5 Key Steps to Marketing Your Counseling Practice

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Digital marketing is key to reaching new clients and you can learn how to market your therapy practice using skills and tools you may already have. In this webinar replay, Cory Miller and Brad Osborne as they show you the best, inexpensive digital marketing options available to therapists right now.

Webinar Transcript

Speakers: Cory Miller, Brad Osborne

Cory Miller 0:06
Hey everybody welcome to AllCounselors.com another webinar where we talk about marketing and business stuff that relates specifically to clinicians mental health professionals in the world and so thanks for joining us. I’ve got my friend and colleague Brad Osborne he’s going to be chiming in and sharing some techniques and tips about how to grow your practice. every webinar we do at all counselors we want it to be highly practical move you forward and helpful so at the bottom of the of the Zoom app is a Q&A button if you have questions for us as we go please post those in the Q&A button and we’ll weave those into our presentation. every webinar we do we try to reserve some time at the end just for open q&a so get your questions loaded for that but i’m going to dive in and i want to make the most of our time together

Cory Miller 0:54
so this is five steps to growing your practice in 2021 and the thought here is just practical things that you can do and implement to start grow build your therapy practice so next i’ll share and i’m sorry brad I didn’t get your bio up in time-brad joined last minute not always love his input he is i’ll let him introduce himself in just a second. so my name is cory i’m the ceo of AllCounselors.com i this is part of my life mission i am not a mental health practitioner i am not a therapist i am someone that believes in mental health for myself i’ve been talking openly since 2015 about my own story well in the past to help eradicate and obliterate the stigma of mental health on the earth and to help get more people to you–our mental health awesome clinicians and therapists and counselors in the world. my background is I started in 2008 as a software company built it over 10 plus years and then it was acquired in 2018 and my next chapter is doing this right here like i want to make a dent in the universe i want to make an impact and part of the way we’re doing that through AllCounselors.com is serving and supporting clinicians like you brad oh in my emphasis is business but also marketing and everything we do around all counselors really focused on helping you grow your business through really good marketing techniques Brad you want to give a quick quick who you are to our crowd here today

Brad Osborne 2:25
yeah joined corys team as a marketing specialists a little while ago and have been working on projects for all counselors i’ve been in the digital marketing space now for over 10 years. worked in a lot of different companies behind the scenes and i’m also very excited to help the message of mental health reach more people so i’m i’m happy to apply you know my lessons and experiences in the marketing world to help all of you to grow your businesses

Cory Miller 3:02
and the techniques we’re going to talk about today both brad and i have he’s gone very deep in a lot of different marketing techniques and i my software company actually built software for website designers and specifically on a platform called wordpress so you’re in the right spot if you’re looking to use marketing to grow your practice.

Cory Miller 3:22
so i’m gonna dive into five steps and brad you chime in as you want and have commentary but the first is so i hope you’ve got a you know pen and paper or somewhere you’re taking some notes not to quote cory or bread but two specific items you can make some forward progress in your practice. the first is discovering i say discovering because brad and i are our expeditionary entrepreneurs we we find what the person we’re trying to serve needs and we pair it with what we can do so when I talk about ideal client profile what i want you to think about and i’d love for you to share that in the chat share some of these questions i’m asking i want this to be very collaborative or participate and to get the discussion going but when i say discovering your ideal client profile if you’ve already got a practice or you’ve practiced at all you’re in that phase right your licensed you’re helping people think back and go who are the type of people one who are the type of people i tend to that tend to gravitate toward me in my practice.

Cory Miller 4:28
so that could be demographics that could be geographics all those types of things just think about for a second who are the type of people that you tend to serve when we talked to a person that was on in new york and they they do mobile mental health for basically senior adults was really easy it’s like well who do you serve most and that that practitioner said you know senior adults that are typically homebound okay that’s that’s great that’s a start now we know that we want serve people, potentially everyone. But this helps. I’m not trying to say you shouldn’t serve whoever you want to serve. But what are the types of people that gravitate towards you? Because this is going to matter in our messaging and our marketing when we talk about the next steps. So who are you serving?

Cory Miller 5:18
And then what kind of themes and issues might you hear about most now, I could probably assume that anxiety, depression could be some of those, particularly during social isolation, particularly during the pandemic. But I want you to think about that. And think about the the types of people that might gravitate toward your practice and wherever you’re located. And then the types of topics or issues that you might see consistently is it infidelity. Is it work, prop work, stress? Is it relational with a marriage? Is it parenting type issue? Do you serve just youth? And you know, some particular treatment and things like that? How do you how do you work with people? We’ll talk about modalities in a second, but I want you to be again thinking about that. If you want to participate and share in the chat, please do so. So Brad, I do we do this, because if you know who you’re who you serve, and sometimes it takes a while, who kind of one may, you know, have the money to pay for professional counseling, licensed counseling, of course, that’s our group. But you know, this ideal client profile, I think it’s so key to know, the kind of target of the people you best serve in your practice.

Brad Osborne 6:34
Yeah, that really helps with all of your other marketing efforts, at least to you know, establish a, you know, when we start talking about things like keywords and how Google sees your business and your website, it can be really important to call out some of those, you know, those special ideal clients in the content that you put on your website and things like that.

Cory Miller 7:01
Yeah. And the messaging. So we’re gonna talk about websites next, and Google, we’re gonna include that we got those two, because those are your two takeaways, by the way. But I don’t think a lot of clinicians I talked to even think about this, I realized you have ethical and licensure and all that standards that you should go by, right? I’m never gonna pretend to do that area. But this is so helpful in any business and your practice is a business at the end of the day, you need to get revenue so you can support your life. And we have a mantra at all counselors do good. And do well. If you do good in the world, which you all do. As mental health practitioners, we love you in your work in the world, if you do good and what you should do well, too, and we want to help you with that aspect of the do well part.

Cory Miller 7:49
So okay, there’s some questions. That’s our first step is just writing down who who do I kind of anecdotally, you’re not trying to probably not put anything down like specifics? And you got to be careful with that. But like, who do you typically is drawn to you in your practice? And who are you drawn to? Some things you could think about are underserved groups of people. And veterans, we talked about that minorities, people of color, LGBTQIA+, you know, any people or themes that you kind of tend to focus or gravitate toward and they gravitate to you put those down in your notes right now, it’s gonna be very helpful coming up here in just a second. So that’s first step.

Cory Miller 8:27
Second step, just like Brad said, I hesitated to put my business on here, but it’s Google. So if you think about it Google’s kind of gone into the nomenclature, how we talk, it’s become a verb, it’s a noun, it’s a company name, and all this stuff, but there are people, hundreds, perhaps 1000s of people every day, every week, in your area, dependent on the size of your area, that are that are typing in just like you do for a plumber, you type in plumber into Google, they’re typing in therapist, or counselor or psychotherapist, or you know, let’s say you’re particularl you specialize with youth, you know, psychology, and something like that. Think about those. That’s why we started with the ideal client, think about what they might type. It’s different than the jargon we use, you use in therapy work, but think about what they’re actually looking for therapy, you know, marriage therapist, relationship therapist, relationship counselor, whatever your ideal ideal client, excuse me. You’ve done that first step. Think about how they might the terms they might use specifically in your practice to find you.

Cory Miller 9:38
Brad, this is, you know, Google My business is one of the we call it local SEO, local search engine optimization. But this Google My Business is huge, because it’s a way that Google uses to to find restaurants, plumbers, all that, therapists, and it’s an avenue that we work with all the time at all counselors because it is one, free and second, extremely effective. So it’s, it’s free to get an account and start setting it up. You need an office address all that you can use your home and hide it. We but Google my businesses that Google itself is huge platform for Google My Business is insane.

Brad Osborne 10:17
Yeah, in the last few years, especially Google has Google, I’m sure you noticed, if you use Google, for yourself on your phone or your computers, you’ll notice that it gets better and better at finding more and more relevant results for your searches. And in the last few years, what they focused on with this product called Google My Business is, they are really, really good at knowing you know where you are. And so if you type in hamburger, it’s not just going to send you to the global headquarters of McDonald’s, it’s going to see that you’re close to, you know, it’s gonna find your closest hamburger restaurant. So that’s in the last few years, especially, it’s become even more important to work on this piece, because Google is using this as the way to sort out who gets shown for, you know, people needing help in specific areas. So it’s a very powerful tool.

Cory Miller 11:14
So if you’re a therapist or counselor listening today, you need a Google My Business profile, particularly in the United States, but it would apply outside of the United States too because Google still the biggest platform on Earth right now to find. And this is their way, like Brad said, to find it. So you need to be there. And the beauty of it is it’s free. Taking this first step and doing that getting your free profile and and setting it up is so key, and one of our big steps. But do you see how we’re building and we’ll talk next about websites. But first is get get, start thinking about your ideal client who is drawn to you and you’re drawn to them, and that you help best in the world. And then when we come to Google My Business turning into place your profile out about how you get found.

Cory Miller 11:59
So we want you to be found by the people searching. You think about this, when you type in Google, like you said, Brad burger, I’m in the mood, I’m ready to buy. I’m a buyer of a burger. If I typed that in, you know, if somebody types in therapists, we want you to be found there in your area, we want you to be in I know COVID and telehealth has expanded your potential area, you know, to your state in the United States, at least. But we want you to be found because those are people, those are the best. We typically in e commerce and other online business work will say those are the most ready to buy buyers. It’s almost like money in hand. If I type in red dress, or plumber, or Burger, I’m looking for something ready to buy something then Same goes with therapists. So we want you to found there, and that’s how you get found. So that’s, that’s one piece.

Cory Miller 12:46
And I hope you’re taking notes as we go along. because something’s gonna stand out. And I’m gonna give you some homework at the end, I’m gonna tell you what it is take one step today and do it today, one of these things and do it today to make progress for your practice.

Cory Miller 13:00
Okay, the third step is getting a simple website going. And the reason why is not just because we think websites are cool, it’s because websites are the home base, the hub, if you think about all the different things you could do in your, in your practice to market your practice, the website is the hub, and everything else is spoke that should lead back to it. Because your website is open 24/7, 365 it has your phone number, critical questions about your practice, do I take insurance? Do you know? What kind of insurance? Where do I go? How does it work? You have even maybe intake forms on there. It’s your about section to show off who you are. If you talk to you and you did your work on the ideal client profile, it’s the way to share. This is who I work best with and I’m a magnet part. You know that whole magnet part? website is absolutely vital. We suggest we love and suggest WordPress for that. But there’s also other platforms out there like Squarespace and Wix, that are great for building a website. But think about it. It’s it’s the thing, if somebody’s trying to refer to you, where do you tell them to give me your number, business card? Hopefully, if you’re sharing a business card or an email or something like that? How do people refer to you? And that that’s why we believe websites are the critical home base for all of your marketing efforts. And you need a website, not just your Psychology Today listing, or not just a Facebook page, but a website you control and you can do things with.

Cory Miller 14:37
So Brad, we talked to you like from a marketing perspective, on our website and in our messaging, we want to show off not we need to answer the question Don’t we of What’s in it for them? What are the questions we need to spin our perspective around and go What is a potential new client into my practice asking what are they wanting to learn? And those help us Think through some key aspects of what we put on our website, which by the way can also be put on a Google My Business profile page.

Brad Osborne 15:10
Another great piece about the website is that Google is so smart that it can, it basically is always reading what’s out there on the internet. So if you put up a Google My Business profile, and you have a website, and those two things, have the same information on that Google gives it even more thumbs up, it says, Okay, this is legitimate. This is, you know, I can, it can correlate those two pieces of data. So it adds more power to both they both power each other up the website and the Google My Business listing.

Cory Miller 15:45
Thank you for saying that. It’s, it’s, it doubles as a home base for everything your marketing efforts, but it’s the power up with it’s the one two punch with Google My Business and website, you’re absolutely right. And I appreciate you mentioning that. Some things you want to think about when you put on your website are who you are, you know, I’m a real human, you want pictures of yourself, if you’re if you are taking clients in a practice, maybe a really nice picture of your office location at some point too. But if you’re like me, I want it Brad, I want to do business. And I want to specifically with therapy, and my counselor, when I was researching and found my counselor, I wanted to see who the human on the other side was that I could potentially be connected to. That’s why it’s critical to have, you know, some bio information that says Like, I’m a real living human. And I care about what what you’re going through. And I’ve been trained professionally to do this, like I’ve taken this as a career. What are some other elements in that website and kind of mirrors Google My Business that you think about that we want to put we want to make sure counselors therapists psychotherapists include on their website,

Brad Osborne 16:53
again, those those specialties are really, really, really big deal. I know, I, myself have been looking for a therapist in my area. And that was, the main thing that really drove me to the groups of people that I was looking for was that the things that I’m looking help looking for help with. And if those were, you know, listed on their profile or on their website, then that gives me more confidence that they’re going to be able to help me with the, the unique thing that I am looking for help with. And, you know, it didn’t have to be that’s their only one thing, right, it was just one of the things that they, you know, thought it was important to list as a specialty. And that happened to connect with the thing, I’m looking at that other specialties too, but me as the as the person on the other side, I want to know that they called out that specific need.

Cory Miller 18:01
When you’re building your website, it’s so good that you get a fresh perspective to share to hear is that you need to think like what Brad’s trying to share you share with you is like a client that doesn’t know what CBD means. Yeah. And by the way, that could have another connotation for most people. If that’s all you list on your site. So you need to think like a prospective client and answer their questions with your website. And the websites best way to do that. Because you want to lower that bar, Brad, we work all the time on lowering friction. And what we do our counselors and our other projects, lowering the friction to someone being able to say, I want to become a new client, I want to in our terms, and some of the e commerce projects is like, I want to I want to buy that product today. Taking out that friction.

Cory Miller 18:48
Okay, so that’s website, and by the way, and all counselors, we can help you with both your website in your Google My Business profile, and sync those up and use some best practices for digital marketing to help you score those new clients. So we’ll talk about that the end, how you can contact us and get a, get a discovery session going but who you are, what your degrees and your certifications are and don’t just put LSAT or LDAC, put what that actually means, you know, you might put the credential somewhere, but explain that underneath licensed, you know, clinical, whatever those designations mean. And if you’re putting your modalities on your site, to which I think you should, the type of modalities you use, don’t just put cognitive behavioral therapy CBT Sorry, I said CBD or CBT. put that in parentheses too. But then share what that might mean on your site. You know, what does that actually what is that modality? We know them as modalities and only do because I’ve worked with Clint, we work with clinicians all day. But what does that mean to the prospective buyer? Does that resonate with you, Brad, you know, to you know, if I throw all these little acronyms there, just really industry jargon what is that you know what does that really mean to you like if if brad goes struggling with anxiety i want to find a practitioner and goes to the site he’s looking and he says you know cognitive behavioral therapy okay well how does that help me with my anxiety you know that’s the kind of things i think about from a customer perspective you have any other thoughts on that brad

Brad Osborne 20:21
yeah with that kind of stuff i just think it’s important to have both right because from the what google calls it is authority right google’s really good at reading through the the words on your pages and matching it up to all the other billions of words they analyze and so they’re really good at figuring out if you are who you say you are for the most part and so i think from that perspective it’s important to have the technical terms but then have a follow up you know like maybe a little sentence or paragraph thinking okay cognitive behavioral therapy and then how that helps you or how that helps my clients or patients or whatever so that would be my my take is both are important right like it’s important for google and for you know people you know to make sure that you’re you’re qualified properly but also important to explain in a human you know a normal person way how is this helpful to you

Cory Miller 21:27
yes and i think the three: the full modality the abbreviation and then what it actually means so someone’s looking for addiction recovery work you know spelling out your licensure for that particular maybe emphasis and you know we work i work a lot with you know those recovering from substance abuse addiction or i specialize in eating disorders or whatever but all three because there’s some people that might have been in therapy and are looking for those but out like they want to see cbt they want to see you know emdr you know they might look for those things and by the way i’ve been in those spots too.

Cory Miller 22:09
okay so that’s your website that’s the hub that should be the centerpiece where you where you when we talk about referrals and second you share hey you can refer clients to my website right here which has my phone number all that kind of stuff okay now step four. i almost hesitate to put this but i think it’s so vital because it’s not just some of the type of techniques you can do from a technology perspective using digital marketing, but i think you should every therapist should use digital marketing techniques to help you connect the people that are looking for you and the healing that you can help guide them through but i think often this little base level referral network this is in any type of business but i want to translate it for practice brad is you know it’s word of mouth but you know when i think about referrals i i’ve tried to put some things here for everybody to think through. like who in your market in your I say market who in your geographic region that you serve this may be already full like they just can’t take any clients and you have some something to reach out and see why you might if you don’t know ’em might put the contact form say i’m just trying to find dr dr miller or i’m just trying to you know let you know here’s my website i do that if you’re not taking on new practice i’d love for you to prefer my way i deal with see back to ideal client i emphasize my practice emphasizes these things and you got the website next time there’s a potential person that can refer you’re on the top of mine.

Cory Miller 23:46
but i think about brad one is just going back to colleagues that may be you know my wife is actually just graduated with her degree her counseling degree master’s degree and i can’t remember the actual name off top my head but she’s getting ready to study for her tests and things but she’s in contact with her colleagues and that’s a ripple effect so i think you know first step is just think about your colleagues the people you know I put in here to a supervisor so if you’ve been under supervision or you know a supervising therapist around there those are great connections to to make because oftentimes they really have a heart to help you build your practice and things like that but those are some of the thoughts i had originally brad about building your network spending you know a couple hours a month an hour a week and just going okay here i can build my network i can reach out to these people it doesn’t cost me anything but a text or phone call or a ping to their website what are some thoughts about this referral network do you think is as our clinicians look at leveraging this tool and our fourth step

Brad Osborne 24:54
i think you covered it pretty well my one thought is that it’s easier than ever to get in touch with people via social media, if you do have colleagues or, you know, supervisors, etc, you know, there’s, there’s so many ways to get in touch with people in a way that’s, you know, very accessible Instagram or Facebook or email or text or call or, you know, send send them a postcard or something too you know,

Cory Miller 25:23
handwritten letter goes a long way. And business card that has linked back to your website and your phone number.

Brad Osborne 25:29
Now we’re back to the hub, right? Yeah, all these things.

Cory Miller 25:32
Yeah. I think about to Brad is adjacent type of businesses. So if we’ve done our work on step one is we’ve thought about our didn’t our ideal client, think about the adjacent services. So I had a clinician one time, say, a lot of rehab, physical therapists, you know, like physical therapy. I’m blanking on the term, but they oftentimes refer to his practice, because it’s not something they do, but it’s an adjacent mark, you know, service industry, that, that that would be a ultimate referral, like, hey, by the way, you know, maybe you sell wheelchairs, they sell wheelchairs, and you happen to hit with a senior, or a crowd that’s recovering from, you know, big therapy or something. You know, that’s another idea I thought of, can you think of some other adjacent type work, ways that they could just use that ideal client to, to help them grow their referral network?

Brad Osborne 26:29
Well, my sister is an occupational therapist, actually. And she does refer certain clients that she works with to mental health professionals, if that’s, if she feels like that’s something that occupational therapy can’t fully address then. And I asked her, you know, what’s her method for who she refers to, and she basically just kind of refers them to an organization. But if she had a contact with a specific person that she knew was, you know, trustworthy and a good fit, and she’s happy to recommend that specific person, I think she would, she just hasn’t and nobody, nobody’s come in contact with her yet, so that she can put a face to that place, or that part of her, you know, serving her clients. But so yeah, the more other, I think other professionals in that the health industry would be a great network to build. And, you know, networking isn’t always everyone’s strength. But if it is something that is your strength, then this is a very easy way to, you know, make friends and meet people. But also get some more business coming your way.

Cory Miller 27:50
Yeah, you made me think and of course, we’re recording this while still COVID we’re still in the pandemic, but, you know, networking type events, or even adjacent networking events? Where is there something you’re interested, you know, you might add some value and learn something the same time but get to meet people, you get your business cards there that point back to your hub, your website, you know, and be like, what do you do, you know, that’s oftentimes the meetups and things like that space. Our principle at all counselors, Brad, as you’ve helped us formulate to is be, you want to be found everywhere you can. It’s like putting these little seeds, planting these little seeds out here, you’re getting shown up and giggle, you got your website as your home that points back, you’re showing up at maybe a networking event, you know, maybe it’s for entrepreneurs. And like, you know what, I’m an entrepreneur, too, I have my own practice, I’m gonna show up but you also go. Like, maybe that’s a ideal client you focus on or you just, you’re in the spot to be found. And that’s where all these strategies build over time.

Cory Miller 28:53
And again, most of this is time, you know, and for everything else, where we got your back at all counselors, okay, that’s step four. Now, five, this is something that you might put on your calendar every now and then it’s just if you got a psychology today or some other profile on a site, to just or you have a Facebook page or, you know, some profile, we call, okay, if the hub is the website, these are the outposts. So if you’ve got a Facebook page, that’s an outpost out here, that’s pointing back to your site, and you might even twice three times a year. I don’t know what your thoughts about this Brad is put on your counter to go. Is everything back up to date? Have I mentioned that I’m fully telehealth right now, if I mentioned I’m, I’m mostly seeing clients or I’ve mentioned I add Saturdays or whatever those things might be is going do a quick update of those outpost profiles and directory listings and social profiles out there.

Brad Osborne 29:49
Yeah, once again, just the behind the scenes of how Google works, it loves fresh updates. It loves to know that you’re real that you’re responsive especially During the COVID pandemic, they rolled out special features for local businesses that were addressing the questions that people have about COVID requirements. So if Google sees that you are, and again, Google kind of sees everything we do, they can, you know, they can correlate your website to your psychology today, to your name and all that stuff. So they see like, they get a little blip that says, Oh, this thing changed, this thing changed. And this thing change, it will, you know, likely their algorithm will go and check and update everything. And this is my feeling, I can’t say for certain, but you know, having worked in digital marketing for a long time, is that you get a little boost. In your Google, Google gives you a little boost for being a responsive business, and, and helping out that your potential customers or clients.

Cory Miller 31:04
Yeah, and again, we want those profiles to link back. So if you’ve got an Instagram, you’ve got 50 people following me, to me, that’s 50 more 50 people, we’ll start where we are today, make sure that profile also links back to what your website hub all your marketing. So that’s a little to do list item, go and update those profiles. Today, you might have pulled on a new continuing education thing and got a new modality share or some kind of treatment option. Oh, now I’m certified in EMDR. Brain spotting. Now I work with this particular group of people, I didn’t, make sure everything is synced up like Brad was saying, Google, and this artificial intelligence goes out there and goes, this is the picture of Brad, this is the picture of Cory, this is the picture of you our clinicians and counselors. Okay, so there’s There are five steps. I’ll go back and repeat those Just a second.

Cory Miller 31:57
But I wanted to add a bonus. Now, I don’t want to put too much on your plate. I want you to take one thing from today and go work on it. Is it updating my profiles? Is it just thinking through the website or buying my domain name or whatever that is? Is it starting my free Google My Business account, whatever those things are just taking one step from today that you can move forward, we want you to always be moving forward at all counselors to grow your practice to reach more people to create a well world.

Cory Miller 32:28
But the bonus here is content creation, this one of our favorite In fact, Brad and I, in addition, this record something else earlier, and its content creation. Now, make sure you get your base, the things I just shared about that’s your base, we call it the marketing tree is this level, the way you you know, you build your base of the tree with a website, you know, then you stack on Google My Business, then you stack on these things, okay, called the marketing tree. But if you’re like many of us who have more time than money, content creation can be a great way to get new clients too. So just giving a bland example for a second anxiety, Brad goes, Okay, I’m looking for anxiety. I’m in Michigan, you know, that kind of thing. And your practice, you specialize in anxiety and depression? Well, a way to to leverage your unique experiences and connect with people is to say, Here are five things or here’s the things that you probably end up talking with clients, majority of time, the things that really help people, or the lightbulb moments or the move forward things, those can be fodder for an Instagram post, you know, using some like Canva canva.com as a tool, we’ll be doing some training on that too, that you can use to build really good social type, social type pictures that could go on Instagram or Facebook post. And so you might say, you know, a quote, quotes are the best, books, things that help people in their social in their lives that connect back to what you do and your ideal client or ways to draw people in and say, This person is for me, Brad’s looking for this, that, that this clinician, this person, she gets me, he gets me, you know. So but Brad, just like anything. Consistency is the key. If you get into this, this, I almost hesitate about putting in there. But I wanted to give you a bonus one. This is like graduate from this first five steps we said then you can start thinking about content creation. But consistency, Brad is is the absolute key when creating content.

Brad Osborne 34:37
Yeah, and this is another place too to just check in with your strengths and the things that you are good at and that you like right so you maybe being on social media is not your thing. It’s not really my thing. I don’t spend much time on Instagram or Facebook, but I really like to talk. So Cory and I have started a podcast and there’s, if you if you like talking, then a podcast can be a really great way to put some content out in the world, to help people to find new people. And again, to keep building up that credibility in Google’s eyes, you can put it on your website as a just a free, you know, value add to people out there, sharing your, your advice. Um, anchor.fm is a tool that I just set up a podcast Cory and I are doing today. And it’s amazing. I can’t believe how simple and easy it is to make a podcast now. It’s literally like three clicks. I have created podcasts in the past, I didn’t know how easy it had become because it used to be really hard. So same, you know, if you like being on camera, many people do not at all. But there’s very simple, easy ways to record YouTube videos. Or, again, we don’t want to overwhelm you. But I would just say, start thinking about the medium that is comfortable to you. If that’s writing, if it’s words, then we can talk about blogging, we can help you with some strategies for blogging, if it’s or Facebook posts or Instagram, right, if it’s pictures, you know, you’re visually creative, Instagram is a great place. If you are good at video, if you like video editing kind of things, then YouTube could be good. So again, not trying to overwhelm you just it’s it’s a good place to lean into discover and lean into your strengths and the things that you’re comfortable with.

Cory Miller 36:37
That’s I’m so glad you you mentioned that Brad. And that’s such elegant advice that I hope you all take for now. So anchor for instances you mentioned anchor.fm has an app. So if you have an iPhone or an Android, they’ve got an app. And it’s this easy. click a button. So if you say podcast, I can do this, this easy. Click record, start talking about subject. And by the way, do a first version of it, meaning your rough draft, just start publishing. And you might just test it out and see how it goes. But that’s how easy anchor.fm and the tools that you mentioned, Brad, so good. That’s excellent advice.

Cory Miller 37:13
Okay, so what we’ve talked about today, I want to go over this again, one is start with your ideal client. Think through the type of people that are attracted to your practice. Think back about the clients you’ve had in the last six months, just try to find some themes of the type of people that resonate with your practice most, okay? And then pair it with who you want to work with. You may say it’s just teens, or it’s just senior adults, or it’s married couples, your LMFT, I believe is the designation. So like, think of all that, get that that’s your first step, then Google, specifically, it’s called Google My Business. Having an account there, if you have an office, this is one reason you might consider keeping your office, by the way, because it looks like where I’m at in Oklahoma City is kind of different from when Brad types in therapists, because Google knows where you are, they know, surprisingly, scarily more than want to know, then Google, by business that all builds to a website with a website is the hub of your market. I want to make a mantra that you know, as much as you do your own modalities and treatments and things like that with clients I want you know, my website is my marketing hub for all my efforts growing my practice. Then we talked about referrals. We talked about some ideas for building referrals that you can do that’s virtually free. It just takes some of your time. But getting out there and meeting people maybe there’s people meeting online. And then we talked about number five I just blank because I’m thinking about content creation. But number five wraps it all up. And it is. Oh my gosh, Brad, I blanked today. It’s been a day, huh? Oh, updating, you’re updating your outposts. I want your social profiles directory. Next time, I’ll note I have a slide here that says recap of all the five.

Cory Miller 39:02
Take now I don’t want you to get overwhelmed. I want you to take one thing from today you go I can do that. Whatever that is. And take that step today, right after you in this webinar. Get off this webinar and take a step if you have some time or over the weekend and make forward progress for your practice. I’ll tell you, there are people out there hurting I’ve been I am and have been one of them that need to be connected to what you do have been spent a huge part of your life training for preparing for and now it’s what you do in the world and need to be connected to you. These are ways to get connected. And if you need help doing all that stuff. We want you to know what we do at all counselors is this right here. You do that we want you to do the therapy. We want you to work in the healing, helping people heal, guiding them with all of your training and all of your experiences. The world needs you.

Cory Miller 39:55
We want to take at all counselors, the heavy lifting of the marketing side of you the technical know how all this kind of stuff you can book a discovery meeting with us our team go to allcounselors.com/contact there’s a contact us button there’s a schedule and everything or you can just hit the contact form and start the discussion. We want to work with you. We love what you’re doing the world and I want to say a big thank you. That’s what we should lead with every webinar with us. Thank you for what you have, have dedicated your career and your life to do in the world. We need more of you out there. And we’re here to help you connect with people hurting Brad you have any parting thoughts before we take some questions and release everybody to go do their homework?

Brad Osborne 40:35
I think you’ve covered it pretty beautifully. Cory excited to hear some some questions.

Cory Miller 40:42
Okay, so we’re gonna now we’re gonna step into the q&a period, but again, come to allcounselors.com hit the contact but button and please, let’s start a conversation with our team. We’re here to help you. We love what you do in the world. But if anything, you can take some of these things that makes for progress and in your counseling business.

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