Abundant Practice Podcast

Episode #712: Marketing to Ambitious Women
Host: Allison Puryear
Date: December 10, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode focuses on how therapists can tailor their marketing strategies to attract ambitious, high-achieving women—especially those who come in describing surface issues like anxiety or overwhelm but may truly need deeper work around family of origin, people-pleasing, and complex interpersonal patterns. Host Allison Puryear and guest therapist Molly discuss how to match outward marketing language with the therapy's deeper goals, refining website copy, ideal client messaging, and effective outreach.

Key Discussion Points

1. Aligning Surface Concerns and Deep Work

• Client Language vs. Therapist’s Work

  • Molly’s niche is “anxious, high-achieving women,” but she enjoys working with deeper family-of-origin and interpersonal issues that clients rarely mention upfront.
  • Molly (02:46): “What I love to work with is the family of origin concerns, the people pleasing, the interpersonal patterns... But they don’t come in saying that. They come in saying, ‘I’m anxious, I’m overwhelmed, work’s taking up too much time...’”

• Messaging Alignment

  • The importance of bridging what clients say they want (“fix my anxiety”) with what’s effective in therapy—going deeper than “just coping skills.”
  • Molly worries about attracting people who want a “10-point plan” instead of depth work.
  • Molly (03:57): “The only thing I want to make sure is like I’m not attracting clients that are like, ‘give me a 10 step plan to beating imposter syndrome.’”

• Clarify in Website Copy and Consults

  • Explicitly state on your website and in consults that therapy “goes beyond coping skills to get to the root of the problem for long-lasting change.”
  • Marketing Consultant (05:01): “Your population has done their whole life with 10-step plans... it makes sense that they'd be interested in approaching their feelings in the same way. And they're lucky they have you and you understand this pattern in them so you don't then play into it.”

2. Language and Framing for the Ideal Client

• Using the Right Words

  • Employ words like “relentless,” “overwhelm,” “self-doubt,” in copy, as these resonate with ambitious women.
  • Marketing Consultant (08:33): “Relentless self-doubt... it's like the peanut butter to the jelly of ambition.”

• Speaking Directly—Should You Use "You" or "They"?

  • Molly asks if her copy should address the client with “you” or “they.”
  • Marketing Consultant (12:15): “It depends on your ideal client. Some are like, ‘you don’t know me’... others are like, ‘I do, you're right, I do feel that way.’”

3. Website and Branding Review

• First Impressions

  • Positive feedback on Molly’s website: hero image is inviting, copy is clear, and it directly reflects client struggles.
  • Marketing Consultant (07:00): “Your hero image is... what your ideal client wants to look like. We don’t want sad Sally as the first image they see.”

• Detailed Copy Feedback

  • Incorporate clients’ vernacular (“billable hours,” “second-guessing clinical decisions,” etc.) so clients know you “get” them.
  • Ambitious women respond well to language that signals intelligence and confidence.

4. Marketing Channels: What Works?

• Current Marketing Strategies (13:00+)

  • Website & SEO, Facebook groups (used primarily for networking, not client generation), therapist-to-therapist networking, blogging, and pitching live presentations.

• Networking

  • Most clients come through word-of-mouth or therapist referrals. Molly networks with others who have the same niche but a different approach.
  • Molly (14:04): “Networking I feel is a really good—I feel very at ease with networking and enjoy that.”

• Presentations & Speaking Engagements

  • Recent attempts to secure speaking gigs via junior leagues and bar associations yielded little response. Allison suggests seeking out women in business organizations or larger networking groups with regular speaking events.
  • Marketing Consultant (16:21): “Business owner meetings happen not just through Chamber of Commerce... In bigger cities, find women in business organizations—they often have speakers.”

• Blogging & SEO

  • Blogging 3–4 times monthly, focusing on topics that blend client’s presenting problems and deeper issues. SEO strategies are ongoing and integrated.

5. Geographic and Referral Nuances

• Austin, TX SEO—But Not Physically There
  • Molly is registered in Austin for SEO and legal reasons, though she lives five hours away. Most referrals and the network remain Austin-based.
  • Decision: Continue leveraging Austin’s larger market for presentations and SEO, even if occasional travel is needed.

6. Growth, Boundaries, and Sustainability

• Building Slow, Building Right

  • Molly is content with steady pace, focusing on aligning policies and boundaries; sustainable growth over rapid expansion.
  • Molly (24:55): “It hasn’t been like the growth that I’ve wanted, but...my daughter’s under 2. Slow feels okay and feels sustainable.”

• Boundaries as Reflection of Business

  • Molly (25:30): “Your business is a reflection of your boundaries... It is stuck with me and is on my computer.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Marketing to High-Achieving Women:

  • “Ambitious women are very ambitious. We don’t want to dwell too much on our doubt. We want to acknowledge that it’s there so that we can fix it…but we don’t want it to come across like we don’t [have confidence].” —Marketing Consultant (07:36)

• On Depth Work vs. “10-Step Plans”:

  • “Your population has done their whole life with 10 step plans. That’s how they avoid…So work and executing—whatever the next right step is—is how they have not had to deal with feelings.” —Marketing Consultant (05:03)

• On Ideal Client Identification:

  • “Even if they can’t acknowledge, ‘Oh, this thing happened to me, that was trauma,’ they feel like they’re over it enough. They’re probably not linking it to the constant striving.” —Marketing Consultant (21:46)

• On Sustainability:

  • “Your business is a reflection of your boundaries. You said that. But it has stuck with me and it is on my computer.” —Molly (25:30)

Important Timestamps

• 02:07: Molly articulates her ideal client vs. the work she loves doing
• 03:57: Discussing concern about attracting “10-step plan” clients
• 05:01: Framing therapy as going beyond coping skills
• 07:00–10:15: Website hero image and copy feedback—what works
• 13:00–15:45: Molly details her five main marketing strategies
• 16:21–18:18: Speaking engagements—how to find the right venues
• 19:11–20:09: Geographic nuances: Austin SEO and travel for opportunity
• 24:55: Sustainable growth and the role of boundaries

Final Takeaways

• Speak to clients’ pain points in their language, but make clear you offer depth, not just quick fixes.
• Use website imagery and vocabulary carefully to resonate specifically with ambitious women.
• Networking, word-of-mouth, and tailored presentations are more successful than passive approaches or cold-pitching.
• Blogging and SEO are key for ongoing, sustainable marketing.
• Slow and intentional practice-building, with clear boundaries, brings the right clients and supports longevity.

If you’re a therapist marketing to ambitious women, focus on reflecting true client struggles, presenting a confident yet empathic brand, and cultivating quality referral relationships over quantity.