The Most Underrated Way to Grow Your Private Practice

When our private practice coaching clients think about their marketing strategy, many of them default to the usual methods. Email marketing, social media marketing and even word-of-mouth marketing are the main focus for many therapists when growing their business. One underrated way to grow your private practice is through public relations and media appearances.

Whether it’s appearing as a guest expert on a blog, podcast or TV segment, this method of marketing allows you to connect with a wider audience and positions you as the go-to expert in your field or area of focus. Leveraging the media as a marketing strategy can be beneficial for private practitioners who are looking to expand beyond a 1-on-1 model and transition into selling products such as courses or digital downloads, or by building an associate practice.

Developing a public relations (PR) strategy for your practice involves some strategy and planning. As you identify your PR goals, you may find that you need to cut back on your sessions with clients to accommodate requests for podcast appearances or guest blogging features. But, by building your brand awareness and developing relationships with a larger audience, you are potentially opening doors to keynote speaking opportunities, increased enrollment in your courses or a larger case load for your associates.

Here’s how to start developing a public relations marketing strategy for your private practice:

Identify Your Media Goals

Pitching yourself to media outlets can feel daunting, especially if you are used to your work as a therapist involving only 1-on-1 client sessions. Take some time to brainstorm and reflect on your goals for your practice, include every big, out-of-the-box idea you have so that you can get clear on what your 1 year, 5 year and 10 year plans look like.

As you identify your goals, think about how you can incorporate a PR strategy into your plans. If you are aiming to increase enrollment in your online course by 50% during your next launch or sales period, your media goal could be to appear on 3 podcasts that are related to your ideal client.

Your business goal may be to speak at a well-known conference or event related to your therapeutic specialization. To achieve this, your media goal may be to write 5 guest blog posts for digital publications that help position you as the go-to expert.

Your media goals need to reflect the overall objectives of your private practice -- investing time in networking and pitching yourself should support those goals. If the effort you are putting into your public relations marketing strategy isn’t helping you achieve those goals, it’s time to rethink your approach.

Start Making Genuine Connections

Once you have identified your overall goals for your private practice and your media goals, it’s time to start making connections. Networking with your peers and colleagues, and connecting with the editors of digital publications or hosts of podcasts to build your brand awareness is the best place to start.

Identify publications, blogs, podcasts and even YouTube segments that align with your ideal client and add them to your list of possible collaborations. Then, it’s time to build genuine relationships. Be sure to interact with the contacts you’ve identified through social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) so that they can get to know you before you suggest a collaboration.

Craft Your Pitch

As a therapist and private practitioner, you are not only skilled in providing service to your clients, but you also have your own story. When pitching ideas for blog posts or podcast appearances, be sure to include some personality. Talk about your education and experience in your field, but also share the details of your own journey. It’s important to position yourself as a subject matter expert as well as a relatable and approachable human being.

Be sure that you research each publication or media outlet that you intend to approach to find out if they have any submission guidelines. For instance, some online publications will outline who to send your pitch to and the requirements for consideration.

For example, the submission guidelines for Psychology Today outline that submissions need to be sent through their platform Submittable and must include your proposal (the ideas you have for blog posts), why you want to start blogging for Psychology Today (and why now), details on what makes you qualified to contribute to the platform, as well as 1-3 links to previous writing samples. Following these guidelines helps to ensure that your pitch or proposal will be considered.

Land Media Appearances

Once you’ve identified media outlets that align with your ideal client and sent your proposals or submissions, the next step is booking the appearances or guest spots. This may require sending follow up emails, just like you would after a job interview, as many publications need an extra nudge to make a decision.

If all goes well, you will be able to add blog writing or podcast interviews to your calendar and to-do list. The outlet that you are collaborating with may provide interview questions or article guidelines in advance, so be sure to reference those as you prepare for your appearance or write your contributing article.

Be sure that you include details on how the audience (listeners, readers or viewers) can find you and get in contact with you. Share your social media accounts, set up an email opt-in with a free resource, invite them to visit your website to learn more about you or to book a session with you. While providing education to build your authority and reach a larger audience will be the primary goal of your guest appearances, using your PR strategy to send traffic to your private practice website or your social media channels is an excellent added bonus!

Looking for some assistance with identifying your ideal client so that you can develop a relevant public relations strategy? Check out our Niche and Copy Crash Course to help you start attracting the right clients to your practice. For additional, personalized support, check out our Accelerate Your Practice Program!