Behavioral Healthcare marketing services focused on efficacy, conversion, and reputation projection

Maintaining high quality of intent, execution, and consistency is essential to connecting meaningfully with prospective clients, families, and referring professionals and building lasting behavioral healthcare brands and reputations. At Psynchronous, we take pride in deeply understanding your programming, provider expertise, and unique areas of clinical focus to align your treatment offerings with the right audiences.

Part of achieving effective marketing comes from maintaining a high level of partnership and communication.

Our Services

Believe it or not, census is not the only goal for some providers. Some of the nation’s leading behavioral healthcare providers have no shortage of prospective patients and referrals. They have different marketing needs, such as projecting subject matter expertise, engaging with communities, partners, and boards, fighting stigma, advocating for policies, or increasing public awareness. But for others, census is a primary concern and an endless source of worry. We bring the experience and capabilities to tailor marketing plans to each organization’s needs and goals.

Our Approach

Marketing performance looks different for every organization, and there is no one-size-fits-all strategy or solution. Given the differing needs, clientele, programming, and operational aspects of each provider, marketing plans should be highly individualized.

Importantly, while some marketing tools and tactics are widely used, it does not mean that they are effective universally. Our recommended marketing plans tend to be holistic, encompassing strategies and tactics that go beyond what organizations may initially anticipate. We believe in maintaining a media-agnostic mindset, rather than a tactical checklist.

  • We help develop and deliver the brands that are the beating heart of providers, their value, and their marketing.

  • Conversion is essential to making any marketing tactic effective and efficient. Focusing on conversion means accurately and compellingly representing treatment offerings.

  • Prospective clients, families, and referring professionals want treatment they can trust. In today’s behavioral healthcare landscape, establishing your subject matter expertise is vital.

  • We build highly performant bespoke websites that are the platforms around which your marketing operates. We have also triaged a website or two, addressing factors that hinder performance.

  • Sometimes, the most effective and efficient advertising is traditional media like radio, print, and out-of-home. With modern targeting and platforms, traditional media is highly flexible and testable.

  • While PPC is always in flux, some things tend to remain the same. Oftentimes, narrowing in on a few well-optimized campaigns can be more effective than throwing spaghetti at the wall.

  • Content written for bots rather than humans may be helpful in some ways, but not if it isn’t attracting prospective clients that fit your capabilities and milieu, and especially not if it confuses people.

  • Arming your outreach team with high-quality outreach marketing support materials can make a significant difference in referrals.

  • Admission process communications help clients, families, and professionals better understand your treatment offering and how you can meet their needs.

Conversion Assessment & Strategy Development

One of the best ways to make marketing work for you is to focus on conversion. Highly accurate, compelling, and cohesive marketing that attracts clinically-appropriate prospective clients to your program dramatically increases the likelihood that prospects will become patients. The more clients that convert for the same marketing spend, the lower your cost-per-conversion and, hence, the more efficient your marketing. 

Increasing marketing conversion is a holistic practice that touches every aspect of a provider, from treatment experience, to constituent communication to all aspects of representation. Conversion works best as a strategy when it is made a central goal, and when all of the levers that lead to higher conversion rates are allowed to be considered.

Conversion is principally concerned with the accuracy and quality of a provider’s comprehensive representation. It is vital that every point of touch between a provider organization and all of its publics must be aligned with the goal of seamlessly communicating its capabilities, meaningful differences, specializations, milieu, expertise, accessibility, and more. In humanistic terms, focusing on conversion means ensuring that all aspects of one’s marketing presence — from website, to outreach communications, to admissions conversations, to continuing care planning — ring true and support a commitment to high-quality treatment and client service. 

In the long-term, a conversion-centered marketing approach can improve perceptions and recall among audiences to increase preference and reduce costs.

Conversion Assessment & Strategy Development Process

Provider assessment

  • Leadership interviews to determine program principles, history, strengths, and challenges

  • Provider visitation and/or deep-dive to learn about the program, its clientele, milieu, relevant treatment markets, and practices

  • Outreach, admissions, and alumni team interviews and discussions

  • Review of existing marketing and advertising efforts and materials

  • Review of existing analytics and conversion tracking systems

Strategy Development

  • Use learning to identify key barriers and opportunities

  • Recommend key messaging pillars

  • Recommend primary branding, website, and collateral enhancements

  • Recommend advertising and marketing optimziations

Advantages of Conversion-Oriented Marketing Approaches

  • Higher marketing efficiency

  • Opportunity to reduce long-term marketing cost

  • Builds quality and reputation better than most volumetric approaches

  • Reduced load on admissions and assessment team members

  • Improves differentiation and meaning among patients and professionals

Authority & Trust Development

Prospective clients, families, and referring professionals want treatment they can trust. In today’s behavioral healthcare landscape, establishing your subject matter expertise is vital.

“Authority” and “trust” are increasingly important healthcare marketplace concepts. While projecting authority and establishing trust through subject-matter expertise, outcomes, and mastery has been a longstanding mainstay of medical advertising and marketing, the importance of authority and trust has been bolstered in recent years by Google and other search algorithms. Google’s “EEAT” (Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trust) ranking rubric has led to a significant push by marketers to establish and project trust and specific authority. Authority and trust are as vital to humans as they are to machines. Studies exploring healthcare consumers' desires indicate that professionalism and expertise are top determinants. 

Taking the time, energy, and resources to establish authority and trust can benefit both your brand and your search performance. 

  • Trust and Authority indicators help prospective clients and referring professionals feel confident about your services.

  • Trust and Authority indicators, as well as specific approaches, can enhance website page and domain authority scores, ultimately influencing your page rankings. 

  • Increasingly, these same trust and authority signals are used by AI algorithms to use web pages as answer sources.

Untapped Authority & Trust

Behavioral healthcare organizations often contain multiple sources of nascent authority and expertise. Licensed and experienced behavioral healthcare clinicians, by definition, are trusted sources of authority in their respective areas of expertise. Oftentimes, provider leaders, board members, community partners, advisors, and partners are also authoritative sources. Utilizing inherent authority does not require that all authorities are utilized, but having a plan for which team members will act as sources or corroborators of trust is important, as is understanding the need to allocate time for these resources to work on authority and trust efforts. Unlocking and utilizing them requires a strategy and a willingness to invest. 

A range of marketing tactics can help to establish authority and trust. Multiple tactics are often used to establish trust around core concepts. When using authority to enhance search rankings, content is often developed around a set of targeted keywords.

Content Marketing
Long-form, high-quality content used in blogs, social media, and other media outlets.

Podcasts
Whether audio-video or audio-only, podcasts are an increasingly popular vehicle for developing authoritative content. 

Continuing Education
Continuing education is an excellent way to express your subject-matter expertise and engage professionals. Leveraging these events is a means to gain traction and establish authority. 

Public Relations
Public relations efforts allow providers to make news. Committing to a long-term PR strategy can produce unique opportunities to establish authority and gain visibility.

Website Development & Conversion Optimization

The importance of your website goes without saying. But what often gets missed is what makes a behavioral health website actually work. It is not just design or content or load speed. It is alignment. A site should reflect your capabilities, speak to your audience, and perform under pressure—both technically and strategically.

We build websites from the ground up that serve as the central platform for your marketing. Each one begins with a deep understanding of your program and what sets it apart. Design, structure, content, and development are all handled with intention and care. The result is a site that is fast, clear, and differentiated.

We have also been called in to triage underperforming websites. Whether the problem is confusing navigation, outdated language, or poor message fit, we know how to diagnose and improve what is already in place.

Traditional Advertising & Marketing

Sometimes, the most effective and efficient advertising is traditional media like radio, print, and out-of-home. With modern targeting and platforms, traditional media is highly flexible and testable.

Traditional media can be more effective than performance marketing. Many behavioral healthcare providers are heavily reliant upon SEO tactics. SEO can play a crucial role for providers, driving traffic and enhancing domain authority. However, many providers struggle to make SEO work consistently. Amidst algorithm changes, intense keyword cluster and snippet competition, and AI encroachment, it is no wonder that time-consuming and intensive SEO efforts are not silver-bullet solutions to generating the necessary calls and referrals. Additionally, SEO does not typically work well for building lasting preference and awareness. 

Traditional advertising, such as radio, print, and out-of-home, is particularly effective in reliably generating awareness, trust, and treatment inquiries. New media vehicles, like programmatic audio, make it easier and less expensive to produce, plan, and run traditional ads. Unlike many forms of digital media, traditional ads not only communicate more information about providers, but also convey a sense of trust and authority. Consumers understand that producing and fielding advertising takes more effort and resources than many forms of digital media. These vehicles are better at addressing consumer needs and making a perceived connection. Given adequate volume, traditional ads can establish providers in an “evoked set” of resources that some people recall when treatment is needed. Ads also cast a beneficial “halo” over all other media, websites, and outreach efforts. When people see providers investing in advertising, it signals a commitment to their program and their community. 

Traditional Ads are Measurable.

Discreet domains and telephone numbers make tracking traditional advertising relatively simple. It is essential for providers to recognize that ads are designed to generate more than just quantifiable leads. They also create preference that contributes to conversion rates. These multiple benefits should be considered when evaluating traditional media.

Psynchronous can plan, produce, and field a range of high-quality traditional advertising to support behavioral healthcare providers. Today, many forms of high-quality traditional media can be produced inexpensively and efficiently. Platforms make flighting and measuring campaigns easier than in years past. Traditional ads are one of the fastest ways to generate a high volume of awareness and inquiries.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

While PPC is always in flux, some principles remain consistent. Often, focusing on a few well-optimized campaigns can be more effective than throwing spaghetti at the wall.

Providers that are LegitScript-certified can use Google (and Meta) Ads. As the primary pay-per-click platform, Google Ads can measurably drive treatment inquiries. The primary question regarding Google Ads is how efficiently calls, visits, and form submissions can be generated. 

The Google Ad platform has grown more sophisticated over the years. Machine learning is heavily used to optimize campaigns, and AI-based campaign types like Performance Max offer faster and more automated optimization. Despite advances, Google Ad campaigns for behavioral healthcare require regular management and insightful use. 

Measure the Right Metrics.

Google Ads should be measured by actual treatment inquiries in the form of calls and form submissions. The means of tracking conversions depends on the provider’s CRM systems and admissions team capabilities. Efforts should be taken to evaluate the quality of Google Ad telephone calls and form inquiries. Only when you know that Google Ads are generating specific inquiries can you calculate a cost-per-acquisition. The intensely high competition for mental health and SUD keywords can make a Google Ad cost-per-acquisition quite significant, with conversions costing upwards of $5,000 not uncommon (and often more).

Keep it as Simple as Possible.

Given the nature of Google’s algorithm, creating a high volume of campaigns and ads may not always outweigh focusing on a smaller set of well-optimized campaigns. It is relatively easy to test and optimize keywords using Google’s keyword planning tools and the many other available keyword tools. The ads themselves are self-optimizing, and monitoring a small group of effective ads may be more productive and efficient than maintaining a large stable of them. Additionally, just because Google offers a new campaign type or optimization does not mean these are appropriate or effective for the behavioral health category. Some recommendations may result in irrelevant clicks, wasted impressions, and even questionable practices, such as retargeting.

Know What Searches Actually Matter.  

Analyzing the searches that lead to high-quality conversions is vital to Google Ad efficiency. Regularly reviewing and optimizing the search terms people use to find your ads is essential for reducing waste and keeping campaigns focused. Keywords that may seem appropriate at first glance can be red herrings. Not all searches for “rehab,” for example, refer to addiction treatment — many are searching for physical therapy or neurological recovery services. Similarly, being found when people are searching for competitors can lead to frustrated callers finding the ‘wrong number’ when seeking a specific provider.

One of the most effective ways to get the most from Google Ads is to speak with admissions team members to evaluate the types and quality of calls they are getting and following through to see how many qualified calls lead to new client admissions.

Content Development & Marketing

Too much content today is written to satisfy algorithms instead of people. While that may generate traffic, it rarely builds trust. It can also confuse or alienate those who are in crisis. We focus on substance, not shortcuts. Our content strategy reflects your clinical approach, voice, and values so it connects with the right clients and referring professionals. Every article, video, and podcast is designed to educate, inspire confidence, and guide people toward care. Content should do more than rank. It should resonate.

The rise of AI tools has made it easier than ever to generate paragraphs of content, but volume is not the same as value. Many programs are producing content that is just as generic as what agencies once delivered without any understanding of behavioral health. The result is the same: copy that does not reflect the philosophy of care, does not speak to the real concerns of families or professionals, and does not express what actually makes the program strong. Too often, the people who run the program would not choose to read this content themselves. Yet they expect it to engage others, build connection, and project the strengths of the program. That disconnect undermines credibility. We create content that begins with a deep understanding of your work and ends with something worth reading.

Outreach Marketing Support & Collateral

Your outreach team members are your primary emissaries. Arming them with the information and materials to make lasting and meaningful impressions can lead to vastly more productive relationship building. 

Outreach professionals are often the tip of the spear when it comes to developing professional relationships that lead to referrals and other opportunities. However, even the most experienced outreach folks benefit from materials that remind referents of a provider’s clinical capabilities and differences. Providing your team with high-quality collateral can make it easier for busy referring professionals to remember and recommend your program.

Materials Should Mean Something.

Producing high-quality collateral materials — much like websites  — benefit from a deep understanding of a program and its services. In some cases, a piece of collateral is the only physical representation of your program that a prospective client or referring professional may have. Ensuring that communications clearly express your qualifications, principles, mission, capabilities, and modalities, and that they are evergreen, can make each piece more valuable and extend its return on investment.

Go Vertical.

If you’re like many behavioral healthcare providers, you may cater to specific client cohorts. We have created collateral materials for providers specializing in meeting the needs of licensed professionals, military members, organized labor, high-net-worth individuals, older adults, adolescents, and other groups with unique needs. High-quality collateral materials, whether a simple one-page flyer or a custom-made brochure, can help you align your practice with the population(s) you serve. Collateral materials that explain why and how you specialize in treating certain cohorts can significantly differentiate your program and increase the likelihood of appropriate referrals. 

Quality Counts.

Carefully crafted and beautifully produced collateral can go a very long way. Quality is a visceral experience. When you produce materials that look and read beautifully, and utilize high-quality materials and production techniques, your prospective clients and referring professionals take notice. Quality materials communicate a commitment to one’s program. Well-crafted collateral can get years of use and project a perceivable quality commitment.

Admissions Consulting

Choosing a behavioral health program is one of the most important decisions a person or family may ever make. Like any form of medical care, it involves research, comparison, and trust. Often, that decision unfolds over multiple conversations with the client, family members, referring professionals, and other key influencers.

From the first call to the moment a client enters care, every interaction matters. Each point of contact is a chance to support the decision to seek help and to build early trust in the treatment experience.

We work closely with admissions teams to improve both process and performance. This includes not only assessing workflows, team alignment, and communication strategies, but also equipping staff to influence conversion more effectively. We help teams know how and when to emphasize strengths, how to handle common objections, and how to reduce time from first contact to admission. We also help improve visibility into the true drivers of inquiries, asking the right questions to move beyond vague source categories and better connect marketing to actual admissions. The most efficient way to grow census is not to push more people into the top of the funnel, but to stop losing the right ones along the way.

Complete Brand Development

“A product is what sits on a shelf. A brand is what people buy.”

This axiom is as true today as ever. Treatment providers, like all products and services, are brands. A brand is an additive conceptual layer that accurately and compellingly synthesizes therapies, clinical expertise, milieu, and the treatment experience into a unique and differentiated concept. While many providers offer the same evidence-based practices, the combinations of modalities, team members, philosophies, capabilities, and other factors determine how clients perceive the provider organization. Building strong brands based in truth, mission, and therapeutic alliance can transform how people perceive a provider and create enduring preference.

Treatment brands are vital parts of identity, reputation, understanding, and attraction. By projecting an organization’s excellence, earned expertise, innovation, and passion, a treatment provider can become substantially differentiated in a field challenged by the commoditization of modalities and credentials.

Far and away, helping high-quality providers tap nascent brand potential offers some of the largest gains and yields benefits for clients, team members, and the entire behavioral health field. 

Our brand development process is unique and includes in-depth interviews, information gathering, comparative assessments, and whole-cloth ideation. Brand work includes brand narrative development that influences all marketing, corporate identity, “elevator summaries,” and other key communication pillars.

Contact us

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We welcome the opportunity to meet new people dedicated to the cause of recovery. Please reach out to set up a time to connect.

info@psynchronous.com
781.937.0667