Private Practice Branding For Babies
Graduate school for therapists has absolutely zero training in marketing and business development. If you have NO idea what a brand is—but have continued to hear you NEED one—you are not alone.
In this blog, we’re going to break down what a brand actually is, and guide you step-by-step on how to find your brand as a private practice therapist.
What is your brand?
A brand is much more than a logo and business name.
A brand is a feeling or vibe of your business. It’s the personality of your business.
As a therapist in private practice, people are quite literally paying to work with YOU. They are choosing you because of your vibe. Because of the unique things that you offer. Your brand (and brand identity) allow you to communicate that to your ideal client without explicitly saying “hiiiiii this is my brand!!!”.
Ultimately, a potential client viewing your website chooses to reach out to you based on the impression left by your product (or services). This impression is your brand identity.
The goal of a brand is to make your client feel something when they interact with your business. You can do this with colors, photos, type, copy, logo, values, and services (aka content).
How do you build a therapy brand?
There are three components to building any brand. Spoiler alert, it begins and ends with YOU.
The three components of building a brand are:
Knowing Your Why
Knowing Your Competition
Knowing how you want people to feel
1. Know Your Why
For private practice, knowing your why is the place to start. Get clear with yourself and your goals. Get cozy, set the scene, and ask yourself the following questions:
Why are you starting a private practice?
What are your goals for your private practice?
Why are you interested in helping people with their mental health?
Why are you interested in working with your ideal client’s issues?
Why private practice and not community mental health?
Using the answers to these questions helps guide you better understand the foundation of your business.
2. Know Your Competition
As a private practitioner, people are literally hiring you for YOU. They want to experience what it’s like to work with you as a therapist. This means you have to know what makes you different than your completion.
Ask yourself (and do some research):
What separates you from the masses?
Is it your unique hobbies? Specific training or professional experience you possess? Your religious or spiritual lens? Your lived experience?
What’s your vibe? Are you playful or serious? Somewhere in between?
3. Know how you want to make people feel
When someone comes across your business (Instagram, website, Facebook page), what’s the vibe you want them to feel? Your online presence should reflect what it's like working with you.
This includes the: visual/fonts/colors/copy of your website. Your visuals play into what it’s like working with you. Allow people to have an understanding of how you work, speak, and think based on your website’s branding.
Your website is a portal into your work with people.
What does branding include?
Branding is much more than colors with a fancy logo. It’s a visual and strategic language that talks to your ideal client in meaningful ways. Good branding makes people feel something toward your business and leaves a lasting impression.
To determine your business’ brand get clear on these four things:
Strategy: Know your business’ mission, vision, values, value proposition. Use our branding guide to help you determine these!
Competitors: Understand the competitive landscape by completing a competitor’s audit (look at other sites, visuals, and social).
Tone: Figure out what tone of voice and words you like/don’t like to use and then determine your business’ key messaging. This phrasing will eventually lead to people knowing, liking, and trusting you.
Visuals: Have a cohesive visual feel to your business. Determine your practice’s logo, colors, fonts, and supporting graphics.
Steps to build your brand
Start with Strategy. Use our brand guide to develop your business's mission, vision, values, and value proposition.
Build a mission. Using the brand therapy guide come up with a business mission statement.
Sample Mission Statements:
Premade: To provide easy-to-use, exciting, and relevant templates for wellness professionals. Giving them more time to enjoy their lives and spend less time stumbling over it.
Third Nature Therapy: Providing integrated therapy and mental health services for people and organizations through the mind-body connection.
Play and Public: We collaborate with innovators of the world to create and evolve their brand’s visual story.
Define Target Market and Audience: While you might know who your ideal client is (because you don’t have any, yet!) it doesn’t mean you can’t dream big and start to manifest who you’d like to work with. Get clear on what type of work feels like a “yes!” In your body and define what they are looking for in therapists.
Start Mood Boarding. Create an actual mood board with badass business examples or make a Pinterest page with visuals you love. Here’s Julie’s board for Third Nature Therapy. Looks different than where it ended up right? All part of the process, baby! This helps you start to get a feel of your brand.
Make it happen! Hire a branding expert or DIY your brand with Canva.
Share your brand. Add your brand to your platforms! Update your private practice website with the new branding, create posts on social media highlighting your new feel, and continue to show up. See who your brand is attracting and ask yourself if it’s working. Remember, you’re in charge and can always modify as needed. Finding out what your “no” feels like is just as valuable as your yes.
Next Steps
Download our brand therapy guide to get started on your branding journey! If you’re ready to launch a website and build the practice of your dreams, check out our templates!
LINDSEY FREEMAN is the Founder and Creative Director of PLAY & PUBLIC, a digital design studio specializing in Branding & SQUARESPACE DEVELOPMENT. Play & Public is a brand where ‘Play’ is how we exist in every moment as we strive to serve the ‘Public’ in making the world a better place through turning kickass brand stories into killer visuals.