average, see a 45% increase in lead volume after 6 months
- Our ads deliver up to a 4x return on investment
- Clients who work with us often see an increase of up to 20% retention rate
Our lead generation strategy (Leads On Tap) is a data-driven formula proven to bring guaranteed results. So, if you’re a mental healthcare practitioner who’s looking to know more about how to generate quality leads, you’re in the right place. We use a variety of techniques to generate leads, including:
- Google Ads to help reach your target audience using search engine advertising
- Social Ads to grow your brand and create awareness on specific social channels depending on your target audience
- Email Marketing to help retain clients by running nurturing campaigns to help build better, long-lasting relationships
We’re a full-service marketing and SEO agency that has pioneered digital mental health marketing, and we have the results to prove it. We don’t use arbitrary marketing techniques; we only use tested methods that guarantee results, so you can be sure that we won’t waste any of your budgets on strategies that won’t bring you a return on your investment. We also have a proven track record in digital marketing, PPC and SEO services specifically for healthcare businesses.
Schedule your free initial consultation
Excited to get started with some marketing for your mental health practice? Contact our experts here at The Brains for top tips.
If you would like some complimentary advice, request a FREE consultation today!