Running a practice

Your guide to psychiatry advertising and marketing

Here’s how to build a brand and create a strong online presence for your psychiatric practice.

September 26, 2025

7 min read

As a psychiatric provider, you likely feel right at home in a clinical environment. But advertising and marketing yourself on the internet and among colleagues? That might be a different story.

Self-promotion can feel strange and uncomfortable at first. But remember, good marketing is ultimately what brings patients through your door, starting their journey toward better mental health. For that reason, it’s far from trivial.

In this guide, we’ll cover the basics of marketing a psychiatric practice, including how to build a brand, create a strong online presence, and expand your referral network. These efforts may not come as naturally to you as patient care does — but if you take the right steps, you’ll be well on your way to building and promoting a thriving psychiatric practice.

1. Establish and communicate your brand

Of all the psychiatric providers out there, why should a client book a session with you? Creating a compelling answer to that question is your first homework assignment.

You should still advertise the things that your practice has in common with other great practices: licensed care, secure communication, and other high standards a patient expects from a HIPAA-compliant provider. But think about what makes your practice different, too. Do you have specialized training? Unique personal experience? A tailored treatment approach? Expertise in treating certain conditions or working with specific populations? Strong values that guide your work?

Once you’ve figured out your special niche, write a compelling biography to showcase it. A provider biography should give prospective clients a good sense of your personality, experience, values, and treatment approach, while remaining succinct. Avoid getting bogged down in clinical language and jargon; it’s better to write in clear yet empathetic language that anyone can understand. Explore our Psychology Today tips for a psychiatry bio example.

To further help potential patients get to know you, make sure you have headshots to accompany your biography. These don’t necessarily have to be professionally taken photographs, but they should be clear, focused, and (ideally) taken in natural lighting.

2. Build an online presence that works for you

Ranking highly in online search results is among the best ways to attract new clients. Creating a website that advertises you and your practice is a good first step. Make sure to include your biography and photo, a description of the services your practice offers, an FAQ section covering topics like accepted insurance plans and rates, and a secure way for prospective patients to contact you.

Aside from your own website, it’s also important to optimize your presence on online directories that people commonly use to find psychiatric providers, such as Psychology Today, Zocdoc, and Headway.

On each of these platforms, your profile should include:

Your biography and headshot
A link to your website or Headway profile
A list of all of your accepted insurance plans
A list of areas in which you work, including zip codes if relevant
An up-to-date booking calendar and/or a way for prospective patients to easily contact you. (Make sure to keep notifications on so you can respond quickly to inquiries and bookings!)

Revisit this content regularly to keep it up-to-date, ensuring patients are getting the latest information and that you continue to rank well in search results.

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3. Connect with your local community

The internet is a hugely important marketing tool, but don’t forget about real-world promotion opportunities, either. Carving out a strong foothold in your local community can pay off in dividends.

Developing relationships with other clinicians in your community — perhaps by networking through professional organizations or events — is an important way to drive referrals. Primary care providers, therapists, and school counselors often need to refer out to psychiatrists or PMHNPs, so you’ll want to be top of mind for them. It’s often helpful to prepare an “elevator pitch” so you can quickly explain your qualifications and treatment niche to providers you meet.

Marketing yourself in the broader community is also important. Use the practice niche you established in step one as your North Star when deciding where and how to do so.

For example, if your target patient populations are kids and teenagers, you’ll likely want to establish strong ties with school counselors and community organizations that serve these age groups. Getting to know the people who lead these organizations could lead to referrals. They may even allow you to drop off marketing materials — like flyers or business cards that include a QR code for your website — for their members.

4. Build your virtual network

In addition to face-to-face networking with local providers, you can — and should — expand your reach through savvy online activity. Virtual networking is especially important if you offer teletherapy or are licensed in multiple states.

Joining national professional organizations, provider social media groups, and psychiatry discussion forums can help you meet like-minded colleagues with whom you might not have crossed paths otherwise.

If you’ve identified specific providers you’d like to get to know, you can also contact them through platforms like LinkedIn and Psychology Today. Headway’s provider directory is another excellent place to connect with peers, since it’s one of the largest networks of insurance-accepting mental health professionals in the country. If you’re a PMHNP in a state that requires obtaining a collaborating physician, you can also ask providers you know personally to make introductions to their contacts.

Finally, if you enjoy social media or blogging, these can also be important tools for expanding your reach. If other providers follow your posts and view you as a subject matter expert, they may reach out or keep you in mind for referrals.

5. Track and adjust your marketing strategy

Marketing is not a set-it-and-forget-it task. Your promotion strategy should evolve with your practice and its goals, with tweaks made depending on what is or isn’t working.

To do that effectively, you’ll need to monitor your various marketing channels. Check your website analytics regularly, and turn on notifications (or set reminders) to check messages from your website, online provider directories, and any online groups you’ve joined. This way, you can see which platforms are attracting lots of potential clients and which aren’t.

When you hear directly from a new client, or receive a referral from a new source, also make sure to ask and take note of how the other person found you.

If you’re disappointed with the number of inquiries you’re receiving, you may need to play around with elements of your marketing strategy. Test out different biographies, photos, print marketing materials, or website keywords to see if switches increase visibility. Stay flexible and capitalize on what’s working, while staying true to your practice goals and values.

Key points

Standing out from a sea of other psychiatric practitioners may feel daunting, but it’s simpler than it seems. Remember these key points to get started.

To effectively market your psychiatric practice, establish a strong brand, build an online presence, and make connections both locally and virtually.
Find a way to describe your practice as secure and HIPAA-compliant, but also unique and helpful to different communities.
Keep in mind that marketing is a skill, and one that will improve over time with practice and access to the right tools.
If you need help, get started with a collaborative partner like Headway.
For further reading, download Headway’s psychiatry practice starter kit.

Headway supports your growth

For a busy psychiatric practitioner, the idea of adding marketing to an already long to-do list may feel overwhelming. If that’s the case, consider choosing a partner like Headway. Headway’s free, all-in-one platform assists with the behind-the-scenes tasks of running a successful psychiatric practice, from credentialing and billing to marketing. Simply by creating a personalized profile through Headway’s provider directory, you’ll increase your visibility to potential clients across the country who are looking for in-network care.

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This content is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute clinical, legal, financial, or professional advice. All decisions should be made at the discretion of the individual or organization, in consultation with qualified clinical, legal, or other appropriate professionals.

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