As you develop your marketing strategies for working with the educational community, don’t forget to consider collaborating with your competitors.
Begin by asking professionals in education for the names and contact info of other health professionals they work with.
Contact those individuals whose names your were given. Invite them to meet with you to discuss possible ways for health professionals to collaborate.
Create a resource directory / guide that details each professional’s services and areas of expertise.
Use the internet to collect the names and contact info for other allied health professionals in your geographic area who focus on education issues.
Don’t forget to include any professional association that may also focus on these issues. Obtain mailing lists for these organizations.
Send a personalized cover letter introducing yourself to each individual with a copy of your resource directory / guide.
Invite each individual to complete a form (which you will include with the letter above) and return it to you if they wish to be included in the next version of the resource directory.
Follow up with a telephone call to arrange a meeting with each one.
In this way, your competitors become your allies and you strengthen your position in the educational community.
Professional marketing kits always contain a personalized cover letter. This allows you to tailor your introduction directly to your potential referral source’s needs. Do you know how to write a killer cover letter?
Start by doing your market research. Know what’s different about this business / professional. Know who their target market is. Know what they do and don’t do. Then you can start writing.
Format and tone. The letter should be written on your professional (not personal) letterhead in a business format. The tone should be warm and helpful.
General content. Your primary goal is to highlight how your business can help solve one of their needs — better, faster, or more thoroughly. Always keep in mind the myths associated with your profession and make an effort to dispel those as best you can. And, don’t forget to include the benefits of working with you, your credentials, professional affiliations, and experience.
Introductory paragraph. This is where you talk about who you are and why you are writing the letter. For example: “My name is Tamara G. Suttle. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and am writing to introduce you to the services that I offer.”
Bragging rights. This is where you include relevant highlights from your resume and work experience. For example: ” I have been in private practice for almost 20 years and have worked extensively with sexual trauma. In 1995, I began offering workshops and retreats on . . . . I have been written up by . . . .”
A short therapist’s statement. This will be one-three sentences used to give the recipient a better understanding of your unique way of offering your service(s). (Look for a future post describing therapists’ statements in more detail.)
Concluding paragraph. This is where you may reference one or two of the materials included in your marketing kit (like press clippings, brochures, etc.) and request / offer future contact and support.
Length. Ideally, your letter should be one to two pages in length — preferably one. And, because you are including this as part of your marketing kit, you can use your letter to refer to some of the various components in the kit such as the menu of services or the client testimonials.
Including a personalized cover letter allows you to set yourself apart from the hundreds of therapists out there in a professional way. Next time, we’ll talk about what to do with your letter and how to package your marketing kit!
Take a few minutes right now to gather the items that you already have from the list above. For now, just take an inventory to see which ones are missing from your marketing kit. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be talking to you in detail about the specifics of these 10 essential items – helping you create the ones you don’t have and, hopefully, helping you improve on the ones that are not presenting the professional image that you desire.
I hope you will drop me a note (by adding a comment below) to let me know if you have your marketing kit in order.
Tamara G. Suttle, M.Ed., LPC has maintained a private clinical practice since 1991 and founded Private Practice from the Inside Out in 2003. She has spent almost 20 years consulting and teaching marketing strategies to health care professionals like you. You can learn more about her clinical practice at her website.
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