comprehensive brand design

Branding and marketing for a small mental health business delivering much needed support and safe spaces for trans and queer folks in Pennsylvania. 

Read TLDR

Audience

Parents of trans teens

Transitioning Adults 

People looking for letters for surgery,
which all gender-affirming surgery requires.

Queer people of all stripes

Business Context

More and more people are coming out, yet there are not many therapy groups who specialize in LGBTQIA+ care. And there are none in Pennsylvania that are entirely staffed by LGBTIA+ counselors.

Since clients actively seek therapists who don’t require education before being able to help them, Arrive Therapy is poised to be the best choice in the region when queer folks need a helping hand with their mental health.

Arrive’s name arose from the concept of being present: Arrive in the present moment, Arrive in your body for the first time when you’re able to express your true gender. Arrive in your family as your true self.

I took advantage of the ‘v’ in Arrive and doubled its meaning as a down arrow, pointing to the word ‘therapy’ and also downward, towards grounding and centering. 

Networking is a critical part of a therapy practice’s marketing efforts, so we began with materials that would be passed physically hand to hand.

Swag & Trade Show design

Arrive Therapy attends Prides, community health fairs, and offers free training at high schools, colleges, and churches—wherever the community gathers can be an opportunity to meet potential clients or referring therapists.

The original Arrive Therapy website was hastily created and not given enough thought. As a growing 14 employee business, it became clear that the site needed an upgrade. 

Conversions were slowing, unqualified leads were increasing, and the design felt outdated. 

Benchmarking

We began with our North Star Metric: Conversions, counted when a person goes from a lead to a client. 

GOALS:

• Improve conversions 30%

• Reduce cost per conversion by half

• Improve site traffic

We conducted an initial SEO audit, bringing the team together to discuss our goals for the new site and refining keyword lists, search appearances, and geographically specific landing pages.

This audit informed the design and copywriting for the new site, which includes all baseline SEO requirements: proper slugs, image naming, alt text, SEO titles, etc.

Landing pages were upgraded to match the new homepage exactly, and we tweaked automatically generated ‘spin’ copy to match the brand voice.

Diversity and representation are top of mind in the LGBTQIA+ community, so the photos chosen as hero images at the top of each page were crucial to creating a safe, welcoming atmosphere. Each page’s audience was considered closely. I also incorporated simple illustrations in order to soften the site’s personality and be more welcoming for parents and teens. 

We tried hard to answer every possible client question on each page, breaking the copy up with bright, positive imagery and clear headlines to allow for easy skimming.

The audience views the site about 50% on desktop and 50% on mobile, so we ensured the site was optimized for both.

Having the previous site’s copy at my disposal, I was able to rewrite and edit the site using Arrive Therapy’s brand voice, running things by the owner of Arrive Therapy for approval at each step.  

I integrated SEO keywords throughout the new site, and simplified it down to be more readable and accessible. 

The Results

(So far: keep checking back, I will update!)

Monthly Conversions YOY:
18 (Down from 19 last year, same month)

Cost per Conversion:
$69.23 (Down from $82.)

Site traffic
4,214 impressions (Up 120% from 1,910 in Aug/Sept 2023)

To further boost our SEO performance, I have built a content calendar and am creating content for Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook, which will also be published on the blog. The owner is posting testimonial-style videos on TikTok and using his unique perspective to normalize trans issues and bring the community's basic humanity to the fore.

Our social media strategy is to speak to our audience of parents, teens, families, and questioning individuals, evenly distributing content between three main topic pillars:

Pride

Art & culture, fashion, celebrities, diversity, going over basics like pronouns, sensitivity, bathrooms, etc., and teaching about milestones and activists from queer history.

Resources

Suicide hotlines, other specialists in physical and mental health, community websites, and helpful influencers to follow.

Current Events

Keep track of where the political winds are shifting, cheer for wins, and garner support where needed.