Why Newsletters Work to Market a Therapy Practice
And How to Use Them for Maximum Effectiveness
by Linda C. Puig, president
To attract clients who pay in full and out of pocket for your services, it’s imperative to position yourself as a helpful expert. This is true whether you are a beautician, a gardener, a car mechanic, a therapist or a coach.
It’s a simple fact of human behavior: People are more likely to believe that you can help them if they perceive you as an expert, which, in turn, increases the likelihood that they will hire you. For example, you wouldn’t choose a car enthusiast to overhaul your engine; you’d choose an experienced mechanic.
Newsletters are one of the simplest and most effective ways to establish this expertise. Whereas advertisements, fancy “me-oriented” websites and glossy “ego” brochures are all about selling—tooting your own horn—newsletters are about educating, guiding and advising, which is what experts do. Put more simply, newsletters are about helping. They become an extension of your services, a place where people get a taste of what you offer. And all the while, they keep your name before your public. They are a regular reminder that you are able and available to help with life’s difficulties.
Establishing an expertise through newsletters requires consistent and intentional efforts. Below are some guidelines to follow when using a newsletter to market your private practice.
Read
rest of article here.
Check out this sweet Valentine’s Day article deal
 Love and relationships are not always a cakewalk…we all know that. But on Valentine’s Day, who wants to hear about communication problems or divorcing well? We want to remember the bliss and the sweetness. So in honor of Valentine’s Day, we’ve put together a little bundle of the “sweeter” of our articles on love and relationship (including how we love ourselves). And at a sweet price! Buy these five articles and get two free.
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- Give Your Relationship a Tune-Up
- Top 10 Actions That Say “I Love You”
- Intimacy—Accept No Imitations
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- Top 10 Things to Say to Your Partner
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- Top 10 Daily Practices of Loving Relationships
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This Valentine article bundle is only being offered to our subscribers. Click here to order the bundle now!
See hundreds of other personal growth and career/leadership articles for sale here: www.ArticlesForSale.net, as well as some ideas on how to use articles to market your practice. Individual articles are $45 and Top 10s are $30.
A Friend You Should Know
A couple of years ago, I was surprised to see a familiar face from home at the Networker Symposium conference in Washington, DC. Ofer Zur and I send our children to the same school in Northern California, but it took us a trip across the continent to discover that we serve the same professionals.
Ofer runs the Zur Institute, which offers innovative and unique online courses for CE credits for psychologists, social workers, MFTs and counselors. These courses are approved by American Psychological Association (APA), Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) and BBS-California. You’ll find the course listing at http://www.drzur.com/homeonline.html.
He’s also a terrific writer. His new book, Boundaries in Psychotherapy: Ethical and Clinical Explorations, is scheduled for publication Feb. 15, 2007. Here’s a link, if you’d like to buy the book: http://www.drzur.com/boundariesbook.html.
 The Power of Looking Back
I don’t know about you, but in my striving for the next thing and the thing after that, I tend to forget about what I’ve already done. It’s the end of January, and I’m thick into marketing projects for 2007…last year is already ancient. But I think it’s a good idea to pause for a brief review. So I did. If you haven’t done so already, I highly recommend it!
Below are just a few of the marketing-related projects we accomplished this year.
- Developed an article database to organize Claire’s library of hundreds of coaching and therapy articles.
- Put up a site on which to sell these articles individually: www.articlesforsale.net.
- Gutted the Claire Communications site and made it a launching point for mini-sites selling our various newsletter services and articles.
- Created websites that specifically targeted coaches and therapists. (We are currently in the process of re-designing and rewriting these sites…take a look at Step 1: www.newslettersforcoaches.com and www.newslettersfortherapists.com.)
- Conducted our first direct mail campaign, using newly developed printed material. Learned a lot about what to do and not to do.
- Bumped up the frequency of this ezine (Momentum) to monthly rather than sporadically…taking our own advice!
- Updated our database to segregate target audiences.
- Began sending email promotions to targeted lists.
- Enrolled in a marketing mentoring program and began passing along the learning to you.
- Started the Claire Communications Referral Program, which rewards both new and referring clients. (Read about it here, if you’re interested in using our newsletter service free of charge.)
Yes, we’ve been busy laying the foundation for some fantastic growth this year. And more is planned for this first quarter. How was your marketing year in 2006? What have you got planned for 2007?
Linda
Warrior name: Wildheart
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