Good morning. A lot has changed in the last six months, including the way we do therapy. The topic of this week’s newsletter is telehealth.
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One of the keys to great marketing is flexibility. If there’s anything we’ve learned from this year, it’s how quickly things can change—no one was accounting for a global pandemic in their 2020 marketing plan.
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In the beginning of the year, the Northampton Center for Couples Therapy (NCCT) had 10 therapists who were seeing 80 couples per week for 90-minute sessions. In a good week, they would receive 45-50 inquiries for therapy. They also offered six, two-three day private intensives per month and 95% of their business was in-person at their brick-and-mortar site.
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Then COVID hit. They had to shut down their clinic and their revenue dropped by 40%. At their low, they were only seeing 50 couples per week. Since then, they’ve built things back up, and have even hired three new therapists to keep up with demand. They’re now seeing over 100 couples per week, all online.

I caught up with Founder/Director Kerry Lusignan to learn how they’ve done it.
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Messaging
​Kerry credited optimizing their website, which is built on Squarespace, as a key to their success. They updated the messaging on their homepage to read, “A Life-Line For Couples During COVID-19.” This speaks to their target audience (couples) and what they need. They also clearly state they accept insurance, offer weekly and intensive options, and it can all be done online.

Navigation
​They added ONLINE THERAPY to their top navigation to make it easy to find. Underneath, they added dedicated landing pages for Online Therapy for United States Couples and Online Therapy for International Couples. Both of these pages show up highly in Google search results for “online therapy,” although they’re competing with virtual therapy apps like Talkspace and BetterHelp.

Content Marketing
​They’ve increased their blog publishing frequency from twice per month to weekly. They published an open letter to their community and clients about COVID-19 and have followed that up with an article on co-parenting during COVID-19. They also posted a video, How to Stop Your Marriage from Falling Apart, with keywords like “online couples therapy” in the post that will show up in Google search results.
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If all of this sounds great but you’re not sure where to start, I recommend starting with an audit of your website. Are you clearly communicating the services you’re offering, and who you’re offering them to?
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NCCT already had clear positioning as “the only practice in New England that specializes exclusively in treating couples,” but they still had to pivot to online therapy.
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While a pandemic may seem like a bad time for business, demand for therapy has never been higher. People are looking for you online. Help them find you.
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Until next time,
Michael
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