Content Creation Basics for a Therapy Business
One of the most common questions therapists ask about their private practice is "How do I draw more clients to my private practice?" There are many responses to this. A therapist could use directories, take out social media or google ads or they can start with the many free ways to increase their reach. In this post, I am going to share with you the free marketing tool of content creation for a therapy business.
What is content creation?
Content is all of the information you would add to your business's social media and websites. It is basically a way of sharing more about your practice, therapy style, and the issues your audience face, in the form of a blog, post, video, website, page, ect. Many people get stumped at this step because they often fear they don't have enough information to share with their audience. Trust me, if you have a well-defined niche, there is plenty of content to be created.
How is content beneficial to your private practice?
Content helps you to reach your audience in many ways. First, if you have a website, a few keyword-rich posts help your website rank higher in a search engine. If you are on a social media platform (or many), your content gives your potential clients insight into the knowledge you know and your therapeutic style in an easily accessible manner. Basically quality content is a free marketing tool.
What does a therapist need to know about content?
Strong content is apart the foundation to your marketing strategy. It is especially helpful in a service based business because, it explains something that is often intangible. Imagine for a moment you were a person who wasn't feeling like themselves, and they never heard of your therapy practice. Based off of what they explained to you, you know you could help them, but, you have no physical evidence of this. If you direct this person to your website,having content that reflects not only what you do, but what you can deliver to this person helps this potential client make a decision.
What you need to know is this: Having quality content is a strong marketing tool that can do wonders for your business, with very little finances involved.
How therapists can get started in creating quality content for their business:
I'm not going to lie, at the beginning of creating quality content you are going to feel pretty overwhelmed. I always encourage people to go slow. Many people recognize how helpful having a social media account and a blog is, however, daily blog posts and, 5 Instagram posts a day, are cumbersome to start. So, be realistic about what you can do at the moment and work your way up. Below is a list of concepts that you want to keep in mind when you are starting out.
1. You need a well defined niche
The first step to content creation is having a well-defined niche. Remember a niche is a problem you help to solve. So, let's say your niche is, helping people identify depressive symptoms and navigating their healing through self-care. This niche can lead you to many different topics to cover. Your focus will likely be on self-care techniques and what depression can look like. However, if your niche was simply "depression" yes, there are many things to cover, but you'll be overwhelmed by the breadth of the topic and your audience will not want to sift through the content to find what they need.
I write more on finding your niche in this post. Check it out.
2. Identify your target market
Your target market is the people who are experiencing the problem. This is different for every therapist. Again you want to go beyond basic demographics and instead of saying, "I help adults," your market should be specific. This could look like, "I help working professional adult women, navigate depression with self-care techniques".
Learning to speak directly to your audiences helps them connection and return to your site(s) because they know your are addressing them specifically.
3. Brainstorm what they need to know
Your content is primarily about your audience. If you are helping them resolve a problem think about the information they need to have to help them resolve the issue they currently have. Brainstorm ways to help them solve this problem as well as information they need to have.
Helpful tip: Know what your audience has already tried, and what they are searching.
4. Identify what kind of content you want to create
Do you want content for social media, a blog, a podcast, or a Pinterest post? Are you needing content for your YouTube channel? You first want to decide on what kind of content you want to create. I suggest that you start with two kinds of content (one from each category):
Main Content (main content is the big piece of content with the most information)
Feeder Content (Smaller content that drives your audience to where you want them to be)
If your content ends with (click the link) and directs the recipient to a different app or website, then that is feeder content. Main content typically are blogs on a website, podcasts, and youtube videos. Feeder content can be Instagram posts and Facebook groups. Creating a big piece of content can be broken down into smaller pieces.
5. Do your research
Right before you begin the process of creating the content you want to do a final check to make sure this is the content your audience needs and wants. You want to research keywords around the content you are creating. You also want to capture the top answers your audience needs to move forward. Think about how this content will reach your audience. Also, consider anything that is on-trend at this time or things your audience would be talking about.
6. Create Away
Once you've completed the above steps it's time to start creating. Start with a basic outline, summarizing all of the things your potential clients need to know. Invest in a planner or task management system to help you complete the steps and potentially schedule out what you can.
You can use batching to create multiple pieces of information at once. To batch content, break down your content into steps and then complete each step for each piece at the same time. (Like an assembly line). For example, if you are writing three (3) blog posts, you would create three (3) outlines, then complete research for all three (3) at the same time, then you would complete each piece, next complete the graphics to include with the content.
Complicated but easier over time
Content creation can certainly be complicated, but it gets easier over time. What is helpful in the process is being very clear about what you are attempting to achieve with content. Your content helps to position you as a trusted source of knowledge and assistance. Do not be afraid to repeat yourself. Remember to offer quality information.
