Marketing Your Practice: What Works, What Converts, and Where to Start | GP 312

business change, digital marketing, google ads, group practice, Grow a Group, marketing, optimize, overwhelm, SEO, time savers, website

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Have you been leveraging marketing to grow your private practice? What are the main pillars of marketing that you can use to take your business to the next level? Where is the best place to start?

In this podcast episode, Brandon Shurn discusses his journey to growth in private practice with marketing.

Podcast Sponsor: Headway

I want to thank Headway for sponsoring this episode. If you run a group practice, you know that accepting insurance can be overwhelming. Between credentialing, billing, and payroll, the admin side can easily take over your week.

Headway was built to help you handle this — and they’re the only platform designed specifically for in-network group practices. Whether you’re growing your team or running an established practice, Headway makes the business side easier with faster credentialing, higher per-session rates, and biweekly payments your team can count on. They work with therapy, psychiatric, and hybrid groups — and there are no subscription fees. Just the support you need to run your practice with ease.

Run your best group practice with Headway — trusted by thousands of group practice leaders to simplify insurance admin and reach more people through in-network care.

Curious how Headway can work for you?

In This Podcast

A classic marketing definition
Different types of marketing
Brandon’s advice to listeners

A classic marketing definition

At its core, for me, marketing is the thing that you do to let a person know that you exist. That you have a business, and that you have services that they might want. (Brandon Shurn)

Marketing has two major functions:

To let people know that your business exists and that you offer services that they may need
To encourage people to purchase your services, offerings, and products by showing them your skills, expertise, and authenticity

When you utilize your marketing skills effectively, you can attract returning customers who purchase from your business repeatedly because they know, like, and trust you.

Different types of marketing

There are many different types of marketing, but some of the common ones include:

Content marketing, which can include blog posts, short-form videos, and emails. This type of marketing is great, especially at the start of your business journey, because it is free.

[Content marketing] is about creating valuable content and educational material that attracts your ideal client. (Brandon Shurn)

Social media marketing, which is more than putting content out on social media. This includes using live social media streams, instigating challenges, and courses for your audience to follow, for example.
Search engine optimization can also be a marketing tool.

It is about how high up your social media pages and website sit on the results page when prospective clients search for services like the ones you offer, and there are various ways that you can boost your SEO.

Paid advertising is another form of marketing that you can use, where you pay to place ads about your practice on various social media platforms.

[Paid ads] are a way of you renting the first page of Google … for whatever keywords you want to rank for … Similar to what happens with SEO and local SEO, I’ve engaged in utilizing Google Ads, and I had a lot of traction to my website, but there was not a lot of conversion. (Brandon Shurn)

Using paid ads showed Brandon that he needed to bolster his website to convert the clients that were landing on his page.

Referrals, which are worth their weight in gold. Word-of-mouth and referral marketing are highly effective and can generate numerous clients.

Brandon’s advice to listeners

Choose the strategy that works best for you.

You have to consider where you are in your business. Have you just launched your group practice? Do you have a clinician already, or do you have an intern already? What is the need for [the marketing]? (Brandon Shurn)

If you are a computer-wiz, get stuck into your SEO. If you are a creative, spend time creating beautiful marketing content. If you are a very social person, get out there and meet people. Use your strengths! And make it fun for yourself as well.

Remember, this is about putting the word out about your business, and the more authentically you do it, the more successful you’ll be at attracting your ideal client.

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Curious how Headway can work for you?

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Meet Prof. Brandon Shurn

Brandon Shurn, Ph.D., LCPC, LMHC, AFC®, NCC, is a licensed clinical professional counselor and the founder of EmPower Me Holistic Counseling, a fully virtual Maryland-based practice. He’s also a full-time professor in Seattle University’s online Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. With extensive experience launching and directing university training clinics, Brandon now focuses on helping therapists design and grow impactful, sustainable practices. Outside of his work, he enjoys fitness, yoga, Wing Chun, golf, reading, and spending time with his family and dogs.

Visit Empower Me Counseling, and connect with Brandon on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Email him at: brandon@practiceofthepractice.com

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