9 Marketing Strategies for Mental Health Services

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9 Marketing Strategies for Mental Health Services
One of the greatest challenges faced by mental
health practices is how to attract more patients
and build a stronger client base through
healthcare marketing. Marketing mental health
services starts with creating a marketing plan.
Building a solid mental health marketing plan can
be a daunting task for many mental health
providers. Psychotherapists, psychologists,
psychiatrists, social workers, and other mental
healthcare providers often wish they had had more
training in marketing management or social media
marketing before starting their practices.
Understanding how healthcare marketing works is
even more important today, when savvy online
consumers routinely tap into digital resources
where they can find a variety of mental health
service provider options in their area. To build
an effective mental health marketing strategy,
you must take a strategic, targeted approach to
your practice marketing. Otherwise, you may miss
opportunities to get your message out to the
right prospects at the right time. If you dont
feel qualified to do DIY marketing, you can
partner with an experienced healthcare marketing
agency who has created mental health marketing
campaigns and worked successfully with mental
health practices. That way you can focus on what
you love most treating patients. Your Practice
Needs Mental Health Marketing Ideas Youll need
proven mental health marketing ideas if you want
to position yourself strategically and attract
new patients. Ask yourself how your services will
meet the needs of your target audience. Start by
writing a positioning statement that can help
guide you toward the fulfillment of your
marketing strategy. Your positioning statement
should be a simple
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statement about how your service fills a
particular need in a way that your competitors do
not. For example, if you are the only practice
offering extended and weekend hours, or the only
practice in your area that offers telehealth
services, be sure to include that differentiation
in your positioning statement. In the therapy
field, feedback is vitally important. Feedback
from your current patients and prospects helps
you create the strongest possible positioning
statement and marketing plan so you can begin
building your practice to achieve your new
patient acquisition goals. Since marketing is
critical for the growth and success of your
mental health practice, you probably need all the
practical tips you can get for your mental health
marketing program. Here are nine marketing
strategies for mental health practices 1. Blog
regularly for patient engagement. Make prospects
aware of their need for better mental health by
providing them with informative, relevant blogs
they can read on your website. Your blogs should
address major mental health issues that you have
come across in your practice. Make them readable
and easy to understand. If you post them
somewhere outside your website, always provide a
link to your website along with other contact
details so that that patients and prospects can
reach you easily. 2. Build your social media
presence. Social media marketing should be aimed
at people from different backgrounds who
regularly meet and share information on social
media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn,
Twitter, and Instagram. Marketing on these
platforms allows you to reach prospects
effectively and informally. Remember to update
your social media accounts regularly so you can
stay connected. Always provide feedback to
consumer queries and
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mental health concerns. This will also help build
your online reputation, while keeping you
connected to patients needs and
preferences. 3. 3. Optimize your website for
search engines. Its no longer sufficient to
build a good website. Merely having a good
website is not enough to attract people to your
therapy practice. To attract more visitors and
new patients, you must rank high enough on search
engines to be noticed. That means your website
should be optimized for search engines using SEO
best practices. To achieve higher ranking, your
website needs rich and informative content with
the right keywords, links, images, and videos.
Users must be able to navigate your site easily
and quickly. If you dont have strong SEO skills,
you should find an I.T. professional or a
healthcare marketing agency to help you build
your site. 4. Stay in touch via emails and
newsletters. It is important to stay in touch
with your current and prospective patients or
clients via emails and newsletters. Emails are
still extremely effective as marketing tools.
According to the DMA, you can expect a 36 ROI
for every dollar you spend on email. Email reigns
supreme as one of the most powerful and cost-
effective marketing strategies available. People
will read emails that answer their questions
regarding therapy and mental health topics. Email
allows you to spread your message without
spending a fortune. Include the services you
offer, your business hours, upcoming events, and
online resources for patients. 5. Stimulate
more online reviews. Encourage your current
patients to review you on Yelp, Google, Vitals,
and other online review sites. Anytime a patient
comments favourably
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• about your mental health services, ask them for a
  review. Online patient reviews can make or break
  your practice. In fact, 93 of consumers say that
  online reviews influenced their purchase
  decisions. Generating positive reviews for your
  mental health practice and providers is extremely
  important to your status as a credible,
  trustworthy practice. If youre not sure how to
  generate more online reviews, consider partnering
  with a healthcare marketing agency that
• offers online reputation management services.
  Remember
• that the best way to overcome a negative review
  is to offset it with more positive reviews
• Use digital networking. It pays to network with
  other professionals in your field and related
  fields. Network with doctors who can refer
  patients to you. Find online conversations with
  patients and other providers where you can offer
  relevant insights. Always include a link to your
  website after your comments. If your networking
  efforts are effective, youll create professional
  partnerships that add credibility to your
  practice. Taking time to connect with the right
  referral sources and groups is key.
• Market your practices flexibility. It is not
  always convenient for patients to see you at your
  office. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, many
  patients are reluctant to travel or see their
  providers in person. Show your flexibility by
  offering telehealth/teletherapy visits and
  flexible scheduling options for patients.
  Teletherapy is done virtually using computers,
  tablets, or smarts phones to facilitate
  face-to-face communication over the internet.
  This enables both you and your patient to be
  location independent. Be sure to market this new
  remote service to your current patients as well.

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8. Optimize your website for mobile users. When
you are marketing mental health services, there
is a high likelihood that most patients will
communicate with you through their mobile
devices. Theyll check your website, set up
appointments, read your marketing emails and
more. To ensure they have a positive experience,
optimize your site and your email communication
for mobile devices. If you have a responsive
website, it will automatically adjust to fit the
smaller screen sizes on mobile devices. Just
remember that all your communications must comply
with HIPAA regulations and protect your
patients privacy. 9. Take advantage of your
local market. Focus your efforts on targeting the
unique needs and mental health issues that impact
your local community. For example, your local
community may have an opioid problem. If you
treat drug dependence or alcohol problems, be
sure to include that on your website, in your
blogs and on social media. Keep the local
populations needs in mind when creating your
marketing messages to ensure you address whatever
local mental health issues affect your community.
You can also use local online directories and
Google Business Profiles to get your name in
front of potential new patients. And you can use
local SEO to help attract consumers who use near
me keywords in their content. Above All, Be
Consistent Achieving success for your practice
when you are advertising mental health services
takes time and consistent effort. The most
successful mental health marketing campaigns
require patience and consistency. So, be
consistent and authentic in your marketing
efforts to ensure that you are building strong
relationships with current patients and prospects.
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If you blog, do it every week or several times
each month like clockwork to get the best
results. Today, the best marketing strategies for
mental health services can provide great
experiences for patients even before their first
therapy sessions. By using the marketing tips and
strategies in this article, you can grow your
mental health practice by adding new patients and
revenue. To learn more about mental health
marketing, look to the healthcare marketing
experts at Practice Builders. Contact us.