The pandemic has changed the way psychotherapy is currently provided. My local listserve is burning up with colleagues talking about the problems, ethical factors, insurance questions, the extra energy required, and more, regarding telehealth.
In business it is said that in a crisis many people suffer but some people become wealthy. For example, delivery companies (of packages and restaurant food), grocery stores, on-line shopping sites, on-line game sites (particularly bridge, canasta and mah jong), home-gym equipment outfitters, and, sadly, scammers are all currently experiencing a windfall.
Telehealth, with all its problems, has come out of the shadows. It is likely to remain popular long after this virus is contained. Many providers can’t wait until things return to “normal.”
Despite all the chatter, I have heard or seen little about how to make the best of providing services via telehealth: Until now, when I spoke about practice development marketing I typically referred to a potential client base within a 15-mile radius of the office, depending on the locale. With telehealth, particularly if you are taking only cash, your potential client base could be your entire city, your state, the country, and possibly even the world. (This assumes, of course, the ethical issues are resolved.) Coaches, however, have already been doing this for years.
To reach prospective distant clients marketing strategies can no longer be focused locally but must become global in nature.
Examples of global marketing include the following:
1. Write a book on a specific niche and promote it effectively. Nothing marks you more effectively as an expert than a well-written book on particular subject. People are willing to pay cash to see an “expert,” even, in some cases, if they have insurance. (Many patients pay cash to be treated by the Mayo Clinic, for instance, because of their reputation.)
2. Connect with a state or national organization that is related to the subject of your book. If that association promotes your book via their email list, your name, book and expertise will be exposed to hundred, perhaps thousands, of people across the country. You will sell more books and likely garner many new telehealth clients.
3. A well-crafted article can also serve to pose you as an expert. Articles should be sent to local and national magazines and newspapers. A chapter in your book can also be forwarded to similar media outlets.
4. Get on a podcast. Podcasts are extremely popular today. Some successful podcasters have, believe it or not, tens of thousands of subscribed listeners—from all over the country and the world. Google a listing of podcasters, select the ones that speak about your area of expertise and contact them. Give them a reason—a “hook,” as it’s known in the business—why their listeners would benefit from you being interviewed. Imagine, if for an hour, you sound knowledgeable, caring, and appealing in the ears of thousands of people worldwide. Think of what that would do for book sales and clients wanting your sage advice via telehealth.
5. Start your own podcast. This is surprisingly easy and inexpensive to do. Put out a podcast once a week, occasionally interviewing a guest. You will have to promote the podcast and develop a website to allow listeners to comment, ask questions and interact with fellow listeners. Your podcast will frame you as an expert which, again, should lead to increased book sales and more telehealth clients—and possibly requests for speaking.
By the way, if your podcast can attract a few hundred subscribed listeners, you will begin to receive requests from companies asking to advertise on your podcast and website. I have worked with several mental health providers who earn well over six figures by sponsors paying them to advertise on their platforms.
6. Absolutely everything I said above applies to blogging. Instead of speaking on their platform, you submit an article or a chapter from your book to a popular blogger.
7. Speak on talk radio. Talk radio shows are eager to interview interesting guests, especially now with the added competition from podcasts. A local radio show is easy to get on. You may even be able to do it remotely. (I like to do a remote radio show before a speaking event out of town. It always attracts more attendees.) Once you’ve done a local show send a copy of the recording of that show to a larger station and/or a national station, like NPR. (Also, put the recording on your website.) Larger radio stations have thousands of listeners all over the land.
8. Get on TV. Everything noted above regarding radio also applies to TV; you just need a prettier face for TV. Start with a local news show, record it, send it up the chain and see how far you can go. If you get on the Today Show or Oprah, your book will undoubtedly become a best seller and you will have more telehealth clients than you know what to do with. (Of course, any TV appearance should be listed on your vita and placed on your website.)
9. A benefit of telehealth is that you can work from home, if you choose. If you decide to develop a full-time remote practice, you may not even need an office. If you implement some of the above ideas, you could have more remote clients than you could handle. At that point you could seek an associate to manage the overflow. In time you could manage your own remote clinic! Now you are one of those people who flourished when times were hard.
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