You, You, You, You, You. – Yes, I am that old and clearly I could not resist the temptation.
All kidding aside, if you have not already guessed, this post will be talking about marketing your business by getting the word out in various ways. It will build on some of the decisions you have already made such as the name of your business, where it is located and what services you offer.
You have done much of the hard work already and now it is time to pull it together and create your marketing plan. If you are going to be raising outside funding, they will want to know your plan as it will give them confidence to invest their money with you.
If you are new to marketing a business it may be best to consult with a full-service marketing professional to get you started or engage further to build and execute major portions of the plan.
Brand and Visual Identity
It goes without saying the baseline for an ABA clinic is to build trust with potential clients and reinforce the message with existing patients. Beyond that you will need to build a brand that also makes you stand out from the rest. The differentiator may be your approach, service offerings or other attributes.
Website (SEO)
A business these days without a website is probably not going to be a business for very long. While there are exceptions to this rule, ab ABA practice will definitely need a website.
Modern website tools are getting pretty good so the average person these days can build a basic one with little to no help. Where you will need help is on the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) side. It is a complex subject about getting your website to organically rank higher when someone searches a given phrase, such as, ABA clinics near me. One thing that makes it so difficult to tackle is Google is regularly changing the rules. That is what made your site rank higher 6 months ago could now actually be hurting you.
If you are taking on the major portions of the marketing plan on your own, you may be tempted to pass off the SEO portion to an expert. From experience you need to be careful who you select as some SEO folks can be expensive and do more harm than good.
Social Media
The social media landscape is always changing but less so than SEO tactics above, as such this may be an area you want to take on. The first question to ask is, what apps are my customers using when they are looking for ABA services? If you find there are multiple apps, start with the most popular one and master it before moving on to other apps.
Like the SEO market there are people who will claim they can quadruple your social media leads with pay-per-click or other strategies, but most will fail to deliver.
As part of this make sure to join, participate in and/or create groups to make yourself more visible on social media.
Google Business Profile
Pretty much every company can benefit from a Google Business Profile. Setting one up gains visibility for your business and allows clients to easily see your location and contact details.
Reviews and Testimonials
These have been around forever and are still very relevant today. They can be in written form and make sure to add them to your website. Make sure to ask as in some cases you can get someone to give a live testimonial on video or provide a live testimonial where prospective clients could speak with them before signing up.
Networking
Old school networking still works and can help move your business forward. The main networking opportunities for an ABA practice are schools as well as other medical professionals and service providers. Each of them could provide referrals to your business to generate prospective clients.
Autism Advocacy Groups
While most of these groups will have a website and/or social media presence, many local groups may not and joining via word of mouth will be needed.
Finding Your Own Opportunities
Look for local community events and programs related to autism awareness. You can be part of them and get the benefit of highlighting your business.
This concludes our look into getting the word out portion of our series on creating your own ABA clinic. Hope you enjoyed it and will join us again for the next post that will discuss setting up proper administration of your business to help its success.
We hope you found this installment of our guide helpful in determining your clinic location. Up next will be our post on marketing your clinic and getting the word out that will attract your ideal clients.
Getting Started – Pricing
