MHM#54 Should you stop marketing over the Christmas period?

Marketing always has a lag. And the lag in therapy marketing is often even greater, with people sometimes sitting on booking an appointment with a therapist for months, sometimes years. As a private practice owner, what marketing you do today shapes the enquiries and appointments you receive in the coming weeks, months and years.

As we reach mid-December, it’s very normal for enquiries and appointment bookings to start dropping, and stay quiet until around mid-January. But does this mean your marketing should stop, too?

Even when people are not enquiring or booking, they are still online.

They are scrolling, searching, reflecting, and thinking about their wellbeing. For many people who take time off over Christmas, this holiday period creates emotional and mental space. People finally have some time to think about what has been difficult, where they feel stuck, and what they want to change in the year ahead.

The Christmas period can also be an emotionally loaded time for people, with heightened stress and challenging family dynamics that are often hard to avoid.

As we all know, January is the time when many people are thinking about how this year will be different, and feeling motivated to take action on health-related issues.

When people are ready to take action on their mental health, we want them to think of you. This means you need to be visible and present online as they start researching and considering different therapists. We want your ideal clients to consume your content over the Christmas break. We want them watching your videos, reading your blog articles, receiving your newsletters, and easily finding you when they search on Google. So if you’re running Google Ads, don’t turn them off.

If you want momentum early in the year, your marketing needs to be active during the holiday period.

People don’t usually expect to get a reply between Christmas and New Year's, but if you’re taking a bit longer off, add a message on your website Contact page so anyone making an enquiry knows when to expect a response from you.

It’s, of course, important for you to have some downtime over the holiday period, so create and schedule your newsletter, blog articles, and social media posts in advance so you can properly switch off and not need to worry about it during that time. Although if you're active on social media, I'd log in every few days to check for comments and direct messages.