Finding Your Therapy Niche

Getting ready to announce your valuable therapy services to English speakers?

Congratulations!

I recently wrote about some important points to consider before marketing yourself online. Like it or not, you need a marketing strategy in order to grow your private practice.

The main key is to target your marketing efforts in the right direction instead of trying to capture absolutely anyone and everyone in cyberspace.

Here are a few of my tips to help you get started with developing your own marketing approach so that you can attract the right clients (in whatever language you work in).

Why do you need to find your niche as a therapist?

First of all, the word “niche” has become a buzzword in recent years, but what is a “niche”?

NICHE (pronounced /neesh/ or /nich/) DEFINITION: a) a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best suited b) a specialized market

For example, for years I advertised myself as a Business English teacher.?

Although Business English is in high demand, there are literally thousands of teachers out there who offer this general focus. Even though I have many years of professional experience and training in this area, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd of offers out there.?

So, I decided to focus my attention on mental health practitioners, after being motivated by a coach to choose a niche that I genuinely enjoy. Now I have the pleasure of working with clients who I share a common interest with, and we inspire each other to keep learning.

I understand my clients’ unique problems and am able to help them in a way that general English teachers can’t. As I specialize in this area, I’m also able to charge more for my services.

Despite this higher fee, it often saves my clients money because we’re able to solve their communication problems much faster. This is also true for most mental health professionals who specialize.

Many therapists who are just starting out in their private practice are afraid to define their niche because they don’t have very many clients yet.

The fear is that having a very specific target market will push out potential clients and hurt their business.

This is actually the opposite of how it works!

Finding your niche is exactly the marketing strategy you need to FILL your caseload.

Imagine a business that tries to cater to everyone.?

I remember a few months ago when my husband and I were craving Thai food (here in northern Spain -- not easy to find!). We walked by a restaurant that advertised all kinds of Asian food; from Indian to Vietnamese to Chinese.?

We tried to imagine how authentic the food could be. Offering such a wide variety of culinary options in an area that wasn’t exactly known for its Asian food wasn't convincing, so we decided to keep walking.

If a potential client shows up to your website and they can’t tell within a few seconds what you’re about, they are going to click out of your page just as fast as my husband and I walked by that restaurant after seeing the menu options.

It’s best to have a few overlapping specialties so that you can be one of the only therapists in your area with your unique specialties. This is called double-niching or combo-niching.

Narrow down your niche

In order to target your marketing approach, you need to get quite specific. The idea is that you’re going to have more success casting a smaller net but catching the people who want to see YOU.?

Be sure to start there first, as it will help you know how to get clients who will be the right fit for your services.

Need some time to discover your niche? No problem!?

My recommendation is to start with writing a list of your specific strengths, client successes and personal interests, then gradually get more specific.?

What are YOU able to offer your clients that other therapists cannot?

1. Brainstorm your interests

Here are some prompts to get you started:

• Who have been your favorite clients to work with?
• What was interesting about their unique issues?
• Which topics do you enjoy reading and talking about?
• Are there certain people groups, age ranges, or careers that you’re attracted to?

Remember, this is a brainstorm, so write out as many interests as you can (on your laptop, notebook paper or Post-its). You can always edit them later.

2. Make connections

Once you've written all of your areas of interest, start to make connections between them. This is called culling the data.

3. Label themes

Create names to categorize these common connections and write this theme name above each group.

4. Rinse and repeat

Repeat this process of naming your interests, drawing connections and labeling the themes as many times as you need. This part of the process can take a bit of time. You might think of new interests to add or realize that two or three themes might be put together as one theme.

5. Time to reflect

Feel free to take a break for a couple of days and come back to it with a fresh perspective. You might also want to ask a colleague to have a look at your lists to help you draw further connections and conclusions.

You'll probably find that your long list of interests will result in two to five major themes. These themes can be the starting point from where you advertise to your target market.

Your target market includes people who reflect your ideal client.

Your ideal client is someone who feels YOU are the perfect person to offer a solution to their problem.

Hope these tips help to clarify your therapy niche. We’ll look at connecting with your chosen target market in the next edition!?

Warm regards,

Heather

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?Reach out if there are other topics you’d like me to explore in these newsletters.

If you’d like someone to offer some guidance through the online marketing process, in addition to helping you build more confidence in your English skills for therapy, send me a DM.?

Email: [email protected] / Website: www.myenglishtherapy.com