Is Your Calendar Full?
Right now is an amazing time. We’re living through history. And as we are all learning the hard way, living through history can be tough!
In addition to the everyday challenges that we all deal with, there are a number of major events causing additional anxiety, stress and depression. Such as the historic, once in a lifetime Coronavirus pandemic.
In fact, things have gotten so serious that health anxiety has become one of the most common disorders therapists are treating.
Since the pandemic began, there have been double-digit increases in the prescribing of anti-anxiety and anti-depression medications.
According to a survey taken of American adults by the American Psychological Association, The average stress level related to the coronavirus pandemic is 5.9 out of 10. This is over 20% higher than the average stress level reported in the 2019 Annual Stress in America survey. And it marks the first significant increase in average reported stress since the survey began in 2007.
And a poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation taken back in March shows that 45% of American adults were reporting that stress related to the Coronavirus was having a negative impact on their mental health.
And of course, there’s additional stress from things like job loss and conflict in personal relationships caused by the pandemic.
And as if a once in a century pandemic wasn’t enough, the country is deeply divided. And going through some of the most serious social unrest in over 50 years.
With all of this, we know one thing for certain – Americans are stressed out!
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered almost every aspect of American life. And it’s greatly contributed to unprecedented stress, anxiety and depression in the US population.
Not surprisingly, many of these people are seeking psychotherapy as a way to cope with the way they are feeling. No doubt you chose your profession because you wanted to help people. And never have people needed you as much as they need you now.
The unprecedented surge of people looking for help has resulted in a number of therapists having to implement a waiting list and/or refer to our clients. With so many looking for counselling, it’s an amazing time to be a psychotherapist.
So I’m going to ask you a question. Is your calendar 100% full? Because if it isn’t, it’s time for you to really examine your marketing.
In order to begin the evaluation, here are some important questions that need to be answered:
First, where do you get most of your clients from?
- Insurance
- Client Referrals
- Directories
- Social Media
- Advertising
- SEO
What are you doing marketing wise to grow your practice?
And are you offering (and marketing) teletherapy?
I’m asking these questions because I’ve found that if a practice isn’t as busy as it could be, it typically isn’t because of bad therapy. It’s because of bad marketing. Sometimes, even no marketing!
And since SEO can often achieve a 300 – 500% ROI, online marketing such as SEO isn’t a good area to ignore.
Even a great therapist is going to have a hard time filling their schedule if prospective clients can’t find them. This is why it’s commonly recommended that a professional practice invests an amount equal to 5% of their gross revenue on marketing. And if the practice faces higher than the average competition, or needs to grow, the figure can be even higher.
So if your schedule isn’t full, it’s time to look into ways to market your practice. And if you are already spending in the recommended range and still not seeing results, it’s time to re-examine your marketing.
Providing digital marketing for therapists is an area we specialize in. We have been working with psychotherapists for long enough that we understand many of the nuances related to marketing for a psychotherapy practice that many agencies don’t.
And we’re experts at helping our clients increase the number of psychotherapy leads they receive each month. We also build websites for therapists. So if you need a new site, or to refresh your current site we can help you.
At newstarseo.com we’re firm believers that SEO for therapists is almost always the best way to grow almost any practice. So if you’re asking the question of how to grow a therapy practice, we should talk.
If you would like more information click below to request a free, no-obligation 30-minute online marketing consulting session. Because they need your help. They just need to be able to find you.