The Bridge Between Your Expertise and Your Client’s Needs (Episode 42)
Feeling stuck with your marketing strategy? You’re not alone—and chances are, it’s not about your website design, your SEO, or how often you post on Instagram. It’s your copy. In this episode, I’m making the case that your words aren’t just one part of your marketing—they are the foundation that everything else is built on.
If you’ve ever found yourself spinning your wheels, unsure what to say in your Psychology Today profile, or overwhelmed by networking, this conversation will show you why stepping back to clarify your copy might be the most powerful move you can make. I’ll walk you through what copy really is (hint: it’s not just writing), why it already lives inside you, and how it influences every other marketing strategy you might be considering.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
1️⃣ Why “good copy” isn’t about fancy writing—it’s about insight into yourself, your clients, and your work
2️⃣ How unclear copy can sabotage even the most beautiful website or well-optimized SEO strategy
3️⃣ The four foundational questions every therapist should be able to answer before choosing a single marketing tactic
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Hello everyone. Welcome back to Marketing Therapy, episode 42. I hope wherever you are, you're getting into some kind of holiday spirit. We have been trying to do something, quote unquote Christmasy. Almost every weekend, every day if my daughter had say in it, um, hanging up Christmas lights, decorating gingerbread houses, all the things.
So I hope you're getting into that spirit. Over here in WA Strategy Co Land, we are finishing out some incredible client work and serving the large cohort of students that joined Confident Copy in August here through the end of the year. So things are really busy. And then for the first time ever, Walker Strategy Co is taking.
The week between Christmas and New Year's entirely off. We have never closed our offices for that amount of time but it's something I'm excited to get, to offer the team and enjoy true time away for the first time ever during the holidays. So, today, today, today, I get a lot of questions. You can imagine lots of questions.
People will shoot me a Facebook message or we'll get it through the contact form, or they'll submit an application on our website. And the questions vary wildly. Things about SEO, our websites, website templates, networking, Instagram directories, referrals, niche, so many different types of questions.
But what's really interesting and what I wanna talk about today is that underneath every single one of those questions is the same missing piece. Your words, your words are driving every single one of those things now, not your words, or writing as like a technical skill, not as another tactic or strategy, but as the literal core that makes every other decision possible.
When we look at what it takes to be successful in marketing, you can't do it if you don't have the right words. And so I see so many clinicians jumping ahead in what they think they need to be doing without clarity on the core, without clarity on the foundation. So I wanna talk today about this word copy, what it is, and ultimately why it matters so much when it comes to what you do next in your practice.
Copy is not the afterthought. It is not the polish. It is not the thing you do later in your marketing. It is the foundation. Of how you are successful and the reason you might be sitting here and you can't choose a strategy or you're struggling to implement a tactic, or every time you optimize something, it feels like it doesn't work.
It's because until you know what you are saying and who you're saying it to, none of the rest can come together. So let's start now by looking at what copy actually is. What the heck does that word even mean? It's okay if you wonder that. But especially what it is when done well. Now, you were not told in grad school about copy.
You were writing lots of papers and things like that in grad school. But copy is a unique type of writing, reserved primarily for marketing. When I think about copy, it's all of the words in use in your marketing that is both written word, what's on your website, what you say in your Instagram bio, what your Psych today profile says, and also spoken what you say in networking conversations, what you might say in a video, how you show up in reels, whatever that might be.
So it's not always written, but it is all the language you use to market yourself.
As I prepared for this episode, I really thought about what good copy actually includes, and I noticed as I sat with that, that. Creating good copy requires first and foremost insight into yourself and into your clients. So copy requires deep, deep insight and understanding of what you do well in the therapy room.
This is something that I see a lot of clinicians want to skirt around. They don't like it. They say they don't wanna brag. No. Brag on yourself. Figure out why you are dang good at your job. You have to know that you need insight into why your approach works. What about how you show up in the room, the approach or orientation you use?
Have an understanding of why those things lead to the incredible client outcomes that your clients experience. Copy requires deep insight into what your clients are actually needing. We've talked before about the difference between point Z and point A. Your clients come in saying, I'm anxious, but point Z is they have relational trauma.
Where does your marketing need to meet them? It needs to meet them at anxiety. So copy is deep insight into what your clients are actually looking for and saying, and thinking is wrong right here, right now, not six months from now, not six years from now, but today. Copy also requires deep insight into the outcomes they are hoping for.
When I think about outcomes, I think about them in two buckets. Short term, what do I wanna feel next week? What do I wanna feel after our first session? What do I wanna feel this month? And then the long-term outcomes. What do I wanna see change in my life and in my relationships and in the way that I show up for years and years to come?
But you've gotta have deep insight into what your clients actually want to accomplish. And at the end of the day, when we look at all those things, so insight into what you do well, why your approach works, what your clients are looking for, what they're hoping to accomplish, your copy becomes the bridge between your expertise as a clinician and the lived experience of your clients.
If you know how to create that bridge in your marketing, your marketing will be successful. If your marketing is today not quote unquote successful, then we can probably argue at some point. We're missing that bridge. The bridge between, again, your expertise and their lived experience. Copy is what happens when your clinical clarity, because you are an expert in what it is that you do, meets your client's urgent need and becomes language.
They can see themselves in. They see you talk about what it's like to have OCD and they say, oh my goodness, you obviously understand and that means you can help me. That's what copy is Now. Copy is not, SEO copy is not fancy words or long paragraphs. It's not jargon.
It's not being a marketer or a sales person. It's not being overly professional and buttoned up. We've talked a lot about how your personality needs to come into your marketing, but copy
isn't all of those. copy is you. Copy is you, your clients and your approach expressed in a way that your clients can recognize, understand, and feel safe with. Let me say that again. Copy is still you, but it's you expressed in a way your clients can recognize, understand, and feel safe with. Why is that statement so important?
Because copy isn't something that exists out there in the ether that you need to go learn or figure out. Copy is something that already exists inside of you. We just gotta figure out where it is. Copy is insight, and then putting that insight into words. Now once you understand these things, then it becomes clear why copy has to come before every other one of those strategies you're considering.
Everyone tells you you should be doing SEO right now. Maybe that's where you're really focusing. I just kicked off with a clinician that is his top priority is SEO. And man does he wanna get found on Google, and we're here to support him in that. But guess what? You cannot do SEO. You cannot rank well on Google if you don't know what your clients are searching for and the words that they're using, how they're describing their struggles, what it is that they're wanting to accomplish, or get out of therapy.
Maybe you're thinking, oh, my website's ugly. I need a website redesign. Awesome. Something we also love helping with, and we know, as we've talked about recently, that design matters more than it ever has. But guess what? You cannot redesign a website if you don't know what to say and where. What needs emphasis in what order?
What your clients need to read first in order to feel safe and next in order to convert. It can look pretty all you want, but if you don't know what to say, then it's not going. To turn into clients. Networking, maybe you think networking, networking, networking. It's what I gotta do. And guess what? It's important.
It is still, as I've mentioned, the other non-negotiable besides a solid website. But you cannot network effectively if you don't know your niche and how to say it in a clear and memorable way. What makes you different from every other anxiety therapist out there? How to introduce yourself in such a way that you will come to mind.
When people run into your ideal client, your words, you can't network effectively if you don't have those words. Maybe you're on the social media or content creation train, you can't create content. If you don't know your focus areas, the language that is going to stand out and hook your readers, the problems and desires you're speaking to.
Can you see here? You can't choose a strategy until you know what you're saying. That's why copy is step zero in your marketing. That's why this insight and figuring out how to say this and in what order and in what way in driving every other thing you do downstream.
I wanna dive a little bit more deeply into how copy is influencing some of these key strategies. SEO being the first one. Like I mentioned, you can't rank well on Google if you don't know what your clients are searching for and how they describe their struggles. Clients don't Google clinical terms. They don't Google therapy for relational trauma.
Usually they Google their felt experience. What language do they have for their experience right now? That's what they're putting into Google. And you can't optimize for something. You can't articulate SEO. It doesn't create clarity. If you go hire someone, and there are some fantastic people out there that specialize in SEO for therapists, they can't create this clarity for you.
They can optimize a page all day long for relational trauma, but only you know if your clients are actually looking for that. So SEO is about amplifying the clarity you already have. It is why sometimes I'll sit down with a clinician who has already engaged in SEO and is frustrated with the results that they're getting.
Either they're not getting traffic to their website or the traffic they are getting is not a good fit, and that tells us that when they went into this process of optimizing their website, something was lacking fundamentally. We probably could have known before they even began the SEO project, whether or not it was actually gonna work, dictated by how much or how little they knew and understood about what their clients actually needed.
Website design. This is another confusing one, because isn't designed separate from copy. My confident copy students know this. I say this all the time. Copy dictates design. Design follows language. If you go to a website designer and you say, design me a beautiful website, they'll say, great. Where's your content?
If you say, well, I, I want to do that later, you know what? They'll give you a template. They'll give you a website design template because the copy is still needed to actually build the design. Designers build around message hierarchy, not vibes. Right. They are building around what actually makes sense. In what order do we need to present this, what needs to be emphasized?
And deemphasized, it follows language. And the very best design is shaped by strong copy. We love our Squarespace templates and sometimes that is what someone needs to get the gears turning. But many folks come to us after buying a website template and say, I'm realizing I need help with what to say. And we say, yeah, that happens.
Here's how we can help. Here's confident copy. Here's our done for you services, whatever that might be. But the best design is shaped by strong copy, not the other way around. What about psych today are directories. All you've got are your words. That's all you have on psych today. And your headshot granted.
But besides that. We've got your words. We've got what you write, what you say in your video, what you put in your intro to new client statement. Psychology today is an almost entirely purely copy platform, and most profiles fail because the copy is vague and clinical and generic. When we can clarify that, when we can make your video script more compelling and more interesting.
When the copy speaks to the felt need of your client, who has landed on SEG today at 3:00 AM deciding they're finally ready to seek out a therapist, we convert better. The words drive success.
Networking, like I said, the other non-negotiable. Here's what's interesting.
People repeat what they understand. When you establish a networking relationship with someone, you are introducing yourself and then you are hoping that those people go on and repeat what you have introduced to someone else. Say you network with a couple's therapist in hopes that they will refer male clients to you.
You love working with men, so you go to them and you say, I love working with men, especially those who are in difficult relationships or are being told that they're too closed off. Okay, interesting. Now we're asking that couple's therapist when she runs across a. Couple in which there is a male partner who checks those boxes, would be able to say, I know a clinician who actually specializes in this type of experience.
I'd love to give you her name. Can you see what happened there? You introduced yourself and then you hoped that that person could then repeat what you said to someone else. Well, people repeat what they understand. They repeat what they remember. You and I both know that referrals aren't magic.
Checking the box of networking does not turn into clients, but referrals are copy being repeated on your behalf. When your copy is clear, then you get clear referrals. When your copy is memorable, you come to mind when someone runs across your ideal client. When your copy is vague. When how you describe yourself is vanilla doesn't seem different from what other people do, then we get vague or no referrals and mismatched or no clients.
And then content. I mean, anytime you're wanting to put yourself out there in the content creation world, whether that is blogging or Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, whatever it might be, when your copy is clear, then your content writes itself. But when you have no idea what you bring to the table, when you don't know the language that your client needs, hooking, keeping their attention and ultimately inviting them to actually take action can't happen.
And every time you sit down to create a new post or to write a new blog, it feels like you're starting from scratch. If you've got that foundational clarity.
Then this type of content flows naturally. This is why when you come to us at Walker Strategy Code, maybe you submit a application on our website, which you're always welcome to do walker strategy code.com/apply. If you're not sure how we can help, and you'd like some insight. That's why so often when people come to us and say, this is what I think I need, this is where I want to go, we look at, okay, do you know how to say that yet?
Are the words in place, because if the words are in place, then we can direct you to different strategies, and if the words aren't, then we need to slow down and start there. We start with the words.
Now I can tell you this all day long. We talk a lot about copy around here. I actually read in our state of the industry survey, someone who took it last week said that this podcast has been helpful in helping them realize how important copy is. Hallelujah. I'm so thrilled for that. But ultimately, I'm encouraging you to think this way because it actually matters, because there are actually results that come from good copy.
I went through and thought about some of the most successful students and clients we've supported this year, and here are some wins that they shared. Consults converting more easily, their conversion rate increasing. Once they got clear on their copy and it started implementing it into their marketing inquiries that reference their website, I read your anxiety page and I felt like you were talking directly to me or clients actually reading copy back to the clinician on a consult.
This spoke to me. That one happened a lot. That's probably the most common win I saw. Feeling more confident raising their fees. If your goal as you head into 2026 is to charge more or to depa, we gotta get clear on this piece. And I see the way that once they have clarity again on what they bring to the table, what they do well, what their clients are looking for and wanting to accomplish, they feel a lot better saying, this is my fee period.
A more predictable client flow. I can't wait to share the story of a clinician with you early next year who depaneled this year and is continuing to receive a strong flow of right fit, full fee referrals. Even after making that transition just from the updates she made grounded in her copy, the ability to say no to clients, I no longer feel like I have to take on every single person that comes my way.
Whew, the relief that comes from that. Less second guessing in their marketing. I feel more confident knowing what I'm doing and not getting distracted by what other people say I should do. Feeling like they have a marketing system. I used to feel really scattered in my marketing, and now I feel like I know what I'm doing and that it all works together.
This is what good copy can do for you. And remember, copy isn't something out there that you have to go master. Copy is something you already have. You just have to figure out how to implement. Copy is about helping your clients recognize themselves in what you say and recognize you as the right person to help them.
Now I get a lot of questions about copy around here, and so I wanna run through a couple FAQs, things that might actually be popping up in your head right now. The first of which is copy, copy, copy, copy. Don't I need to be a good writer, Anna? And the answer is no. Actually you don't. That's why I'm trying to encourage you that this isn't something you have to go learn or something that's external.
Copy is fundamentally clarity. Yeah. Now, are there skills in how to structure that insight and sentence flow and stickiness? Absolutely, but you don't actually have to be a good writer to have that insight. It's why so many people come into Confident Copy saying, I'm not a good writer. I'm terrified to take this on.
And then I read what they write and I'm like, uh, hello. You're actually a great writer because you sit down with people giving you language to use in your marketing every single day. So, no, this is not about being a good writer. This is not about writing. Well, this is about knowing yourself and knowing your clients and you've got that.
Is copy the same as SEO? No. SEO Depends on copy. Copy can be SEO optimized, Google Friendly. Absolutely. And I hope it is, but they are two separate things. Copy precedes. SEO. Can design, fix unclear copy. This is for people that are weighing what next step to take in their marketing. Maybe I hire a website designer who has really, really pretty websites.
Maybe I decide to invest in copywriting, whether that's paying someone or doing yourself or whatever. As I mentioned before, copy dictates design. So design is amplifying whatever clarity you do or don't have. You could probably go to that website designer who makes beautiful websites and use chat GBT to write some copy and give it to her, and your website would be gorgeous, but it would be amplifying the lack of clarity you have or don't have in your clients and in the work that you do.
Well,
Anna, why isn't my website working? Even though I wrote a lot more words, doesn't mean clearer words. This is not always about volume, it's about structure and it's about clarity. Now, there does need to be enough on the page that your clients can sink their teeth into it.
So we are often encouraging folks to write hundreds of words per page. But this isn't just volume. This isn't just writing that grad school paper that has to be X number of words. It's about what does that volume accomplish? How is it structured? What journey are we taking those clients on, and how is that insight into what you do well, what your clients need coming through.
Can you just write it for me? Can other people do this for you? Here's my answer. Yes and no. If you have the insight and you have the clarity, yes, we can write the copy for you, but you have to bring to the table some level of awareness about, again, what it is that you do well and what your clients are needing in order for that to be translated.
The best copy comes from your own clarity. It's why in our done for you projects. There is prep required where you tell us about who you are, your approach, the needs of your clients, who they are, what they value in the work that they do with you. If we don't know those things, then we're just creating content that could be for anyone.
So whether you work with us, like in our Done for You services, you enroll in our Confident Copy program, you work with someone else, please know that your insight and your clarity should precede that content. Always.
I hope you've seen here that your words, they cannot afford to be an afterthought in your marketing. They're the engine. They're at the core of every single strategy, every single tactic out there. It's not something to sprinkle on top. It's not an afterthought. It's not a, I'll get to that eventually it is step zero.
And it's ultimately the clarity that's going to power every strategy you will ever use in your marketing. That's why it's so worthwhile to invest in it upfront. When your words work, everything else works better. When your words work, everything else works better. Like we talked about, those wins that I heard from clients. And students of ours consults converting more easily, inquiries that are referencing their website, confidence raising their fees. Those things came first and foremost, from the clarity in what they do well, why their approach works, what their clients need, and what their clients are hoping to accomplish.
Everything else flowed from. That if you're sitting here realizing that your copy is the missing piece, that this is the step zero you rushed on over in pursuit of the optimized website, or the beautiful website or the Instagram following or whatever, know that you can come back always. You can always come back and improve this.
Maybe you've been trying strategies, but don't have any clarity on your niche and your words and what it is that you do. Well. Confident Copy is where we do this work twice every year. We reopen the doors to confident copy at a reduced price and with some incredible bonuses. And our next one is going to be coming in January.
We always offer one at the beginning of the year, and the wait list for that reopening is going to be opening next week. I'll be sharing more on the podcast, of course, and if you're on our email list, you'll hear about it there, but I want you to. Really be sitting with, do I know the answer to these four questions?
Why am I really good at the work that I do? What about my approach leads to the incredible client outcomes that my clients experience? What do my clients come to me knowing is wrong and wanting to address? And what are the life changes that they are seeking through our work together?
If you can answer those questions, you are well on your way to establishing a foundation for your marketing and a level of clarity that can literally serve you for years to come. If you're not sure about the answers to those questions, take some time thinking on them, journaling on them.
Confident copy is an incredible place to explore this. Sometimes students do come in really needing to get in touch with these pieces first, and that's why the foundational parts of the program guide you through that. But maybe you do know the answer and you say, I just need to know what to do with this insight.
We can show you how to put that into action, but at the end of the day,
remember that copy is what happens when your clinical clarity meets your client's urgent need. And becomes language they can see themselves in. This is something you already have within yourself. It is insight that already exists. We just need to go digging for it. I believe you've got it in you. I believe you do incredible work, and I would love to see how you bring this to life in your marketing.
I'll see you in our next episode.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
Confident Copy: walkerstrategyco.com/cc
Done-for-you services: walkerstrategyco.com/services
The Walker Strategy Co website:walkerstrategyco.com
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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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