If things feel off in your marketing heading into summer, this episode will help you stop spiraling and start diagnosing what your practice actually needs. In part two of the Summer Slump Playbook series, Anna walks through how to determine whether your issue is visibility, conversion, or something else entirely—so you can stop throwing energy at the wrong problem.

Instead of overhauling everything or jumping to “more” marketing, this episode will help you use real data to make grounded, strategic decisions about your next steps. You’ll learn how to assess what’s working, what’s underperforming, and where to focus first so you can move through a slower season with more clarity and confidence.

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

1️⃣ The three marketing scenarios therapists commonly face when inquiries slow down—and how to identify which one you’re in

2️⃣ How to determine whether your issue is website traffic or website conversion

3️⃣ What to audit on your website if people are visiting but not reaching out

4️⃣ Why optimizing what’s already working is often more effective than constantly adding new marketing strategies

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• Confident Copy: https://walkerstrategyco.com/cc
• Squarespace Templates: https://walkerstrategyco.com/templates
• The Walker Strategy Co website: https://walkerstrategyco.com

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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: 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 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 part two of our Pre-Summer

2

Slump Playbook series.

3

So this is just a quick mini series.

4

Our last episode was all about

understanding the levers available to you.

5

So before you get into that panic

hair on fire, what am I gonna do?

6

Is my practice failing space?

7

We are looked at what is.

8

Available to you.

9

How can you remain in the

driver's seat of your practice?

10

What could you do?

11

What could you implement, especially based

on your bandwidth, your time, your energy,

12

your money, if and when things slow down?

13

This summer, this episode is

all about diagnosing where

14

you need to be focusing your.

15

First, so you have been equipped

with what is available to you.

16

We talked a little bit about the fact

that we need to think about conversion and

17

then traffic in that order today is, okay,

what does your practice actually need?

18

So last episode was kind of theory.

19

This episode is auditing and then deciding

what steps you need to take here as it

20

relates to your practice specifically.

21

All right.

22

So if you're heading into the summer and

something feels off in your marketing,

23

or if you get into the summer, you notice

things slow down, then this episode

24

is sort of your diagnostic, all right?

25

The goal is not, it is never to

overhaul everything all at once.

26

If you have had some success

in your practice, guess what?

27

Marketing doesn't break overnight.

28

And thank goodness what has worked

before will likely work again.

29

And if your brand new to

private practice, then.

30

Let's take some really meaningful steps

forward as opposed to trying to do it all.

31

Okay?

32

So know that, that we're looking

at what action to take first and

33

then what action to take second.

34

Not here's exactly, not

here's this big long list.

35

Go do it.

36

Be overwhelmed, right?

37

That's what we're trying to eliminate.

38

So I want to help you in this episode, get

clear on what the actual problem is, if

39

there's a problem in your marketing, so

that you're not just throwing effort at

40

the wrong thing or in the wrong direction.

41

Many therapists I know skip this step.

42

They go straight to doing

quote unquote, more and more

43

looks different for everyone.

44

More looks like changing the colors

of the buttons on your website again,

45

or changing the copy on your about

page again, or posting on social media

46

because you feel like everyone is

there and you have to, or whatever.

47

Okay, more looks different for

everyone, but this is where I see

48

therapists just jump to as opposed

to slowing down and being like, wait.

49

What actually deserves needs

my attention right now.

50

That's what I want to look at today.

51

So a reminder, the summer slump

is literally the best time of

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year to invest in your marketing.

53

Truly, if things are gonna slow down in

your caseload, that can be a gift to the

54

long term sustainability of your practice.

55

This is the best time to

be thinking about things.

56

It's the perfect time to do

this work, so welcome that.

57

As opposed to being afraid of it,

the stakes are a little bit lower.

58

There's some.

59

Extra space to think clearly,

like all good things if we

60

reframe the way that we view this.

61

Okay?

62

Now there's really three situations

that therapists find themselves in

63

if they realize that something isn't

right in their marketing and they call

64

for very, very different responses.

65

Okay?

66

So first and foremost is understanding

which one of these scenarios you are in.

67

Scenario number one, you have

little to no traffic to your

68

website and little to no inquiries.

69

So no one knows you exist

and no one's reaching out.

70

No one's finding you.

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And this is primarily a visibility

problem, but we also have to make

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sure that if you're gonna go out

and get visible, that we also have

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the conversion engine in place first

before we're pouring energy into that.

74

That's what we talked about at

the beginning of last episode.

75

Make sure you go back and listen

to that if you haven't yet.

76

But we talked about how conversion

has to come before traffic because if

77

you're gonna go out and spend time,

energy, or money on getting people to

78

your website, we better be sure that

website is gonna do its job, okay?

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So we wanna make sure that the conversion

engine is in place, but if you have little

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to no traffic and little to no inquiries,

and your conversion engine is in place,

81

that's pointing straight to visibility,

and that's where you can leverage the

82

levers we talked about in last episode.

83

Scenario number two,

this is the tricky one.

84

You have some traffic to your website,

some people are getting there,

85

but inquiries aren't following.

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At least as much as you'd like.

87

This is kind of a chicken or

egg scenario, and honestly

88

it's the trickiest to diagnose.

89

So I'm gonna get more

into that in a moment.

90

Maybe you're in scenario two,

but then there's scenario three

91

where inquiries are coming in,

but they're not becoming clients.

92

So you're hearing from people,

but you're not converting them.

93

I wanna be clear that this

is a different problem.

94

This isn't necessarily a

traffic or conversion issue.

95

It's likely living in your consult

conversations, your fee communication,

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potentially wrong fit people

landing on your website, which.

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Could indicate potential

conversion issues.

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So it's not exactly what we're covering

here today, but if you're realizing

99

that inquiries are coming in, you are

talking to people, but they're not

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converting, that's probably pointing

to a different part of the inquiry to.

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Client process that you want to address.

102

Now, it might not be exactly what

we're covering today, but I do think

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if you stay with us, you'll find some

helpful things here in this episode.

104

So this episode is really

for scenarios one and two.

105

Either you have little to no

traffic and little to no inquiries,

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or you have some traffic but

the inquiries aren't following.

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Okay.

108

Now, like I mentioned, that second

scenario is the trickiest to diagnose.

109

I call it the chicken or the egg scenario.

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And it really is grounded in the question,

is it my website that's the issue?

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Or am I just not getting enough traffic?

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Do I not have enough eyeballs on the site?

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And these feel similar from the

outside, but they're ultimately

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different problems, right?

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And the way that we would address

them would, would differ as well.

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So here's how I wanna

help you diagnose this.

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I want you to actually look at the data.

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Yes.

119

I want you to actually

look at your numbers.

120

If you don't have a

regular practice of this.

121

You need to make one.

122

We want to be making decisions

that are grounded in data, not just

123

running on vibes or gut checks.

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So I want you to pull up maybe

the backend of your Squarespace,

125

Google Analytics, whatever.

126

You've got to understand how

many people are coming to your

127

website on a monthly basis.

128

Now, I wish that I could give you

an exact number of visits that

129

you should be shooting for, and

once you hit that, you're golden.

130

Unfortunately, I can't do that.

131

However, there is a benchmark that I

recommend for most solo practices, and

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that's between 150 and 200 visits a month.

133

Again, this is not a magical number.

134

I know people that are very successful

and get less than a hundred.

135

Visits to their website a month.

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I know people that get thousands,

especially if they are regular

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bloggers that don't necessarily

get as many clients as they want.

138

So again, this is not a magic number,

but it is a good benchmark to target.

139

So 150 to 200 visits a month, if

you are getting around there, if

140

you're getting, say, we'll say a

hundred to 200 visits a month, and.

141

Very, very few, if any inquiries

that points us straight to a

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conversion issue that says a

lot of people are landing here.

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Not everyone's gonna be a perfect fit,

but enough people are landing here that

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we would expect to see some conversions.

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So that tells us the website might

be where you need to be focusing

146

your attention in this season

if you are getting some traffic.

147

And some inquiries.

148

Okay, so maybe we're in the a

hundred, 150 range, maybe not quite

149

that high, but you are getting some

clients just not as many as you want.

150

Then it's time to look at

the quality of the feedback.

151

So a little bit more of

the qualitative data.

152

Have right fit.

153

People found you and said good

things, told you that your website

154

resonated with them, even if there

just aren't as many as you'd like.

155

Then that tells us, okay, the

website is likely doing its job.

156

We just need some more volume.

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But if you haven't gotten that feedback,

if the people that have reached out

158

haven't been the right fit, if they

haven't followed through, then I would

159

definitely wanna make sure that the

website is set up as successfully

160

as possible before devoting too much

energy to increasing that volume.

161

Now what we know is that people

are visiting more websites than

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they used to before reaching out.

163

They're taking longer to make decisions.

164

They're probably coming back

to your website before reaching

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out to you multiple times.

166

So you're gonna need more

traffic than you used to.

167

We need the volume to support that shift.

168

Okay, so like I said, if you're getting

some traffic and some inquiries, then

169

it's time to look at the feedback that

you've gotten from those inquiries that

170

have come in, and that's gonna point you

with greater confidence toward which area

171

conversion or traffic to be focusing on.

172

Now, if you pull up your data and you're

getting almost no traffic at all, then

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it's really, really challenging to

know if your website is set up well.

174

Because it's almost impossible to know

if it is the website that's the issue.

175

So in that case, I would recommend

getting a few more eyeballs on it,

176

if that's where you find yourself.

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Again, I would wanna make sure that

your conversion engine is set up well.

178

It's why we love watching our students

go through Confident Copy and then.

179

Start marketing themselves because

they can know with really high

180

confidence, no pun intended, that

the website is gonna be set up well.

181

So if they get into this scenario

where they aren't getting as many

182

inquiries as they want, they can know

with, again, pretty high confidence.

183

That the website is set up well, that

their conversion engine is set up the

184

way that they need it to, and that this

is likely more just a visibility thing.

185

So I would wanna make sure if you're in

that camp of not getting much traffic,

186

if any, that the website is set up

well, you know, that you believe that,

187

you trust that, and then it's time.

188

Alright, let's just go get eyeballs on

it and get some more data to, to really

189

determine how the website is performing.

190

What I want to point out here is that

this is about using the data to tell

191

you where to look and where to focus.

192

Rather than, I'm not

getting enough inquiries.

193

Oh no, I'm not getting enough inquiries.

194

What, where should I be focusing?

195

What are the numbers saying?

196

What is asking for my attention?

197

What could I be optimizing?

198

That's the attitude to approach this with.

199

You cannot diagnose this

on gut feel or vibes.

200

All right.

201

I want you to make sure that you are

checking your numbers, as I mentioned,

202

on a regular basis, not just something

you do when you're worried, okay?

203

But a regular practice and a

rhythm just like many of the other

204

parts of running your practice.

205

Okay?

206

So if the data is pointing to a

conversion issue, if you are saying,

207

huh, I don't think my website

is doing what it needs to, then

208

here's what I want you to look for.

209

I want you to go to your website either

right now or after this episode, and

210

I want you to ask if my ideal client

landed here for the first time, the

211

first time, they've never heard about me.

212

They've never read any other

pages before, would they

213

immediately know this is for them?

214

Is your niche stated clearly.

215

I'm not just just talking clinically

accurate, but deeply emotionally

216

resident with your ideal client.

217

Does the person you're trying to reach

actually see themselves on this page?

218

Could they say, oh my goodness, that's me.

219

Is the language too broad?

220

I help adults navigate life transitions.

221

Yeah, so do most therapists, right?

222

Versus speaking directly to

the specific experience that

223

your ideal client is living.

224

Your kids have left the house, your

relationship feels foreign, and

225

you don't know who you are anymore.

226

So is the language too broad?

227

Is it obvious what to do next?

228

This is something that is so easy

to gloss over and miss in your

229

website, but it is so critical that

your clients know exactly what they

230

should do in order to engage with you.

231

We're talking clear

call to action buttons.

232

We're talking some summary of the process

of reaching out to you in Confident copy.

233

We have what's called the process

block that we devote to this.

234

Make sure there's no dead ends.

235

Every page should have a next step.

236

We should make it easy for people

whenever they're on your website, whether

237

that is on the middle of the about

page, the bottom of your homepage, the.

238

Top your FAQ, whatever, they should

be able to take action as soon as they

239

realize you're the therapist for them.

240

And then ultimately ask yourself this

final question, does the site build

241

enough trust that someone who's nervous

about reaching out would actually do it?

242

Are there signals here that would

breed trust in your ideal client?

243

A really great exercise here is to

ask a non therapist friend, okay?

244

Partner, a friend whoever that might be,

to spend 60 seconds just on your homepage

245

and then tell you reflect back to you

who you help and how to get in touch.

246

What they say back to you

is gonna tell you a lot.

247

Okay?

248

So if the data, again, points to

conversion your website is not pulling

249

its weight, it's not getting people from

landing on the site to reaching out.

250

I want you to go through this exercise.

251

Now, if you're in the other.

252

Side, and it is more of

a visibility problem.

253

Nope, I know that my

website is set up well.

254

Maybe you've been

through a confident copy.

255

Maybe you have gotten great

feedback from your clients that

256

your website does resonate with

them and we just need more of them.

257

Then that's pointing to traffic.

258

Or if you're in that scenario

one with almost no visibility

259

that we were talking about, then

here's where I want you to look.

260

Start with what you already have.

261

Marketing wise.

262

Whenever I meet a new therapist

and we're talking about their

263

marketing, I ask, what does your

current marketing rhythm look like?

264

What are you already doing?

265

How do we make sure that

that's well optimized before

266

you just again, go adding on?

267

Because Joe Schmo in that Facebook

group said that they did this.

268

Okay.

269

So is your site today profile updated?

270

We talked in the last episode about

how directories are really low hanging

271

fruit, whatever directories you're using.

272

Have those been optimized?

273

Right.

274

Are those pulling as much

weight as they possibly can?

275

Have you optimized your

Google business profile?

276

If you are an in-person practice

again, as mentioned in the last

277

episode, go do that right now.

278

Please don't wait until

the summertime go do that.

279

Really low hanging fruit, really

meaningful for SEO and ai, are

280

there any niche specific directories

that you could be thinking about?

281

And then of course we have to

look at that referral network.

282

That's the other non-negotiable here.

283

You can use the four categories from

the last episode, those being same

284

niche therapists, adjacent niche

therapists, complimentary professionals,

285

and then that full fee wellness

sort of ecosystem we talked about.

286

But how are things going there?

287

Are you in touch with them?

288

How can you be circling back

with your existing contacts?

289

Okay.

290

What I'm encouraging you to do here

is make use of what already exists.

291

Sometimes the answer isn't to go and

add on more and more and more, but just

292

to optimize what's currently in place.

293

Revisit, and water.

294

Nurture the seeds you've already planted.

295

Okay.

296

It doesn't always mean more.

297

So identify where you're already

kind of partially present, but

298

maybe underperforming a little

bit and shore that up first.

299

Then.

300

Then you can implement the

levers we talked about last week.

301

So here's the process as we

consider the this two part series

302

one conversion, then traffic.

303

We have to make sure your conversion

engine is set up well in order to start

304

meaningfully driving traffic and that

traffic actually doing something for you.

305

Okay?

306

So first and foremost, we gotta diagnose

is your issue conversion or traffic?

307

If it's conversion, we have to get

that absolutely in tip top shape.

308

If you're gonna go into a season

where there are fewer people seeking

309

therapy, where traffic is going to

inevitably drop, whatever that might

310

be, we have to absolutely capitalize

onto every single eyeball we can.

311

And to do that, we have to get

that conversion engine in place.

312

It's why we're so passionate

about Confident Copy as the

313

foundation for your marketing.

314

So we make sure conversion is in place.

315

Then it's about visibility.

316

And so if you're in that visibility

camp where you know that that's the

317

issue, you're gonna audit what you're

already doing, and then you're gonna

318

decide what levers to leverage, like

we talked about in last episode.

319

Okay?

320

So that's the process here.

321

When it comes to those levers, things

like Google Ads, local marketing,

322

Instagram, whatever it might be.

323

We want you to be mindful of your

bandwidth, of your time, your energy,

324

your budget, to make sure that you're

choosing something that actually aligns

325

with you, not again, with what the shiny

object syndrome is or what that six figure

326

therapist said in that Facebook group.

327

It's about you.

328

It's about your niche, it's

about your bandwidth when it

329

comes to those three things.

330

So that's the process here.

331

Now, the final note I wanna leave

you with as we head into the

332

summertime is that this diagnosis.

333

This plan, this process, these levers

only matter if you do something with it.

334

Okay.

335

I met with a clinician recently

and I asked her what was

336

going on in her marketing.

337

I asked her, like I mentioned

earlier, kind of what her

338

marketing rhythm was like.

339

'cause she had all these really cool

ideas for how her practice could grow.

340

And I was like, well, what

are you actually doing?

341

And she said, I guess I'm

just hoping and wishing.

342

And I was like.

343

I think that's where we

can make some changes.

344

You know, you have to actually do

something here, especially in this market.

345

All right?

346

We've talked recently about how

you have to be more engaged in your

347

marketing than perhaps you were used to.

348

Perhaps you expected to get clients.

349

Right?

350

Now, those clients are out there,

but you do have to be more engaged.

351

Most therapists have the intention, right?

352

Most therapists have the goal

and the vision and the desire.

353

They've even sometimes

taken that first step.

354

But intention doesn't

move the needle, right?

355

Intention does not equal inquiries.

356

Action does.

357

So the momentum that you're looking

to build in your practice requires

358

repetition, requires engagement, requires

showing up, requires moving through

359

disappointment or discouragement, right?

360

Consistency is critical.

361

I am going to encourage you to pick one

thing you're gonna do as a result of this

362

little series, and then actually do it.

363

Actually do it.

364

And if it's one of the levers that

you're gonna pull, then you're

365

gonna need to do that repeatedly.

366

It's not a set it and forget it.

367

It's not a try it once and leave it.

368

It's do it repeatedly, even when

you don't see the results yet.

369

This summer could be a

gift to your practice.

370

In this regard, this summer could

be a really, really dedicated

371

opportunity to invest in the

long-term growth of your practice.

372

If you let it, you have time, you have

a lower pressure season, hopefully,

373

to build the habit of marketing, to

build the muscle of consistency before

374

things pick back up so that you can

feel in a regular natural rhythm in

375

your marketing as we get back into

the fall and things pick back up.

376

A slow season with a consistent plan

is how you can set yourself up for

377

months, years of success moving forward.

378

Okay, so I really encourage you if the

summer slump feels daunting, if you get

379

into it, you feel discouraged, come back

to this episode and remember, this could

380

be a gift to your practice if you let it.

381

All right, so I'm leaving you with

that first conversion, then traffic.

382

Which one is the data telling you you need

to focus on, optimize what's currently

383

there, and then pull levers accordingly.

384

That's my recommendation.

385

That is my summer slump playbook for you.

386

And it's gonna look a little bit

different, clinician to clinician, but

387

if you use this process, you will be

making the most of your slower season.

388

You will be avoiding overwhelm and

you'll be taking action, moving

389

you in the direction of where

you want your practice to go.

390

I'm cheering you on Happy Summer to you,

and I'll see you in our next episode.