Your Website Is a Movie Trailer [And Most Are Terrible] (Episode 79)
Standing out as a therapist isn't about adding more credentials or stacking more adjectives onto your website. In this episode, Anna explores the difference between telling potential clients who you are and showing them what it's actually like to work with you. Through the metaphor of a movie trailer, she explains why memorable marketing creates a feeling—not just a list of facts.
Using practical examples, Anna demonstrates how to transform generic website copy into language that helps clients recognize themselves, experience your approach, and feel confident reaching out. If you've ever struggled to make your personality or therapeutic style come through in your writing, this episode will give you a new way to think about your copy.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
1️⃣ Why your website should feel like a movie trailer for working with you—not just a résumé of your qualifications.
2️⃣ The difference between telling clients about your approach and showing them what it actually feels like to be in the room with you.
3️⃣ How specificity and storytelling help the right clients connect with your marketing faster.
4️⃣ Practical ways to rewrite your website so your personality, expertise, and therapeutic style naturally shine through.
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Hey there. Happy Tuesday to you. Welcome back to Marketing Therapy, episode 79. Today, we're talking about how to stand out. We talk a lot about the fact that you need to, and in recent episodes we've been thinking about how to define your ideal client and where to inject personality, but today we're actually gonna talk about what that looks like in practice.
Now, I don't need to tell you this, but we know that the times have changed, right? A professional niche-specific website, it's kind of the bare minimum right now. It used to be enough to stand out to have one of those, and those were in some ways the glory days. These days, like the bar has been raised, right?
The name of the game right now is being memorable. And just 'cause you can list every single training you've taken or the fact that you're trauma-informed or strengths-based, it doesn't make you memorable right now. It's just adding to that sea of sameness that clients are wading through.
The thing that is going to differentiate you right now is you. But many clinicians don't know how to get you, them, onto the page. Now, this episode and the episode title even was inspired by a conversation I had with Monika, who's our Confident Copy coach.
CC Live students you know and love Monika just like I do. But she offered the metaphor that your website is like a movie trailer for what it's like to sit across from you. Okay, your website is the movie trailer of doing therapy with you. And nobody's buying a movie ticket off of the synopsis, right?
They're not buying a movie ticket because, oh, the plot sounds interesting. They buy it off of a feeling that that trailer gives them. I remember Kyle, my husband, went to go see Project Hail Mary, which if you haven't seen it, it's fantastic. But he went before I had seen it, and he came back and told me all about the movie trailer for The Odyssey and how it was absolutely gripping, and he couldn't wait to go see it. Now, I hated reading The Odyssey in high school.
I don't know about you, but that was not my idea of fun literature. But he was right. You watch that trailer and you're like, "Okay, I, I guess I'm into this. I'm into this mythology and that kind of thing." Just a really good example of the fact that we make decisions off of feeling.
That 95% of our decision-making is led by emotion, even when they're decisions about our businesses. So if we use this idea of your website being the movie trailer for working with you, guess what? If the trailer is stiff, and disconnected, and boring, or sounding the same as every other trailer I've seen, your client is going to assume that the room with you is the same.
Okay? So you know what you bring into the room. You know that it's not stiff and disconnected, and that you actually are quite dynamic, and interesting, and do great work when you're in the right room with the right person, but we need to get that onto the page. That's what this episode is really about.
Now, the way that we're thinking about this is the idea of showing versus telling. You can tell me all day long that you are a certain type of therapist or working with you is a certain type of way, or you can show it to me, and it is in the showing that your clients are going to be experiencing that positive movie trailer experience.
All right?
So where telling names a trait or an adjective, showing puts the reader inside an actual moment. Telling is stacking a bunch of adjectives together. Yes, you are compassionate, and you are warm, and you are non-judgmental, you are empathetic, you are client-centered, whatever, whatever, whatever, right? This is default vocabulary these days.
This is table stakes. Of course, you are compassionate. I hope that, right? Of course, you are ethical, whatever that might be. These words are not inaccurate, but when every single clinician is calling themselves these things, they don't mean much. They've gone numb. So what else are you doing, right? That's where we have the opportunity to not just tell, but to show.
We talked recently back in episode 78 about the fact that there is not a neutral website. Your website is never not doing anything. It can be intentional or it can be accidental, but if you are not thinking closely about what your words are doing for you and what this website is doing for you, then it can default to saying, "I'm interchangeable.
Don't worry, I'm interchangeable." And that is what we are at risk of when we only tell on your website. When you tell your client what it is that you are or what it's like to do this work with you, you're asking them to take your word for it. Guess what? They have no reason to take your word for it yet.
They don't trust you yet. You're making a claim essentially with no evidence. But when we start showing, we're removing that need for trust because we're helping them feel it directly. It reduces that risk. They don't have to make a leap to believe it. They can actually see themselves in it. It's one of the coolest shifts we can make, and it's why the power of your words is greater than it has ever been.
What we're talking about here is the difference between a reader scrolling past you and a reader feeling recognized enough to book a consult. Now, what does showing actually look like? I wanna talk about this in depth, 'cause you might say, "Anna, that sounds nice, but what the heck do you actually mean?"
Now, remember that showing is dropping someone down into a moment, right? So it's creating a scene or a sensation. It's offering that S word we talk about all the time, specificity. Not just what you are, but what happens in the room, in their body, in the relationship, in their life when they do this work with you.
So let's use the example of saying that you're inclusive. Maybe that is a core tenet of your practice. You could say, "We're inclusive", if you're a group practice owner. Great. Or you could say, "We celebrate what makes you you. Every facet of your experience that you bring into the room is going to be listened to and honored."
Which one are you gonna trust more? "We're inclusive," period, or, "We celebrate what makes you you"? This is what it looks like to show versus tell. It's naming a mechanism of celebration and of listening, instead of just labeling it and assuming that they believe you, that they trust you, okay?
Now, the easiest place to look at this showing and telling to help you understand this is in other adjectives you probably use to describe yourself. All right? So empathetic is an example. "I'm empathetic." I see that in a lot of therapist websites. Okay, sure you are. What about, "When you tell me the thing you've never said out loud and are ashamed that other people know about, I'm not going to flinch"?
Which one would you feel? Which one would you trust more? "I'm empathetic," or, "I'm not gonna flinch when you tell me the thing that you've never said to anyone else"? If you're a clinician who is direct, and this is a style that I personally love working with in our done-for-you setting, because there's a really specific voice that we can lean into here.
But if you're a clinician who's direct and your clients love the fact that you call them on their, on their BS or whatever that might be, you could say, "I'm direct." Okay. Or you could show, "I'm not going to nod along while you talk yourself out of what you already know. I'll call it out." Hmm. Which one is telling and which is showing?
Which one is dropping someone down into a moment where they're like, "Oh, that's exactly what I need in my life right now"?
Maybe you're really structured. Maybe that's the way that you like to work and your clients love that about you. You could say that, "I'm structured." Okay. Or you could show them, "We're gonna leave every single session with a plan Because you deserve to know what comes next and because your growth is going to happen outside of session.
Okay. There you have shown what's gonna happen. We're gonna have some structure, we're gonna have a plan, but also what that does for them. It helps them see what's possible. This is what I mean about telling versus showing. That this is all about answering what do you actually do because you are this thing?
What do you actually do because you are empathetic? What do you actually do because you are direct? Rather than just claiming the trait. Can you see why that's powerful? Now, like I said, it is easiest to look at this when it comes to your philosophy or approach, but the fact is this can happen everywhere on your website.
In fact, in that most recent alumni check-in episode where we talked about the pink pants and how to inject personality, your personality belongs everywhere. This is an example of how we show that personality and it belongs everywhere on your website. Okay? It could be on your specialty pages where you're talking about what you help people with.
So I help people manage anxiety. Huh. Okay, you're telling me something. Or you could show me
If you're someone who has 16 worst-case scenarios baked out in their brain before they've even had their first cup of coffee, that's what we're gonna be working with. One is telling, manage anxiety. Another is showing, and helping them drop down into that moment. Even in your FAQs, when you're talking about what sessions are like, collaborative and supportive.
Okay. Expect to talk, but also expect silence. I'm not gonna rush to fill it. Sometimes that's where our best work happens. One is showing, one is telling Even when you talk about your experience and your credentials, in the age of AI, this matters. We need to make sure that we are backing up what it is that you've done with your training and that kind of thing.
But you can say, "I have 10 years of experience treating anxiety." Okay, you're telling me something, or you can show, "I've sat with hundreds of people in the exact moment that you might find yourself in right now, and I've seen what happens when they come through the other side." Showing and telling, which feels more powerful?
What is going to resonate? What is going to be more memorable?
So anywhere that you might default to a label, whether that is a label of a presenting issue, whether that is a label of a credential, of a approach, anything that describes you or your practice, there is a version there that puts the reader in the room with you. Choose that one in your copy and watch how much stronger it gets.
Now, I've given you some examples here, and the goal isn't, of course, that you just copy them, although they might be relevant to you. But instead, I want you to look at how to extract the qualities that you bring into the room, right, in your own language
The clinician who most recently submitted that alumni check-in episode we talked about said that she felt like she landed better in person and that she struggled to get it across in her writing. Now, in person, your personality is showing up through your tone and through your pacing and through your facial expression and your timing, right?
All of those intangibles. But in the writing, it sort of strips all that away, unless we are being deliberate about how it's rebuilt with your words. So I want you to think about the last few sessions that felt the most you. You've probably had a couple of them, hopefully in the last week or month or so, where you just felt like you are in the zone, right?
It wasn't a particular modality that was happening. It wasn't necessarily even a particular presenting issue, but there was something happening in that room that was magical. What were you doing there? How were you sitting? What did you say? What did your client appreciate? What led to that breakthrough?
Right? This is where I'm encouraging you to push past just what's true about you because you are so many of these wonderful things. But instead, what does this look like in action? Okay, so really turning inward and thinking about how do you embody these things that you ultimately want to be known for and that you want your clients to value about you.
What does it look like in action? Now, so often clinicians worry that getting specific is going to alienate people. "Well, if I talk about it in this certain way, they might think that I won't work with them," or whatever that might be. But we know especially now that specificity is not going to shrink your pool of potential clients, right?
On the flip side, when you stay vague, it's just making it impossible for that right person to recognize themselves in what it is that you have written, and we can't afford that right now. Now, this is something that you're going to grow in. This is a skill, this idea of showing versus telling. It's one of the reasons some people hire us to write their websites for them because it just feels a little bit too big for them.
But this is something you are capable of doing if you continue to work at it. So maybe come back to this as an exercise. Repeat this idea of how do I not just say, how do I show? What does it look like in action to be this thing that I want to be known for? Lean into that specificity.
Lean into the idea of sinking your potential client down into a moment versus just asking them to trust you, making a claim with no evidence, okay? Give the evidence. That is where the power lives, and that is what is going to lead to those conversations. "Hey, I read your website and it felt like you were speaking directly to me."
They are not going to say that because you said that you are compassionate and non-judgmental, right? That's the power of what we're talking about here. Remember, your website is your movie trailer. What the heck do you want it to say about you? We can't afford here to make it vague or vanilla or incorrect.
It has to be authentic. It has to be human. It has to be real, and it has to bring someone down into the moment that says, "Hey, I'm capable of sitting with you in whatever it is that you're struggling with right now and getting you to the other side." That's what we wanna see happen here.
Like I said, the bare minimum, that professional niche specific website, yeah, it might get you considered by a client. Yes, it might be one of the five, seven, nine websites that they look at. But showing here, being specific, being visceral with what you talk about, that's what's gonna get you chosen. That's what's going to lead to you being the remaining tab that they click Book Consult on.
So go look at your site right now. Think about the ways that you've been describing yourself as a client and ask, "Where am I telling instead of showing? How could I use my words to describe what this looks like in action? How could I create a moment, a feeling for my client that leads them to connect with me, that leads me to stand out among the other strength-based, trauma-informed, compassionate, empathetic therapists out there?"
There's so much potential for you here, and I hope that you tap into it. If you want help tapping into that, this is exactly what we do in Confident Copy, and the waitlist for Confident Copy Live is open right now. When you sign up for the waitlist, you qualify for an extra discount that will not be available publicly, not to mention early access to the program and then the 16 weeks of live coaching, feedback, accountability, community, all the amazing things that come with Confident Copy Live.
You can get all the details and jump on that waitlist. There's no obligation. You just get to secure this in the event you decide it's the right fit for you, walkerstrategyco.com/waitlist. That'll get you right there. Drop in your name and email and we'll send you an email with all the details. Whatever you do, go forth and show.
Don't just tell on your website and see what happens. I'll see you in our next episode.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
Episode 78: https://walkerstrategyco.com/show-notes/78
Confident Copy Live waitlist: https://walkerstrategyco.com/waitlist
The Walker Strategy Co website: https://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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