Every business—from your favorite local ice cream parlor to Apple to your own behavioral healthcare center—needs to stay a step ahead of its competitors. By anticipating the next big thing, you can get in front of marketing trends, relay new information to your patients, and position your business as an innovator in your field. And for those who specialize in addiction treatment, the next big thing is the growing public and private interest in the medicinal uses of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin.
As these treatments come out of the shadows and into the mainstream, don’t discount them as a short-term trend! Design your psilocybin treatment digital marketing plan to be responsive to public interest and push your center to the forefront of these exciting new therapies.
The “Shroom Boom” and “Gold Rush” are Coming
Venture capital investors focused on psilocybin are starting to pop up in the wake of the recent “green rush” of the cannabis boom, and it could soon be a $100 billion market.1 The UK company, COMPASS Pathways, which is developing psilocybin into a prescription drug to be used alongside psychotherapy, saw their stock jump 71% on the first day of its IPO.2 COMPASS is setting a high bar for those following them: they’ve already patented a synthetic form of psilocybin for use in treatment-resistant depression.
Other companies, like MindMed based in New York, have conducted their own clinical trials on psychedelic drugs for conditions such as opioid use disorder. Another public company, Braxia Scientific in Vancouver, BC, has a network of ketamine clinics in addition to robust research and development facilities for psilocybin-based mental health therapies.
And because psilocybin will be more highly controlled than marijuana and only used in licensed settings, there’s less risk of market saturation as was seen with the cannabis boom. This offers a unique opportunity for treatment centers to firmly establish themselves at the forefront of the “shroom boom” and capitalize on a future customer base.
Right now, psilocybin research is mainly funded by private donors, but that will soon change. Centers that have the infrastructure already in place may be the first in line to get federal funding.
Psilocybin Digital Marketing
Using the most effective search terms and landing digital real estate at the outset will help set your center up to be at the vanguard of psilocybin-based therapies. Invest now in SEO tools and research to capture the psilocybin digital marketing space before your competitors do.
Determine What Keywords You Should Rank For
Optimizing your website now with the correct psychedelic treatment related keywords will help you start generating leads in this emerging field and position your treatment center as a recognized name in the field. Make local SEO a focus of your strategy, so you can grab top spots on Google results. Since 46% of all people performing a Google search are looking for a local business,3 taking one of the top spots on the search engine results page (SERP) will be essential. Ensure you’re implementing best practices for local SEO such as optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) page, actively recruiting and responding to reviews, and focusing on local link building.
You’ll also need to rank for a diverse ranged of keywords and phrases to reach customers regardless of the search terms they use. Consider locking in terms like “psychedelic mental health treatment” or “psychedelic addiction therapy” in addition to phrases like “psilocybin-based addiction therapy” or “mushroom therapy for addiction treatment.”
Buy All the URLs You Think You Might Need
Get on this now! Relatively speaking, URLs are inexpensive to buy and maintain so you should grab them now while the available pool is relatively deep. Acquiring domains now avoids higher prices down the road when you need to buy names that are already taken. And buying multiple domain names guards against typos. With a word like psilocybin, you can bet there’ll be some misspellings!
If you plan on changing your business name to better reflect these new psychedelic-based therapies, keep your old domain name. You’ll want to redirect that link so customers can be rerouted to your new site easily.
Be Prepared
With increased pressure from states and the undeniable efficacy of clinical trials, legalized psilocybin will be here sooner than you think. In 2018, researchers at Johns Hopkins suggested that the drug be declassified from a schedule 1 drug to a schedule 4 drug, akin to a prescription sleep aid.4
Educate yourself and your staff now so when customers ask questions about psilocybin, you can speak knowledgeably and point them to the quality content you’ve already written.
Interested in learning more about incorporating digital marketing initiatives around the emerging field of psychedelic treatment into your treatment center’s marketing plan? Dreamscape can help you get started. Connect with us at 888.307.7304 to schedule a strategy session.
For a list of references, please contact us.