If you've ever responded to a Facebook referral thread only to watch your comment get buried beneath dozens of others, this episode is for you. In this alumni check-in, Anna answers a question from Confident Copy graduate Ellie about how therapists can stand out in Facebook groups, listservs, and other referral spaces without sounding like everyone else.

Rather than relying on generic responses or dropping a website link and hoping for the best, Anna shares a practical framework for writing referral responses that communicate why you're the right fit. By focusing on specificity, clarity, and connection, you'll learn how to make it easier for both therapists and potential clients to recognize your expertise—and choose you with confidence.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

1️⃣ Why generic referral responses get overlooked—and what to do instead.

2️⃣ The four-part framework Anna uses to craft referral responses that stand out.

3️⃣ How mirroring the referral request helps build trust and demonstrate you're the right fit.

4️⃣ Why knowing your niche and having the right language ready before you need it makes all the difference.

Resources & links mentioned

• Confident Copy Live waitlist: https://walkerstrategyco.com/waitlist
• The Walker Strategy Co website: https://walkerstrategyco.com

Connect + subscribe

Enjoying the podcast? Subscribe so you never miss an episode—and feel free to share it with a fellow therapist who's building their private practice. Explore more marketing support for therapists:

The Walker Strategy Co website: https://walkerstrategyco.com

About Marketing Therapy

Marketing Therapy is the podcast where therapists learn how to market their private practices without burnout, self-doubt, or sleazy tactics. Hosted by Anna Walker, a marketing coach, strategist, and founder of Walker Strategy Co—each episode brings you clear, grounded advice to help you attract the right-fit, full-fee clients and grow a practice you feel proud of.

Hi, everyone.

2

Welcome back to Marketing Therapy.

3

This is our seventh alumni

check-in of the year.

4

So our alumni check-ins, if you're not

familiar, are opportunities for our

5

Confident Copy alumni, so folks who

graduate our Confident Copy program,

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to ask questions about their marketing

as they move on from the program.

7

So we've talked about things like

how to differentiate yourself, how to

8

pick images on your website, whatever

that might be, and today's question

9

is so good and so relevant no matter

where you find yourself in private

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practice, and it's how to stand out in

places like Facebook referral threads.

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You know what I'm talking about, right?

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You log into Facebook, or you hop onto

your local listserv, whatever that might

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be, and someone's asking for a referral

to a therapist, and literally by the time

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you finish typing a response, there are

fifty other therapists who are allegedly

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the perfect fit for that person, right?

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That's what we're tackling today.

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So, Ellie is a graduate of our Confident

Copy program, and she said, "I am in

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many Facebook and networking groups,

but with so many people looking for

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clients, it's hard to stand out and

get clients to see your website."

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So she asked us, "How do you stand out

when you are a perfect fit but fifty

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people respond that they are also a

great fit, whether they are or not?"

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Have you felt this?

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I bet you have 'cause, like I said,

this is a really common experience

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for most people in private practice.

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And it's something that I have talked

about and coached people on independently

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but never actually taught on, so I'm happy

that Ellie asked this question, and I'm

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happy to get to dive into this today.

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Now, the painful thing about this is

you could actually be the perfect fit

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for that person, for that person, you

might be exactly who they need, right?

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You could be able to get them exactly

where they want to go in the exact

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type of style and experience that

they're looking for, but you could

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still lose out to someone who's a

worse fit but a better communicator.

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This comes down to your language.

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The way that you're gonna stand out in

these referral threads or in similar

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environments is with your language.

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So this isn't so much about how do

you compete with fifty people, but

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how do you make it obvious that you

might actually be the right one, right?

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How do you stand out in that sea of

sameness we've been talking about so much?

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Now, I do wanna let you know that

doors to our Confident Copy live

40

cohort, the next one and the last

41

If that's something you have been

thinking about, if you listen to this

42

episode and you're like, "Wow, I need

help figuring out who I'm the right

43

fit for and how to communicate that,"

that's exactly what Confident Copy does.

44

The wait list is going to be

closing at the end of this week.

45

Doors are opening next week, so this is

the time to be jumping onto that wait

46

list, walkerstrategyco.com/waitlist.

47

You qualify for an exclusive discount

that we're not offering publicly.

48

But let's get into this.

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How do you stand out on these

Facebook referral threads?

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This is ultimately the sea of sameness

I've been talking about in the wild.

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This is exactly where we see the fact

that people, whether that's another

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therapist or a client themselves, is

wading through this list, this sea,

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this group of people who say they're

the right fit, but who are all also

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saying pretty much the exact same thing.

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How do you stand out?

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I see so many people just drop a

URL and run in these situations

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like, "Oh, I'm a good fit."

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Drop y- website URL, never

think about it again.

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I want you to approach this differently.

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Because when 50 people are responding

to these ISO posts, most of them

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are essentially interchangeable.

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So really what this comes down to is just

you doing things a little bit differently.

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Okay?

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Now, there are two things you need to have

in place before you ever respond here.

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You have to know these two things.

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You have to know who

you're the right fit for.

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Now, you probably could help most

people, right, that someone is

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looking for a therapist for, but you

know who you're the right fit for.

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You know what types of people you want

on your caseload and who you don't.

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Okay?

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So you have to have a really

deep understanding of that.

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You've gotta know what qualities you're

looking for, what presenting issues, what

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demographics, whatever that might be.

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You've gotta know who you're the

right fit for, and then you have

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to have language for what you

do and what makes you different.

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That's the only way that you're gonna

rise above that sea of sameness here.

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You need to know this in advance.

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You cannot see one of these posts

on a Tuesday afternoon and suddenly

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drum up why you're different and why

you're the right fit for this person.

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You have to have a really deep

understanding of who you're

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talking to, what you offer,

and what makes you different.

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These are fundamental things that

cannot, like I said, happen in a moment.

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If you are figuring out your fit, if

you're fishing for words while you're

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typing that reply, it's gonna show,

and you've probably already lost the

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30 seconds that, you know, 15 other

people are dropping their responses in.

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This has to be built before.

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This is something you have to become very,

very comfortable with and secure in, and

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you've gotta know how to communicate it.

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This is a really good example of what

we call your client conversion engine.

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There's three pieces to this if you're

not familiar with the framework that

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we build our Confident Copy program on.

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But we have first there's

confident identity.

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So this is knowing your right fit.

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This is knowing what you bring

to the table specifically.

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Okay?

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Not in those vague like safe

space or compassionate terms, but

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specifically what sets you apart.

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The second piece of that client conversion

engine is what we call confident presence.

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So that's the language for your identity.

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Okay?

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It's available to you the second you

need it, whether that's your website or

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Facebook thread, whatever that might be.

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It's actually showing up with that

identity and communicating it.

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And then there's the confident connection.

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It's using that language

in that moment of contact.

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Right?

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That's what this exercise is all about.

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So that means that confident connection,

that ability to go out and potentially get

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that client only works if your identity

and your presence are already solid.

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You've already gotta know who you're

the right fit for, and you've gotta

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have the language for what sets you

apart and who you're trying to attract

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If you find yourself improvising-

Mm-hmm … like so many people are when

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they're responding to these things,

that's when you end up reading generic.

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That's when you end up just dropping

your URL because you can't think of what

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else to say And if you just did a little

bit of this pre-work, you would enter

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into this with a lot more understanding

and a lot more language ready.

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Because again, the reason you're going

to stand out comes down to your language.

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You don't have anything else

working for you here except

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for what you choose to say.

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Okay?

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Now, I do wanna note here that I

think while this question was asked

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around the concept of those Facebook

ISO posts, I think that this approach

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can be used in multiple scenarios.

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You know, I'm in the Nashville Moms

group, for instance, and I think there's

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like, I don't know, 30,000 moms or

something like that in that group, and

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I don't even interact in that group

super often, but each week I see at

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least three to four people requesting

referrals for themselves or for their

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relationships or for their children.

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And that's obviously a little bit

different because it's not a therapist

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asking a bunch of other therapists for

referrals, but it's still an opportunity

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for you to get specific if, if that were

to be something you were gonna respond

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to, an opportunity to be specific,

an opportunity to set yourself apart,

133

to give a little bit of taste of what

it is that you do, rather than just

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saying, "Oh yeah, I can do that."

135

Like, okay, there's a difference

between being able to do

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something and showing it, right?

137

And inviting someone into it.

138

So perhaps the approach I'm going

to give you in this episode could

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be used for other places, right?

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The Listserv email you get, the, the

Facebook group for therapists, or the

141

Facebook group for your ideal client.

142

Maybe this could be used elsewhere.

143

So I invite you to consider that, not

just for this one specific scenario,

144

but others where you're being asked

to state what it is that makes you

145

different and to offer your, your

services to someone who very likely may

146

be the perfect fit for your caseload.

147

So in order to prepare for this

episode, what I did is jump into a

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couple of the Facebook groups I'm in,

and actually pull some real life ISOs.

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These are anonymized, but I wanted

to actually pull real life posts.

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What are people out there looking for?

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How are people responding?

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That kind of thing.

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So as I do this, I wanna give

you a framework for how to think

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about responding to these, okay?

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And this framework is kind of four pieces.

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Now, it's packed into, I don't

know, a handful of sentences.

157

But first and foremost is I want you to

mirror the specific ask that you see here.

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And like I said, I'm gonna walk

through some examples, but I want you

159

to mirror back a detail or two that

shows you read the dang thing, okay?

160

You are not just doing the

URL drop and run thing.

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I want you to show that you are mapping

what it is that you are responding

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to what is being asked of you.

163

Then I want to state your

match, the fact that you're

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the right fit, as a fact, okay?

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Whether that is logistics, just

that you're available when this

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person needs, or you are a similar

demographic, whatever that might be.

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Your identity, your fit,

whatever, but state it as a fact.

168

You do this.

169

I specialize in this.

170

This is exactly what I do.

171

State it as a fact.

172

Keep it to two to four sentences.

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Okay?

174

We cannot afford for you to

go on and on and on and on.

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This is not a bulleted list.

176

This is not a dissertation.

177

This is exactly why you're the right fit

condensed into just a skimmable response.

178

And then always invite the next step.

179

What is the next step for you?

180

Is that texting?

181

Is that booking a

consultation on your website?

182

Is that dropping an email?

183

Be explicit about what

needs to happen next.

184

Don't assume that that

therapist is, is going to know.

185

Oftentimes, these therapists are

going to take this list and provide it

186

back to the client, or sometimes the

therapist is going to choose exactly

187

who they're going to refer, okay?

188

So in this case, I want you to be

really, really clear about what

189

you wanna see that person do next.

190

Okay, so the framework again, one,

you're gonna mirror the specific ask.

191

Two, you're gonna state

your match as fact.

192

Three, you're gonna keep it

short, two to four sentences max.

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And then four, you're always

gonna invite the next step.

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One other thing before we

get into these examples.

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I want you to consider what is

going to matter to the therapist

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as they make decisions about who

to include in their list, and also

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to the client when they're making a

decision about who to reach out to.

198

What might they value, and how does your

approach, your setup, your offerings, your

199

specializations align with those values?

200

So sinking down into the shoes of that

therapist who's making the decision, of

201

the client who's making the decision,

and using that to inform your response.

202

Okay?

203

All right, let's look

at example number one.

204

Male adult client, prefers

a female therapist.

205

Very successful at work despite

some frustrating challenges, but

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a lot of difficulty with dating.

207

Super goal-oriented, responds

well to a really frank approach,

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learning how to manage anger.

209

This is a really in-depth post.

210

I know they're not all like this.

211

But a really cool example of lots of

things we can find that the therapist and

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the client are likely to value, right?

213

Lots of opportunities for mirroring.

214

So a really generic response would be,

"Hi, I work with men and have openings.

215

Feel free to reach out."

216

Like, okay.

217

And there were versions of that on this

exact thread where I pulled this from.

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Here's an example of a specific response,

if we're using that four-step framework:

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"I work with a lot of high-achieving

guys struggling in career and dating.

220

I have a very direct and no-fluff style

and do a lot of anger work as well.

221

Have room right now.

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Have him text me," and

included the number.

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That's an example of something

that's going to stand out.

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So we mirrored a couple of things, right?

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We mirrored the high achieving, the

career, the dating, the anger, the direct

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style, and gave a really clear next step.

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It was concise, but it was also a little

bit more in-depth than just, "Hey, I can

228

do that," or, "I would be a good fit."

229

Like, okay, then I'm just

taking your word at it.

230

Show me.

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Okay?

232

That was a great example of showing.

233

All right, let's look at another one.

234

Recommendations for a

couples therapy in X city.

235

They're dealing with challenges related

to having young kids that are autistic.

236

All right?

237

So we know a couple of things we

could be mirroring back here, right?

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Couples, city you know, neurodivergence

young kids, that kind of thing.

239

We can probably assume that the

specific intersection of couples

240

work and parenting is gonna matter.

241

Certainly neurodivergent-affirming

care is gonna be huge here, so not

242

just being a couples therapist, right?

243

So a generic response would be, "Hey, I,

I'm a couples therapist in that city."

244

Great.

245

Okay, a specific response here

would be, "I often work with couples

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who are parents of young children

and have a lot of experience

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with neurodivergence in children.

248

Perhaps you even have some

lived experience with that.

249

I actually have neurodivergent

children myself."

250

Here's a link to my website, and perhaps

a link to your parenting page or your

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neurodivergence page of your website.

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You know, would love to schedule

a consult, whatever that might be.

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Again, we're mirroring

back specific things.

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We're stating your match as fact, what

it is that you do that aligns, keeping

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it short, and inviting that next step.

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All right, let's look at another one.

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This one I SO an African American

therapist who is skilled in couples work.

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Couple is needing weekend or

Thursday or Friday evening

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appointments via telehealth.

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Okay, so this one's a

little bit more logistical.

261

Certain availability is required, also

seeking a particular identity as, as it

262

relates to being an African American.

263

Don't necessarily know what

they're looking for or what they're

264

wanting help with, but enough

to, to be able to mirror back.

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So we want both kind of an identity

match but also some logistics here.

266

So a specific response here

might be, "I'm a BIPOC therapist

267

specializing in couples work.

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I have Thursday evening and

weekend openings right now."

269

Feel free to provide my website and here's

my number if they prefer to text me.

270

Okay, so we mirrored back.

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We stated as fact where the

values or the needs lined up.

272

We gave us a next step.

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All right, one last one.

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This one was really short.

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Looking for a therapist to help

a client process traumatic birth.

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Okay.

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Not a ton of information, but certainly

enough to know if this is likely

278

to be a right fit for you, okay?

279

So this isn't just generic trauma.

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We're looking for some real specialization

that's going to matter to this person.

281

So a response might be, " I work

specifically with birth trauma

282

and love supporting moms in this.

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I do EMDR and other

trauma-informed work as well

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Here's a link you're welcome

to share with a client.

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Maybe that it, again, is a link to

that specific page on your website.

286

I've got openings as soon as next week."

287

All right, so we're seeing a little

bit of that logistics lineup or kind

288

of some, some urgency related to

availability as well as your specialties

289

and how that aligns with the values

of, of the therapist and of the client.

290

So there you go.

291

Those are some ways to think

through and approach responses.

292

Again, gonna take a little bit longer

than the 10 seconds it will take to copy

293

and paste your website URL, but holy

cow, is there opportunity for you to

294

stand above the noise in these threads.

295

Now, the other thing to note is,

of course, not every single one of

296

these is going to be the right fit.

297

Can I encourage you that if you

read something and you're like,

298

"That's not me," but it reminds

you of someone you do know, please

299

refer that person in that post.

300

I've heard such fantastic things

from therapists who make a practice

301

of referring to their colleagues

or kind of cheering on, essentially

302

other clinicians that they know.

303

So if you don't do couples work but you

see a post about it and your colleague or

304

someone you know does this work, tag them,

mention them, do something like that.

305

Even if it never gets back to them,

there's just something really wonderful

306

about putting that out into the world.

307

And if you know that they're likely to

be a good fit, then that is in service

308

to the therapist, that is in service to

the client and it's also in service to

309

you for the good juju and the reciprocity

that can come from actions like that.

310

So I encourage you to keep that in

mind, even if this isn't someone

311

that you yourself would like to see.

312

All right, so that is how you stand out.

313

Like I said, this comes

down to your language.

314

Your ability to stand out in these

scenarios comes down to the words you use,

315

how you use them, where you use them, and

how those words distinguish you from other

316

people who might say they are the right

fit and as Ellie said, may or may not be.

317

We don't even know.

318

And so don't make the person making

this post take your word for it.

319

Show them.

320

Mirror back why you're the right fit.

321

Say specifically.

322

Take a little bit more time to craft

this response, and you are very, very

323

likely to see a lot more come from this.

324

Now, are you still gonna be competing

with a bunch of other people?

325

Absolutely.

326

Are there certainly other people

that could serve that client well?

327

Absolutely.

328

But by taking this approach, you are

going to be increasing your chances of

329

getting in front of someone who is very

likely to be a fantastic fit for you.

330

Ellie, I can speak directly to

you knowing that you're doing

331

a really great job of this.

332

We were able to develop Ellie's branding

and help her launch a new website along

333

with copy, and we have heard from her

how people have just resonated really,

334

really deeply with what it is that

we have done for her, and I know that

335

people are seeing what it is that she's

doing and, and resonating with it.

336

And I hope that this framework for those

Facebook referral threads and other

337

scenarios is useful for you, Ellie,

but also to everyone listening, whether

338

you are a Confident Copy alumni or not.

339

Now, if you're not a Confident

Copy alumni, you should be.

340

If you're the right fit

for the program, of course.

341

But as I mentioned at the top of the

episode, the wait list for our next

342

cohort is closing at the end of this week.

343

When you sign up for the wait

list, there is no obligation.

344

I only want you to jump in if this

is the right next step for you.

345

But you will lock in an exclusive discount

that will not be available publicly.

346

You'll also get early access next week

when the cohort opens, immediate access

347

to the entire curriculum, and then we'll

kick off later in August as a group,

348

and you'll get 16 weeks of live coaching

and support as we help you identify what

349

it is that sets you apart, how to put

words to the work that you do best, and

350

how to ultimately get on those consult

calls with people that say, "Hey, I read

351

your website," or, "I heard about you

from a Facebook post, and I know you're

352

the therapist that I wanna work with."

353

I wanna see that happen for you.

354

I wanna see that happen in your practice,

and if Confident Copy is the right

355

next step to make that happen for you,

then we would absolutely love to get

356

to support you beginning next week.

357

So like I said,

walkerstrategyco.com/waitlist

358

if you're interested in that.

359

If you're a Confident Copy alumni and

you're listening, please submit your

360

questions as it relates to your marketing.

361

I love these opportunities to think

alongside you and provide some

362

coaching as you get out there and

continue growing your caseload.

363

So jump over to our form.

364

If you're not sure of

it, shoot us an email.

365

But please do let us know what you

are up to, alumni, as we can continue

366

supporting you and cheering you on.

367

All right, y'all.

368

Hope this one was helpful for you.

369

I will be seeing you very soon as doors

open for our Confident Copy cohort,

370

and I'm always here cheering you on.

371

See you on our next episode.