If marketing your private practice feels like staring down a giant, tangled to-do list—you’re not alone. In this episode, I walk you through a simple, grounded framework to help you get unstuck and figure out exactly where to focus your marketing energy. Whether you’re brand new or knee-deep in your business and still feeling overwhelmed, this conversation will help you take a deep breath and take your next right step.

We’ll talk through the three stages of your client’s journey—Unaware, Aware, and Sure—and how to reverse-engineer your marketing to support that path. Plus, I’ll share the most effective conversion strategies I see therapists use to consistently attract RightFit, full-fee clients.

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

1️⃣ Why starting with “making people aware” can backfire—and what to focus on first instead

2️⃣ The three client journey stages and how to align your marketing with each one

3️⃣ A decision-making framework to help you prioritize what to work on next without the overwhelm

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• The Walker Strategy Co website: walkerstrategyco.com
• Magnetic Niche Method: walkerstrategyco.com/mnm
• DIY Brand Kit: walkerstrategyco.com/dbk
• PsychToday Success Pack: walkerstrategyco.com/ptsp
• Confident Copy: walkerstrategyco.com/cc
• Black Friday Deals: walkerstrategyco.com/bf25 
• Join the Get Booked Out Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/getbookedout 

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: 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—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 27.

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I've had some folks join the Get

Booked Out Facebook community,

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which is our free Facebook group.

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If you guys are not a member, you need to

be we will link it in the show notes, but

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I've had some new ones join us recently.

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And whenever we have some new folks

join, I always ask, what's your

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biggest marketing challenge right now?

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How can we, how can we help you?

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And I'll point them to, you

know, a podcast episode or a

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training or someone else that I

recommend, whatever it might be.

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And a common theme I've heard in a lot

of those clinicians and also in some

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of the clinicians I've had the pleasure

of talking to one-on-one who schedule

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meetings with me is just kind of this

theme of, I know marketing matters.

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And I still have no idea what to do.

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I have no idea where to start, or I'm in

the middle of it and it just feels messy.

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It's not that I don't care, it's not

that I'm not willing to try, it's

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that I don't know what to actually do.

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And we've talked a lot in the marketing

therapy podcast about how action breeds

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confidence that we don't have to feel

confident in order to take action, right?

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That that is really where the confidence

comes from, it takes courage to do that.

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But what are you actually

supposed to do, right?

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Marketing feels like this giant tangled

to-do list for so many clinicians.

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There's your website and SEO.

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What about that and a EOI

heard I need to get found on

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chat, GBT and Psychology today.

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What about other directories

and then their social media?

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Do I need to blog?

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I know I need to network.

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I hate networking ads.

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Should I put them on

Facebook, Instagram, Google.

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Like no wonder you are

not sure what to do.

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Right.

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And I think in today's landscape

with AI and endless advice, you can

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find on any platform ever, and this

culture of comparison, whether we

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like it or not, it's really easy

to feel like you're already behind.

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Like surely that therapist on

Instagram or that one who posted

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in a Facebook group about having a

full practice, they've obviously got

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something figured out that you don't.

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But again, this isn't

because you don't care.

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It's not because you're not trying,

it's simply 'cause you haven't

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figured out what's moving the needle.

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Where should you be focusing?

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And I think the thing I wanna point

out here is that when everything

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feels equally urgent, when you

consider absolutely everything in

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your marketing to be equal in urgency.

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No wonder it's impossible to move forward.

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There's no prioritization, right?

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But when you zoom out and you look

at marketing through the lens of your

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client's journey and what is gonna move

the needle first and second and third.

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Then it becomes so much clearer

where your efforts are best spent.

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And that's what I wanna

help you break down today.

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So this episode is for the brand

new clinician, like the ones that

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joined our Facebook group most

recently, who are getting started

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and who wanna do it, right?

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And this is also for those therapists

who I know and love dearly who

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are in the middle of this and

still feel a bit overwhelmed.

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I want to acknowledge that

marketing feels big because it is.

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But how do you eat an elephant?

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One bite at a time, and that's

what I wanna go through today.

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Now, if you've been in my world

for a while, you've heard me

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talk about the client journey.

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There are three phases your

clients go through when deciding

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if you are the therapist for them.

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So all the way on the left, I want

you to imagine first phase unaware.

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This phase is where your client

knows they have an issue, they know

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they're ready to consider therapy.

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But they have no idea who you are.

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They don't know you from Adam or Eve.

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They're unaware of you.

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Then in the middle is

the next phase aware.

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Awesome.

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They learned about you.

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They know who you are.

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That doesn't mean you're the

therapist that they wanna work with,

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but at least they know your name.

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And then over on the

right is the third phase.

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Sure.

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They are sure that you are the

therapist they've been looking for.

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They're ready to work together.

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They reach out, they get started.

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So this client journey unaware

to aware, to sure is what your

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marketing ultimately has to cover.

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Because just because someone

knows you exist doesn't mean that

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they're gonna reach out to you.

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And just because you're really

good at helping people become sure

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doesn't mean they know you exist.

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Right?

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So it's really, really critical

to think about your marketing

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in the context of this journey.

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And where in this journey does

your marketing need the most help?

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Now what I've found is that most

therapists want to move through

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these stages in order, which makes

sense logically, chronologically.

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They wanna start with awareness

and then they want to build trust

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because awareness is what is

required to go from unaware to aware.

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But it is trust.

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That must help people

go from aware to Sure.

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And so most therapists think Awesome.

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I'll start on awareness

and then I'll get to trust.

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But marketing that actually works.

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It works.

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Backward.

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You have to reverse engineer from

where you want your client to end up.

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So if you're sitting here staring down

this elephant, that is your marketing.

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Start from where you want them to end.

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Start from helping people become sure.

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Begin with the end in mind, the full fee

RightFit clients who feel sure of you.

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Who know that you are the

therapist they've been looking

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for, who are ready to get started.

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So first you have to ask yourself,

well, what makes someone sure?

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What makes someone go from knowing

about you to knowing you're

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the one they want to work with?

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Clarity, trust, connection.

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That's what's critical.

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So that's why if your website, for

instance, is super unclear or your

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niche feels fuzzy or too generic.

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Then even if you double your website

traffic, it's probably not gonna

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lead to many more inquiries and

they're unlikely to be the right fit.

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Lemme say that again.

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If your website is unclear, your niche

is fuzzy or generic, then even if we

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double your website traffic through ads

or networking or you spinning your wheels

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out there on social media, whatever

it might be, it probably isn't gonna

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lead to many more inquiries and those

inquiries aren't likely to be a good fit.

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That kind of hurts, right?

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Because that means that you could

be out there pouring so much

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fuel into your engine and the

engine not taking you anywhere.

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So you have to make sure people

can become sure of you before you

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make more people aware of you.

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So, like I said here, we wanna

begin with the Sure stage.

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We wanna consider this as the

foundation of your marketing.

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What helps someone view you as the

therapist they wanna work with?

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Well, when I look around at the most

successful therapist I know, I actually

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just had a one-on-one session with

a clinician last week who expects

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to make over $300,000 this year.

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I know other therapists who are

fully booked at 3 75 plus a session.

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Okay?

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So when I am looking at the most

successful by those standards

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clinicians in our world.

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Or when I look at the therapists

who are getting regular inquiries,

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regardless of fee from people who

are desperate to work with them, who

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are a perfect fit, who light them up

and make them excited, what do I see?

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Well, when I look at what's helping

their clients become, sure, I see things

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like a clear niche specific message.

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I don't know if you are like me and

you hear about niching everywhere you

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go, granted, this is my profession.

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You gotta have a niche today.

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But the way that you niche, the way that

you present that niche, the way that niche

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is communicated is so critical these days.

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It's why I created our magnetic niche

method earlier this year, because I

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realized therapists deserve a tool to

actually figure out how to do this right,

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because just having a niche isn't enough.

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It's gotta be clear and it's gotta

be communicated the right way.

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Okay, so that is something that we

are seeing helping these clinicians

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guide people from Aware to Sure.

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Copy that builds trust and

connection is critical.

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That phone call where someone

says, I read your website and I

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know you're the therapist for me.

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Or how so many of our confident copy

students will report, they'll get

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on consultations and clients will

actually read the copy back to them.

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As an indication of how

much it resonated with them,

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The words you use in your marketing are

absolutely critical to how successful you

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are in your practice and in this market.

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We need to see that trust

and connection built.

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And guess what?

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That's not gonna happen with something

that you pounded out from chat GBT.

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Okay, so genuine human, authentic copy

that's building trust and connection

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that's helping people become.

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Sure.

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What about some of those subtle things

we've been talking about more recently?

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The subconscious things

where I become aware of you.

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I land on your website for the

first time, and then it's the

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experience I have with you.

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It's the design.

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It's the way I move through your

website that actually leads me to become

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sure of you and to feel like you are

trustworthy, like you are worthy of

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whatever fee it is you're commanding.

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We're looking at things like

professional and cohesive design when

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it comes to shore in that category,

even things like directory profiles.

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Now, I cannot wait to get our 2025 data

around psych today and the success there,

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but in our most recent data, which was

December of 2024, over 80% of fully

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booked clinicians have gotten a client

from psych today in the last six months.

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It's over 75% for fully

booked full fee clinicians.

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So the, well, it doesn't

work for private pay.

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The data doesn't show us that.

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Now, like I said, we'll

see what 2025 says.

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Maybe that's changed drastically.

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But we do know a directories don't

work the way that they used to.

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We are no longer in the glory

days of changing your profile and

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getting four clients the next day.

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However, we do still see them work.

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So even your Psych Today profile or

your inclusive therapist profile,

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your mental health match, whatever

directory or platform you choose to be

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on there, even that can lead someone to

becoming sure of you because how many

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other profiles are they looking at?

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This is not just an awareness

tool where they learn your name.

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It's a sureness tool, right?

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It is a trust building tool because it

leads them to decide, am I gonna reach

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out to this therapist or keep scrolling?

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Everything I've outlined here

are conversion strategies.

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They're the things that turn potential

clients into paying ones that lead

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people to click that button and

to schedule that consult, to book

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that first appointment with you.

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If we don't have these things in place,

then just like I was saying earlier,

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we can double your website traffic.

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We can double your psych today traffic.

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we can double your Instagram following.

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We're still not likely

to see a meaningful.

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Increase in RightFit inquiries.

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I've used this metaphor before, but before

you pour more water into the bucket,

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before you spend more energy and time

trying to fill your bucket, can you make

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sure that the bucket doesn't leak First,

I want your website and your marketing to

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hold water, and that's what we're talking

about with these conversion strategies.

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After that, and only after that, after

you've built that foundation then, then

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it's time for those awareness strategies.

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Then it's time for the SEO and the

blogging for the networking, for the

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collaborations, but for the social

media, for the directories, for the

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podcasting, for the speaking, for the

Leaving, flyers places, all of those

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things that comes after, and you get

to decide which of those awareness

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strategies make sense for you.

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Is that making sense to you?

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So if you're sitting here and you've

been looking at your marketing

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wondering, where do I focus?

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Do we have that conversion

foundation in place?

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Do people know how to become sure of you?

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Okay, great.

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Now, do they know about you?

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So this helps you break down this

massive elephant that is your marketing

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into some smaller bite-size pieces.

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It is a reminder here that you

don't need to do everything.

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You just need to take and

choose your next bite.

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So I encourage you to reflect

on a couple of questions.

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One, are people not finding you at all?

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Do they have no idea you exist?

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Then you need to focus

on awareness strategies.

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Are people finding you but

they're not reaching out?

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Then we need to focus on those conversion

strategies, those Sure strategies.

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This helps you diagnose where the

breakdown is in your marketing.

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If you're sitting here as an

established clinician and you're

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saying, Anna, I did spend time on

my website, I do feel good about it.

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Awesome.

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Then hopefully that foundation is in place

and now we need to get people coming in.

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That's where your efforts need to be

focused, and you're absolutely allowed to

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dabble and to try a thing here or there.

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Maybe you like SEO, and then you find out

actually social media is where you shine.

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Perhaps you just wanna go all

in on Google ads and not worry

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about playing the organic game.

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Maybe you're a natural networker.

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Go try on a couple of these

for size, but realize that

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something's gotta happen, right?

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And that if we have the foundation

in place, then it's our job

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to drive awareness to it.

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If you're not sure if that foundation is

working, then we need to fix that first.

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Sometimes I will sit down in a discovery

call with a client if they're interested

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in our done for you services, and if they

have an existing website, I actually ask

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them to pull up that website data and we

look at, all right, are people getting

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to the website and not reaching out?

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What metrics do we have here?

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And maybe it'd actually be fun to do

a podcast episode similar to this.

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I'll make a note of that, but I will

ask these folks to pull up their website

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data and we'll look at that together.

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And we'll decide together,

okay, do we have enough data?

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Ak, do we have enough eyeballs

on this website to say, Hmm.

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We have a lot of people coming

and not enough reaching out.

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That tells us, you know what the

breakdown might actually be in the

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website because you're doing a good

job of sending people to the site, but

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the site isn't pulling that weight.

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It's not driving people from

potential to paying clients.

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Sometimes I'll sit down in those calls

and they'll pull up their website

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data, and we don't have very much data.

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We don't have very much traffic to the

website, and then we're left with the

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sort of chicken or the egg scenario.

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Okay.

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Do we focus on just driving, driving,

driving awareness, and then seeing if

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the website works, or do we use this as

an opportunity to make sure the website

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is as good as it can possibly be?

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Now, usually my

recommendation is the latter.

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Whether they work with us or not, it's

really important to me that they're not

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going out there and investing their time,

their energy, or their money into pouring

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water into that leaky bucket, right?

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I wanna see therapists feel

really confident in their bucket.

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You know, we refer to that as your

client conversion engine, because

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once you have that, then you have

this really steady foundation to

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stand on and to build on, to test on.

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If you aren't sure.

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If your foundation is any good, and

then you go out there and again,

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spend your meaningful, valuable time,

energy, or money sending people to

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something that may or may not work.

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We're just perhaps pushing

out the fact that you need to

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come back and optimize that.

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So that's some of the

decision making criteria.

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But like I mentioned at the top of the

episode, I know so many of you're sitting

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here saying, but Anna, what do I do next?

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Okay, what do you do next?

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Do you have the foundation in place?

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Are you a hundred percent

confident in that foundation?

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If not, address it.

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Address the foundation.

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We talked about those conversion

strategies being a clear

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and niche specific message.

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We talked about genuine, authentic human

copy that's building trust and connection.

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We talked about professional

cohesive design.

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We talked about strong directory

profiles if you choose to use them.

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All of these are those

conversion strategies.

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If you're not sure that

foundation is solid.

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Then focus there.

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Then focus on helping

people become aware of you.

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Remember, we're working backward on that

client journey, so from Sure to aware,

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how do we help people become aware?

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That's where you get to decide,

and I recommend that you dabble

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if you are a dabbler in one to two

at a time, and make sure that you

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are testing them for long enough.

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I'll have therapists go out there

and be begin running ads, for

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instance, for one month and they're

not seeing great conversion yet.

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A month probably isn't

long enough for us to know.

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Or they'll start on social media and

they'll be really, really excited

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for two weeks and then they burn out.

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Whatever it is that you choose, choose

something that feels sustainable

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over the long term, because if you're

gonna be a business over the long

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term, then this is a relationship

you're going to have to maintain.

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So we build our foundation, we help

people become aware, and then we diagnose,

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and then we look at that journey, we

wonder, how can I make this even better?

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Could I help more people

become aware of me?

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Could I be putting more effort in there?

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Could I be helping people

become even more sure of me?

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Could I get even clearer on my niche?

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But this is the decision making

criteria for which bite you take.

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Next, I want to remind you that

every therapist you admire.

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Built their practice, one

step, one bite at a time.

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The difference is hopefully, eventually

they learned how to take those bites

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or steps in the right order, and I'm

sure they look back and think, oh,

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I could have done that differently.

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And my hope is that your steps can be as

linear as possible, that you would know

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here's what to do first, and then second,

and then third, because the paralysis

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of sitting there staring at this massive

elephant and wondering what to do.

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Is only keeping you more stuck, so

my hope is that now you have a little

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bit of a framework on how to decide

what your next step is gonna be.

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And remember that whatever step you take,

even if it's one that you would backtrack

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on later steps, build confidence.

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Action builds confidence.

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00:17:50,466 --> 00:17:52,416

You do not need to feel

confident to start.

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The confidence will come through that,

the clarity will come through that,

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but that is how you build confidence.

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That is how you build momentum.

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Small and focused action.

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Intentional action is what compounds

into very real and tangible results.

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And I can only say that because I've

seen it be true in countless practices

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because the fact is you cannot

market effectively from overwhelm.

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It is just not a healthy

or sustainable place to be.

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But you can market

effectively from clarity.

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Not to say that to-do list won't feel big,

but knowing what to do first and what to

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prioritize, that's what can change things.

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And it all starts by working backward

through your client's journey, the

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client journey, again, unaware, aware.

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Sure.

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00:18:44,061 --> 00:18:45,621

Where do you start with your marketing?

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00:18:45,831 --> 00:18:46,101

Sure.

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00:18:46,971 --> 00:18:48,651

Aware, unaware.

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I recommend that you choose one focused

area of your marketing, one focused stage

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00:18:55,121 --> 00:18:57,131

of that journey to work on this month.

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00:18:57,971 --> 00:19:03,641

That could be your niche, your copy, your

design, your SEO, your networking efforts.

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00:19:03,641 --> 00:19:09,851

Choose one thing, one part of the journey

that aligns with this decision making

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00:19:09,851 --> 00:19:11,981

criteria, and start taking action.

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00:19:13,681 --> 00:19:16,561

I've been mentioning that our Black

Friday sale is coming up later this

363

00:19:16,561 --> 00:19:21,031

month, and we are just days out from

actually opening up our early bird list.

364

00:19:21,391 --> 00:19:24,351

When you join our early bird list, you

get a chance at our daily Door Busters,

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which includes extra savings on top of

our already crazy savings every day.

366

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But this is our biggest sale of the

year, and I'm really excited about

367

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what we're offering on Thursday.

368

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So Thanksgiving Day, we are

offering the absolute biggest

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discount we've ever done on.

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And that is 80% off all of

our bite sized resources.

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So Magnetic Niche Method, the therapist,

DIY brand kit, the Psych Today

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All of our mini courses and bite

sized resources are 80% off.

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I think the cheapest ones like $7.

376

00:19:57,291 --> 00:20:00,921

You have no reason not to jump in,

but they're all designed to help

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00:20:00,921 --> 00:20:03,531

you take one next focused step.

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00:20:04,191 --> 00:20:06,791

And my hope is that through

this episode, you know what that

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00:20:06,791 --> 00:20:08,621

next step needs to be for you.

380

00:20:08,681 --> 00:20:11,681

'cause it's gonna look different than your

colleague or your friend or your peer.

381

00:20:13,091 --> 00:20:17,681

It might be clarifying your niche, maybe

it's tightening your copy, in which case

382

00:20:17,681 --> 00:20:20,931

you're gonna love our confident copy

day, which is on Friday, where you can

383

00:20:20,931 --> 00:20:22,491

save some big money on that program.

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00:20:23,241 --> 00:20:26,271

You need to figure out

what your next step is.

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00:20:26,421 --> 00:20:27,891

What phase are you working on?

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00:20:27,981 --> 00:20:32,541

What bite are you taking, and how

can that lead to those full fee

387

00:20:32,541 --> 00:20:36,741

right fit clients that are out there

looking for you right this minute?

388

00:20:38,661 --> 00:20:41,151

Choose the area that's gonna

move your practice forward.

389

00:20:41,541 --> 00:20:43,221

And remember, you don't have to do it all.

390

00:20:43,731 --> 00:20:45,051

Do this one bite at a time.

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00:20:45,681 --> 00:20:47,391

The rest will follow.

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00:20:49,311 --> 00:20:49,491

All right.

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00:20:49,491 --> 00:20:50,601

I hope this one was helpful for you.

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00:20:50,601 --> 00:20:51,831

Like I said, a really helpful.

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00:20:52,446 --> 00:20:56,376

Decision making tree and criteria

as you stare down the elephant.

396

00:20:56,376 --> 00:20:57,246

That is your marketing.

397

00:20:57,576 --> 00:21:00,126

If you're interested in learning more

about our Black Friday sale, please

398

00:21:00,126 --> 00:21:02,616

do head to walker strategy code.com/bf

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25.

400

00:21:03,966 --> 00:21:07,016

You can preview all of our deals and like

I mentioned a little bit later this week.

401

00:21:07,016 --> 00:21:10,826

Our early bird wait list will open and

you'll have a chance to jump in there

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00:21:10,826 --> 00:21:13,076

and qualify for even more savings.

403

00:21:13,436 --> 00:21:15,806

Alright, y'all, I appreciate

you being here today and I'll

404

00:21:15,806 --> 00:21:16,886

see you in next week's episode.