Market Research in Your Private Practice Copywriting
As a private practitioner, one of the main objectives of your marketing and copywriting strategy is to build a reputation of being an authority in your industry and increase your credibility with your audience and potential clients.
When crafting the copywriting for your website, social media posts or even email marketing, the process needs to start well before the actual writing. In order to write copy that converts your audience into paying clients, you need to ensure that you research your ideal client and have an in-depth understanding of the market in which you are operating your practice.
Ultimately, the content that your audience sees should validate their experience and invite and inspire them to take action by booking an appointment with you or purchasing your product.
Here are some tips to help with your research so that you can write engaging, credible and converting copy:
Look To Your Peers
One of the most important aspects of good copywriting is to ensure that your ideal client can clearly identify why you are the best fit for their needs. By highlighting your unique value proposition (or the factors that make you the best therapist for your ideal client), your ideal client can make a confident decision in choosing to work with you.
One of the easiest ways to establish your unique value proposition is to research your peers and competitors. How do they describe their work and services, what phrases do they use to describe their client experience? What 3 words come to mind when you look at their website’s About page or when you read their blog?
Take some time to determine how your services and client experience compare to that of your peers but be sure to work to identify what it is that makes you unique! It is this differentiation that will draw your very specific ideal client to your practice, setting you apart from your competitors.
Use Search Engines
Researching keywords using Google is a great way to infuse relevant and accurate information into your copywriting. Try typing a specific keyword into the search bar and see what suggested searches populate. These are what phrases users are typically searching for when looking for information about a specific topic.
By searching ‘Canadian therapist’ on Google, you may also find several other highly searched terms that are relevant to your ideal client such as ‘Canadian therapist anxiety’ or ‘Canadian therapist for women’. Using these specific keywords in your copywriting will not only help with your website’s search engine optimization but will also help your audience identify whether or not they are your ideal client.
Speak to your clients
Finally, one of the most important components of market research is to speak to your clients. Your clients will be able to tell you exactly what struggles they faced and why they sought out your services.
By surveying your past or current clients, you can gain valuable insight on what about your service and client experience worked for them and what may have missed the mark. Not only will this allow you to tweak and improve the processes in your practice, but you can use this feedback to write content that uses the exact words your clients use which will resonate with your audience.
It may also be worthwhile to survey your prospective clients to ask them about their pain points. Even an anonymous survey will provide you with valuable information. If your prospective clients share that a pain point they have had while searching for a therapist is finding someone who has an accessible office, then that might be the perfect information to include in your copywriting (assuming that your office is of course accessible). This will show prospective clients what they can expect from you and it may be the deciding factor between you and your peer who can’t accommodate the client’s needs.
For more guidance on marketing and building your private practice, check out our Launch Your Practice Program to help you get clear on your next steps in Marketing.
