This content is provided by zynnyme, an affinity partner of AAMFT. This information is not necessarily the view of AAMFT and should not be interpreted as official policy.
Your private practice website is a hub for connection with potential clients. The messaging you use on your website and other marketing materials is meant to connect, inform, and motivate people to act for themselves. Your message could be the difference between someone being stuck in their pain and someone finding help to heal their pain.
But when you search for marriage and family therapists online or through a directory, you may find a lot of the messages have made some simple mistakes that we want to show you how to avoid.
Mistake #1: Ask a lot of questions
Imagine if you are meeting with someone you don’t know, naturally, you ask a lot of questions to get to know them. Yet, part of having a solid marketing plan is knowing who you do great work with and being able to speak to the pain of those ideal clients. You should know generally something about their pain. If you start your website asking a lot of questions such as: Do you feel stuck? Do you not feel like yourself? Do you struggle with anxiety or depression? Are you grieving the past or something in the current present moment? You communicate that you aren’t sure who you are speaking to and are unsure of what they might generally be going through.
Instead of asking a lot of questions, peppering them with all the possibilities of what could be going on, speak to the common pain points of your clients. This takes knowing who you want to work with though. You can’t speak to everyone in one message. You need to hone in and speak to the clients you do the best work with.
Imagine moving away from the questions and more into painting a picture of what they might be going through. For example, "you woke up this morning with a tightness in your chest that is all too familiar. You do your best to push down the anxiety and worry, but day in and day out, it creeps up on you rendering you exhausted. You can’t focus at work. You miss appointments or space out in conversations with friends and loved ones. You worry so much about what others think about you, you just never feel like you can let your guard down."
How does that messaging feel compared to questions? It conveys attunement, and an understanding of the client because you know other clients like them. They aren’t alone and you know how to help.
Mistake #2: You aren’t clear about how you help
So many therapist websites speak in generalities about how they help. Many therapists talk about how they hold a safe nonjudgmental space for their clients. I hope they do! That is important, but that is the standard across the board. Besides, does a client really know how a nonjudgmental space being held for them helps? Probably not other than that there is comfort.
Instead, speak to how you show up as a therapist, giving good, informed consent about what to expect from you as a clinician. We aren’t speaking about being competitive and comparative with other clinicians. You never need to put down others to put yourself out there. You simply want to stand out clearly about what is unique about you in this work.
For example, I help anxious, high-achieving adults to simmer their anxiety so they can be comfortable in their own skin. I meet with my clients weekly because that is what gets better outcomes for the way that I work. I’m not a therapist who gives homework, instead, you will learn tools you can use outside of the session to use your body's wisdom to help you integrate more calm states in your day-to-day. Many of my clients love that they get to move their bodies during sessions and that there is a lot of laughter in the process of healing, It doesn’t always have to be so serious as you see on TV.
In this example, you can learn more about how the therapist works and what to expect. This gives the potential client way more information to decide if this is a good fit for themselves. Maybe they decide they don’t like what they read. That’s a good thing because it’s helping them tune into their own wisdom about what they need and it expedites them on the path to finding the right therapist for them.
Mistake #3: They are afraid of making promises
As marriage and family therapists, our ethics prevent us from making promises or guarantees. Many have become so fearful of violating those ethics, that they don’t speak to the transformational value of therapy at all. An example of a false promise would be: 'with therapy, you will eradicate your anxiety and panic attacks in 3 months' time.' We don’t want to be definitive or absolute, because we can’t be. Therapy requires both the therapist and the clinicians to work together, and outcomes are variable.
Instead of making false promises, we want to instill hope. We can speak to what you hope to see shift because of therapy. For example, 'most of my clients work on average with me for 6 months. In that time, we will be tracking your clinical outcomes to ensure you are getting what you need from therapy. If you are not progressing, we will explore options for changing your treatment options because ultimately, I am committed to helping you experience the transformation you seek. My hope is that you will find relief from the anxiety to the point that you can notice your thoughts slowing down, and you can be more present with the people you love and with yourself.'
In this example we speak to what we hope to see change, while also expressing our process for ensuring positive clinical outcomes.
Mistake #4: Create barriers with language
Marriage and Family Therapists use a wide variety of tools and modalities in their work. We spend money on additional certifications and want to often demonstrate that we are qualified to help. However, using technical terminology that is not common knowledge outside of our profession can create barriers. For example: 'I am an EMDR therapist who will work with you and your anxiety by using bilateral stimulation and prolonged exposure.'
For some, they may know what EMDR is. For those who don’t, you may want to speak in a way that is more approachable. For example, 'I do more than talk therapy. I use a tool called EMDR. It is a way that we can help you feel less anxious through rewiring the brain. It allows you to process past traumatic experiences without having to talk about the stories over and over. OR I use cutting-edge, science-backed tools to help you rewire your brain so that when you show up to work, what might have made you anxious before is replaced with a feeling of calm and confidence.'
You can always give more information in your blogs if you want, but for the purposes of building a connection with a potential client, using language that allows the client to stay engaged and informed will lead to a better decision by the client as to whether or not you are the right therapist for them.
Want to learn more about how to craft an ethical marketing message for your website? Click here for a free training that walks you step by step through a formula that will help you avoid all the mistakes commonly made.