Is consistently blogging for your therapy practice on your 2023 list of things to do to improve the business? Or have you written it off as another lofty goal, like that dream to write a book someday, re-do the website, or automate your new clinician training process?
As a business owner, you’re are probably familiar with the idea of working on your business vs. working for it, although with clients to see and billing to review you still may struggle to take the time you need to market yourself and your practice.
However, 2023 is here, and now more than ever, your clients need to hear your voice. Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok are teeming with mental health posts and support for those scouring the internet for tips and tools to help them navigate their inner and outer worlds. Your voice should be among them.
Still hesitant? Keep reading, and perhaps we can help change your mind.
Through blogging and social media, your ability to help and heal reaches well beyond the walls of your office and the limitations of your geography to encompass anyone with the internet.
From their appointments to their social feeds, today’s global audience demands content that makes them feel heard. Blogs, content, and social posts pop up every day, but so often, it’s the voices of other experts who are populating these spaces. While they may have important insights, it’s your training that has prepared you to help others through some of the most difficult times of their lives. You have a voice that matters.
By setting intentions for your blog and using your social media to expand your reach, you can grow your audience while meeting the needs of people who benefit from your expertise.
Blogging intentionally is a concise way to say that you’re using your words and space to advocate for what matters to you, your clients, and your practice. Intentional blogging is a precision tool with a broad stroke impact.
By spending the time to craft an intention that matters to you, you’ll set yourself up for greater success with a lower energy expenditure in achieving it. That success ultimately means a blogging plan you can stick to.
Having a clearly defined intention means that the blogs you write focus on establishing you as an expert—a place to turn when someone has questions about the topics or issues you specialize in.
It also means that you’re sprinkling content confetti across the internet that leads back to you and your expert spaces. You can create a path to higher traffic and more consistent engagement through search engine optimization (SEO) through intention.
Using companies like us who specialize in thought leadership and capturing your authentic voice, SEO keywords are developed using your intention as the foundation of your blogging plan. That intention will set the tone for developing the curated hashtags, keywords, and topics to help you succeed efficiently and passionately.
To develop an intention for your blogging practice and then put it into action, you’ll have to do quite a bit of reflection. It’s important to consider what you want to achieve as a clinician and how you must perform as a business to succeed. Moreover, defining success itself is an integral part of setting intentions.
Will you consider yourself successful when you’re making a particular profit margin? Is it the number of patients you impact, a full caseload? Maybe a specific recognition or accreditation represents success to you. Or perhaps, like so many of us, it’s a nuanced balance of things like this.
When you spend your energy reflecting on the definition of success, you’re able to be more clear about your purpose and the steps towards your goal. Those concepts and revelations will inform the way you practice. From the clients you take on to the blogs that you post, undertaking the process about how and why you’re doing what you do will reshape the way you think about your role. Defining your why and setting business intentions to cultivate a seamless web presence through your blog and social media is a hidden treasure of possibility in your potential.
As you look at your intentions for your blog, we recommend considering the following questions:
Answering these questions in sequential order will allow you to build on the previous answer, further shaping the response and giving you an idea of what kind of content you should focus on when setting your intention. For example, for someone writing for their current clients, looking to offer support or invite them to additional services like workshops, it wouldn’t make sense to spend your valuable energy on creating content focused on someone who isn’t yet in therapy.
Identifying your audience is as vital as committing to the kind of relationship you want to establish with them as you draw them in. Whether you’re offering expertise, anecdotes, or both, you’ll see the most success with well-developed intentions.
There are many steps and secret formulas involved in blogging thoughtfully so that you consistently see traffic on your content and results in your client base. When you partner with marketing agencies specializing in counseling and therapeutic content like Theory About That, many of those steps can be done for you. Still, even when you’re working with us, there are three key tools you can use so that your business will benefit right now.
Your passion for your work should be at the heart of your brand voice. First, look inward toward your ideals and values to get an accurate picture of where you find passion in your work with clients. Then, use that passion to formulate the ideas that seem to help those clients most. That's what you need to be writing about.
To discover your passions, ask yourself:
“What clients do I most look forward to seeing?”
“Which clients on my caseload are refreshing to my soul?”
“Where have I seen the most success with clients?”
Your social media presence is the spotlight on a virtual stage, illuminating the things you know and the passion you have for the work you can do. Reflecting on this is essential for developing your blogging intentions. A content plan you’re passionate about is one you’ll be excited to think about, implement and promote as your audience and client base grow in response.
The best gift you can give your client, your business, and yourself is to be authentic in the intentions you set. A genuine interest in the topics you’re sharing will mean you can offer a more developed perspective for those engaging with your blog, whether they’re brand new to the concepts you’re presenting or just new to your platform.
To best find the overlap between your authentic message and booming blog traffic, research key terms in your market. Then, using long-tailed keywords instead of single words, put the ideas that matter to you into a search engine.
Pay attention to the top indexed thoughts and ideas, as well as the related terms in the search bar as you’re typing. Look at them thoughtfully, and consider how they fit with your goals for your business. Are these the terms and ideas that matter to your brand and your clients or prospective clients? If so, you’re successfully putting your hope into word form to curate blogs and ideas that accomplish your business goals. Your clients will respond to your authenticity with more enthusiasm than a measured metric.
Knowing precisely what you want to say and how you want your reader to feel will help you hit the right notes every time without starting from scratch. Be clear about what you want to communicate and how you want your reader to feel as you express it.
Whether it’s goals or intentions you’re setting, clarity will help you do it with less work and a more significant impact every time. The key terms identified in your authenticity reflection will help you to develop a blogging plan that is clear and consistent to carry you through the coming weeks or months with intention.
When developing a content strategy for our clients, we developed an in-house tool based on these three keys to hone in on what matters to you and then amplify it back through proven strategy without erasing your individuality. Using tools that support your ability to amplify your voice without compromising your intention will offer you results that make blogging an exciting way to engage with your clients outside of sessions.
Well-developed blog posts in line with those intentions can also develop additional social content. Creating a network of connected ideas that offer diverse opportunities for exposure maximizes your engagement without adding extra work. It can turn your business blog into a content plan that spells success for your social presence as well as your client portfolio.
Blogging is at the intersection of art and science, scenically overlooking a global stage of possibility. When you put your heart and soul into the words that represent your business, you create the opportunity for an audience that may become potential clients or just loyal supporters. People who feel understood by an empathetic expert will return, time and again, to the source that made them feel valid in their experiences. Right here, right now, you have the power to shape lives. Begin today by setting an intention for your 2023 blog and let Theory About That tailor the way you present it to the world.
