How to make sure your marketing actually works: How to use authority for psychologists and therapists

Hello and welcome to today's episode of The Business of Psychology. Today we're going to be talking about how to make sure the marketing that you invest your time in actually works to bring people into your practice and attract the right kind of clients. 

Full show notes of this episode are available at The Business of Psychology

Links & References:

Episode 19: How psychologists and therapists can use an ideal client avatar to co create and market their services

Start & Grow: The Complete Course for Psychologists and Therapists - Psychology Business School

Rosie on Instagram:

@rosiegilderthorp

@thepregnancypsychologist

There are a few key questions you have to know the answer to before you can decide what kind of marketing is going to work best for your practice and what is going to be the most valuable use of your time.

Once you know the answer to those questions, you can effectively cut out all the unnecessary noise and busy work and focus on the stuff that's really going to move the needle in your business and your professional life. 

Authority

So we're going to get on to the questions themselves in a minute, but before we do, I want to talk a bit about the concept of authority, because the questions you need to know the answer to all link to authority.

In order for people to invest in your services, they have to be sure that you are the right service or person to help them. Different client groups are going to need different proof in order to feel that reassurance. But for all client groups, this is going to come from a mix of your credentials and content that you create that shows and tells your experience.

So what kind of credentials might demonstrate authority effectively? Well, that might be things like your experience, especially NHS roles that you've held or hold currently. It could be your core qualification, not stuff like CPD, people don't really get that sort of thing, but your core qualifications, your professional body. Even if people have never heard of them before, people do tend to be reassured by a logo or a professional body accrediting you.

It could be things like publications, journals, books, even some high profile blogs that you might have appeared on as a contributor. It could be things like institutional positions, like a position with a university, a position within your professional body or on the board of a charity. All of these things show that other people think that you are credible and that really helps people and media coverage, local media, national media, print, tv, and radio, all of those gate kept media sources. Give people some reassurance that other people out there think that you are worth talking to about your specialist area. 

So what then are examples of content that shows and tells your authority? Well, that could include things that you can create yourself, like blogs, podcast episodes, YouTubing, public speaking. Also, making guest appearances on other people's. So guesting on podcasts, guesting in social media groups, and being helpful on social media generally. 

Now before you get...