Search Here

Starting-up or running your own practice comes with it's set of pros and cons. On the one hand you are in control and can operate as you like, on the other the responsibility of running your business successfully increases. In this article we'll be exploring how you can successfully establish and grow your psychiatric counseling business through various marketing strategies for mental health practices.

1. List your clinic on Google

If your practice has been in business for some time you may be able to list it on Google Places. After setting up a Google Business profile for your psychiatric counseling practice, you can 'own' your business listing. This basically lets you claim ownership of your company on Google.

Once your counseling services business has been listed on Google you can add a detailed description of your liking and other relevant information including contact numbers, your website, operating hours, availability of parking at the premises, pictures, and collect reviews. When clients or prospective customers search your business on Google and any of Google's other platforms such as Google Maps, your listing, with all the relevant information will show up, allowing customers to make an informed decision. You can also add additional details to your listing such as services offered, price range, and discounts or coupons if they avail your services.

Claiming your business listing on Google is not only a quick and easy way to market your services, but also works as free advertising!

2. Offer services for free in the community

Who doesn't love freebies? This isn't only the case for businesses that offer tangible products, it also applies to services. Offering something for free is a great way to get the word out about your clinic and increase awareness among audiences about the type of services you provide.

You may want to have a pop-up clinic to offer your services for free at popular local locations. This will help get the word out about your services and will allow potential customers to get a feeler beforehand.

To get people to attend these free sessions, seminars, or avail services you can always place posters or hand out flyers in the locality. This can be done easily and in a cost-effective manner through the use of online mental health posters that you can customize in minutes to promote the counseling services you will be offering. Experiment with creativity in your designs to get your graphics to stand out, and keep in mind the demographics of the clientele you're targeting.

Some of the free services you can offer at the pop-up clinic can be:

• Couples counseling 

• Peer support groups

• Family seminars

• Free mental health assessments

Take your marketing to the next level by promoting your pop-up clinic and free services by advertising on social media, or in the local newspaper, or local stores.

3. Start a blog

Blogging is a great way for you to share essential information and get noticed online. When you share blog posts on your website, patients can often be made aware of the need for better mental health. 

Starting a blog where you regularly post relevant information, addressing topics including, but not limited to marriage, relationships, families, parenting, mental, physical, and emotional health, while mentioning how your counseling services can help in each instance is a great way for your organization to be seen as a specialist, helping improve your professional reputation, and your clinic's recognition.

Make sure articles you post are easy to read and understand, and accessible to those who need it most. Always include links to your website and contact information within these posts, so patients or potential clients can reach you conveniently. If you don't have the time or resources to regularly write these yourself, make use of guest bloggers, or ask for help for other colleagues.

4. Network, network, and then network some more

Networking with other professionals operating in a similar field is a popular way to promote your services, while gaining insight on effective industry practices that you can implement at your clinic. 

When networking with other professionals you'll come across many people who may help you expand your client base by referring you to people they're associated with. For example, if you were to network with heads of educational facilities, they may advertise your services at their educational institute. If you were to meet doctors, they may refer their patients to you. Networking with business men and women could result in you pitching your services and holding a mental health seminar at their office or offering mental health assessments for their employees.

In today's day and age networking events are taking place virtually, so make sure to keep an eye out for any that may be relevant to you and take time to find the right groups and build meaningful connections. Effective networking efforts will help you create partnerships that add credibility to your business.

If you have a physical office for counseling it's important to present relevant information that's useful to your clients. Digital signage for psychiatric practices is a fantastic way to present data whilst maintaining a professional clean look.

5. Share regular newsletters through email

When a topic is important and relevant to the situation of a particular individual, chances are they are going to want to know more about it. If you are investing time in starting up a blog for your psychiatric counseling services, you may want to send those out as regular email newsletter to your patients and prospective clients.

If people see their mental health questions or concerns being addressed, they're sure to not only open and read the emails, but also look into availing your services.

Emails and newsletters not only help you stay in touch, but also remind clients about the services offered by the clinic, inform them of any special deals or offers, and provide useful online resources that can help them. This way of communicating with clients is also cost effective. With the use of online platforms, such as PosterMyWall, you can create and send professional looking emails and newsletters to your clients effortlessly.

Final thoughts

Promoting psychiatric counseling services is not straight-forward. Marketing for therapists tends to be a complex process, and needs to involve a good mix of different marketing methods. However, with some planning, patience, and clever implementation of mental health marketing strategies you can successfully promote your clinic, improve your reputation and recognition, and get that boost in clientele.