Many guides to marketing for therapists list the same tactics: a website, social media, ads. Fewer cover the rules that make a therapy practice different from a bakery: what your ethics code says about testimonials, what HIPAA says about emailing clients, and why a reply to a bad review can cost you. If you're a solo therapist asking how to get clients as a therapist without becoming a full-time marketer, this guide is for you.
It covers eight steps in the order that usually pays off: who you help, a website people can book from, directory profiles, referral relationships with physicians, schools and other therapists, local search, content, an email newsletter and community talks. Then come the ethics and HIPAA limits with sources, keeping the clients who find you (including a cancellation policy), what to measure, 20 marketing ideas checked against the codes, and a 30-day plan you can copy.
No guide can promise you clients, income or a place in Google, and this one doesn't. Marketing makes you easier to find, understand, book and refer. Fit, your availability and your local market do the rest. Every therapist in the examples below is invented.
What marketing a therapy practice actually involves
Strip away the jargon and marketing for a therapy practice comes down to four jobs:
- Be findable where people look: search, maps, directories, insurance listings, and the people who refer.
- Be clear about who you help, how you work, what it costs and where you practice, so the right person recognizes themselves and the wrong person moves on.
- Be easy to book. A person who has decided to reach out should be able to take the next step in a minute, including at 11 at night when they finally feel ready.
- Be easy to refer. A physician, school counselor or colleague should be able to say in one sentence who you see and how to reach you.
Most practices need all four, but not all at once. A new practice usually gets its first clients from referral relationships and directory profiles while slower channels, like search and content, build up. An established practice with a waitlist may need only a clear website and a short referral list for when it's full.
There's also a fifth job that guides leave out: keep the clients who find you. A practice that loses new clients after one or two sessions, or loses a session a week to no-shows, has to market harder to stand still. Retention has its own section below.
Step 1: Define who you help (your niche)
A niche is the answer to "Who do you see?" in one sentence that a referrer can repeat. It isn't a cage: you can still see clients outside it. It is a filter that makes every other step easier, because your website, directory profile and referral conversations all start from it.
A useful niche names three things: who (age, life stage, relationship, community), what they're dealing with (in their words, not diagnostic codes) and how or where you work.
Three invented examples:
- An LCSW in Denver who sees "new and expecting parents who feel anxious or low, in person or by video in Colorado."
- An LMFT in Austin who works with "couples in the first five years of marriage who keep having the same argument."
- An LPC who works only by video with "adults in Ohio and Michigan who feel burned out in healthcare jobs."
Fill in this sentence before you touch your website:
Two rules keep a niche honest:
- Claim only what you're trained for.The ACA Code of Ethics says counselors practice "only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, state and national professional credentials, and appropriate professional experience" (ACA C.2.a). APA standard 2.01 says the same for psychologists. "Specializing in trauma" should rest on real trauma training and supervised experience.
- Write the outcome as what clients want to work toward, not a promise."Sleep through the night" or "stop fighting about money" describes the goal. "You will feel better in eight sessions" is a claim about results, which the codes treat strictly (more on that below).
Test your sentence on a colleague: if they can repeat it back after hearing it once, it's ready.
Step 2: A practice website people can book from
Your website is where every other channel sends people: a directory profile links to it, a physician hands out its address, a talk ends with it on the last slide. It has to answer the questions a visitor is asking (is this the right person, what is it like, what does it cost, how do I start) and then let them start.
What a bookable therapy website needs, at minimum:
- A first screen built from your niche sentence, with your name, photo and license.
- Fees and insurance in plain sight: your fee and session length, any sliding scale, and which plans you're in network with. If you see self-pay or uninsured clients, the No Surprises Act rules require a notice about good faith estimates on your website (45 CFR 149.610).
- Where you practice: your office address and, for video sessions, the states you're licensed in.
- One way to book, on every page. Online booking lets someone pick a time the moment they decide, including evenings and weekends when you're not answering the phone. If you'd rather speak to new clients first, offer a short consultation call as the bookable first step.
- A crisis line in the footer: you can't respond to emergencies; call or text 988, or call 911.
- Privacy basics: a contact form that asks for little, your privacy policy, your Notice of Privacy Practices if HIPAA applies, and no advertising trackers on booking or intake pages (see the HIPAA section below).
Our guide to therapist website examples has six invented sites by practice type, a page-by-page checklist and a homepage template. If you'd like to see a working version before you write a word, practice.tranqbay.health shows template sites for invented therapists and the booking page their clients use.
Step 3: Directory profiles that read like you
Directories are where many people start looking, and a good profile can do a lot of work for a new practice. Think in categories rather than brands:
- Therapist directories:national listings where people filter by location, concern, insurance, fee and format.
- Insurance directories:each payer's provider search, where you appear once you're credentialed.
- Community and identity directories:listings focused on a community, language, faith or identity, often used by people who want a therapist who shares or understands theirs.
- Professional association directories:state and national associations' "find a therapist" pages.
- Training and certification listings:some bodies that train or certify therapists in a method list their practitioners.
- Local referral lists:university counseling centers, hospitals, clinics and community information lines (such as 211) keep lists of local providers. Ask how to be added.
Most solo therapists do better with one or two complete, current profiles than with ten half-finished ones. Here is an outline that works across most of them:
Two details matter more than they look:
- Your license number may be required.Some states set rules for advertisements, and a directory profile advertises your services. California's Board of Behavioral Sciences, for example, requires LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs to include their full name as filed with the board, their license title and their license number in any advertisement (16 CCR 1811). Check your own board's rules.
- Keep insurance directories current. It's your job too.Under the No Surprises Act, providers must send directory information to a plan when a network agreement starts or ends, when there are material changes to that information, and at other times, including when the plan asks (42 U.S.C. 300gg-139). A wrong phone number or an old address in a payer's directory sends people to a dead end, and some won't try again.
Step 4: Referral relationships with physicians, schools and other therapists
Referrals are often the steadiest source of clients for a solo practice, and they cost time rather than money. The aim is a short list of people who know exactly who you see and trust that their patients, students or clients will be looked after.
Start with a one-page referral sheet
Write it once, keep it current, and leave it with everyone below:
Physicians and other medical providers
Primary care physicians, pediatricians, OB-GYNs, nurse practitioners and psychiatric prescribers see many people who need therapy and may struggle to find someone with openings. Call or visit the office manager first, not the physician, and ask how they handle behavioral health referrals. Offer your referral sheet, say how quickly you can usually see someone, and ask how they'd like to hear back.
Coordination is where trust is built, and where privacy rules apply. HIPAA allows a covered provider to disclose information for another provider's treatment activities (45 CFR 164.506(c)), but state law, substance use rules and your ethics code can be stricter, and many therapists get a signed release before any update. A simple practice: at intake, ask whether the client wants you to coordinate with the referrer, and get a signed release of information if they do.
Schools
School counselors, school psychologists and school social workers refer students and families all year. Some schools give families a list of several providers rather than recommending one, so ask how their list works and what they need from you: the ages you see, whether you see families, your availability after school, your fees and insurance, and whether you offer video sessions. For minors, consent and confidentiality rules vary by state; be ready to explain how you handle them with parents.
Other therapists
Your colleagues are referral sources and the people you'll refer to when you're full or a client isn't a fit. Introduce yourself to therapists who see a different population (a couples therapist and an individual trauma therapist refer to each other naturally), join or start a peer consultation group, and keep your own list of trusted colleagues by specialty, fee and openings. Referring out well is marketing too: people remember the therapist who helped them find someone.
Thanking a referrer without breaking confidentiality
Telling a physician "thanks for sending Jordan" confirms that Jordan is your client. Before you confirm anything to a referrer, get the client's written permission. Without it, thank referrers in general terms ("thanks for thinking of my practice") and never in a way that names or describes anyone.
No referral fees
Paying or being paid for referrals is off limits under every major code. Counselors "do not participate in fee splitting, nor do they give or receive commissions, rebates, or any other form of remuneration when referring clients" (ACA A.10.b). Social workers "are prohibited from giving or receiving payment for a referral when no professional service is provided by the referring social worker" (NASW 1.16(c)). Psychologists' payments must be "based on the services provided" and "not based on the referral itself" (APA 6.07). For any service paid by Medicare, Medicaid or other federal health programs, the federal anti-kickback statute makes paying for referrals a crime (HHS Office of Inspector General). A thank-you note is fine; anything of value tied to referrals is not.
Step 5: Local search basics: Google Business Profile and a consistent name, address and phone
When someone searches "couples therapist near me", the map results come largely from business listings. For an in-person practice, the most important one is a Google Business Profile. Read Google's guidelines for representing your business before you create one, because a profile that breaks them can be suspended. The points that matter most for therapists:
- Use your real-world name.Your name "should reflect your business's real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers." Adding keywords ("Jane Doe Anxiety Therapy Denver") when that isn't your actual business name isn't allowed.
- Individual practitioners can have their own profile.Google lists doctors and similar professionals as individual practitioners, who can have a profile if they're public-facing and "can be contacted directly at the verified location during stated hours." A practitioner shouldn't have several profiles for different specialties.
- The address must be a real place you work.A mailing address you don't work from (a "virtual office") isn't eligible, and a coworking office needs signage, staff and client hours.
- Video-only practice?The guidelines are built around a location where you see people. If you only work by video, read them closely before you create a profile; yours may not qualify.
- Home office?If you see clients at home and list that address, it becomes public on the map. Decide whether that's acceptable before you publish.
Then make your name, address and phone match everywhere they appear: your website footer, your Google Business Profile, every directory profile, your insurance listings, and other map listings such as Apple Business Connect and Bing Places for Business. "Suite 200" in one place and "#200" in another is fine; a different phone number or an old address is not. Keep a simple list of every listing you have so you can update them all on the day something changes.
On the profile itself: pick the category that fits best, add your real hours, add photos of the office entrance and waiting area (no clients in frame), and link your website's booking page. Reviews are a separate question with real ethics limits, covered below.
Step 6: Content that answers the questions clients ask
Useful content is the slow channel. A page that answers a real question can bring visitors for years, but it rarely brings anyone in the first weeks. Start with what you already know people want to ask:
- Write down the questions you hear in consultation calls for two weeks. "What happens in the first session?" "How do I know if couples therapy is right for us?" "Do you take my insurance?" "Does video therapy work for teenagers?"
- Answer one per page, in plain words, for the client, not for other clinicians.
- Give each service and each location its own page, with the words people actually search ("anxiety therapy in Columbus", "online therapy in Ohio").
- Link each new page from your website menu or a related page, and from your directory profile if it allows links.
One useful page a month you can keep up beats a weekly post you'll abandon in March. A talk can become a page, and a page can become a newsletter.
The ethics codes treat public writing as a professional act:
- When counselors give advice or comment through talks, articles or other media, they take reasonable precautions to ensure that statements "are based on appropriate professional counseling literature and practice" and that readers "are not encouraged to infer that a professional counseling relationship has been established" (ACA C.6.c; APA 5.04 says the same for psychologists). A line like "This page is general information, not therapy" helps.
- Leave client stories out. APA 4.07 allows confidential, personally identifiable client information in writings or lectures only when the person is disguised, has consented in writing, or the law authorizes it, and a disguise can fail in a small community. NASW 1.07(r) asks social workers to avoid posting "any identifying or confidential information about clients on professional Web sites or other forms of social media." Invented examples are the safe default.
Social media is optional. If you use it, the ACA code asks for separate professional and personal profiles (H.6.a), an explanation of your social media boundaries in your informed consent (H.6.b), respect for clients' own social media presence unless they consent (H.6.c), and precautions "to avoid disclosing confidential information through public social media" (H.6.d). In practice: don't follow or friend clients, and don't reply to a comment in a way that confirms someone is your client.
Step 7: An email newsletter that stays within HIPAA
A short newsletter keeps you in mind with people who already know you: past workshop attendees, colleagues, referrers and people who signed up on your website. It's also where many therapists slip on privacy, because the list itself can be protected health information.
Keep two lists apart
- A public list:people who signed up through a form on your website or at a talk. They asked to hear from you.
- Your clients:never added to a marketing list automatically. The fact that someone is on a list of your clients is health information about them.
What HIPAA says about marketing
If HIPAA applies to your practice, the Privacy Rule defines marketing as "a communication about a product or service that encourages recipients of the communication to purchase or use the product or service," and you generally need a client's written authorization before you use their information for marketing (45 CFR 164.501; 45 CFR 164.508(a)(3)). There are exceptions. A communication describing a health-related service that you provide, or one made for a client's treatment or care coordination, isn't marketing, unless a third party pays you to send it (that's also in 164.501). HHS's guidance on marketing walks through examples. Face-to-face conversations and promotional gifts of nominal value don't need an authorization either.
What that means for a solo practice:
- Telling clients about your own new group or added evening hours generally isn't marketing under HIPAA. Ask before you add anyone, though: clients can feel pressure to say yes to their own therapist, and counselors don't use counseling relationships to promote products or training events in a way that "would exert undue influence" (ACA C.3.f).
- Promoting someone else's product or program to clients (a colleague's paid course, an app, a retreat) is marketing and needs authorization. If you're paid for it, the authorization has to say so.
- Never sell or share your client list. A sale of protected health information needs each person's authorization.
- Your email service sees the list. If client addresses go into a newsletter tool, that vendor is handling protected health information on your behalf, and HHS's marketing guidance says you need the vendor's agreement, as a business associate, to use it only for your communications. Many practices avoid the issue by keeping clients off the newsletter and sending practice updates through their usual client communication tool.
- Never put clients in the To or CC line of a group email. Everyone would see who else is a client.
What the email law requires
Newsletters that promote your services are commercial email under the CAN-SPAM Act. The FTC's compliance guide lists the main rules: accurate "From" and subject lines, a valid physical postal address (a registered post office box counts, which helps if you work from home), a clear way to opt out, and opt-outs honored within 10 business days.
What to put in it
Keep it short: one useful idea, one practice update (openings, a new group, an office move), one local resource, and a crisis line in the footer. Monthly or quarterly is plenty. If you sign up people at a talk, collect addresses on a sign-up sheet they fill in themselves, not from the attendee list.
Step 8: Community talks and workshops
A talk lets people hear how you think before they ever book, and it builds relationships with the organizations that host you. Good places to offer one:
- Public libraries and community centers
- Parent nights at schools and parent groups
- Faith communities
- Employers' lunch-and-learn sessions and HR teams
- Community colleges and adult education programs
- Staff meetings at primary care or pediatric offices
- Professional groups whose clients you see (for example, family lawyers if you work with divorcing parents)
Pitch with a short email: two or three talk titles written for the audience ("Helping your teen through exam stress", "Sleep and new parenthood"), the length, what you'll need, and a line saying the talk is educational, not a sales pitch.
During the talk:
- Teach one useful thing the audience can use that week.
- Stay general. Don't assess or advise individuals from the front of the room. If someone shares something personal, offer to talk privately afterward, and give crisis numbers if needed. ACA C.6.c and APA 5.04 apply here too.
- Don't work the room. APA 5.06 bars "uninvited in-person solicitation of business" from people who are vulnerable to undue influence, and NASW 4.07(a) says the same for potential clients. At a grief or recovery group, that rules out approaching attendees to offer sessions. A handout with your website and booking link lets people choose for themselves.
- If you charge for a workshop, describe it accurately: APA 5.03 asks for the audience, objectives, presenters and fees, and ACA C.3.e asks that workshop ads "disclose adequate information for consumers to make informed choices."
Afterward, thank the host, offer to come back, and note the talk as a source in your tracking sheet.
Paid ads: optional, and with limits
Search ads can put you in front of people searching for a therapist now, but they cost money every month, and health ads come with rules most small businesses don't face:
- Targeting is restricted.Google's personalized advertising policy lists health, abuse and trauma, and relationship hardships among sensitive categories with targeting restrictions. In practice, you can't target people based on their health.
- Some services need certification.Google restricts ads for recovery-oriented drug and alcohol addiction services to certified advertisers in many locations (Google's healthcare and medicines policy).
- Keep ad pixels off booking and intake pages.HHS guidance explains that tracking technologies on pages where people book appointments or enter health information can send that information to the tracking vendor, which then needs a business associate agreement (HHS guidance on online tracking technologies). In June 2024 a federal court set aside one part of that guidance: that HIPAA applies when a tracker links someone's IP address with a mere visit to a public page about health conditions or providers. The rest, including what it says about booking and login pages, is still on the HHS page.
- Ads are advertising.Your board's advertising rules, any license-number rule, and the accuracy standards below all apply. APA 5.02(c) adds that a paid advertisement "must be identified or clearly recognizable as such."
- Measure consultations, not clicks.Decide a test budget and an end date before you start, and count how many consultations and first sessions the ads produced.
If money is tight, spend time on referrals and your directory profile first. Ads amplify a clear website and profile; they don't replace them.
The ethics rules every therapist marketing plan has to follow
Most marketing advice is written for businesses with no ethics code. Yours has one, and your licensing board can enforce its own rules too. These are the standards that come up most.
Testimonials
- Counselors:"Counselors who use testimonials do not solicit them from current clients, former clients, or any other persons who may be vulnerable to undue influence. Counselors discuss with clients the implications of and obtain permission for the use of any testimonial" (ACA C.3.b).
- Social workers:should not solicit testimonial endorsements from current clients or others vulnerable to undue influence, "including solicitation of consent to use a client's prior statement as a testimonial endorsement" (NASW 4.07(b)). A kind email from a current client can't be turned into a quote by asking permission.
- Psychologists:"do not solicit testimonials from current therapy clients/patients or other persons who because of their particular circumstances are vulnerable to undue influence" (APA 5.05).
- Marriage and family therapists:the AAMFT Code of Ethics and state MFT associations have their own standards on testimonials and advertising; check the current version that applies to you.
HIPAA adds a second layer. A testimonial that shows someone is your client discloses their health information, so it needs their written authorization on top of the ethics rules.
Online reviews
An online review is a public statement about your services, often by a client. Asking clients to post one runs into the same rules on soliciting testimonials, which is why many therapists don't ask at all. Google's own policy also forbids businesses to "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers" (Google Maps content policy), and the FTC's rule on consumer reviews bans fake reviews, buying reviews that express a particular view, and undisclosed reviews by a business's own officers or managers (16 CFR Part 465).
You can't stop clients from posting reviews. What you can control is your reply. In 2023 a New Jersey psychiatric practice agreed to pay HHS $30,000 and follow a corrective action plan over its replies to four patients' Google reviews, which HHS's investigation indicated had disclosed their health information (HHS resolution agreement). The safe pattern is a reply that confirms nothing, or no reply at all:
Accuracy of every claim
- Counselors identify their credentials "in an accurate manner that is not false, misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent" (ACA C.3.a), claim only licenses and certifications "that are current and in good standing" (C.4.b), and don't imply doctoral-level competence by calling themselves "Dr." in a counseling context when their doctorate isn't in counseling or a related field (C.4.d).
- Psychologists don't make false, deceptive or fraudulent statements about their training, degrees, credentials, services, "the scientific or clinical basis for, or results or degree of success of, their services," or their fees (APA 5.01(b)). The standard covers directory listings, brochures and talks by name (5.01(a)).
- Social workers make sure their representations of "qualifications, credentials, education, competence, affiliations, services provided, or results to be achieved are accurate" (NASW 4.06(c)).
In practice: write "trained in EMDR" if you're trained but not certified, list only current licenses, don't promise results or timelines, and keep "specialist" for areas where your training backs it up.
What others say about you
You're responsible for marketing you pay for. Psychologists who engage others to create or place public statements "retain professional responsibility for such statements" (APA 5.02(a)), and counselors make reasonable efforts to ensure that statements others make about them are accurate (ACA C.3.c). Read every word an agency, directory copywriter or web designer writes for you before it goes live.
Recruiting from your job
If you start a private practice while employed at an agency, don't recruit its clients. Counselors "do not use their places of employment or institutional affiliation to recruit clients, supervisors, or consultees for their private practices" (ACA C.3.d), and social workers shouldn't solicit a private fee from clients entitled to the service through their employer (NASW 1.13(c)). Check your employment agreement too.
Retention: keeping the clients who find you
Every client who stops after one session, and every no-show, undoes some of your marketing. Retention isn't about keeping people in therapy longer than they need; it's about removing the practical reasons good-fit clients drop out.
Respond fast and set expectations early
- Answer new inquiries quickly, ideally the same or next business day. Someone who reaches out may be contacting several therapists at once.
- Use the consultation call to check fit, fees, format and availability. If you're not the right fit, refer the person on; that reputation feeds your referrals.
- Explain the first session before it happens: how long it is, what you'll ask, the forms to fill in, and how to join a video session. Our guide to the therapy intake form covers what to collect.
Put your cancellation policy in writing
Clients should know your fees and policies before the first session. The ACA code asks counselors to inform clients about "fees and billing arrangements, including procedures for nonpayment of fees" (A.2.b), and APA 6.04 asks psychologists to reach an agreement on compensation and billing "as early as is feasible." Put the policy in your informed consent and go over it at the first session; our informed consent example shows where it fits.
Insurance changes what you may charge:
- Medicare allows a charge for a missed appointment if your policy applies equally to all patients, Medicare and non-Medicare, the amount is the same for everyone, and the charge isn't billed to Medicare (Medicare Claims Processing Manual, chapter 1, section 30.3.13).
- Medicaid programs and commercial payer contracts have their own rules, and they may limit or bar missed-session fees for their members. Check each contract and your state's Medicaid rules before you set the fee line.
A policy you can adapt:
If you offer a sliding fee schedule, decide whether the missed-session fee follows the client's reduced fee or your full fee, and say which in writing.
Reminders and rebooking
Reminders reduce missed appointments. A 2016 systematic review in BMJ Open pooled 21 randomized studies across healthcare settings (not only therapy) and found no-show rates of 15% with text-based reminders against 21% without them; several reminders worked better than one (Robotham and colleagues, 2016). Keep reminder content to the date, time and how to join; leave out the reason for the visit. Clients can also ask you to contact them another way or at another address, and a covered provider "must accommodate reasonable requests" of that kind (45 CFR 164.522(b)).
Make the next session easy to book: schedule it before the session ends, or let returning clients book online at times you've opened. A client who has to email three times to find a slot is a client who drifts away.
What to measure each month
You don't need analytics software to know what's working. You need one question at intake, "How did you hear about me?", and a monthly scorecard. Keep it to counts: once a sheet holds client names, it's part of your protected records and needs the same care.
How to read it:
- Inquiries but few first sessions usually means a fit, fee or availability problem, or a slow reply. Look at the consultation call and your response time before you spend more on visibility.
- First sessions but few clients at session 4 points at the early experience: expectations, scheduling, or fit. It's worth a look before you look for more clients.
- A source with hours spent and no inquiries after three months is a candidate to drop. Small numbers swing a lot month to month, so judge on three-month totals.
- Directory and Google profiles have their own view counts. Use them to see whether people find you, and the scorecard to see whether they book.
20 therapist marketing ideas, checked against the ethics codes
Every idea below fits a solo practice and the codes above:
- Write your one-sentence niche and use it everywhere.
- Put your fee, insurance stance and states on your homepage.
- Make booking one step from every page of your site.
- Offer a short consultation call as a bookable first step.
- Complete one therapist directory profile fully, with a booking link.
- Check every insurance directory listing you have.
- Create or correct your Google Business Profile, if you're eligible.
- Make your name, address and phone match in every listing.
- Leave a referral sheet with three primary care or pediatric offices.
- Introduce yourself to the counselors at two local schools.
- Swap referral sheets with three therapists who see different clients.
- Join or start a monthly peer consultation group.
- Keep a list of colleagues to refer to when you're full.
- Write one page answering the question you hear most in consultations.
- Give each service and location its own page.
- Offer a talk to a library, school or employer.
- Start a quarterly newsletter for people who sign up.
- Write a short social media policy for your informed consent.
- Ask every new client "How did you hear about me?" and count the answers.
- Review your cancellation policy and make rebooking easy.
And four to skip: asking clients for reviews or testimonials, paying for referrals, using client stories (even disguised), and putting ad pixels on booking or intake pages.
A 30-day marketing plan you can copy
About three to five hours a week. Move the days around your caseload; the order matters more than the dates.
After the first month, keep a lighter rhythm: one referral contact a week, one page or newsletter a month, a scorecard review at month end, and a full listings check every quarter.
Common marketing mistakes therapists make
- Writing for other clinicians. "Integrative, client-centered, evidence-based" tells a client nothing. Say who you help and what it's like.
- Ten half-finished profiles. One or two complete, current ones do more.
- An out-of-date insurance listing that sends people to an old number.
- No way to book outside office hours, so people who decide at night move on to the next name.
- Asking happy clients for reviews. It conflicts with the testimonial standards and Google's policy on selective requests.
- Replying to a bad review with details. Confirm nothing; take the conversation offline.
- Thanking referrers by name without the client's written permission.
- Ad pixels on booking pages, sending health information to an ad platform.
- Clients on the newsletter list by default.
- Marketing harder while losing clients after session one. Fix the early experience first.
- Judging a channel after two weeks, or never judging it at all.
How this works in TranqBay
TranqBay is practice software for therapists in private practice: a practice website, online booking, video sessions, session notes and forms in one place. Here is where it fits the steps above.
- A practice website with booking built in. Your site is the place every directory profile, referral sheet and talk handout points to.
- Online booking clients can use at any hour, at the times you've opened. Someone who decides at 11 at night can pick a time then, and returning clients can book their next session without an email chain.
- Video sessions that are HIPAA-ready. TranqBay signs a Business Associate Agreement with you; you can read the Business Associate Agreement before you store anything.
- Forms clients fill in online. The form library has ready-made templates you send to a client for a session, including intake, consent to treat, telehealth consent, release of information, the PHQ-9 and the GAD-7. The client fills them in online and the answers wait with the session. The release of information form covers the permission you'll want before you update a referring physician. TranqBay doesn't score the measures; you add up the totals.
Frequently asked questions about marketing for therapists
How do I get clients as a therapist?
Define who you help in one sentence, make sure people can find and book you (a website with booking and one or two complete directory profiles), and build referral relationships with physicians, schools and other therapists. Then ask every new client how they found you and put your time into the sources that work. Results depend on your fit, availability and local market, so no method can promise a number.
What is the best marketing for a new private practice?
For most new solo practices, referral relationships and a complete directory profile tend to produce first clients sooner than content, which takes months to build, and cost less than ads. Both work better when they point to a website people can book from. Our guide to becoming a private practice therapist covers the rest of the setup.
How long does therapist marketing take to work?
It varies by channel and market. Referrals and directory profiles are usually the quicker channels; search and content usually take months to build. Give each channel about three months, with your scorecard, before you decide whether to keep it.
Can therapists ask clients for Google reviews?
The ACA, NASW and APA codes restrict soliciting testimonials from current clients and others vulnerable to undue influence, and the ACA code includes former clients. A review is a public statement about your services, so asking clients for one runs into those rules. Google's policy also forbids selectively asking for positive reviews. Many therapists don't ask at all and build trust with a clear website, credentials and a description of the first session.
Can I use testimonials on my therapy website?
Check your code and your board first. The codes bar soliciting them from current clients (and, for counselors, former clients), and if HIPAA applies to you, a testimonial that shows someone is your client needs their written authorization. Many therapists leave testimonials off entirely.
How should I respond to a negative online review?
Don't confirm that the person is or was your client, and don't share any details. Reply with a short statement that you don't discuss whether anyone is a client and invite them to call, or don't reply. HHS has reached a resolution agreement with a psychiatric practice over review replies that disclosed patients' information.
Do I need a Google Business Profile if I only see clients by video?
Maybe not. Google's guidelines are built around a real location where you serve clients during stated hours, and a mailing address you don't work from isn't eligible. A video-only practice may not qualify; put your effort into your website, directory profiles and referrals instead.
Can I pay for referrals?
No. The ACA, NASW and APA codes bar payment for referrals, and for services paid by Medicare, Medicaid or other federal health programs, the federal anti-kickback statute makes it a crime. Payments between professionals should be for services actually provided.
How much should a therapist spend on marketing?
There's no reliable benchmark for solo practices. Most of the steps here cost time rather than money. If you pay for a listing or ads, set a budget and an end date, and compare the cost with the consultations and first sessions it produced on your scorecard.
What should a therapist directory profile say?
Open with who you help and what they're dealing with, describe what working with you is like and what happens in the first session, list your fee, insurance, format and states, include your license (and number where your state requires it), and end with one link to your booking page.
Before you start
Write your one-sentence niche today, then work through the 30-day plan a day at a time. Each day's task is small, and by the end you'll have a referral sheet, a current profile, consistent listings, one useful page and a scorecard that tells you where your clients come from.
Every step points people to the same place, so make that place easy to book. If you're setting up or replacing your site, practice.tranqbay.health shows a practice website with online booking clients can use at any hour, so the person who finds your directory profile at night can pick a time instead of waiting for a callback. If you're deciding whether to join, this page explains how joining TranqBay works, and you'll find more guides for therapists in private practice on the blog.
Sources
Associations 4HHS 4Regulations 8Federal 1CMS 1Google 4Research 1988 Lifeline 1
Professional associations4
- 1American Counseling Association, 2014 ACA Code of Ethics, standards A.2.b, A.10.b, C.2.a, C.3.a to C.3.f, C.4.b, C.4.d, C.6.c and H.6counseling.orghttps://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/ethics/2014-aca-code-of-ethics.pdf
- 2National Association of Social Workers, Code of Ethics, Ethical Responsibilities as Professionals (4.06, 4.07)socialworkers.orghttps://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English/Social-Workers-Ethical-Responsibilities-as-Professionals
- 3National Association of Social Workers, Code of Ethics, Ethical Responsibilities to Clients (1.07, 1.13, 1.16)socialworkers.orghttps://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English/Social-Workers-Ethical-Responsibilities-to-Clients
- 4American Psychological Association, Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, standards 2.01, 4.07, 5.01 to 5.06, 6.04 and 6.07apa.orghttps://www.apa.org/ethics/code
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services4
- 5HHS, Marketing under the HIPAA Privacy Rulehhs.govhttps://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/marketing/index.html
- 6HHS Office for Civil Rights, Use of Online Tracking Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities and Business Associateshhs.govhttps://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/hipaa-online-tracking/index.html
- 7HHS Office for Civil Rights, Manasa Health Center resolution agreement and corrective action planhhs.govhttps://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/compliance-enforcement/agreements/manasa-ra-cap/index.html
- 8HHS Office of Inspector General, Fraud and Abuse Laws (anti-kickback statute)oig.hhs.govhttps://oig.hhs.gov/compliance/physician-education/fraud-abuse-laws/
Laws and regulations8
- 945 CFR 164.501: definitions, including marketing (eCFR)ecfr.govhttps://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-C/part-164/subpart-E/section-164.501
- 1045 CFR 164.506: uses and disclosures for treatment, payment and health care operations (eCFR)ecfr.govhttps://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-C/part-164/subpart-E/section-164.506
- 1145 CFR 164.508: uses and disclosures requiring an authorization (eCFR)ecfr.govhttps://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-C/part-164/subpart-E/section-164.508
- 1245 CFR 164.522: rights to request privacy protection, including confidential communications (eCFR)ecfr.govhttps://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-C/part-164/subpart-E/section-164.522
- 1345 CFR 149.610: good faith estimates for uninsured or self-pay individuals (eCFR)ecfr.govhttps://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-B/part-149/subpart-G/section-149.610
- 1442 U.S.C. 300gg-139: provider requirements for provider directory information (LII)law.cornell.eduhttps://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/300gg-139
- 15California Code of Regulations, title 16, section 1811: advertising (LII)law.cornell.eduhttps://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/16-CCR-1811
- 1616 CFR Part 465: use of consumer reviews and testimonials (eCFR)ecfr.govhttps://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-465
Other federal agencies1
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services1
Google4
- 19Google Business Profile Help, Guidelines for representing your business on Googlesupport.google.comhttps://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en
- 20Google Maps User Generated Content Policy, Prohibited and restricted contentsupport.google.comhttps://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114?hl=en
- 21Google Ads policies, Restricted targeting in personalized advertisingsupport.google.comhttps://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/143465?hl=en
- 22Google Ads policies, Healthcare and medicinessupport.google.comhttps://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/176031?hl=en