The Clues You’re Missing: How Successful Therapists Really Get Clients (Episode 41)
It’s tempting to believe that marketing success requires fancy strategies or following trends—but your next right move is likely hiding in plain sight. In this episode, I walk you through one of the simplest yet most powerful tools you have for better, more effective marketing: your own data.
If you’ve ever had a client reach out, you already have valuable insights you can use to make marketing decisions with more clarity and less guesswork. I’m sharing how to collect that data, what to do with it, and how to use it to focus your energy where it really counts. Whether you’re drowning in “shoulds” or just not sure where to go next, this episode will help you find focus—and stop wasting time on things that aren’t working.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
1️⃣ The one question you should ask every new client—and how their answer reveals your highest-ROI marketing channels
2️⃣ How to track your weekly inquiries in under 5 minutes to uncover rich trends about what’s actually working
3️⃣ What last year’s survey showed about the most effective (and least effective) strategies therapists are using today
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Hey everyone. Welcome back to Marketing Therapy. We are on episode 41 and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week for all of our US based listeners. I shared that I was in Colorado with my family and had such a wonderful time. Got to see some snow which thrilled my four and a half year old daughter and just really enjoyed some quality time with family that said, here we are.
It's December we are. Running toward the end of the year and starting to think about 2026. So today's episode is about encouraging you to use something that, quite frankly, I see too many therapists skimming over. I find as I look at many of the clinicians that I support, especially those that are early on in their practice.
Marketing based on guesswork, on comparison to what other people are doing on just that ever present underlying sense of overwhelm that you should be doing something more. But I want to invite you to remember that your clients. They already know what's working because they're the ones who found you.
So in this episode, I want to invite you to look at what your clients are already telling you because everything becomes simpler when you understand the path that people have already taken to reach you. I've shared before that I am someone personally who loves spreadsheets. I love a calculator. I love a good formula.
I love data. You might feel that way too. You might not. And so this episode is not so much encouraging you to nerd out on data, but to use the data that is available to you in a much more meaningful way to actually make decisions, not just right now in your marketing, but also as you look ahead to 2026, there is one question you should be asking every single time you hear from someone, and it is pure gold when it comes to your marketing. So we're gonna talk about that. I wanna look at what last year's data as far as what we know about what's working in marketing is showing us. And then I wanna introduce you to a little bit of a practice how you can start tracking patterns every week in just a handful of minutes.
Then use the clues there to choose your next marketing step. So this episode is anchored around the idea, and you may have heard me say this in marketing therapy before that success leaves clues. Your job right now is just to collect those clues, okay? So if you've ever had a single client on your caseload ever, this episode is for you because there's something you can be learning there.
Now, I recognize that marketing feels harder than it ever has. In fact, in last year's state of the industry survey, 49%. So half of established clinicians said that marketing was harder in 2024 than it was in the year prior. Now we haven't gotten our data for 2025 yet, but I would anticipate that that number is likely going to be similar.
Marketing feels harder. And our data, backs that up. This is due to lots of things. The increase in saturation, the ability for people to practice across state lines. The changes in the economy, uncertainty around that, the more shopping around that we hear many clients are doing, clients becoming more selective and not just picking the first available therapist, but instead, you know, looking for some really specific criteria when they decide what it is that they want.
But you know what's interesting? Despite half of therapists saying marketing was harder last year. The number of full caseloads increased from 37% of the people that we surveyed to 41% of the people we surveyed. Not a huge jump, but a significant one over 10%. So this means that success is still happening, but we know from looking at and studying those successful clinicians, that they're not necessarily doing everything.
They're doing things that actually work. Hopefully based on real data, not just assumptions or comparison to what their front end Instagram said to do. What I'm trying to show you here is that data cuts through the noise. I could just say, oh, marketing feels harder, and I can find an echo chamber that agreed with me, but I could also look at the data and say, wait, there are more clinicians than ever that have a full caseload.
That means something. So data really is about showing you where to focus and also where you can blessedly stop wasting energy. Okay, so that single most important question I was mentioning, that is absolute pure gold. How did you find me? If you are not currently asking this of every single person that reached out to you, you are missing out on an absolute marketing gold mine.
This question matters because it instantly reveals your highest ROI marketing channels. If someone selects Psych Today, or Doctor Referral, or Google search, whatever that might be, that tells you what's actually working. It shows you where your full fee committed clients are naturally discovering you. So if you wanna look back, perhaps if you have this data.
At all of the referrals you've gotten this year and those clients that have turned out to be the best fit, the most committed, whatever that might be, is there a theme in how they found you? Remember, success leaves clues. What are those clues showing you? The other reason this question matters so much is because it keeps you grounded in what's working for your practice, your practice, not the industry at large, not your colleague down the hall, not that clinician that you sort of idolize on Instagram, but yours.
Because some clinicians are absolutely filling their practice on Instagram. Others are filling their practice in networking. Others are more of a smattering across different strategies. There is not a universal must do strategy or golden ticket silver bullet here.
It's what works for you. Now, when you look back at. These forms, people reaching out to you for the first time, intake forms, things like that. You also are sitting on a gold mine of other client insights.
When people fill out those forms, they're giving you the language of what is bringing them to therapy. And you can use that to strengthen your niche and your messaging and your copy. So when you ask this question, how did you find me? And when you look back at what these forms and information is telling you, you find way less trial and error required because you get to do what's already worked before.
So where should you be asking this? This question should live on your contact form, on your website, or when someone is scheduling a consultation with you on your EHR or Calendly, whatever it is that you use, the very first time someone reaches out to you, they should be answering this question.
Now, I've had clinicians or students in our Confident Copy program say, well, shouldn't I wait till the intake? I might get to the intake and not remember, especially if I've been searching for a therapist for weeks. Right? But if I'm filling out your contact form, that is the closest you're gonna get to when I heard about you for the first time.
So ask this on your contact form. Make it required. And there certainly might just be an other option if people don't know or don't remember, but gather this data. It is so meaningful to your practice. It is not obtrusive to your clients. It's actually quite normal to share where you learn about someone for the first time.
And you're hitting them at the point that they're most likely to remember and be able to answer that question accurately. You might also consider placing this on an intake form or bringing it up in a first session or on a consult. I've heard of other clinicians doing that as well, and you can do that in a very natural and clinically friendly way.
But please ask the first time someone reaches out to you. This answer and the trends that you see in those answers are going to tell you what to double down on, what you can stop doing. Absolutely guilt free because you have data that backs it up, what your clients resonate with and pay attention to where they're spending their time and potentially what makes them choose you over someone else.
You're gonna get really rich insights here. If you're not asking this question, please, after this episode, or maybe even right now, press pause. Go add this to your contact form. Super, super easy. You can make it a dropdown. Like I said, have a handful of options. Make it required. Gather something. It's not always gonna be a hundred percent accurate.
Like I said, maybe they don't remember, but it is going to give you insightful trending data that can tell you so much about your practice and your marketing. So before you go create some shiny new marketing plan for 2026, ask this question. Okay? And if you're already asking this question, go back and look at what that question is telling you.
Now, I mentioned that we have some insights into how people are finding their therapists these days due to our state of the industry survey from last year. And we're so excited to be releasing our 20 25 1 this week. A couple things that we noticed that you should also know about, that directories are still high performers now.
There is the narrative out there that psych today doesn't work anymore. Directories are useless, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know what? Directories are different than they used to be. I remember back in the day when I first started supporting therapists, we would write a really good Psychology Today profile, and I kid you not.
I would get an email from clinicians the day after we did that, Anna, I got four phone calls today, and they would all turn into these perfect fit clients, right? That was a really, really amazing time. It doesn't work like that anymore, but does that mean that directories don't work at all?
Not based on what we're seeing in the data. In fact, last year, 81%, 81% of therapists got at least one client from directories in the last six months. So directories? Yeah, they still work. Is it going to be the thing that fills your practice?
Probably not, but everything tells us that they still work. And I'm really curious to see those numbers for 2025. But everything that we see thus far is that directories. They still work, just not the way that they may be used to. Another really interesting trend is that networking is consistently a top three strategy must do across every single demographic.
What demographics am I talking about? Solo and group practices, brand new clinicians, established ones full fee insurance, especially full fee, however, but networking reigns supreme. Therapists underestimate it. They avoid it. They identify as introverts and therefore don't wanna do it. Guess what? You still need it.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. There are two non-negotiables. There's no magic bullet like I said earlier, when it comes to growing a practice. But there are two non-negotiables, and that is an incredibly effective and strong website and a strong network. Referrals continue to be the number one source of high quality clients.
When we look across all demographics. You gotta network. The way you network is up to you. We have an entire episode about this that will link in the show notes so you can maybe reimagine what networking can look like, but it does need to happen. Alright, what else is the data showing us? The data is showing us that websites these days are massive differentiators.
What do I mean by that? Five years ago even to have a website was a differentiator 'cause not everyone did, and then all of a sudden everyone got a website. And then if your website was prettier or larger, you know, stood out in one way or the other. These days, as we've talked about, the standards your clients have for marketing and for websites is higher than it's ever been.
And today a website has an opportunity to be a massive differentiator, but only when done very, very well. We found that therapists who were actually getting clients from their website, so not just having a website, but actually receiving clients through it, were 1.9 times more likely to have a full caseload.
So if you have a website but it's not getting clients, then you are at a huge disadvantage for actually filling your caseload. Now that probably sounds like a no brainer, but what a powerful representation of the power of a website right now. We know and are seeing that website clarity, not just design, not just having one, not just checking the box, but actual strategic clarity and user experience are moving people to take action right now, especially because those standards are higher and they are doing more of that shopping around and being more specific.
Another one, and I'm very excited to get updated data on this, is that client facing Facebook groups are surprisingly effective. What do I mean by that? My favorite example of these are local moms groups. Now, I personally am a mom, so I'm part of one. The local Nashville moms group and there are, I don't know, I should check over 20,000 women in there, and I regularly see, just as I'm scrolling Facebook and you know, jumping into my own Facebook group and things like that, I probably see one to three, maybe more posts.
Asking for referrals to a therapist every single week, and those are just ones showing up in my feed. And so these client facing Facebook groups when used strategically are proving to be very, very effective for many clinicians. I know personally, a couple of clinicians who have virtually filled their caseloads full fee using client facing Facebook groups.
This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to be in a local moms group, especially if that's not who you serve, but it does show us that really specific and problem focused spaces are gonna work better than just general posting into the ether. For instance, having a business Facebook profile or page for your practice is virtually useless these days, but using your personal profile to engage thoughtfully in a specific targeted Facebook group.
We might see some traction from that. Now, what about the least effective strategies? This one's really interesting and again, looking forward to updated data, but TikTok, Facebook profiles, like I mentioned, Instagram, the platforms that so many therapists feel pressure to use actually have some of the lowest conversion rates.
So the number of therapists who use it compared to the number of therapists who get clients from it. Is the lowest across almost all of the strategies that we look at. Isn't this interesting? When we look at the data and what it's showing us, we get some really meaningful insights. And like I said, your clients are always gonna tell you the truth.
Are you listening? They're telling you what works. They're telling you what resonates. They're telling you how they found you. Are you paying attention?
I said at the beginning that I wanted to introduce you to a practice or kind of a system that you can use, and so I wanna invite you to go through these handful of steps on a weekly basis. First and foremost, you're gonna review every inquiry from that week. You're gonna be asking the question of where did they find you?
And take note of anything they shared about why you stood out to them. You know, I will hear sometimes from someone who used one of our templates, that they actually heard from someone in the contact form. I chose you because your website looked better. Or sometimes it's, I really resonated with what you said about anxiety or your approach.
Sounds like what I'm looking for. Take note of those. So those are gonna be more. Quantitative, where do they find you? Especially if that's a dropdown, is gonna be a bit more qualitative, but we're gonna pay attention to that on a weekly basis. So review every inquiry and what you're noticing there.
Tag the source. So make it really clear. Maybe you color code it in a spreadsheet or something like that. And just create some simple categories. It might be, ai, Google directories, referral from a friend, referral from a doctor, other referral Instagram. Whatever it is that you're engaging in on a regular basis, have a space for all of that.
And like I said, do have other in case where they found you doesn't fall into one of those categories, but go ahead and create those and tag them accordingly so you can see visually what's really resonating. It'll be easier to identify trends. And then step three is to identify the trends. So look for patterns.
Which channels are bringing the best clients? Like I said, if you have a whole year of data you're sitting on from 2025, go look at that. Engage in this practice For all of your referrals this year, what channels brought you the best clients? Who's bringing the most clients are full fee inquiries coming from one or two specific places.
Is social media actually doing anything for you that you can measure here? These are questions you can answer by looking at the data. And then step four, what I'm gonna encourage you to do is make one decision per week based on what you're seeing here. If you don't get enough referrals for you to make a meaningful decision, perhaps zoom out and do it per month, but make a decision based on what you're seeing.
I want you to build the muscle of looking at data and acting on it. Okay, psych today is working. Reminder to go update my profile, or my website is converting. Maybe I should invest in SEO or consider Google ads. Most of my clients are coming from referrals. I need to make sure I'm nurturing those relationships this week.
No one's coming from Instagram in X amount of time. Maybe I don't need to focus there. Make a decision based on the data. And then five, this is an optional one, but I shared that many times you're gonna actually get your own client's language from these forms, and we would never do it in an identifying way, but it's really cool to pull from what people actually say is bothering them.
So take note of specific language or themes. As far as what people are coming to you talking about what they're struggling with, what resonated about your marketing or your website, what made you seem different to them, why they reached out now, what it is they're wanting to work on. Take note of those things.
I'll often encourage our confident copy students to save a little phrase, bank of things that they hear from their clients that they could look at weaving into their own copy. Of course, never in an identifying way, but let your clients do some of the heavy lifting and the writing for you by. Using their own language.
It's one of the most powerful ways to connect with them is mirroring in your copy, their internal dialogue. And these forms. This data gives you insight into that dialogue, okay? You don't need some fancy dashboard every single week. You need a notebook. You need five minutes, okay? And I recommend that you make a practice of this.
If, like I said, you have an entire year of data set aside, maybe a half an hour or an hour to go through all of those referrals this year and look at what you can learn. Make a practice of tuning into your data. A lot of therapists don't identify as numbers people. The data nerds, like I was describing myself as earlier in this episode, but you don't have to be.
You can see here that we're just doing some really simple categorizing and pattern noticing, which, hello, you're awesome at, and it can give you so many rich insights. Now you can take those insights and you could translate them, right? So if clients are mentioning psych today, they're finding you that way.
Awesome. Rewrite your profile. Tweak it to make it even better. Add a video if you haven't yet. Refresh it on a regular basis. Our Psych Today Success Pack is of course helpful for you, although if you're already getting clients there, why fix what ain't broken? And prioritize that channel. Give it some love.
I don't care if other people say, psych Today isn't working. If it's working for you, let's use it. Okay. If clients are mentioning finding you through your website, that tells you that your copy is likely resonating. So work at refining and expanding that. Perhaps adding a page or using that language in other parts of your marketing.
Either your networking conversations or your posts on social media. Strengthen or add to your specialty pages. Invest in getting more eyeballs to the website. That could be through SEO, that could be through Google Ads. But if you know the website's working, pour some fuel on that fire.
If clients are mentioning hearing from you, from colleagues, doctors, any other professional contact, that's a fantastic sign that networking is working. So please continue to nurture it and prioritize it. Follow up. Express gratitude, stay connected. Look for opportunities to develop continuity of care where possible.
Add one to two small relationship building touchpoints every month, but do something to invest in that space. If clients are mentioning a Facebook group, which, like I said, I personally know a handful of clinicians that have virtually filled their caseloads that way, make sure you're showing up strategically there.
Note the exact language that clients use when searching thoughtfully. Add your expertise or your website when it makes sense. Now what if you're sitting here and you're like, Anna, this is really great, but there are no trends, right? The sources are totally scattered. Then that tells you to continue investing, continue experimenting, and continue staying in touch with the data.
Chances are, as you invest in a handful of strategies, over time, the best ones are gonna rise to the top. I talk often about how you don't have to do everything, but you can absolutely experiment. Maybe Instagram is a place to be for you. Maybe it's not. The only way you're gonna know is if you try. And so it's this balance between limiting the number of things you try to protect your bandwidth and your energy so that you can do them well.
And also remaining open enough to try things except that they aren't exactly the right fit and release them. And the data is a great way to equip yourself with that knowledge. I want to empower you as you head into 2026 that your next marketing move is not sitting in this podcast, although I do hope you continue to tune in, is not sitting in some Instagram celebrities feed is not sitting in a Facebook group that if you scroll down far enough, you'll find it is not in a paid program.
It's in your data. That is where your next marketing move can be not someone else's strategy, not someone else's ideas. But what's already worked for you. Remember, success leaves clues. So in the places where you have been successful, what clues can you find there? I hope you can see here that you don't necessarily need more marketing, but you probably do need better data and you probably need to pay better attention to it.
The market is changing. There's no doubt about it. We are in a different world than we were in a year ago, two years ago, certainly five years ago and even more. But success is absolutely doable. I can think of countless therapists. I'm literally closing my eyes and imagining them right now that I have worked with this year.
Become friends with Supported, had in our programs, served as a client who are getting referrals. From people who they are so well equipped to help, excited to serve, paying their full fee, that's possible. Yes, the market is different. Yes, success is still possible and your clients are already giving you a roadmap for how to make that a possibility for you.
I want to encourage you as you head into 2026, to maybe make a little bit of a resolution to, instead of working harder, work more intentionally, make decisions more thoughtfully. Not the hair on fire panicking, overwhelm. I don't know what to do, but the what is the data telling me? What can I learn here?
How can I make this next decision confidently? Using your data protects you ultimately from that overwhelm and the comparison and the wasting time that so many therapists find themselves caught in and in a time where it's really easy to look externally. Hello Chat, GBT courses, coaches, whatever for answers.
Maybe they're right in front of you, maybe you're already sitting on them. Go find them. That's what I want to encourage you to do. Now, this episode is coming out on a Thursday instead of a Tuesday because we have been putting the final touches on. Our 2025 State of the Industry survey. So the data that I've been sharing with you so far in this episode has been from last year's survey, which we executed in December, 2024.
In the past, we've had upwards of four to 500 therapists complete that, and we would love to surpass that number this year, not because we care about that number we're not actually gathering any of your information. It's completely anonymous, but because the more.
Therapists we have complete that survey, the better the data can be and the richer the insights. Everything about the state of the industry survey is a anonymous and b free. So after we get all of the data in the month of December, I spend the month of January analyzing it and pulling out the insights and then putting it together in a free report, which we will share with you here on the podcast and you'll be able to download for free.
But I can't do that if I don't hear from you. So will you please go to walker strategy co.com/survey and take the state of the industry survey for us. Share your insights, let us know what you're seeing. Be honest, be anonymous. There's no reason not to take it. But tell us what you're seeing. We wanna know all about your practice.
We're gonna ask everything from your session feed to the modalities you use, and the more folks we can get to respond to this, the better that data can be. And like I said, the richer the insights. The data that we gathered last year and the year prior have shaped the decisions that we've made, the things that we've offered, the way that we've taught thousands of therapists now, and we want to do the same as we head into 2026, because at the end of the day, our goal is to give you things that actually work.
And the best way to know if they're working is to actually hear from you. So Walker strategy code.com/survey. It'll take you about 10 minutes. Please set aside that time to do this. We thank you so much for your insights and we can't wait to share with you what we're noticing now and what it means for 2026 and beyond.
Thanks for being here today. I'll see you in the next episode.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
Take the 2025 State of the Industry Survey: walkerstrategyco.com/survey
Confident Copy: walkerstrategyco.com/cc
PsychToday Success Pack: walkerstrategyco.com/ptsp
The Walker Strategy Co website: walkerstrategyco.com
Episode on rethinking networking: walkerstrategyco.com/show-notes/11
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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—marketing coach, 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.
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