“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”
Anthony Robbins

Are you are still marketing your practice today the same way as you did 20 years ago? Or do you even market your practice? Back in the 70’s and 80’s before managed care, you could open a practice, send out announcement cards, call up your friends and sit back and wait for the referrals to roll in.

Today’s market is different. I know I said market. Today’s prospective clients are therapy savvy. In order to not only survive but thrive in a managed care environment, what is needed is to increase the self pay clients in your practice, get off managed care entirely, become a workaholic…or develop a different marketing strategy. Whichever you choose, your marketing strategy will require you to think outside the box.

I don’t know about you, but I did not take a marketing 101 course in my professional training. So we need to learn some simple, easy to implement marketing tips that can begin to make a difference in attracting the clients we want to work with.

Here are 5 tips to begin to market your practice

1. Think of your practice as a business. This does not mean that you have to view the work you do with your clients as a business; it does mean that what you do to support the practice needs to have a business focus.
2. Remember the WIIFM (What’s in it for me) principle in all your marketing. Too many practitioners put more emphasis on their credentials, training, and specialties in promotional material than the actual benefit gained from working with them. It is more effective to focus on what is important to your prospective clients. What keeps them up at night? Gear your marketing materials to what you can do for your client.
3. Create a vision for your practice: Where do you want your practice to be in a year? In five years?
4. If you have not already done so, join the technological age. Do not be afraid to use technology to promote your practice. You don’t have to do it all by yourself, there are people to help you. If you already are comfortable with technology, look at developing a website to promote your practice. In future posts, I will talk more about this.
5. Form a marketing support group. Hire a Practice Building Coach, just like you would hire a clinical supervisor to upgrade your clinical skills. A Practice Building Coach can help you develop a vision and strategy for your practice.

In future posts, we will talk about developing strategies that can help you promote your practice.