What if the goal of your marketing isn't to get everyone to like you?

In this episode, Anna explores what it means to create a magnetic website and marketing strategy—one that doesn't just attract the right-fit clients, but also helps the wrong-fit clients recognize that they're not in the right place. Because effective marketing should act like a magnet: attracting some people while repelling others.

Anna walks through her five-step Magnetic Niche Method and explains how therapists can move from knowing they "should have a niche" to creating marketing that actually filters for the clients they want to work with. If your website is attracting inquiries but they aren't the right fit, this episode will help you get clearer about who you're for, who you're not for, and how to communicate both.

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

1️⃣ Why effective marketing needs to both attract the right-fit clients and "bless and release" the people who aren't a good fit.

2️⃣ How a magnetic niche can help you stop sounding generic and create a clearer filter in your marketing.

3️⃣ The five steps of Anna's Magnetic Niche Method: embracing the magnetic mindset, identifying your red thread, defining your focus areas, profiling your ideal client, and writing your niche statement.

4️⃣ Why knowing who you're intentionally not marketing to is just as important as knowing who you want to attract.

Resources & links mentioned

• Magnetic Niche Method: https://walkerstrategyco.com/mnm
• Clear Website, Full Caseload Workshop: https://walkerstrategyco.com/cwfc
• The Walker Strategy Co website: https://walkerstrategyco.com

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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.

Hey, hey, welcome back to Marketing

Therapy, episode nine zero, 90.

2

We're 10 episodes away from 100

episodes of Marketing Therapy.

3

I've said this before, but if you had

told me a year and a half ago that I

4

would be podcasting weekly, I would

have laughed you right out of the room.

5

This, for some reason, was always

something that I saw for other

6

people, but never for myself.

7

I didn't used to be a big podcast

listener, although I have become one over

8

the last three or four years probably.

9

But it just felt so much bigger than

something I felt I would be capable

10

of doing, and have found in these

last 90 episodes how life-giving it

11

can be, how enjoyable it is to have

conversation with you one-sided but also

12

to hear from you that what we're doing

here matters and resonates with you.

13

Someone shared in an email, I, I think

it was a week or two ago, to our team.

14

She said, "Thank you for the podcast.

15

Thank you for, what you teach.

16

Thank you for not yelling at me."

17

And I was like, "Oh,

sis, you're so welcome."

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So if, if you're here looking for

that, you know, encouragement, but also

19

some legit strategy on what's gonna

work in the therapy space right now,

20

then I'm really happy you're here.

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So that was a, a off-the-cuff reflection,

but 90 feels big 'cause it's close to 100.

22

We'll see what I say in 10 more episodes.

23

But we're talking today about

the fact that I want people

24

to not like your marketing.

25

I want people to not like your website.

26

I want people to not like you.

27

Now, not truly not like you,

but we're gonna talk today about

28

the idea of being magnetic.

29

And when you are magnetic,

you do two things.

30

You attract, absolutely, and we talk

a lot about attraction in marketing,

31

attracting right fit clients,

attracting people to your practice,

32

but what else does a magnet do?

33

It repels.

34

Your marketing, to be effective,

must both attract and repel.

35

And I wonder if there are areas that you

have avoided the latter or just simply

36

not known to think about it, and why that

might actually be diluting what it is that

37

you're doing out there in the world, okay?

38

If someone lands on your website and

read it and go, "Oh, man, this is not

39

what I'm looking for," that tells me your

copy's probably doing a really good job.

40

That tells me your marketing is

probably doing a really good job.

41

I've shared about my pink pants

story before, how I bought these pink

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barrel leg pants, which if you know

barrel leg is super in right now.

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I bought these pink barrel leg

pants before I got pregnant with

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my third son last year and felt a

little bit embarrassed wearing them.

45

They, they were kind of

a statement, still are.

46

But my friend, I showed up to her

house, and she opened the door, and

47

she said, "Oh, those are so you."

48

And it gave me enough

confidence to rock the pants.

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But the point of the pink pants

story, among other things, is that not

50

everyone is gonna like your pink pants.

51

That's the whole freaking point.

52

Not everyone's gonna like

the way that you do therapy.

53

Not everyone's going to

be a good fit for you.

54

That's the whole freaking point.

55

In this market, you know this because

you know that niching is important.

56

You know this because you know

that there are certain clients

57

you want to be attracting more

of and certain that you don't.

58

But a lot of times, that doesn't

make its way into what you

59

actually do to grow your practice.

60

And to do that, you need to be really,

really aware and okay with the fact

61

that you're going to be calling in some

people and pushing away, repelling,

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or as we say, blessing and releasing

those who are not the best fit for you

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Often I see clinicians who are under

pressure to sound professional, right?

64

To sound effective end up sounding

just really safe and generic, you know?

65

I mean, how many times have

you seen a safe, supportive

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space for healing and growth?

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Such a nice statement.

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Such a nice statement.

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Says absolutely nothing, right?

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Does nothing to attract

or most importantly bless

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and release there, right?

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So often what happens here is

you know you need to be specific.

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You know how important it is to niche, but

then you don't have the mechanism for it,

74

and so you don't know what to do with it

75

So that's what this episode is about,

the actual method for turning, "I know

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I shouldn't be for everyone," into

marketing that actually isn't, okay?

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And I'm gonna walk you through the five

steps of creating, first and foremost,

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a magnetic niche, which leads to

having magnetic marketing all around.

79

Okay?

80

So I wanna make the argument here that

a website, in particular, as the home of

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your marketing, but all of your marketing

in general, has two jobs, not just one.

82

Everyone knows the first one.

83

That's to attract more inquiries, right?

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And I absolutely wanna see that happen.

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But the one that's harder to execute,

even when you believe in it, is this

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idea of blessing and releasing, is

that idea of the magnet that repels.

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So knowing you should niche and then

knowing how to market yourself in a way

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that filters out those wrong fit clients

are fundamentally two different skills.

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They're related, but it's one

thing to know you need one, it's

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another to actually do it, right?

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I want you to picture two homepages, okay?

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So two homepages of therapists.

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One says, "I help women navigate

life's challenges and find peace."

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Okay, so if I'm a woman,

maybe I'm in the right place.

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The other one says, "I work with

professional badass women in their 30s

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and 40s whose lives look great on paper

but f- don't feel great to actually live."

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Hmm.

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All right, I am not a badass woman,

in this example, in my 30s and 40s.

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I'm not in the right place.

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Even the way that that is positioned is

not right for a certain type of person.

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We've done that filtering

with that second one.

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Someone passed through that filter

and either qualified themselves

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to be a good fit or self-selected

out because of how it was written.

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Now, you can tell as I read

those two statements, you know

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which one is gonna resonate more.

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You know that.

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You probably just don't know

how to write it for yourself.

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That's what I hear from

a lot of you, right?

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'Cause no one really sits down and decides

to write, "I help women navigate life's

110

challenges and find peace" on purpose.

111

They just don't know what else to do

in order to become magnetic, right?

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It's what comes out when you're

reaching for something really, really

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specific, but you don't have the

language sharp enough to actually do it.

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You don't actually know how to create

that filter in your marketing Now the

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second one, Badass Women 30s and 40s:

Life's Looking Great on Paper That's gonna

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cause someone to stop scrolling, right?

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And it's gonna cause some people to

move on 'cause holy cow, that's not me.

118

That isn't relevant to me.

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But then there's others that are

gonna be like, "Holy cow, yes please.

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More of that."

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I've said it a million times and I'll

say it again, if your website, your

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marketing, your copy is connecting with

everyone, it's not connecting with anyone.

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And you don't want it to.

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You know that.

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You have clients that you want

and clients that you don't.

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The goal five years ago in the pandemic

times was kind of like maximum connection.

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Like get them, you know, get in front of

them, get them in, get them scheduled.

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These days, the market has changed,

our clients have changed, their

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choices have changed, the way that

they're making decisions has changed.

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The goal is no longer maximum connection.

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Now it is the right connection with the

right client, and that means knowing who

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you're deliberately not writing to is

just as important as knowing who you are.

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Let me say that again.

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Knowing who you're deliberately not

writing to, not marketing to, is just

135

as important as knowing who you are.

136

So you spend a lot of time

thinking about your ideal client

137

and who you wanna be attracting.

138

Have you spent time thinking

about who isn't the right fit?

139

And is your marketing doing a good

job of telling that person that

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they're not in the right spot?

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Kindly, compassionately, right?

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All the good things.

143

But quite frankly, they're not in the

right spot if they've landed on your site.

144

So this isn't just about attraction,

it's attraction and repelling

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on purpose for the right people.

146

Okay?

147

So let me walk you through our

Magnetic Niche Method, which

148

informs magnetic marketing.

149

If you wanna go through this

process in a really deep way, we

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have our Magnetic Niche Method mini

course walkerstrategyco.com/mnm,

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the letters M-N-M, Magnetic Niche

Method, to take you through workbooks

152

and trainings with me where I

really walk you through this.

153

But I wanna tell you and show you what

it takes to get magnetic and to get

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really clear about both the attraction

and the blessing and releasing.

155

Okay?

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Remember, this is about getting clear

on who you're writing to as well as who

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you're intentionally not writing to.

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That is what is going to turn your

website and your marketing from, "I

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know I shouldn't be for everyone" to

right fit people actually calling you.

160

Okay?

161

And this is really born out of the

discussions and the observations I've,

162

I've made in recent months with therapists

who are telling me, "I'm getting

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clients, but they're not the right fit."

164

And I say, "Okay, then what

about them isn't the right fit?"

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And then we go looking at how that person

might s- be thinking that they are and

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what could we be changing here, okay?

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All of those things flow out of,

first and foremost, the Magnetic Niche

168

Method, and we have five steps here.

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Okay?

170

So first up is embracing

the magnetic mindset.

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You gotta get really comfortable

with this idea, right?

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You can say all day long, "Oh, I know I

should have a niche," or, "Oh, I know I'm

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not the right therapist for everyone."

174

But if you don't actually believe

that, we're in trouble, okay?

175

So we have to start there.

176

You wanna jump straight to the

strategy and the niche, I get it.

177

But we've gotta address the fear that

if you narrow your focus, you're gonna

178

starve, right, and not be able to put

food on the table, whatever that is.

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You're gonna worry that fewer people

are gonna find you, that your calendar's

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gonna empty out, whatever that is.

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We gotta address that fear head-on.

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We've also gotta get really clear on what

you bring to the table and why you're

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really fantastic at the work that you do.

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If you're not niching and marketing from

a position of deep clarity and confidence

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in how you show up in the room and why you

are exceptional when you're with the right

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client, we're gonna have a hard time here.

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Okay?

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So first we embrace the magnetic mindset.

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We get really comfortable with who you're

for, what you bring into the room, why

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you're really excellent at the work

that you do, and also spend a little

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bit of time reflecting on who isn't

the right fit so that you have clarity

192

around who that person is and is not.

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Okay?

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We know that you cannot create magnetic

marketing from a mindset where you're

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still trying to appeal to everyone or you

can't have one foot in both camps, right?

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The all things to all people, but maybe

I should have a niche, but maybe…

197

No, no, no.

198

We got to address that.

199

So first and foremost, we

embrace that magnetic mindset.

200

Then we look at what we call

the red thread, and I would

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love to do an entire episode on

this, so I'll add it to my list.

202

But we've got to understand

and identify the red thread.

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In your practice.

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This is the connective tissue, for

lack of a better term, that runs

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across all the different types of

clients that you love to work with.

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Sometimes I will run across a therapist

who has just one very specific type

207

of client that they want to work with,

and they want a caseload full of them.

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Amazing.

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Super easy client to niche.

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Life is good.

211

Most of you who I talk to enjoy a

couple different types of clients.

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Maybe you really enjoy

couples and individuals.

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Maybe you really enjoy people coming

in with ADHD concerns, but also people

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that know they have relational trauma.

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Yes, those might be somewhat related, but

when you look at your marketing, you're

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worried that they feel disconnected, and

so you feel this tension of, "Do I have to

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abandon one, or what does this look like?"

218

The red thread solves that.

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So the red thread is about finding

a common denominator, a connective

220

tissue, a red thread that ties

together the commonalities amongst

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your different types of ideal clients.

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And again, in order to know

our ideal client, we have to

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know who we're not for, right?

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Every single therapist has a red

thread, every single one of them.

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They just haven't named it yet.

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They just don't know that approach.

227

But when they find it, that's what

liberates them to enjoy variety while

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keeping a really focused message, while

not being all things to all people.

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This is the base of the filter.

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If a client meets the red thread

criteria, then at their most

231

fundamental, they're in the right place.

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They know that when the

red thread is put forth.

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So we gotta figure out

what that red thread is.

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If you don't name this and identify it,

then niching feels a lot like guessing,

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like you're having to pick and choose

between your different types of clients,

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abandon one for the sake of the other.

237

You don't have to do that, not if we

have a red thread really, really clear.

238

Next up, we identify your focus areas.

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So your focus areas are those

more distinct camps that your

240

clients are going to fall into.

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So if you enjoy the ADHD and the

trauma, for instance, or you enjoy

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couples and people-pleasing, whatever

that might be, we gotta figure out

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what those focus areas are, right?

244

So this is moving from that more

general red thread that ties together

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all of your different types of clients

into your specific focus areas.

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Now, you probably enjoy a very

particular flavor of anxiety.

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There are anxiety clients that

are not the right fit for you.

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Who are those?

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Who are the right fit?

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So looking at the focus areas at that

more granular level are what are going to

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allow you to enjoy that level of variety

without being all things to all people,

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without presenting as a generalist Right?

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So not every anxious

client, but the anxious mom.

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Not every trauma client, but

big T trauma clients, whatever

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that might be for you, okay?

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This is where your niche starts

to get a little bit sharper.

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This is where we're speaking

specifically to people that

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identify with certain areas.

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Then we get to profiling

your ideal client.

260

So we've embraced the mindset.

261

We know your red thread.

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We've looked at the focus areas that

those clients fall into, and now we get

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really clear on who your ideal client is.

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So this is getting to know on a very,

very deep level who your client is, both

265

inside and outside of therapy, right?

266

In order for your marketing to truly,

truly resonate with folks, it's not

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just about why they're in the room.

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It's what's going on outside of

the room that has led them here.

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So we have to get a deep

understanding of what that is.

270

So we're gonna look at who

they are demographically.

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We're gonna look at what their

lifestyle and relationships are like.

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We're gonna talk about what's

bringing them to therapy and what

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they are saying about their struggles.

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We're also gonna look at what

their goals are for therapy.

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What are they telling you they actually

want to get out of this experience?

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Is it skills, right?

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Is it direction?

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Is it understanding why I keep

falling back into this pattern?

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So we look at that, and then

finally, we look at what they

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value in the therapy experience,

AKA what you bring into the room.

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So this is about what they appreciate

about your style, what they know

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they want out of therapy, okay?

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And it's gonna be this criteria

that's going to inform everything

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else that you do in your marketing.

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It's also going to help

us create the filter.

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Is this marketing speaking to

this person and repelling someone

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who doesn't meet this criteria?

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If so, we know it's doing its job.

289

Okay?

290

And then the final piece of the

magnetic niche method is going ahead

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and writing that niche statement.

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So it's about putting this into

language, creating what we call a

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North Star for your marketing, against

which you can bump up anything.

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Okay?

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So the Instagram carousel that you

create, the networking referral contact

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you're considering reaching out to,

you know, the, the journal article

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you're considering contributing to.

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Whatever that is, you can bump it up

against the niche statement, is this

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relevant to this work and this client?

300

So your niche statement is your

statement about attraction.

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Your niche statement is someone being

able to read it and say, "There's

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something in this statement for me here.

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I'm in the right place."

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And also written in such a way

that if someone who was not the

305

right fit could read it and be

like, "Nope, that's not for me."

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That's when we know that a niche

statement is effective, and then it

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can therefore inform the rest of your

marketing, what you write on your

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website, how you market your practice.

309

We're in the early weeks of our

Confident Copy Live cohort, so this is

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our last one of twenty twenty-six, and

one of our students, she's incredible,

311

she's a clinician out of Philly, has

been talking about how she doesn't

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know exactly what her niche is.

313

She has a ton of experience very, very

varied so far in her career, and as she

314

gets into private practice and eventually

going cash pay, she isn't positive what

315

she wants to focus on, and it's been

really fun workshopping that with her.

316

And so one of the questions I asked

her is, "Okay, knowing what you know,

317

what you've shared with me here," we're

in the, the Facebook group doing this

318

coaching, "w- who isn't the right fit?

319

Who do you not want more of?"

320

And that really began to show us that her

red thread, her niche, was really grounded

321

in the experience that she offered.

322

Because the people who weren't the right

fit for her are coming wanting worksheets,

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they're wanting skills, they're

wanting very, like, CBT structured type

324

therapy, and that's not what she does.

325

So that gave us a differentiator to

start leaning into in, in her marketing.

326

Now we've landed on a niche statement

where her right fit client could read that

327

and say, "Yes, absolutely" and someone

who is looking for that experience could

328

read it and be like, "I don't want that."

329

Perfect.

330

Then your niche has done its job.

331

Okay?

332

Another example of this, a Confident

Copy live student last year is a group

333

practice owner, and she and her team

work specifically with professionals

334

who are burned out in their workplace.

335

So sometimes it's because

they've experienced trauma.

336

Sometimes it's because they are being

asked to do things that are unethical.

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Like it's people that really

find themselves at a, at a tough

338

spot in their professional life.

339

And she had a headline, I don't

remember exactly what the headline

340

was, but it was a headline.

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I think it had a swear word in it.

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It was ver- but it was crystal

clear to the right person that they

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were in the right spot relevant

to their experience around work.

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And she came onto a coaching call

and she said, "I shared my updated

345

website with someone, and I got

some feedback that maybe I was

346

being a little bit too bold with it.

347

And what, you know,

what do I do with that?"

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And I asked her, "Well, is the

person who gave you that feedback

349

a good fit for your practice?"

350

And she said, "No."

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And I said, "Perfect.

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Then your website has done its job."

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Your website should be creating

that experience for some people.

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"Wow, this is not right for me.

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Wow, that is too bold.

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Wow, that is too woo-woo."

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Whatever it is, your website

should be creating that experience.

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Remember the pink pants?

359

Your pink pants are

not right for everyone.

360

That's the whole point.

361

Are you marketing in such a way that

you are so okay with being the right

362

fit for some and not the right for

others, that if people were to give you

363

that feedback, you'd be okay with it?

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Now, we might need to deal with what

that feedback does for you and brings

365

up for you, but at your core, are you

okay with not being okay for everyone?

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I hope you are, 'cause that unlocks so

much potential in your marketing, so

367

much ability to get specific and to also

not waste time having conversations with

368

people who aren't the right fit for you.

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I don't want you to keep getting

on consults and wondering if that

370

person is gonna be the best fit.

371

If this person is going to ask you

if you do couples work and you don't.

372

You know?

373

If it's gonna be all about fees and

insurance, or if you're just gonna

374

have to start at the beginning of who

you are as a therapist and what your

375

approach is and who you work with because

your website and your marketing didn't

376

give them any of that information.

377

When done right, your marketing,

particularly your website, can do a lot

378

of this heavy lifting for you so that

the people who get to the bottom of the

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filter, if you imagine a coffee filter,

the coffee, the rich, delicious coffee

380

that comes out at the bottom, the consults

that you have are those right fit clients.

381

And those who aren't were filtered

out, blessed and released to go

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find the therapist for whom they are

the absolute best fit because there

383

absolutely is someone out there for them.

384

It's just not you.

385

Are you okay with that?

386

Are you marketing from that place?

387

If you market from that place,

I can guarantee you will see

388

changes in the feedback that

you're getting from your clients.

389

So that's our magnetic niche method.

390

First of all, embracing that magnetic

mindset, then identifying your red thread,

391

identifying the focus areas, profiling

that ideal client, and then writing

392

that niche statement that is written in

such a way that the right fit would say

393

yep, and the wrong fit would say nope.

394

That's where filtering begins, and when

you get that niche piece right, well,

395

everything flows out from there, right?

396

But we gotta know that first.

397

If you wanna go through that process

at a deep level, like I mentioned,

398

Magnetic Niche Method, it's a full

mini course with videos and workbook

399

with me, walkerstrategyco.com/mnm

400

to grab that.

401

But if you're wondering what this

means for your marketing, if you have a

402

niche, if you have a website, and you're

wondering, are you doing this well?

403

Are you reaching people

who are more skeptical?

404

Are you resonating with people who

have more choices available to them?

405

Jump into our Clear Website,

Full Caseload workshop.

406

That is our free training where I

walk through the four mistakes that

407

I'm seeing therapists make that are

preventing them from getting those premium

408

fee clients in this really saturated

and skeptical market that we're in.

409

I go a lot more in-depth in those

mistakes, what's happening, how to know

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if you're making them, and then what

you need to do to change them, and I

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think you'll find that really, really

enlightening when you consider, okay,

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if I'm the right fit for some and then

not right for others, how do I make sure

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my website is, is communicating that?

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How do I know that it's doing it well?

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How do I know that the right fit clients

are gonna read it and resonate with it?

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You can jump into that,

walkerstrategyco.com/cwfc.

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We'll put that in the show notes as well.

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100% free.

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Like I said, a lot more of an in-depth

look at what's happening in websites in

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particular out there in the marketplace.

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But remember, it starts with getting

really, really comfortable with being

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magnetic, both attracting and repelling.

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Are you okay with that?

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Have you embraced it?

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And is your marketing doing that for you?

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I'm excited to hear what

comes up for you on this one.

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I'll see you in our next episode.