The Best Marketing Strategy / Approach for Art Therapists in Business

The Best Marketing Strategy & Approach for Art Therapists in Business

How can Art Therapists market their own businesses? What is the best way to do it?

My name is Youhjung, and I’m a board certified art therapist in Austin, TX. Today we’ll talk about marketing for art therapists!

This is something that’s not really talked about in our field. But it’s something that ALL OF US have to figure out if we’re in our own business. And even for art therapists who are employed at an organization, and have a 9-5 job, they have to still know how to market art therapy and themselves when they apply for the jobs!

So marketing itself is a super important thing, no matter what type of work you do.

It helps us communicate our value, bring in clients, support our businesses, and make an impact in this world.

But the funny thing is, we don’t learn about marketing at all during our training. Only when we graduate and we’re in the field that we suddenly realize this is what we have to do.

I talk about this topic in-depth in my podcast episode, so if you want to listen to it, check it out here:

The strategy

So let’s go straight into the strategy or approach that I think is one of the best ways to market yourself as an art therapist & build your business.

We as art therapists often think that many people don’t understand us (or art therapy), value art therapy, and come to us for art therapy. We wait for clients, colleagues, or others to recognize our value & sign up for our services.

We want more clients. We want people to give us recognition, appreciation, and understanding to us first, so that we can give that back to them later inside our session.

But what about giving first? What if we gave to people first, before expecting them to give all these things to us? All the recognition, attention, interest, and of course, money.

So the marketing strategy/approach I’m talking about is GIVING FIRST.

It’s important to show up, share knowledge we have, provide value, and to basically help people as much as we can first.

And then people will come. People will give you the attention and recognition.

This works

This approach works because potential clients want to be seen, want to be recognized for their feelings and needs.

When they feel like they’re seen by you, they’re helped by you already, they naturally can feel like they can trust you and they’ll see your value.

When they’re already helped, they know that you’ll be able to help them even more inside your paid session.

The internet is a weird place because so many people are showing up there and it can all feel very impersonal. It’s hard to trust other people. Who knows who they are behind their avatar? All you can see at first is an account with a picture and text underneath it. It’s all just pixels.

So establishing trust first and foremost is SO important if you are wanting to do an online-based art therapy business.

And when you recognize someone’s struggle, what they’re dealing with in life, and help them in some way by offering useful knowledge, information, or frameworks for them, they’ll see that you can be trusted. That you are here to serve. They feel that and when things become really hard, they know they can go to you for the help, because they know you are trustworthy and your help is valuable.

The Mindset Piece

There’s something very interesting about recognition, especially for art therapists. A lot of us feel that we are not recognized by others. Have you ever felt that way? I know I did.

We want others to give us recognition first.

And we see that they don't give us recognition first.

I think the secret to stop this cycle is to give first. Give others what we know about art therapy, give them value, give them what we recognize & hold sacred within art therapy. Recognize others - their life, their struggles, their desires, their true selves…

Then, it's an inevitable process that others will come to us, recognize us for what we share & give to the world.

The truth is, when we give recognition to others, we are really recognizing ourselves.

We can only GIVE to others what we HAVE already inside of us. It’s like, you can only pour from a full cup.

So when you give recognition to others first, you are sending your subconscious a message that you are already filled with recognition & value. You own that space of being.

And so the secret mechanism behind this strategy is that when we recognize our own value, we allow others to see that in us.

Knowing this, what you can do to move your business forward is to brainstorm ways that you can recognize your clients and help them, using social media, blogs, videos, etc. See what you can come up with!

Let me know if this post made sense to you. How do you feel hearing this? Share in the comments below.

I actually go in-depth on marketing strategies for art therapists within my Visionary Art Therapists Business Course, which includes self-paced course + group coaching, that’ll give you the strategy and support you need to start your dream online art therapy business & start seeing clients faster. If you want some real guidance on your business and a community of amazing art therapists who’s there for you, make sure to check it out here!

With that said, I really hope that this blog was helpful for you. Thanks and see you next time!

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