7 Private Practice Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Business

Do you own a psychology, dental, accounting, or other private practice?

Whichever one it is, the complexities of private practice marketing might make you feel like a wanderer without a map. Many private practice owners who turn to us for help wonder what marketing activities to focus on to bring them the best results. Their blog? Social media? Podcasts? Video? If you're also asking yourself the same question, great! It's better to find the answer first than to do too many things at once without a clear marketing strategy. Your goal is to develop your practice.  In this article, we present you with 7 private practice marketing ideas to help you get more clients for your business:

1. Content Marketing

"Content is king" and this strongly applies to professional practices looking to build trust with their audience and showcase their expertise.  Content marketing is the best way to start building your position as an expert in your field, as compared to other marketing activities.  What exactly is content marketing?  It's your blog and guest articles, podcasts, videos, graphics, infographics, e-books, and webinars. There are many possibilities and forms, but the most important thing is that it provides value to your potential clients, builds trust in you, allows you to stand out, and shows you as an expert in your field.  We recommend that you start your content marketing activities with one blog article a month.  If you are having trouble finding time to write one, you can hire an experienced copywriter, or a marketing agency to create your private practice marketing content. You will then only have to make small edits to the content as you see fit.  A huge timesaver for busy practice owners!

2. Social Media Marketing

In order for your blog articles to be read and reach your target audience, it will be necessary to promote them online.  As a private practice owner, you're certainly aware that you need to be active on social media. But a lot has changed in recent years, and competition for social media views is fierce.  Paid social media promotions are frequently necessary to reach your audiences in their busy newsfeeds, but not always.  Properly optimized and tagged posts can be very effective, but do your research to see which social networks contain your ideal audience, and which times and days of the week they are most likely to be engaging with content.  The same post may get very different engagement on Twitter than on Instagram and may need to be run as a promotion to be seen on Facebook.

3. Marketing Lead Funnels

Marketing lead funnels are used in many industries and are also a great private practice marketing strategy.  A marketing lead funnel is the decision path that your potential client moves through from the moment when they just learn about you to when they contact you to book your service. Why call it a 'funnel'?  Because the path that needs to be taken resembles a funnel or a coffee filter if you prefer .  It starts with a large group of people, and gradually drops off and narrows down to just the few who contact you.

How do marketing lead funnels work? Here's an example:  you create a valuable blog post for your practice and promote it accordingly.  Your potential clients visit your website. They read the blog post and notice that in return for subscribing to your newsletter they will receive a valuable guide (for example, a tax tips guide if you're an accounting firm). They agree to receive your newsletter and sign up. You get their e-mail address and content to email them your marketing materials.

The decision to contact a private practice is usually not immediate, it is a process that can last up to several months. In order for it to take place, you need to build relationships with potential clients through various marketing channels and send them occasional reminders to keep your business in their minds.

4. Video Marketing

Video content plays a huge role in online marketing these days and can be a great asset in private practice marketing.  Videos enable the recipient to quickly absorb your message without the effort that they would need to spend on reading.  Some platforms, like Facebook, favor video and allow them greater reach and visibility than static posts. Relatively few private practices use video marketing, so creating them is a good way to stand out, and has a lower barrier to entry than you think.

If you're a psychologist, chiropractor, or another wellness professional, you can use the camera on your phone or computer to record your content.  Don't worry about the quality of the video too much - it's the authenticity and the message that counts.  Focus on providing value and being approachable.  For example, an accounting practice could create a series of Zoom webinars addressing the Canadian federal budget changes - a relevant topic of much concern to many business owners.  This would not only demonstrate expertise and quick response issues that matter, but be done in an approachable manner that allows potential clients to see, hear, and interact with the leaders of the practice - a very important component in building trust.

5. Niche Marketing

Niche marketing is now more important than ever for your private practice marketing since it's difficult to stand out when trying to reach everyone.  Remember that your potential clients are looking for a solution to a specific problem. By being a specialist in a narrow field, you may have much higher success than practice owners who are generalists.  When laying out your niche marketing strategy, be sure to create landing pages for each service you provide.  For example, if you're a psychologist, create separate landing pages for telehealth marketing, child therapy, and couples therapy, rather than amalgamating them all on one page.  This segregation will greatly improve your marketing lead funnel flow, your SEO, and your online ad performance.

6. Email Marketing

You're no doubt familiar with email marketing. This is another very important channel of communication with your clients and potential clients, and a solid addition to your private practice marketing strategy.  By collecting e-mail addresses and sending out a regular newsletter, you have the opportunity to directly reach the people who are in your ideal target group and close to booking your services. Thanks to email marketing, you remind them about your practice on a regular basis.  Remember, that the more online touchpoints the client has with your private practice, the greater the likelihood they will go on to book an appointment.

7. Your Private Practice Website

All of the private practice marketing strategies mentioned above are inextricably linked with the website.  Your website needs to show you in your best light, be optimized for your specific niche, mobile-friendly, fast, secure, and intuitive to use, contain all of the necessary information your potential client may be looking for, and have a structure that encourages people to contact you.  It's a lot, and that's one of the main reasons many private practice owners hire a marketing agency to build their website and set up all of the accompanying marketing elements for them.

In Summary

Choosing which marketing strategy to focus on can be difficult, especially if you have limited time resources.   The above list should give you a good start.  Questions?  Feel free to reach out to us to chat about your private practice marketing strategies, or see the full list of our private practice marketing services for businesses just like yours.  We are based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and work nationally and in the U.S.