Introduction to Marketing Funnels for Private Practice
Did you know that if you propose to someone on your first date, the chances of you getting rejected is almost always 100%?
That same scenario applies if you try to sell your products/services to prospects that only saw/interacted with your business for the first time.
Both in courting and marketing, you need to build the know, like and trust factors first before you can expect that your prospect would say yes to your offer.
And in the business world, that is how Marketing Funnels come into the picture.
To better understand what marketing funnel is. Imagine an actual funnel that people use in laboratories or the kitchen when pouring liquid. As you pour the liquid, this funnel will carefully guide the liquid as it travels down to the other end.
When it comes to selling, guiding prospects from the beginning of the funnel (awareness stage) until it reaches our goal of converting them into customers (purchase stage) can be done systematically when marketing funnels are applied.
As therapists, your goal is to make your website and social media visitors to call you for therapy. That’s the ultimate goal of marketing your services. However, most of these visitors won’t call/book your services simply because they are not yet ready.
Remember, these prospects need to know, like, and trust you first before they give you their sweet “yes”.
At the beginning of the funnel, the goal is to generate leads. This can be done by making your prospects do a specific interaction with you. This can be in the form of watching video content on your FB group/page, reading a blog post on your website, or signing up in exchange for an irresistible offer.
Once you get their attention, you need to nurture your relationship with your leads. You can keep them interested by continuously providing valuable information that can help solve their problems. This can be done through email marketing, posting on FB groups/page, newsletters, webinars, etc.. If you are becoming valuable to them, they will keep their relationship with you.
Qualified leads will look further and will transition to the consideration phase. The best types of content you can provide at this point are information about your services, free trials, or demos. They want to be sure that what you do is what they need. Showing them how you do things makes it easier for them to decide.
By guiding your prospect through the different phases of the funnel, your job becomes easier as they reach the end. With a healthy relationship built with trust, prospects will keep you in mind until they are ready to call for therapy.
This is the beauty of having a marketing funnel. You can have multiple touchpoints with your prospect allowing you to interact with them using the right type of content for each phase of the customer journey. By nurturing your relationship with your prospects, slowly they are developing a deeper connection with you.
From starting as friends, becoming close, and eventually developing trust to you and your services. When the time comes that they are ready to call you for help, in their minds, they have “pre-selected” you as their therapist already. Which results in finally getting that sweet “yes” you’ve been wanting.
This is not an overnight work. Building a lasting business takes effort and investment. But if you build it right, getting more calls from your target clients is not impossible.
If you need assistance on your website or marketing, let’s begin by assessing your current business status. Click this link to book a call with me.
