How to Grow Your Private Practice Using Neighboring Audiences

As a clinician in private practice, you may not have considered getting in front of audiences and niches as a way to up-level your private practice marketing and to grow your private practice client list. 

Most of us don’t automatically consider or think about our clients as “audience members” or “niche members.” However, when we put our private practice marketing hats on, we define an audience as a group of people likely to be interested in—and benefit from—your private practice offerings.

In this article I’ll invite you to consider the benefits of leveraging new audiences in private practice marketing efforts. I’ll also share ways to get in front of other audiences and niches (both on and off social media). Finally, I’ll provide tips to ensure you don’t leave your new audience in the cold.

Why speak to other audiences in your private practice marketing?

As practitioners, most of us are somewhat familiar with marketing our practices. (If you’re looking for more info on marketing your private practice, check out the private practice marketing strategies you’re probably already using and these four common myths about marketing your practice, 

That said, we may forget (or not yet be aware of) the benefits of getting in front of new audiences and expanding our reach beyond the people who already know about us. 

For instance, if you’ve been taking out an ad for five years in the same community mailer, the odds are that most people in that community have already seen your ad. However, when you take out an ad in a neighboring community newsletter or mailer, it means new people will be aware of your practice. This enables you to grow your audience.

Below I’ll focus on free ways to get in front of other audiences by leveraging pre-established audiences. A person, organization, or community with a pre-established audience has built trust with them, and that’s something you can leverage to help grow your practice. 

When you get in front of pre-existing audiences, it helps new people get to know you. When you leverage a loyal audience, you are also positioning yourself alongside someone else the audience already trusts. This allows you to stand in your profession as an expert and shows others your expertise status. 

Choose the right audience over a wider audience

Before we go any further, I want to clarify that getting in front of other audiences only works when you think about the right audience. More people knowing about you is good, but the right people knowing about you is better. For advice on this, check out our article on how to create an authentic therapy brand for your practice.

Consider where your ideal potential client hangs out, what they do for fun, what type of content they consume, and what events they attend. 

Here are a couple of questions to help get you thinking about other adjacent audiences by thinking about your current clientele:

• What have my clients tried before starting treatment? (Listening to podcasts, buying books, attending seminars, etc.)
• What type of complimentary support do I often recommend to my clients? (Body movement, engaging in hobbies, diagnosis-specific or experience-specific support groups, etc.)

As you’re thinking about people you can partner with and what kind of content you can create, you want to focus your time and energy on areas where you know your ideal clients are already interested. Therapists often get stuck thinking only about promoting themselves at other therapist events. And it’s true that an aligned client might be sitting in a weekend-long trauma training seminar where you’re a speaker. 

But, if you consider therapy-adjacent fields that your ideal client might be interested in, that’s another authentic point of connection that you can make with them. People at community art fairs or listening to their favorite podcast may be interested in the therapy services you offer—even if they weren’t specifically looking for it at that particular event. 

How to reach other audiences to market your private practice

Now that you’re starting to see where your ideal audience might hang out, it’s time to start getting specific about how to get in front of them. Think about two or three topics you have expertise in, and why an established figure would be excited to have you share your wisdom with them and their audience. Then, think about ways you can get that expertise out in the world—bonus points if you’ve never tried it before. Here are some examples: 

Podcasts

Getting onto podcasts can be a great way to get in front of new audiences.

The average “light podcast listener” listens to 43 minutes of podcasts per day, with a projected growth rate of 20% each year. That’s a lot of folks who have their earbuds in and are consuming content. 

Here are some tips on how to become a guest on a podcast.

Social media

While static posts often come to mind when we think of social media, I find a more engaging way to get in front of other audiences by doing something live is more alluring. Think of an Instagram, Twitter/X, Facebook, or TikTok as a live version of a podcast. This approach shows new audiences a window of insight into your personality, warmth, and expertise far more than a single square can. 

Speaking engagements

Speaking engagements are a great way to leverage other audiences as the people in the crowd have self-selected to be there for your presentation. Think about not only industry events, but go back to the questions and answers of where your ideal clients hang out to think of similar spaces to give a presentation, workshop, or keynote on. 

Guest blogging

Search engine optimization (SEO) continues to be a dominant way to get in front of new audiences. Writing a guest blog on a popular website is a way to reach new audiences specifically looking for information on the topic you wrote about. You can approach publications or blog hosts directly, or search on Twitter for hashtags like #CallForPitches to find blogs that are looking for writers with your expertise. 

Online or print publications

Pitching yourself as an expert for an interview can also be a good way to get in front of new audiences. HARO, which stands for “Help a Reporter Out,” connects reporters to experts to interview to help build their stories. You can sign up for free to get email blasts from reporters seeking sources. Twitter/X again can be your friend as journalists use the platform frequently. 

Following hashtags like #JournoRequest or #SourceRequest can be a great way to find journalists or freelancers seeking experts. This is another great option if you want to get your name out there, but don’t necessarily have the time to write posts or stories yourself.  Many interviews are pretty quick, and some can be done over email—making them pretty easy to fit into your schedule if time is a concern.

You can also consider publishing or self-publishing a health and wellness book. Here are three key tips for self-publishing a wellness book.

Think beyond social media for broadening your audience

Social media is often the first thing people jump to when thinking about how to widen their reach, and it can be a great tool—but I would encourage you to think beyond just the internet.  I love in-person events, especially collaborative and community events, to broaden an aligned audience. These options can be particularly appealing for folks who “don’t do” social media. 

This is where knowing your ideal client comes in: Are your clients active on social media? Or are they more likely to be found at a community meetup at your local library? If that’s the case, spending your time and energy on social media posts probably isn’t the best use of your resources. 

Recent fun ideas for broadening an audience that I’ve seen are:

• A lactation consultant at an early education open house
• An art therapist at an art fair
• A massage therapist donating a 90-minute massage at a silent auction at a community fundraiser. 

Even though none of these events are necessarily directly related to therapy, they do allow these professionals to talk about their offerings, and connect with the people who might benefit most from those services. Get creative, and think about ways you can genuinely help people that might not know you even offer the services you do. 

Follow up with the new audience

Once you’ve connected with a new audience, be sure you don’t leave them out in the cold.

Instead, ensure you have somewhere to send them to keep in touch. A website is a good place for your new audience to land, but a free download, quiz, or resource guide that signs them up for your newsletter is even better. This helps your new audience stay abreast of your current offerings and enables you to nurture them as an audience sometimes needs a bit of time before they are ready to become clients. 

The content snowball effect

As you start out getting in front of other audiences, you’ll likely do most “pitching” to hosts, journalists, and blog owners. As time passes and you become a more established name, you will decrease the amount of pitching you do. 

Since starting my journey of getting in front of over 200 aligned and established audiences in the past three years, I have been less active in pitching. Now? The last six podcasts I’ve guested on, a major news outlet, and online media publication have all pitched me to be in front of their audiences. 

It’s also a snowball effect because as you start chatting with more people and making more connections in your community, it’ll start to get easier. It might seem overwhelming at first to put yourself out there in new ways and to new people, but in the long run, you’re simply letting your potential ideal clients know that you’re there for them if they need it.

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