Mental health professionals put a lot of time and effort into their work, but what about the marketing aspect? It’s important to brand your mental health practice in order to reach potential clients. In this blog post, I will be sharing some secrets to successful branding for your mental health practice. Read more below!

What is branding and why do you need it for your mental health practice?

Most people think of branding as what the public recognizes when they see a business such as colors and graphics. However, that is just one very small part of a brand – there’s so much more involved.

A brand is the look, feel, emotion, connection, and personality an individual associates with your practice when hearing your name, seeing an advertisement, or with any sort of interaction they might have with you. 

Branding is important. I’m sure that we could all think of at least three brands right off the top of our heads right now, and how you feel about that brand. But why is it important to have a brand for your mental health practice? Well, you all have a business. You are exchanging funds for services. With that, comes the need to be recognizable, connected,  and remembered so you can set yourself up as a serious contender in a competitive market. 

As mental health providers, you are all about making connections, fostering those relationships, and impacting your clients in a positive way. Keeping your content and business on brand helps establish trust thus fostering those relationships and connections. 

How do you create a brand for a mental health practice? 

There are six components that go into creating a brand.

• Voice
• Identity
• Promise
• Values
• Targeting
• Positioning

Brand Voice – Think about your mission and core values. How can you best portray yourself to represent those values? Deciding on which tone and emotions you would like to use to communicate with your clients and following that will help personalize and humanize your brand.

Brand Identity – How can people recognize you? Are you consistently using the same font, graphics, colors? Do you have something unique that sets you apart? For example, say you are a fun and quirky mental health professional who has the mission to help heal adults from childhood trauma. Perhaps you can choose bright colors, funky fonts, and wholesome graphics to help people recognize and FEEL that you are a fun and quirky person.

Brand Promise – A brand promise is what you promise to deliver to your clients. To use the previous example of a mental health professional who teaches adults to heal  from childhood trauma – that is your deliverable. You promise to empower adults to be able to address, cope, and heal their trauma. Everything you say, do, post, or design should have this promise come through  so you are connecting well but also so people know what you do just by looking at your brand. 

Hopefully, you have created a marketing plan and have your audience and their pain points all sorted out. If not, head on over to this post to read more about creating a marketing plan. If you need help, you can download this FREE marketing plan. 

Brand Values – What are your values as a provider or a coach? Are you compassionate, honest, kind? Do you practice with integrity? Do you speak out against racism or sexism? These are your core values and they connect you with your audience. This is where you take a stand, share some part of yourself that can resonate with your ideal client. You want people to look at your brand and say – “I know that provider values honesty and is against racism. I like that because I value the same.” 

In addition to connecting and resonating with your ideal client, values also help you guide the direction of the types of clients you would like to see and keeps you on a path of fulfillment. 

Brand Targeting – Speaking of ideal clients – Who are you targeting? You should already have a persona created of your ideal client. Make sure you are speaking to this client in your marketing and communications so there is no mistaking who you are here to help. 

Brand Positioning – Where you are in the market according to your clients? Where can your client expect to see your practice advertised? Where can they expect to see your content?  How are you employing the marketing tactics you have outlined? 

So, once you get all this fleshed out, it is time to put together a branding and marketing strategy. Then, stick with it and stay consistent.

How do I stay consistent with my practice branding?

Four Tips for staying consistent with your branding across all mediums

1. Create a brand style guide and use it. This is an evolving document that is meant to be adjusted as needed. You can go back and refer to this guide whenever you need and share it with others you may bring on to help with your practice so the brand remains consistent. 
2. Be sure you are creating a brand kit within Canva, or whatever design software you are using. This way, when you are doing your graphics for marketing, your brand fonts and colors are readily available to you. 
3. Use the same voice across all marketing platforms with adjustments as needed per platforms. Don’t make this voice something too far away from your own talking style so when you are speaking with a client they are not surprised. You want to be sure to represent yourself in a professional but unique way. 
4. Have your mission posted everywhere. This will help keep it in the forefront of yours and your clients mind and helps increase brand awareness. 

How can my brand stand out in a crowded market?

Make your brand stand out in a competitive market

There is only one you. You are unique just by being yourself. You may be offering the same thing that others are offering but YOU are different because you are not them, you are you. If you can make your brand exude the unique you, you are already set apart from others. In addition to using your branding in all communication, You can also do this by taking a stand – publicly stand up against something you are passionate about. Show yourself and be unapologetically you. Be vulnerable. All this establishes trust and pushes you out against the rest. 

If you need help in your marketing or branding strategy, let’s talk! Click below to set up a FREE call with me!