Get More Ideal Clients Through Niche Marketing

It is almost too obvious to say it, but the goal of marketing yourself is to have a practice that is consistently full. What isn't so obvious is that most of us would prefer to have as many ideal clients as possible. Usually this means clients that are motivated, interested, interesting, and that value the therapeutic process. But beyond that, most of us have interests and skills that make us ideally suited to working with certain populations. Some therapists like working with creative types like artists or musicians. Some people like working with clients with lots of affect and others like working with depression - the list goes on and on. Just think for a moment about your favorite clients and imagine that you had a practice filled with these ideal clients. I think it would certainly make it a lot more interesting to go to work and burnout would be much less likely. Read on to learn more about how to fill your practice with ideal clients and why picking a niche is critical to effective marketing on the Internet.

One of the most common mistakes that therapists make is that they market themselves as generalists or list too many specialties. Let's look at the reasons why people do this. First, most therapists like variety. We like seeing lots of different types of people with different types of problems. For many of us, it makes our day more interesting. But remember that saying "jack of all trades, master of none"? I don't believe it is possible for anyone to be truly an expert in several areas and prospective clients know this. Even though we may like to think of ourselves as collaborative and not as THE expert, prospective clients are usually seeking help with a specific problem and they are looking for someone that has expertise in that area. If you had a Ferrari and were looking for a mechanic, would you pick someone that worked on all kinds of cars, someone that specialized in Italian sports cars, or someone that is a Ferrari specialist? The answer is obvious and that is the way most people picking a therapist think. And people are always one click away from leaving your web site so it is important to draw them in quickly and keep them there so they can email you or pick up the phone to call. To have the best chance of converting a prospective client into an actual client, it is critical to pick a niche and market yourself as a specialist.

Another reason therapists like to market themselves as generalists is that many people think we need to appeal to a broad cross section of clients in order to appeal to the greatest number of potential clients. To me, this argument doesn't hold up for most therapists. We are not like Amazon.com that needs to sell thousands of books to make a profit. We need 20 to 30 clients at a time to be completely full. In a small town you may be able to do better as a generalist, but it a large city like Austin with a population of almost 2 million people in the metro area prospective clients will be looking for specialists. Even though it may seem counter-intuitive, you will be more successful being more specific in your focus. If you aim for everything you will hit nothing, but if you are laser focused you will hit your target.

For new therapists, I think it is even more critical to find a niche that you love. Specializing brings competence which brings confidence. There is so much to do and learn in our first few years of practice, it's best to focus early and learn as much as you can about a specific area in order to get really good really fast. And we know that the "one-problem client" only exists in the mind of researchers - real clients usually have a whole host of issues in addition to their presenting problem, and that makes all clients very interesting and challenging to work with and learn from.

If you would like help developing an effective Ideal Client Profile in order to market your practice effectively on the Internet, contact us to set up an initial consultation. .