How to Promote Your Counselling or Therapy Business

How do you advertise or promote counselling services? How do you market yourself as a therapist? With a bit of hard work, you can promote your practice and get referrals.

Nikki Howes shares her top tips on how to market yourself as a therapist.

When I was diagnosed with the chronic condition fibromyalgia I knew it was time to re-think my career as a therapist. I’d worked for many years in agencies and finally secured a job with a leading healthcare provider, however the demands were taking a toll on my health.




It was time to consider how I could make private practice work for me. I knew I was a good counsellor, but advertising and promoting the counselling service was a whole new skill set. Initially marketing myself as a therapist was trial and error; some things worked and others fell flat. Eventually, I was able to get a promotions plan in place that worked and I’ve established my counselling and therapy business.

So how does a therapist build a successful practice? How can you market as an introvert if, like many therapists, you are one? What are the secrets? There is no magic formula but with a bit of hard work you can promote your practice and get referrals:

 1. Have a good counselling website to promote your services

There are many counselling websites out there. They range from the ridiculous to the sublime. Be wary of companies offering outdated web template designs, it is not the 1970’s so yin-yang and rainbow themes are best left in the past.

Go for something that looks clean and professional. I have been very happy with the Wix website builder which enables you to create a very professional and attractive site, with no web development skills at all.  It is worth paying a small amount for the pro version, you won’t need to have adverts on your site and you can have your own professional domain name.

Similarly please don’t use pictures from your last holiday (yes really I have seen this on therapist websites). You need a good head and shoulders professional-looking shot.

For most therapy businesses ‘you’ are the business, so make sure that you have a photograph of yourself on the website! Even better make a welcoming video – nothing is better for building trust and ease when people are building up to getting in touch. Video doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated: smartphones these days take amazing quality videos, that you can save to Youtube and then embed on your website in minutes.

While not everyone will find you via the website, almost everyone will check you out there before getting in touch. They are looking for reassurance. So make sure that you list your qualifications and accreditations and that you provide some social proof in the form of client case studies and testimonials.

Now that you have a great website, make sure that it can be found! Register with Google My Business to get your site, literally, on the map – the one that comes up when you search for local services. Google My Business also includes a business profile, that you can control, and space for reviews etc. Registering is free and will also improve your ranking in Google search results.

2. Build and maintain relationships

Digital marketing offers the opportunity to keep top of mind with former and potential clients. You can do this very powerfully these days with social media. For experts and therapists, it is a great place to promote counselling services by sharing tips and advice as well as links to useful information. If you’re comfortable with video, short video clips will really make you stand out.

Stick to a platform that is most used by your main client base. For example, if your main client group is millennial women, then Instagram is probably the best place. For older women, these days it’s Facebook. But don’t assume, ask your clients!

Manage your time on social media and if you do find yourself on multiple platforms, try to re-purpose or reuse the same material on each of the platforms.

Email newsletters have had a resurgence lately. It is a particularly intimate method of staying in touch. There is great, easy-to-use software available, like Moosend, that will help to personalise and professionalise your email marketing campaigns.

 3. Link up with local partners

Counsellors spend a lot of time networking with other counsellors. Whilst this is great it’s not going to necessarily help you get referrals in your local area. Form links with local businesses who work with people, Instagram is a great way to start getting to know business owners in your area.

Some businesses which it could be useful to link up with could be local nutritionists, osteopaths, reflexologists or other professionals who cannot provide counselling. The link-up can be of mutual benefit, you can refer to them and they can refer to you.

4. Consider your unique selling point

There are tons of counsellors in the UK; what makes you different? What is your specialism? Bear in mind your audience may not be au fait with models of counselling but they will know if you are able to treat their problem. For example, whilst I work with a wide range of issues I am also a specific addictions and LBGT therapist.

Make sure that you list your specialisms on your website at the very least. If you have the time and inclination you could go further and establish yourself as an expert in that area, by blogging, podcasting or writing articles for the local or specialist press.

If you are promoting or launching an interesting or unusual service make sure that you put together a press release and circulate it widely using a service like PR web.

5. Advertising counselling services? Spend your  budget wisely

Since I set up I’ve had countless calls from businesses who want to sell me advertising. First, consider the cost and the real benefits to your practice of advertising counselling services. A local reputable newspaper or magazine that is actually read is going to be far more valuable than junk mail which I know in my house goes straight into the bin. If you are getting business cards and offline media printed, shop around don’t go for something that’s free if it’s poor quality. Most printers are happy to send out sample packs, take your time and get it looking good.

There are also digital advertising opportunities to consider. Depending on the nature of your counselling or therapy business it can be worth signing up to promote counselling services on the websites of relevant professional or credible bodies. As with any advertising opportunity look for a discount or trial period to try first before you commit to a longer term.

6. Enjoy what you do!

You’ve worked hard to get accredited. Now it’s up to you to market your skills as a therapist and promote your counselling services. Remember; enthusiasm is infectious and in this industry, more than any other, people want to work with people.

6 thoughts on “How to Promote Your Counselling or Therapy Business”

  1. Thanks Nikki. Useful tips. I am not good at self promotion, so finding making contacts with other health care providers difficult. You tips have reminded me that I may need to be more proactive

    Reply
  2. Hi Nikki,
    I’m just starting out so these tips are really valuable bits of information. Working out my usp will probably be one of the difficult aspects when creating my website, alongside getting my head around self promotion. Thanks again.

    Reply

Leave a comment