Please support Telehealth.org’s ability to deliver helpful news, opinions, and analyses by turning off your ad blocker. Telehealth.org Q&A #19: Marketing Your Telepractice Services: What is the best way to market telemental health services?
Telepractice marketing is a rather involved issue, depending on your discipline, state (and country) regulatory issues, and the population you serve. After taking more than $30,000 in training for online telepractice marketing, we at Telehealth.org can tell you that much of what we see by the online marketing “gurus” is unprofessional at best and illegal and, therefore, unethical for us at worse. For example, some clinicians don’t realize that they cannot offer “psychoeducation” over state lines because some states include the offering of psychoeducation as part of their scope of clinical practice.
Another issue of relevance to practice development for professionals is personal preference/talent. Some professionals want to develop telepractice marketing materials but lack skills. For example, while some professionals may understand the power of writing a blog to draw people to their website/services, but may have never mastered the art of writing for a consumer population. They may not know that their thesis-writing or dissertation-writing styles are ill-suited for appealing to consumers. They prefer a list of solutions rather than etiology or elaborate descriptions of problems. Consumers don’t usually want more information about how a problem developed. They live the problem and therefore know it more than they like. They want solutions.
Similarly, some professionals understand the power of developing audio or video marketing materials for their practices, but they may or may not like how they sound/appear in their chosen media.
It may not have occurred to them to produce a sample and ask a handful of colleagues to give them objective feedback. They also could hire someone to do a “voice-over” or “screen capture” using their words/images. Next, they produce a short, 1-2 minute audio or video “demo” that is informally shared with a handful of colleagues with specific questions for them to answer. Doing the same for the finished product is also a good idea. Seeking colleagues’ opinions can protect any professional whose earnest efforts go south, and they are held accountable to their licensing board for their words or actions as a professional.
Understanding how to combine and integrate efforts in one or more media may be challenging. It can be helpful to know that simple, tried-and-true formulas and metrics have been developed legally and ethically for telepractice marketing. Professionals may want to compare and contrast such formulas to decide which is best for them, their time, skills, and interests.
For example, it may be helpful to know that marketing budgets for most telehealth businesses range from 20-30% of gross annual income. Understanding these metrics can help a hospital, clinic, agency, group practice, and even an individual practitioner understand that marketing time, effort, and budgets are not to be minimized when developing successful, integrated telepractice marketing campaigns.
Marketing Your Telehealth Services: Successful, Legal & Ethical Online Strategies
This high-energy, HYBRID training workshop will give you step-by-step instructions for legally and ethically marketing your telehealth services. Taking a deep dive into five of the most successful digital marketing strategies available today, this program provides the nuts and bolts of developing your marketing plan to maximize opportunities for success with your online service delivery.
Marketing Your Telehealth Services: Successful, Legal & Ethical Online Strategies
This high-energy, HYBRID training workshop will give you step-by-step instructions for legally and ethically marketing your telehealth services. Taking a deep dive into five of the most successful digital marketing strategies available today, this program provides the nuts and bolts of developing your marketing plan to maximize opportunities for success with your online service delivery.
HIPAA Compliant Social Media for Professionals
Tips and tricks for using social media to grow your practice without violating legal requirements.
I didn’t think educational materials that I might put out related to mental health would be considered as therapy across state lines. I would bet that many therapists think of the issue the way I stated it, “education about therapeutic issues”, would never be considered to be under “therapy” laws across state lines.
Dr. Marshall,
You are absolutely right. The thing we’re learning with training healthcare professionals about the use of technology is that many have lept into the proverbial pool without looking first. Technology-related training is much like cultural competence training. The professionals who need it the most are the least likely to realize that they need it. That’s why we at TBHI exists – to help professionals and their organizations learn the legal and ethical strategies to reach more people but yet be in compliance with existing rules.
Back to your point, yes, we all need to be mindful of the state, provincial or national laws at play when we roll out services. The secret is to develop “educational” materials and avoid all reference or imagery that suggests that the service is “psychoeducation.” Then, of course, consult with knowledgeable professionals to make sure that all regulations have been met.