Therapy Marketing 101: Writing Your GoodTherapy Profile 

To become a therapist, you trained and practiced under supervision. You took classes on human development, ethics, pathologies, clinical interventions, and therapy modalities. What you probably didn’t do is study marketing. How do you draw the right clients and fill up your practice? What is therapy marketing supposed to look like?  

Enter: Online Registries for Therapy Marketing

One vitally important part of your therapy marketing strategy should be online registries like GoodTherapy. Why? 

• Registries like GoodTherapy rank highly in Google search results. Capitalize on this fact and get your name and details out there for the world (or at least people seeking therapy in your area) to find.  
• People come to trusted registries to look for therapists. They understand that we have membership standards, and they know that if we vouch for you, you probably know what you’re doing. You want to be there when potential clients search your area. 
• Appearing in more than one registry with a solid reputation lends you professional credibility. When people see your name and face in various places around the internet, accompanied by profile copy that speaks to the heart of what you do, it reinforces you as a solid, reliable choice of therapist. In marketing terms, these are called impressions, and you want to make the most of them when you’re marketing your therapy practice. 

What Should Be on Your Profile? 

Making the most of your registry membership starts with your profile. Strategically filling out your profile to attract referrals and optimize engagement is key for growing your therapy practice. Your profile is where potential clients learn about who you are, what services you offer, and whether you might be the right-fit therapist for them. 

General Tips for Profile Writing

Your profile should be quick and to the point but still informative. You want both your personality as a therapist and the ideas that inform your work to shine through. Think of this part of your profile as a sort of interview. Use the space to communicate what you want clients to know and answer questions they might ask about you.

Here are four tips to guide you as you write: 

1. Aim to include a total of 200-400 words in the written portions of your profile. People want more than a soundbite, but they don’t want homework yet.

2. Speak directly to potential clients. As much as possible, use the first- and second-person pronouns “I/me/mine” and “you/you/yours” instead of third-person “client” or “patient.” This normalizes and destigmatizes their search for help and helps them feel seen. 

3. You can briefly address a few specific specialties or modalities that are at the core of your practice, but more than two or three of either probably warrants a list instead. You can always invite people to check out your website (the button is underneath your photo along with other ways to contact you) for more information. 

4. Keep in mind that you want to target the kind of people who are best suited to your practice. Right-fit referrals are far more likely to become long-term clients. 

Want more to go on? Curious about best practices for what to select from your profile’s drop-down menus? Check out our ideal profile walkthrough!

The Approach to Helping

Start with the potential client. Address them in the headspace they are most likely coming from. Not sure what that looks like? Think about how clients have come to you in the past. What were they thinking and feeling? At what point in their journey did they reach out to you? Talk to those people. Reassure them that you “get it.”  

Then, present yourself as a solution. Talk about who you are and what is important to you as a therapist. Follow that old adage, “show, don’t tell,” by sharing the language you use in session and describing the atmosphere you create for your clients. Authenticity here will give the reader a picture of what it would be like to work with you. Topics to cover here might include how long you have been practicing, what you value, how you work with clients, modalities you use, and why you became a therapist.

There’s Much More to Therapy Marketing

Registries are an important way to get your name out there, but they’re just one part of any robust therapy marketing plan. You should also have a top notch website (our buddies over at Brighter Vision have this nailed down), professional social media accounts (interestingly, there’s currently a trend of looking for therapists on Instagram), and referral-driving connections with doctors, religious and community organizations, and schools in your area. But your registry listing is a great place to start.

More About GoodTherapy Membership

GoodTherapy offers three membership levels that include registry listings and so much more. Every member from Basic to Pro is invited to submit new, original content for publication on our blog, which can bring you more therapy referrals, help you establish yourself as an expert in your areas of focus, and boost your overall SEO (affecting not just your GoodTherapy profile, but also your website and other relevant instances of your name online). Additionally, we offer customized profile support to all members

Premium and Pro memberships also include unlimited access to our continuing education for therapists and our curated list of media relations opportunities. Pro takes it one step further, allowing you to add online scheduling to your profile and a client portal with intake paperwork, a feature born of our collaboration with our sister company, Therapy Partner. 

Questions about any of this? Feel free to reach out to our Customer Support team.

Not a member yet? Learn more about GoodTherapy membership, explore our CE program, and sign up today!

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