December 11, 2022

Marketing Your ABA Practice: Ethical Guidelines, Marketing Channels, and Expert Tips

Author:
Thomas John, CEO of Artemis ABA
ABA practice management software

You can’t help patients you never meet. This comprehensive primer shares advice from ABA pros and guides you through marketing strategies to help you find, attract, and retain clients while complying with ABA ethics codes.

Inside this article:

Marketing your ABA Practice: Ethical Guidelines, Marketing Channels, and Expert Tips

How Do You Market an ABA Clinic?

To market an ABA clinic, use a blend of digital and in-person marketing techniques to raise awareness, attract clients, and build loyalty. ABA professionals must also abide by ethical rules related to ABA marketing.

Healthcare marketing has unique challenges that traditional companies don’t face. Also, many ABA professionals and BCBAs (Board Certified Behavioral Analysts) began their careers motivated to help families struggling with ABS and other behavioral disorders. Often, ABA experts don’t receive significant training in business and marketing.

As a result, most new ABA clinic owners don’t tend to market their services, even though their businesses depend on paying clients. This gap represents a tremendous opportunity to advance awareness of the field and make more potential clients aware of ABA.

Rich Brooks, a digital marketing expert and digital marketing podcast host, knows firsthand that digital marketing can overwhelm beginners. Also, Brooks understands that marketing may feel disingenuous and capitalistic to a group of service-minded professionals. Yet, Brooks emphasizes that the best marketing will naturally extend from the mindset that brought you to ABA.

“Remember that you got into this industry to help people,” he says. “Your content — whether it’s on your website, Google, or a social media platform — is an extension of you. It should be helpful, informative, and build trust with your audience.”

Rich Brooks, digital marketing expert and podcast host

ABA professionals who want to grow their practice should leverage digital marketing techniques like social media, SEO, and more. Still, ABA revolves around relationships, with services that work best in person. In a field where one-on-one interactions reign supreme, traditional marketing techniques like in-person events and referrals can be very powerful.

Erica Kinnebrew, a BCBA and serial entrepreneur, says, “In the autism community, word of mouth is incredibly powerful. Happy families will gladly tell others about the ways that you helped their children. For this reason, focusing on providing excellent services should always be your top priority, even when it comes to marketing.”

Erica Kinnebrew, BCBA and serial entrepreneur

Key Takeaways

  • The best way to market your ABA clinic is to leverage a multi-channel mix of in-person and digital marketing strategies.
  • Your ABA clinic’s website should convey trust and credibility and provide multiple avenues for interested clients to get in touch.
  • Ensure that you understand the ethical considerations regarding how and when you can solicit client reviews.
  • Local SEO, not regular SEO, will best serve ABA clinics.
  • ABA clinics thrive when owners form powerful relationships with in-person referrals and build a reputation for excellent care.

Ethical Considerations for Marketing ABA Services

ABA marketing strategies must comply with ethical considerations outlined in the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts. Most of the rules revolve around when and how you can solicit client reviews.

Katherine Jester, MS, BCBA, and LBA, stresses the importance of sticking to the explicit guidelines all BCBAs follow. “In your marketing, you have a responsibility to be truthful and to stick to behavioral interventions. We also need to be careful about testimonials, even from past clients. BCBAs should be familiar with Section 5 of the BACB’s (Behavioral Analyst Certification Board) Ethics Code.”


Jester outlines these four things that BCBAs cannot do:

  1. Solicit testimonials from current clients.
  2. Solicit testimonials from former clients who may re-enter services with you.
  3. Make any public statements that link non-behavioral interventions to ABA. “BCBAs need to be careful to distinguish any ‘complementary’ interventions from the field of ABA. BCBAs should also make sure that they have empirical research to support their interventions,” says Jester.
  4. Make any promises to parents, e.g., certain results within a certain time frame.
Katherine Jester, MS, BCBA, LBA


Kinnebrew describes the ethics rules like this: “The ethical don’ts are mostly centered around the solicitation of reviews — who, when, how, and where you can ask for recommendations,” Kinnebrew says. “ABA Service providers cannot solicit reviews from current clients on social sites like many other service providers are able to. For this reason, you don't often see Google reviews for ABA businesses. If a client does leave a review on an external website, the business/BCBA cannot use that review in any marketing off the original website.”

She continues: “If a BCBA wants to request a review (from employees, former clients, or a third-party contractor), they must follow guidelines that outline how to request reviews (i.e., they must be given a description about where and how the testimonial will appear) and how to present those reviews to the public (i.e., must be identified as solicited or unsolicited).”

Kinnebrew notes that while every ABA clinic owner should take these ethical codes very seriously, the rules don’t preclude effective marketing. “There are still tons of ways to market services that don’t violate any ethical codes,” she says. “The absolute best way to stand apart as an ABA organization in your area is not necessarily the fastest. Provide excellent services consistently and go above and beyond for EVERY family.”

For more information, you can download The BHCOE (Behavioral Health Center of Excellence) ABA marketing e-book that explains how ethical considerations and marketing intersect in ABA.

How to Market Your ABA Practice

Market your ABA practice by building a website that conveys credibility, prioritizing local SEO, and building relationships with local referral sources, like doctors. You can also use email listservs and events to market your services.

Here’s an overview of the major ways to market your ABA practice.

How to Use Your Website to Market Your ABA Practice

Your website is one of the few areas where you exert total control over the content, feel, and look. The primary purpose of any ABA clinic’s homepage will be to convey trust and credibility. Take advantage of the many pre-designed templates online that are inexpensive, professional, and easy to use.

Consider the following when planning your homepage.

Your Website’s Purpose and Content

  • Your website’s priority should establish trust and credibility.
    When asked how ABA practice owners can bring awareness to potential clients, Brooks says, “It all starts with a great website — one that does a great job of clearly explaining who the clinic helps, what the services provided are, and how to get started.”

    Brooks continues, “The major purpose of a website should be to build trust. The first visit may be a scary time for visitors new to ABA—you need to put them at ease and prove that they’re in good hands. Try including a video tour of your office, certifications of your staff, testimonials (when appropriate) from satisfied clients, photos of your team, and more.”
  • Make it easy for clients to contact you.
    “You also need to make it easy for people to move forward,” Brooks says. “Include a strong call to action that moves any interested visitor from awareness to consideration to decision. Make it as easy as possible for them to engage with you.”

    Along with these tips, make sure you include a page for all your locations (assuming you have more than one) and include an email address, phone number, and address at the bottom of each page.

Website Design

Resist the urge to obsess over your website design. Instead, leverage pre-existing templates that already have the functionality needed.

NickPrebezac, WordPress developer and founder of Nimbus Interactive, Inc.

Nick Prebezac, WordPress developer and web designer at Nimbus Interactive Inc., has over 20 years of experience with web development and WordPress. He recommends that ABA professionals use WordPress as their content management system (CMS).

“WordPress features an intuitive interface that even the most non-technical people can quickly master,” he says. “Plus, it’s easy to integrate SEO tactics into WordPress. Finally, WordPress has the largest developer network and the most pre-made website themes. With this large supply, you will pay less for a professional website.”

Whether you use WordPress or another CMS, don’t spend too much time or resources on designing a highly customized website. “Don’t recreate the wheel,” cautions Prebezac. “A reputable CMS will have plenty of existing themes for healthcare applications. Then, you can personalize the colors, logos, and images to reflect your clinic’s identity and feel.”

In particular, Prebezac recommends the following three WordPress themes:

These themes will give you plenty of options. Still, Prebezac notes, “It can be easy to overreach with your website. Trust the themes and try to resist the urge to make any large changes to basic theme elements. Otherwise, you may incur significant development costs upfront, just as you’re starting your business.”

He adds: “Whatever you do, don’t just rely on stock images. Research has shown that website visitors associate stock images with lower credibility. You want to imbue a sense of professionalism and a warm and friendly tone. Use pictures of your own office and staff. Once your practice becomes successful and you have a larger marketing budget, you can make any customizations to help enhance your website’s ability to attract new clients.”

Use Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO refers to techniques designed to put your website pages on the top of search results pages and increase traffic to your website. SEO can sound intimidating, but you don’t have to be an SEO wizard to implement basic optimization strategies for Google and other search engines.

Local SEO is a subset of SEO that takes your location into account. It aims to position your website among the first in local search results on search engines. Local SEO helps to increase both organic website traffic and the number of people who visit your brick-and-mortar location.

Because BCBAs generally provide ABA services in-person, proximity to the ABA practice will be the primary factor for which clients you can and cannot reach. For this reason, local SEO is more important than regular SEO for new ABA clinics. With Google being so advanced these days, ranking in the regular search results is much harder for smaller businesses with smaller marketing budgets. An SEO content marketing strategy is an expensive undertaking best left for larger healthcare entities.

Ways to Improve Local SEO

“Google recognizes any search related to ABA clinics as potentially a  ‘local’ organic search because Google understands that there is an ambiguity in ABA phrases. Someone who is just looking for basic information will likely be a prospect for a local practice,” says Mike Blumenthal, co-founder and analyst at Near Media, where he researches and reports on local SEO.

Remember, you don’t need clients from the other side of the country since you can’t serve them.

Mike Blumenthal, founder and analyst at Near Media

To understand local SEO, briefly study the first page of a Google search result. Brooks, our digital marketing expert, guides us through what happens when users search for ABA information.

“When you do a search on ‘ABA clinic near me,’ you’ll likely see three types of results,” says Brooks. “First, you may see Google Ads, which appear at the top of the page. If you do see these ads, you must create a Google Ads budget if you wish to appear at the top of the page. You may say, ‘I never click on those ads,’ but Google made almost $210 billion in 2021 from ads. In short, potential clients click on those ads. Below that, you’ll likely see the ‘local pack’ (or local search results), which is the map with three local results, four if Google includes an ad there, too.”

Here's an overview of a Google search for “ABA therapy,” with keywords in orange that orient you to SEO terms.

Ways to Improve Local SEO


Many factors influence how well your page ranks in a local search. According to Blumenthal, a local SEO expert, Google considers proximity, relevance, and prominence to understand the strength of local entities.

  • Proximity
    “Proximity to the searcher is simply the distance between your clinic location and the searcher’s location,” explains Blumenthal. “This factor is difficult to control but can be affected by opening multiple clinics or targeting high-value local suburbs. Though you cannot impact location, if you improve your relevance and prominence, you can get Google to show your profile over a broader area. With reviews, links, contents, articles, and unstructured citations (see below), you can overcome a location bias.”
  • Relevance
    Relevance is Google’s way of understanding how relevant your service is to the searcher’s intent. . “Relevance is determined by the category that you’re in (the ‘category’ that you directly select in directories, etc.), by your business name, your website content, and review content. It’s extremely important to select the relevant category on these directories, so Google knows how to classify your business profile” comments  Blumenthal.
  • Prominence
    Finally, Blumenthal says, “prominence is related to how many other websites pass strength to your business. Google typically measures prominence via backlinks, i.e., other prominent websites that link to your page.”

Citations and Directories

List your ABA business under key directories to increase your backlinks and prominence. This listing is also called a citation. It refers to your business name and information appearing on another website, review, or article. The two types of citations are structured and unstructured citations.

  • Reviews help boost your structured citations.
    “Structured citations describe a structured listing in some directory somewhere,” Blumenthal says. “These types of citations are the least valuable because of the sheer number of directories available online. Structured citations are akin to table stakes at a poker game – you must list your business to play, but the effort won’t help your SEO much, because all your competition is doing the same thing. However, there are some good citations, like Healthgrades and Yelp, that provide additional value IF those sites rank your listing well.”
    “One of the ways to get a legit structured directory like Yelp to pass more strength to your listings is to get reviews” Blumenthal continues. “For example, Yelp highlights local listings that get more reviews and then throws your link in the ‘best of’ in your market. This stronger Yelp page will get passed to your entity in Google’s local knowledge graph (see image above) and possibly improve your rank in Google Local.”
  • Unstructured citations carry the most weight.
    Blumenthal accepts the importance of structured citations but adds, “I still value unstructured citations much more than a structured citation in an unvisited directory. These are mentions of your business like an article in your local newspaper, chamber of commerce, business bureau, etc. These citations are much more valuable than being listed in a third-rate directory. The best kind of citation includes both a mention of your business and a link back to your website.”

Here's a list of higher-quality directories where you can list your ABA clinic.

Website Go to This URL to Get Listed
abct.org www.abct.org/membership
autism-society.org www.autism-society.org/living-with-autism/community-inclusion/autismfriendly/businessprogram
autismconnect.com https://bit.ly/2Ev0jgs
bbb.org www.bbb.org/get-listed
bing.com www.bingplaces.com
casproviders.org casproviders.org/become-a-business-affiliate
chamberofcommerce.com www.chamberofcommerce.com/members/add-business
disabilityinfo.org services.disabilityinfo.org/mnip/db/rdb/NewRecord.aspx
doximity.com support.doximity.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047630573-How-to-Register-on-Doximity
eparent.com www.eparent.com/special-needs-resource-directory-2
facebook.com www.facebook.com/business/learn/how-business-manager-works/guide
google.com https://www.google.com/business/
healthgrades.com https://update.healthgrades.com/landing/claim
kidstherapyfinder.com https://www.kidstherapyfinder.com/free-therapist
linkedin.com https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/linkedin-pages
manta.com https://www.manta.com/business-listings/add-your-company
mapquest.com https://business.mapquest.com/products/business-listing
npidb.org https://www.npdb.hrsa.gov/hcorg/howToGetStarted.jsp
operationautism.org https://operationautism.org/resources/submit-resource/
providersearch.com https://providersearch.com/members/index.php?ref_url=https://providersearch.com/
showmelocal.com https://www.showmelocal.com/start-submission.aspx
spectrumlife.org https://www.spectrumlife.org/join
thero.org https://support.thero.org/article/67-add-your-listing
washingtonautismalliance.org https://washingtonautismalliance.org/resources/ufaqs/how-do-i-submit-a-listing/
yellowpages.com https://marketing.yellowpages.com/en/claim-your-listing?from=advertise-with-us-YP
yelp.com https://business.yelp.com/

This list of directories for your ABA clinic is also available by downloading our ABA Marketing Plan Template.


Google Business

You can manage how your local business shows up across Google products, like Google Maps or a simple search, by maintaining your Google Business profile (formerly Google My Business).

“You want to create and maintain a Google Business account, so you can personalize what information Google has,” advises Blumenthal. “Otherwise, Google will scrape the internet and Better Business Bureau and create a profile for you, which may have out-of-date information. We’ve all seen these profiles—they don’t have any information, hours, or reviews. How likely are you to select this business, when another business down the street provides the same services, but has an updated profile with photos, reviews, and contact info? Also, Google allows you to respond to reviews, participate in Google Q and A, flag inappropriate photos, and do more to dramatically enhance your listing.”

Regular SEO

Regular SEO revolves around high-quality content marketing. Experienced SEO writers create educational articles that are more helpful than what is currently ranking, and that helps to land a website on the first page of Google for a given search query.

High-quality SEO writing can be expensive because it demands excellent writing, research and interview skills, and a firsthand understanding of SEO. For this reason, SEO content marketing may be out of reach for small and new ABA practices. Also, to do well in regular SEO, your entity must have expertise, authority and trust in the topics you are writing about. Compared with larger ABA players, most local ABA clinics won’t have the authority and trust necessary to rank.

“It is difficult for a small clinic to compete against big publishers in the ABA industry, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try,” Brooks says. “Just be aware that most of the top results will be from ABA-related organizations, directories, and national players. These companies have deep pockets and can create tons of optimized content.”

Still, ABA services with a large marketing budget may want to dip their toes in regular SEO content writing.

Here's how you can tailor your SEO content to optimize your site’s ranking:

  • Pick a niche topic and use a “hub and spoke” content strategy.
    Don’t just write about any topic related to ABA. Instead, target a specific intervention method or special service that your ABA clinic provides. For example, if you specialize in DTT, try crafting a full-fledged series on that topic. The first post, a “hub page,” will broadly cover the entire topic. Then, specific spoke or break-out posts will dive deeper into specific subtopics of DTT, such as the steps in DTT and examples of DTT. Consider partnering with an SEO agency with experienced writers for help.
Regular SEO


Kinnebrew used this approach for her ABA clinics. “Our clinics were early-intervention clinics.So, we targeted keywords related to early identification and intervention inautism and related behavioral disorders,” Kinnebrew explains.

“For example,we used keywords that parents may search before they knew about their child’sautism diagnosis. For example, ‘Why is my child lining up toys?’ or ‘How can I get my child to stop banging their heads?’ ”

Kinnebrew continues: “Most, if not all, parents we were targeting on our site may not have even known what ABA was. They just knew that they were concerned with their child’s development. For that reason, we targeted early-intervention keywords. For help, we consulted with experts to build long-term SEO plans and local SEO plans.”

Jester comments:“BCBAs often have areas of strength or interest, like an intervention type they use or specific skills they specialize in. They should emphasize those aspects of their practice on their website to differentiate themselves from other clinicians in the area.”

  • Keep it local.
    Still, Brooks recommends that ABA clinic owners maintain a local spin on posts, even if they’re utilizing regular SEO. “You should write valuable content for your audience but work on your location as much as possible. After all, you don’t need clients from the other side of the country, as you can’t serve them.”

How to Use Social Media to Market Your ABA Clinic

A social media presence has become a must-have asset for any business. Most experts agree that all ABA practices should maintain accounts on a few platforms but shouldn’t rely on social media alone to attract clients. Social media is more of an assisting channel, and it helps with word-of-mouth. Also, BCBAs note that social media can be useful in finding the right employees.

“Social media is good for brand awareness, workforce recruitment, and for showing your connection to the community,” Brooks says. “But I wouldn’t rely on it for identifying and attracting new clients.”

Kinnebrew doesn’t shy away from social media, calling a presence on the platforms a “must-have.” However, Kinnebrew also notes, “Social media is not the most powerful way to pull in clients, but it is important to maintain for staffing.”

Here are a few comments from BCBAs on how to use social media effectively:

  • Pick a few platforms and post regularly.
    Importantly, maintaining a social media presence revolves around consistently updating your channels.Create a posting schedule and post regular, valuable information,” says Kinnebrew. “It may take some time to build a following, but consistent posting and valuable content will help. Just focus on one or two platforms — it’s better to get traction on a few platforms than be spread too thin on many, unable to build a following.”
  • Post positive content.
    Jester values LinkedIn to connect with other professionals. However, she warns, “Make sure your social media accounts and those of your employees portray the field in a positive light. I’ve seen ‘professional’ public social media accounts for BCBAs and clinics that contain posts about frustrations with their specific organizations. While there is absolutely a time and a place for those grievances, it’s probably not on an account that parents and prospective clients can see.”


How to get clients for ABA therapy

Some traditional marketing channels such as email are not effective for marketing ABA services. For example, ABA marketers aren’t usually able to purchase outside email lists and send emails to the internal list they have built themselves. Email becomes a nurturing channel rather than a lead-generating channel.

Here are more ways to market your ABA services:

  • Build an internal email list.
    The crux of building an internal email list will be convincing people to opt-in to your newsletter or provide their email in exchange for access to resources. You can overcome this obstacle by offering helpful autism eBooks, newsletters, or other information in exchange for an email. These targeted efforts will give you a solid base of potential leads and generate interest in your website. Also, ask for permission before adding someone to your internal list.
  • Take advantage of referrals and word-of-mouth.
    An “old-school” method, referrals and worth-of-mouth have proven their strength as top marketing strategies for ABA clinics, even in a digital age.

    “The importance of getting to know local referral sources can’t be overstated,” Jester says. “These are the people who will be most immediately providing recommendations to the family, and if they trust you and have heard positive experiences from other families, they’re going to keep recommending you.”
  • Medical professionals
    In your area, identify where a family may first hear about ABA therapy. In other words, what are the first contact points for a family with a child being evaluated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?

    Jester says, “It’s important community mental health organizations, local pediatrician offices, and local testing psychologists have your information – your name, credentials, and what types of services you offer. “

    Kinnebrew takes referrals very seriously. “For medical professionals, I build a simple spreadsheet with all the diagnosing providers and pediatricians and track when and what I communicated with them. I make sure to keep a regular cadence of checking in. Always send a quick thank-you when you get a referral.”

    Kinnebrew continues, pointing out that “often pediatricians will allow some time to do a quick overview with some doctors and/or nurses in their practice of what you provide as a company. This event, called lunch ‘n’ learns, is common. Make your presentation short and to the point and provide a quick overview of what makes your company stand out and how your services can help families.”
  • Schools and education
    Ensure that local schools are aware of your presence and services. Still, Kinnebrew advises that you use care and discretion when reaching out to schools.

    “It can be difficult to contact schools because each area, even county to county in the same state, have different levels of acceptance towards ABA Therapy. But relationships are powerful, so I’d reach out regardless.”
  • Word-of-mouth (past clients)
    “Even with all social media at our fingertips, the fastest way to promote an ABA clinic is through developing personal relationships with referral sources in your clinic’s area. Go above and beyond for your first families (and really all your families). Word of mouth, especially on social media sites, can make or break a company – and parents like to talk.”
  • Events
    Open houses and events offer ABA clinic owners a way to meet and engage potential clients in person. These events can be invaluable in creating new relationships and allow you to cement your role in the community.
  • Open house
    ABA centers on relationships. Start them with an open house that shows off your space and lets interested families get to know you.

    Kinnebrew invites local medical professionals and potential referral sources to new center openings. “I ask if they’d also spread the word to their clients.”

    Jester says, “A yearly or seasonal open house can be a great way to show interested families the space in which their children will be receiving ABA. You can use it as a nice ‘invite-along’ opportunity if existing parents in your practice are in support groups. Then, they can invite other parents of children with ASD along. Don’t underestimate the power of an effective flier in a doctor’s office, school, or community mental health organizations.”
  • Sponsor or speak at an autism event
    Autism events have grown nationwide. Many of these events are facilitated by Autism Speaks Inc., an autism advocacy organization and the nation’s largest autism research organization.  

    Autism Speaks also hosts the “Autism Speaks Walk.” Your ABA practice can become an official sponsor of a walk in your area, supporting a great cause and bringing awareness of your clinic to a very targeted audience. You can also contact your local Autism Speaks representative to find other ways to participate.

    Also, Autism Speaks maintains a comprehensive list of providers. Add your ABA clinic to this important directory.
  • Get involved with autism organizations
    Check out this list of private and non-profit organizations involved in autism research. Consider aligning your ABA clinic with one or several of these organizations. Many of these organizations host events or webinars that your ABA practice can support. You can get to know families in your area by becoming involved with local branches of these organizations.
  • Host educational webinars
    Consider hosting an educational webinar for parents of autistic children near you. You can tailor the webinar to emphasize the intervention strategies or other methods that make your ABA services unique.

You must create a marketing plan to consolidate these marketing activities into an actionable proposal. The level of detail in your plan will vary based on the size of your ABA clinic, your marketing budget, and your competition.

Download our free ABA Practice Marketing Plan Template to get started on your marketing plan.

Building a Marketing Funnel for Your ABA Business

A marketing funnel describes the steps someone takes before becoming your patient. You can frame your marketing strategies based on the five stages a potential patient goes through. These stages include awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty, and advocacy.

All types of businesses that rely on a customer or a client can use a marketing funnel to better understand the interactions between a potential customer and a company. Like a funnel, the stages start broad with how a customer learns about a business. The stages end with a narrow goal, like the customer making a purchase or hiring the company to perform a service.

In this article, we’ve already discussed the ways to find new clients and convert them to patients. However, many marketers prefer to frame these activities in the context of a funnel to better direct efforts and write a targeted marketing plan.

Here's how you can optimize each stage of your funnel.

  • Awareness
    At the top of the funnel (sometimes abbreviated as “TOFU”), your goal will be to generate client leads. Use the website strategies, SEO, and referrals discussed above to make clients aware of your practice.
  • Consideration
    Consideration exists in the middle of the funnel (“MOFU”). Here, a potential client already knows about your ABA practice but is still considering whether you can provide the right services.  Your goal will be to increase website traffic and interactions with potential clients.

    In this funnel stage, your website and helpful content will shine. Your content, which should focus on specific intervention methods you specialize in, will help clients better understand what you can offer. In-person events, open houses, and webinars also provide opportunities to highlight your services and explain how your clinic offers new services that your competitors can’t match. Don’t just focus on what services you provide. Communicate what makes your ABA practice different.
  • Conversion
    Finally, conversion refers to an aware, interested person “converting” into a paying patient. Conversion exists at the bottom of the funnel (“BOFU”). Again, content marketing can help here, but at this point, the actual quality of your work will influence conversion the most. To optimize this funnel stage, scrutinize your onboarding material and make the process as seamless as possible for new patients.
  • Loyalty
    In this stage, a client has become an established, loyal patient.
    To retain them, continue to provide top-notch quality care, use email marketing, and interact with clients at local events.
  • Advocacy
    Finally, at the end of a funnel, a happy, loyal client will begin to advocate your services to other families. This referral is one way to bring new customers to the first stage of the funnel.

    Your goal at this stage is to make clients excited about recommending your services. Sending an old-fashioned thank-you note or a small, thoughtful gift for referrals can go a long way.

Marketing Funnel for ABA

Marketing funnel for ABA

Expert Tips for Marketing an ABA Practice

Marketing an ABA practice takes a lot of work to execute perfectly. Lean on expert advice for help. BCBAs and digital marketers can provide inside tips that you won’t read anywhere else, and they can make a huge difference in the results of your campaign.

Here's some expert advice from BCBAs, digital marketers, SEO experts, and web designers.

  • Know your market.
    Kinnebrew, the BCBA, regrets not having done a more thorough market analysis. “In the current state, many areas are getting saturated, and others remain underserved. Personally, I wish I had known how to do a proper market analysis before I opened one of my Florida locations. Now, I teach this skill to my consulting clients.”

    Investing in a market analysis will mean that you don’t target marketing efforts toward an audience that you cannot serve, either because they already go to an ABA clinic or because they are far from your location.
  • Play the long game.
    Brooks, the digital marketing expert, hopes ABA clinic owners and BCBAs understand that marketing efforts won’t pay off instantaneously. “It takes time to gain traction with a new website and a new business. It might be months or even a year before your investment starts to pay for itself. The sooner you get out there, the sooner that traction will gain speed!”
  • Prioritize local referral sources.
    Digital marketing can seem like a fancy way to target a ton of people. For an ABA practice, simply reaching out and talking to local community members can pay huge dividends. Kinnebrew says that everyone should “go out into the community. Take brochures and packets of information. Talk to as many people as possible: diagnosticians, pediatricians, other therapy providers, SLPs, OTs, and PTs. Go to resource fairs and events.”
  • Start with practice management software.
    New ABA clinics can start their practice strong with comprehensive ABA practice software management. This will free up time to focus on marketing efforts. Also, practice management software can help you optimize onboarding and other workflows to help potential patients seamlessly transition into long-term clients.

    Kinnebrew, the BCBA, recommends, “You should start out with a practice management tool rather than try to layer it onto a scaling business. It’s far less disruptive to the clinic if you start off with a solid workflow from the beginning.”
  • Educate, don’t sell.
    Kinnebrew continues: “Being a support and resource first, before a business, will pay off in the long run. For example, join Facebook ABA groups and provide helpful information. Don’t just advertise your company or services.”

    This focus on education, rather than sales, will communicate your core values to your audience. You will empower families to get the support and education they need. All these tactics go a long way in establishing yourself as an invaluable pillar in the ABA community.

How Artemis ABA Helps Clinics Grow

Excellent ABA care will translate into clinic growth. But excellent care demands a significant investment. Take back your time and money with Artemis ABA software. The software will handle business operations, allowing you to re-invest your energy into patient outcomes.

Jester praises Artemis ABA practice management software. “Artemis ABA has modules for everything you need to build your practice, including insurance verification, a powerful scheduler, integrated billing, and intuitive data collection.”

Artemis ABA Practice Management and EMR software covers your entire business, from small ABA clinics to large, multi-clinic businesses. The mission of Artemis is simple: Streamline tedious business processes so you can focus on patient care. With a team of ABA experts, Artemis identified key areas to streamline and automate, including comprehensive reporting, integrated systems, easy data collection, and automatic insurance verification. The automated, streamlined system reduces errors, leading to fewer insurance denials and freeing up your staff’s resources and time.

Partner with Artemis ABA from Day One and get your clinic started off on the right foot. A simple investment in this software will dramatically reduce your costs, organize your time, and position your ABA clinic to serve families better. Give yourself the best possible chance to provide excellent patient outcomes.

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Thomas John, CEO of Artemis ABA

Global leader of AI-Driven RCM and ABA Practice Management

Thomas John has 25+ years of experience in healthcare RCM and IT. He is the founder and CEO of Artemis ABA, one of the biggest healthcare RCM companies in the US. Thomas has comprehensive knowledge of AI-driven practice management and billing software. He believes in providing an end-to-end solution for revenue cycle and ABA practice management.