May 2, 2022
With mental illness month coming up in May, it’s high time we examined marketing mental health services.
1) Define your target audience. Most practices offer more than one treatment option. So, focus on one target audience at a time per web page. For example, the audience for bipolar treatments does not dovetail with the audience for PTSD. Consider that those with mental health disorders have a constellation of people in their lives, from family, and friends to coworkers and caregivers, who seek care for their loved ones. All are prime sources of referrals.
2) Invest in website content. Most healthcare consumers start their search for care on a search engine. Significant content is important to patients and to robust search engine optimization (SEO). Ranking high on key searches is essential to building awareness of a practice and controlling the cost of search ads.
3) While providing some information about various conditions, focus your marketing materials on the benefits to potential patients. Empathize and explain how treatment will enable them to live a better life. People want help not a taxonomy of bipolar disorder.
4) Use search ads to target patients in market. Google AdWords provide a cost-effective way to reach patients or caregivers who are currently looking for mental health services.
5) People buy from people, and mental health treatment is no exception. Don’t shortchange profiles of your key people, their education, accomplishments, awards, and publications that support their gravitas in the field in general.
6) Build awareness. Use targeted print to build brand awareness and to differentiate a psychotherapy practice from its competitors. We’ve also found that public radio program underwriting during “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” is very effective for driving traffic and generating calls.
7) Print and Digital Together. Make sure that all your materials – direct mail, brochures, print ads – all contain a link to a landing page, summarizes your practice and provides contact information.
Make Mental Health Month your month for evaluating and revitalizing practice marketing. Fronting all these different tactics can put a strain on your internal resources. That’s where we come in. Contact us at 513-967-6840 or email Susan Abramovitz mailto:susana@bioticahealth.com, for professional help.
Comments: Bill Abramovitz