Marketing Your Therapy Practice: Video Marketing

Last Updated on June 1, 2021 by

A Video Marketing Strategy Gets Prospects off the Fence and into Therapy

There’s a saying that goes: “Doing business without advertising is just like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you’re doing, but nobody else does.”

This saying still holds true when we talk about advertising for your therapy practice.

However, choosing a therapist requires a lot of consideration from a potential client, which is exactly why a good marketing strategy is necessary.

So in order to get more prospects off the fence and into therapy this year, we’ve prepared this guide to marketing a therapy practice through video.

And our main asset in the marketing toolbox that’ll help us achieve better results? Video.

Why Video Is the Best Way to Market Therapy Practices

As one of the highest growing digital media formats, video accounts for over 80% of global internet consumption.

Your patients are watching videos, just like every other consumer whose social media feeds are full of static images and posts. In a sea of written words, video stands out and immediately attracts attention.

And since businesses who use video grow revenue 49% faster than those which don’t, it’s cost-effective, too.

Finally, when we take the considerations present in choosing a therapist, it becomes pretty clear that you can’t hope to turn prospects into customers the first time they visit your website.

Instead, you have to keep communicating with them.

And video, unlike other content formats, excels at helping you nurture relationships and demonstrate your expertise while showing that you’re the right therapists for the patient.

Creating a Video Marketing Strategy for Therapists

Let’s talk about non-paid video on social media.

It’s effective, but it’s not as effective as ads.

Why?

Because the organic reach we can get for our video on social media like Facebook and Instagram is constantly declining.

That means that if hundreds of potential patients like our Facebook page, only around 5-10 of them will actually see our posts.

Now, we put time and effort into producing those videos, so it’s good to set up a budget and opt for advertising campaigns.

And with the way social media advertising is going, we can do a lot with just $10/day.

The trick is in setting it up right.

Creating a Video Funnel

In marketing, the journey of a potential client becoming an actual client is called a funnel.

Now, let’s imagine that you post a video and a thousand people see it. This means that you’ve made a thousand people enter the funnel in the awareness stage. They’re now aware that you have a therapy practice.

However, a lot of them won’t even be interested in therapy, so we’re left with around five hundred people. They’re the interested ones. They know you have a practice, and they want to learn more.

Along the way, some of them decide to postpone going into therapy. Others decide that you’re not the right therapist for them.

And there are those who stay. Let’s say it’s two hundred people. These people could very well become your next clients. They’re 99% sure they’re ready for therapy, they like you – they have a desire for your services.

Then all it takes is a push to get them to take an action (book an appointment).

This seems like a pretty complicated process, which is why you’re creating a video funnel.

Since it’s the content format that a lot of people like, and it’s dynamic on its own, it can speed up the funnel progression and get your patients into your practice faster.

Your video funnel will consist out of 4 videos covering the distinct therapy marketing funnel stages.

And you’ll get those patients lightning-fast!

Step 1. First Video (Making Prospects Aware of Your Practice)

The first video is going to go out to a lot of people who may not be aware that they need a therapist, so it’s good to consider the problems they may be noticing (without being able to call them psychological).

For example, good general topics are:

• Burnout
• Depression symptoms
• The risks of not going to therapy
• The signs that therapy could help them

Everything that can help viewers define their issues (if they have them), and see us as the problem-solver is great for this stage of the video marketing funnel for your therapy practice.

It’s important to educate our audience on the benefits of therapy at this stage, and this can be done with 2-3 minute videos.

The important thing is helping your prospects emotionally relate to your content at this stage.

We’re almost always dealing with sensitive subjects.

If someone’s feeling exhausted, unhappy, or facing issues either at home or in the workplace, they don’t necessarily want to talk about it to others.

However, they want to feel seen and heard. They want to know that they’re not alone. Finally, they want to know that they can feel better.

That’s why the first video should also talk about positive experiences that people have had after going to therapy.

Your potential patients should know all about the immediate and long-term benefits.

For example, a patient who was dealing with burnout learned the techniques that helped them feel better instantly (e.g. they started waking up feeling refreshed), and in the long-run. They may have even started a new business.

If you’re offering couples therapy, why not highlight the positive experiences of couples who’ve found a better way to communicate with one another, and are now enjoying spending time together?

While the first video is all about making people aware of the issues, it should also be aspirational and inspirational.

Now, a lot of people will have watched this video. So what’s next? How do you reach out next if they haven’t reached out to you already?

Step 2. Retarget with the Second Video

Not everyone watched our video for the same amount of time, and you can use that to see who you’re going to retarget with the second video.

Retargeting is a process of making sure that your practice stays fresh in the interested people’s minds as they debate on whether they should go to therapy.

It’s essentially serving your second video to the people who’ve already shown interest in your first video.

You’ll show our second video to people who’ve watched more than 50% of your first video.

This 50% or more is a good indicator of people being really interested in your content, which means that they are more likely to become your customers.

The second video can be a shorter, 1-2 minute video.

It’s important to provide more value with the second video, and you can do this by giving tips on common issues, or educating them even more on the benefits of going to therapy since they’ve shown interest in your topic.

All of this ultimately helps them advance through the therapy video marketing funnel and make the decision of getting in touch with you.

To solidify their decision, you’re going to retarget them again with the third video.

Step 3. Solidify Desire with the Third Video

At this point, we’ve provided a lot of value that showed your potential patients how much you can help them.

If you’ve also helped them emotionally relate to your content by emphasizing the benefits of taking the action (going to therapy), or highlighting the disadvantages of not taking the action, that’s even better!

The third video is going to help you reach the people who are well on their way to making their decision to book an appointment with you.

This time, we’ll pick the people who’ve watched 25% or more of our second video. You already know they’re interested, which is exactly why…

The third video is the perfect place to use social proof.

Let’s think about what you’ve done so far: you got their attention, educated them, provided them with enough value, and talked a lot about how going to therapy is going to be beneficial for them.

And now it’s time to hear from people they can relate to.

This is why social proof is powerful. People are more likely to listen to recommendations of other people (as opposed to businesses) so we’re not really talking about your practice in your videos.

We’re letting your work do the talking for you.

And in the third video, you can add customer testimonials and let your existing patients help your new patients get trust in you and your practices.

A great way to do this is by going very formal and interviewing a patient, if possible.

They don’t necessarily have to state all the details of their issues. However, they can note the benefits and positive experiences they’ve had with therapy.

Patients can also record their own testimonials, or favorite things they’ve accomplished after going through therapy.

What matters here is utilizing the power of video.

Unlike articles which just put content first, video is great for showing personality and emotions. If you’re serving ads on Facebook and Instagram, you can even place them as slideshows (carousels) to show multiple testimonials at the same time.

And your 25% percent of interested prospects can relate to it, which will ultimately guide them towards the next step.

Step 4. Finally Getting in Touch

For the final video, you’re going to retarget the people who’ve watched 25% or more of the third video.

Why?

Because this video is where you’ll make an offer to the people who’ve watched the third video (and gone through all the funnel stages).

You’ve provided them value, you’ve shown customer reviews to help them build trust in you, and it’s time to see if they’re ready to make the life-altering decision of going into therapy.

Again, emotion is going to be important in this video.

If you take a look at your potential patients’ journeys up to this point, you can see that they’ve been carefully considering and consuming your videos. They’re interested in therapy, and they’re aware that they have issues you can help with.

All it takes is telling them what action they should take to feel better immediately.

Emotionally-evocative language is important here.

For example, you can remind them of benefits of therapy with calls to action such as:

• You can feel better immediately. Book a free consultation…
• Feel the 100% of your energy today, get in touch with us by clicking…
• It’s time to change your life.

The best way to use this kind of language is by mimicking what the prospects have already heard through the previous videos.

For example, if a customer emphasized having much more energy or getting better sleep, you can make that the call to action in the fourth video.

When it comes to CTAs (call-to-action), they don’t necessarily have to be the patient taking an action.

You can also set up landing pages on your websites and ask them to fill in a form, and get in touch with them.

The goal at this stage of your therapy marketing funnel is getting people to engage with you and to take action.

When you’re talking about the tech behind ad placement, Facebook has a great lead generation ad option.

So, for example, your potential customer sees your fourth video and they click the ‘Get in touch with us’ CTA button that takes them to fill out a form.

Facebook will automatically fill it because they know most of the information, so there’s even less activity required from your potential clients.

All they have to do is feel better and focus on the progress they’ll be experiencing after going into therapy. 🙂

Frequently Asked Questions about Marketing Therapy Practices through Video Funnels