David Straight, Author at E-rehab

3 Clinical Studies to Share with Physicians To Generate More Referrals

Physicians often overlook the value of physical therapy. But if you bring them clinical proof of the value it can provide to their patients, they’re more likely to refer to you than if you were to just ask them for a referral point-blank.

Here are three great clinical research articles you can download and drop off with your referring physicians next time you stop by their offices.

1. For a detailed study that found delayed physical therapy consultation is associated with increased costs and health care utilization for many patients, read “Timing of Physical Therapy Consultation on 1-year Healthcare Utilization and Costs in Patients Seeking Care for Neck Pain: A Retrospective Cohort” at L.PTClinic.com/36lHrNn.

2. For a conclusion that for those with acute low back pain, immediate referral to a physical therapist may lead to decreased health care utilization and costs, recommend “Immediate Physical Therapy Initiation in Patients With Acute Low Back Pain Is Associated With a Reduction in Downstream Health Care Utilization and Costs” at L.PTClinic.com/354hPV6.

3. For a compelling proposition that current literature indicates moderate support of using exercise therapy in the treatment of full thickness rotator cuff tears, try “Exercise Therapy in the Non-Operative Treatment of Full-Thickness Rotator Cuff Tears: A Systematic Review” at L.PTClinic.com/358BQJV.

These articles, as well as hundreds more available online, are great resources for selling your services.

Whether you’re communicating via the internet or in person, don’t start the conversation empty-handed. Print the articles in full and deliver them.

Have a conversation about your services, and let them know the proven value you can bring to their patients.

Need Help with Physician Referral Marketing?

We can help. Click here to schedule some time with David Straight, DPT & co-owner or call 760-585-9097

We provide physical therapy marketing that’s affordable and doing it right is a must. Contact us today!

Physical Therapy Google Ads Management – 4 Ways to Improve

We’re well into 2021 and the pandemic is waning. If you’re still struggling to fill your clinic, so it may be time to think about advertising…in particular, Google

The first component (and usually the most expensive) of a marketing strategy is lead generation. John Jantsch calls this step getting people to “know” you.

Alan Dibb calls this the “before” stage of a marketing campaign. In other words, this is the process of making people aware that you exist and of what you do.

In terms of marketing funnels, this is called a “top-of-the-funnel” (TOF) strategy.

Advertising is a Necessary Component of PT Marketing in a Crowded Physical Therapy Market

Advertising is indeed a way to make your community aware of who you are and, specifically, one method of advertising online is Google Ads, formerly called Google AdWords.

Google Ads are the search results that usually show up first when you type in a search like “physical therapy in your town.”

You will be able to differentiate an ad from organic and local maps listings because ad results have a small box (with a border around it) right below the headline that says “Ad” along with the “display path,” URL, or web address in green next to it.

A good ad is going to capture the attention of the person searching for physical therapy and speak to what they may be looking for in a PT practice.

Headlines like “Physical Therapy Nearby,” “Same-Day Appointments,” and “Voted Best in the Community” often get a viewer’s attention. Adding the following extensions like a: SiteLink, Location, and Call extensions can also help.

In my 14 years of experience running Google Ads, I’ve found that most practices are missing huge opportunities to improve their Google Ads’ return on investment.

Many are just throwing money away using Google’s Smart Campaigns.

If you’re guilty of one or more of the following common flaws, change your strategy if possible. Here are five of the most common ad campaign mistakes I see with Google Ads.

1. Running the ad for people that show “interest” in your ad. Don’t do this. Change this in your campaign settings so that you are running your ad only for people inside your geo-targeted area. For example, look at the image of the Google Ads above. I’m in San Diego. Why are ads for Brampton, Ontario showing up in San Diego?
2. Running your ad at night or on the weekends. Doing this is only going to get more clicks from either competitors or people who would like to connect with you right now but can’t call you because you aren’t in your office. Run your adduring your hours of operation.
3. Practice owners under-budgeting for their ad campaign. If you don’t invest enough in your ad campaign,your ad will show less often and you will end up paying more than your competition.
4. Not managing your ads on a regular basis. Too many often he practice owners I talk with just set it and forget it. This is a great way to waste money.

Here’s an example of the metrics you should be measuring that we gathered from working with a client of ours.

Metrics You Should Be Measuring

Ad Impressions 8.16K;
Clicks 320;
CPC $5.54;
Leads 79;
Conversions/New Patients 63;
Conversion Rate 80%;
Money spent on ads $1.77K;
Cost per lead $22.40;
Cost per conversion $28.10;
Revenue generated from ads this month $31,500;
ROI 17.79x.

Part of a good marketing strategy involves lead generation or getting people to “know” that you exist and are a solution for their problems.

Google Ads for physical therapy clinics is one way to drive leads.

Try to avoid some of the mistakes as outlined above, and also make sure you are looking at the key metrics to confirm your advertising campaign is generating a positive return on investment.

Need help getting your PT Online Marketing Right?

We can help. Click here to schedule some time with David Straight, DPT & co-owner or call 760-585-9097

Physical therapy online marketing is affordable and doing it right is a must. Contact us today!

How to Turn a One-Time Patient Into a Repeat Customer

It’s no secret that it’s much easier to keep a customer than it is to obtain a new one. If that’s the case, what are the best ways to market specifically to previous customers? It doesn’t always involve direct marketing; much of it has to do with simple follow-up.

MESSAGES PATIENTS – GENERATE REPEAT BUSINESS BY STAYING IN TOUCH

People like it when you remember things about them. Mailing goodwill messages to your patients for events and milestones, like birthdays or anniversaries, can go a long way in keeping you top of mind. If they like you, they’re more likely to choose you again if they have a need for your PT services.

PHYSICAL THERAPY EMAIL NEWSLETTERS – THEY’RE AFFORDABLE, AUTOMATED, AND EASY

Creating an email list of your past patients is as simple as asking them to provide their email when they visit your office. Gather those emails, input them into your E-Rehab Control Panel, and we will send your patients a welcome, a thank-you, and monthly messages. Information about how to improve or maintain health, special offers, and reminders about follow-up services are all fair game.

NEW TREATMENTS – LET YOUR PATIENTS KNOW ABOUT NEW SERVICES

Some patients will no longer need your services because they’ve reached their goals, and that’s fantastic. But some patients may not be so lucky, and they will be looking for new ways to heal. So, when you have new treatments to offer, you should go back to this pool of patients and let them know. Even those who feel 80–90% normal might be interested in your new services.

TEXT MESSAGING – THE BEST WAY TO COMMUNICATE

Texting is becoming the easiest way to communicate with clients, both past and present. It’s fast, direct, and easy. Just as you would with email, keep a database of cellphone numbers and send text messages as necessary. Your previous patients will appreciate how quickly they’re getting useful information.

PRINT NEWSLETTERS – FOR THOSE WITH LARGER BUDGETS

If you’ve spent time reading this newsletter, you know it can be effective for staying top of mind. Newsletters put your business in your patients’ thoughts, provide information, advertise, and show personality. For some, a print newsletter is more effective than an email newsletter because there’s simply more impact when you hold something in your hand.

Need help getting your PT Online Marketing Right?

We can help. Click here to schedule some time with David Straight, DPT & co-owner or call 760-585-9097

Physical therapy online marketing is affordable and doing it right is a must. Contact us today!

Physical Therapy Marketing This Spring – Clean Out the Cobwebs

Spring is here, and that means you may be gearing up to do some hefty cleaning at home or in the office. But spring cleaning can be accomplished in other ways as well. This is a great opportunity to revamp your marketing strategies by cleaning out some of the “marketing cobwebs” you’ve been ignoring for too long.

The best way to start is by approaching your business from the position of a prospective patient.

It’s practically impossible to know the exact number of times your business is showing up online, but we can safely estimate it’s more than 300. There are so many online reference points for your physical therapy practice that if you aren’t optimized across a variety of different channels, you risk getting lost in the weeds. So how can you possibly know where to start? In order to get a handle on what potential patients are seeing and how best to cater to them, you should start with the most important web properties.

Begin with what I like to call the Big Five: Google, Yelp, Facebook, Apple Maps, and Bing. These are the essential online places that prospective clients use to help make decisions about who they want to see for PT care. If your business isn’t optimized on these sites, then it makes it that much harder for people to find you. They may go to the wrong location, or they may miss various services you offer.

Use these sites as though you’re a patient looking to find a new physical therapist. Each site has its own unique features that are slightly different than the others, but in general, they offer many of the same functions you should thoroughly explore.

First, do a simple search in their main database or search engine for your brand name (e.g., Acme Physical Therapy).

Type it into the search bar and take notes about what appears on the page. Where are you listed? What catches your eye? Are the images up to date? Is the information accurate? How difficult or easy is it to navigate to sites that are connected to your business?

Next, do a geographic search for physical therapy in your city. All of the Big Five sites I’ve mentioned have features that allow users to search for businesses based on location. When you navigate to these pages on each site and search for your business in your city, what do you see? Is the listing accurate? Is it displayed in a way that’s easy to understand?

How many reviews do you have compared to your competition? Are the small details (metadata and images) useful and representative of your practice?

Also do a general search for your physical therapy business and look at your maps listings. What comes up then?

The third step applies specifically to Google, Bing, and Apple Maps. These three sites have functionality that provides driving directions by way of Google My Business, Bing Places for Business, and the Apple Maps app on iPhones. When you navigate to each of these sites and search for your business, how does it appear? Ask yourself the same questions you did for a normal search engine site, and remember that for businesses, these subsequent sites are just as important as Google and Bing natural/organic listings.

Understanding exactly what your potential patients are seeing when they look for you is critical to keeping business coming through your doors. Potential patients want a fast and friction free experience when they are searching for a PT practice. Optimizing your online presence is the key to doing that. But you don’t know what your potential patients will experience until you try it yourself.

Need help getting your PT Online Marketing Right?

We can help. Click here to schedule some time with David Straight, DPT & co-owner or call 760-585-9097

Physical therapy online marketing is affordable and doing it right is a must. Contact us today!

Physical Therapy Marketing Funnels – Understanding the Concepts First Can Increase Your ROI

The AIDA diagram pictured describes the path that a consumer will follow to become a patient. In this conceptual funnel, the patient passes from one step to the next. Those that do not move to the next step, are said to have “fallen or leaked out of the funnel”.

I particularly like this way of describing the patient’s buying journey because it’s easy to understand. It’s one of the first buying models of advertising that I was introduced to quite some time ago.

There are 4 stages in the model:

Attention,
Interest,
Desire, and
Action.

The AIDA model is one class of collective models knows as the Hierarchy of Effects which is summarized here in this article. The hierarchy of effects theory describes how advertising affects consumers’ behavior and leads to the transition from not knowing a product or brand to liking it and finally making the action to purchase.

Physical Therapy Marketing and AIDA

AIDA model can be tailored to the physical therapy market of course. Each stage of this model helps practice owners and marketers conceptualize the thoughts patients move through and allows one to analyze key points to identify opportunities for improvement.

Attention – think about how you might be able to make people aware of your practice’s services. This is commonly called an outreach strategy, outbound, or advertising strategy. Examples might be direct mail, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, SEO, etc.

Interest – once you’ve captured the attention of a potential patient, you’re just getting started. Now, you must hold consumer’s interest long enough to relay your most pertinent information in order for them to take the next step in the AIDA process. You can accomplish this in any number of ways (and should take advantage of as many as possible). A fast loading, beautiful looking, easy to read, and easy-to-use website, is a great way to maintain a potential patient’s interest. No matter how you choose to hold interest, it is crucial to continue to move your consumers to the next stage in the AIDA hierarchy.

Desire – think about how you arouse desire in a prospect’s mind to choose your physical therapy services. One excellent way to position your practice as the clear choice is to have a custom designed, responsive website that tells a great story about how the patient can achieve his/her goals by choosing your practice.

We’ve Got You Covered! This is exactly what E-rehab does to help clients position themselves as the best choice for their community…we help you tell a story about why you are the best choice to help the viewer achieve their treatment goals. You can learn more about the modified StoryBrand model we follow by clicking here.

Action – not that a member of your community is aware of you, becomes interested in your physical therapy services as a solution to their problem, desires the benefits/results/outcomes they can achieve by working with you, you need to move them to take action. In other words, this is a final reminder to call the office or request a digital appointment.

NOTE

Note: Repeating your call to action throughout your homepage and your website is important as well. You never know when the prospect (the website viewer) has consumed enough information to take the next step, i.e. connecting with your clinic.

If you’re interested in generating more new patients affordably and using the web to do it, we can help.

Click here to schedule a time with me now!

Physical Therapy Marketing in 2021 – Does Your Community Know About You?

In this post I want to share five brief interviews I did with members of my local North San Diego community. The answers were a bit surprising.

TL;DR We interviewed four men and one woman in our local community and as you will notice, physical therapy was never mentioned by any of them. So, the obvious question is: Are you marketing your practice enough to your community?

Here’s the recording:

David Straight · Interview With Community Members About PT

Here’s the transcript of the interviews:

Interviewer:
“Thank you for participating. The first question I have is, uh, if you had neck or back pain, who would you go seek medical care?”

Participant #1 Answer:
“Well, it depends on the type, just stiffness or sciatica. I have chronic low stiffness, so I go to the chiropractor.”

Interviewer:
“Okay. And how about if you had shoulder knee problems? Who would you go see for that?”

Participant #1 Answer:
“Um, probably an orthopedist.”

Interviewer:
“And have you ever had physical therapy before?

Participant #1 Answer:
Uh, yes I have.

Participant #2

Interviewer:
My first question for you is if you had neck or low back pain, who would you go see?

Participant #2 Answer
“Chiropractor”

Interviewer:
“If you had a shoulder or knee pain, who would you go?”

Participant #2 Answer
“Either a masseuse or an acupuncturists.”

Interviewer:
“My last question is, uh, have you ever been to physical therapy before?”

Participant #1 Answer:
“Uhhh, no.”

Participant #3

Interviewer:
“My first question is if you had neck or back pain, who would you go see?”

Participant #3 Answer:
“Neck or back pain? Uh, either a chiropractor I go to, or my local doctor.”

Interviewer:
“How about shoulder and knee pain?”

Participant #3 Answer:
“Shoulder and knee pain. Um, uh, it’s shoulder pain. I’ve had before I went to both, I got like treatment at a chiropractor and I also went to my local doctor for that electrical stuff.”

Interviewer:
“Have you ever been to a physical therapist before as therapists?”

Participant #3 Answer:
“No, my sister is actually going to school for that…”

Participant #4

Interviewer:
“My first question is if you had neck or back pain, who would you go see?”

Participant #4 Answer:
“Uh, I would probably say a chiropractor.”

Interviewer:
“How about shoulder and knee pain?”

Participant #4 Answer:
“I would once again, probably say a chiropractor.”

Interviewer:
“Have you ever been to a physical therapist before as therapists?”

Participant #4 Answer:
“Yes”

Participant #5

Interviewer:
“My first question is if you had neck or back pain, who would you go see?”

Participant #5 Answer:
“I would see my general practitioning physician.”

Interviewer:
“How about shoulder and knee pain?”

Participant #5 Answer:
“Also my regular physician.”

Interviewer:
“Have you ever been to a physical therapist before as therapists?”

Participant #5 Answer:
“No, I have not.”

What did you think of their answers. Surprised at all?

If you need help getting your PT Online Marketing Right, give us a call at (760) 585-9097 or click here to request an appointment on my calendar.

Your About Us Page Could Be Suffering From These 6 Mistakes

Your About Us page probably has more website viewers land on it than you think. Too many companies treat this valuable real estate like an afterthought. They knock off a paragraph about why they started their practice or add in their mission and that’s about it.

Take advantage of this missed opportunity!

With so many eyes on this content, it needs to be some of the better work on your website. While a bad About Us page probably won’t destroy your practice, it could leave potential patients wanting more, before they choose you.

If you’re making these 6 frequent mistakes, it’s time for a rewrite.

1. It doesn’t show your personality

This is a common problem with website writing. People default to corporate-speak and start using phrases they’d never use in real life, like leverage, cutting-edge, etc. Cut out the jargon and just write like you talk!

Small practices shouldn’t hide their personalities behind the veil of boring corporate lingo. There’s nothing wrong with a fun or clever voice, on your About Us page, but do remember, you are a healthcare provider.

For a great example of this, check out PT Central. https://ptcentral.org/about/ . Take a look at their commitments, values, and they even mention some of their partners in the community.

2. It focuses too much on you

Yes, it’s called an “About Us” page. So you will need to talk some about yourself and/or the company. But if you drone on for a full page about how great you are, your readers are going to zone out fast.

Dale Carnegie famously said, “…a person’s name is to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” The quote speaks to a broader point — the most interesting thing in our lives is us. So while your reader may have some interest in you, what they really want to know is how you can benefit them.

You have to relate your story back to a benefit for the reader — aka, your potential customer. This doesn’t mean you should turn your About Us page into a sales page. But you should include what sets your company apart from the competition, and how that can solve the reader’s problem.

3. It doesn’t have a strong headline

If the headline of your About Us page says “About Us,” we might want to change it. Your headline needs to hook the reader right off the bat, above the fold. That doesn’t mean it needs to be flashy or clever. In fact, clever copy can sometimes be confusing. Aim for clarity instead.

A good example is on the About Us page for Copyhackers. Their headline reads, “Helping Great Businesses Build Audiences.” It’s short and to the point, and tells you exactly what the company is all about.

4. It doesn’t include social proof

You can talk about yourself until you’re blue in the face, and it still won’t have the same impact as someone else’s words. One study showed that 88% of consumers trust user reviews as much as recommendations from friends and family.

Testimonials and reviews can be sprinkled throughout your website for a little dash of word-of-mouth. You can also include a list of other companies you’ve partnered with here as well.

Better yet, why not add in a patient video testimonial or two.

5. It doesn’t show your face

Small practices don’t have the marketing budgets and resources that the giant mega-corps have. But they do have the ability to forge genuine relationships with their customers.

It’s much easier to create a relationship when you put a face to the brand. Digital marketer Neil Patel knows this, and that’s why he puts his smiling face all over his website. Hire a photographer for a few hours and get some professional photos taken of yourself and your team.

6. It doesn’t tell the reader what to do next

With a higher traffic volume than most other pages on your website, the About Us page is a perfect opportunity to ask the reader to take action. You should add in a clear call to action and redirect them to your contact page as well.

You could also use this real estate to ask readers to sign up for your email list.

Make sure the Call to Action stands out. Instead of just adding a link, add a nice clickable button in a bright color. Studies show that buttons have a much higher click-through-rate than links.

Your turn…

Now it’s time for an audit. Is your About Us page making one (or more) of these six mistakes? If so, you’re actually in good company. Some major brands make these errors on their sites. But now that you know better, spend an hour or two brushing up your content.

Looking for a Physical Therapy Marketing Expert?

Need help with your physical therapy website? That’s our specialty. Give us a call or schedule an appointment to learn more about how we can help.

Optimize Your Outdated Content for Higher Search Rankings

Being a content creator can feel like the Indy 500. The gas pedal is on the floor, but it’s just left turn after left turn. And every time you lift your head and look around, you’re on the same oval track, unable to punch through the pack of cars keeping pace around you.

In the world of content creation, that unending oval track is the hunt for higher Google rankings. It’s maddening to feel like you’ve done everything right, but still find yourself unable to punch through to the top three spots on the search engine results.

Today, we’re going to talk about how you can optimize your old content to improve your SEO and get onto that racetrack’s podium.

What Physical Therapy Content Should You Update?

“All of it” is definitely not the answer. You don’t have time for that.

Instead, look for content that is already ranking for a good keyword on the first page of search results — but not in the top three positions.

It may seem counterintuitive to focus on content that is already doing well, rather than on a blog post on page two or three.

Here’s why it’s not…

The jump in clicks that you’ll see by moving from position five to position three is significantly higher than the jump you’d see by moving from page three to page two.

The average click-through-rate (CTR) for a result in position one in search results is 34.2%. In position four, it’s 8.1%. By time you get to the second page of results, CTR is under 2%.

By moving from position 4 to position 1, you can quadruple your CTR. That’s how we get the biggest bang for our optimization buck.

To figure out which posts fit this criteria, use the free Google SEO Ranking Checker from The HOTH. Type in your website’s URL, and enter your email address to get your results. (Yes, this tool is a lead magnet for The HOTH, but it’s worth handing over your email address.)

You’ll get a report of your top traffic-driving keywords, as well as where your content ranks on Google. Hover over the blue keyword to see which piece of content is driving the traffic.

We’re going to pick a keyword that meets three criteria.

First, it should be ranking in the top 10 on Google.

Second, it should have good search volume. If you’re ranked #5 for a keyword that only gets 20 monthly searches, it’s probably not worth your time to shoot for position 1.

Finally, make sure the keyword has high value to your business. This means it should be something your potential customers are searching for. If you’re on the first page for the search term “best chocolate cake recipe” but you sell 1-on-1 coaching services, that’s not a keyword we want to focus on.

Next…

Recon Time

Time to do a little digital snooping.

Do a Google search for your target keyword to see which articles are beating you in the rankings. Audit their content. What do they have that you’re missing?

The purpose is not to copy…never. The purpose is to figure out what informational gaps your piece is missing, so you can figure out how to fill them.

In the world of search engine rankings, the most in-depth, helpful content usually reigns supreme. So you have to provide a more complete piece of work than the competition.

Next, read through your copy carefully. What has changed since you first wrote it? In the field of SEO, for example, best practices are changing all the time. An article from 2018 could be woefully outdated, and Google will prioritize fresher content.

Is any of your information old? Are there new policies or laws that need to be addressed? New studies you could cite?

Update Your Content

Fill in the gaps and update your article for the current climate. By answering the query more accurately and more completely, you’ll improve your chances of overtaking the competition.

Adding images and graphics can also help with your rankings. An infographic or a few handy charts can make your content more useful to the reader, and that’s something Google looks for.

Before you hit publish, check for broken links. Use a free plugin like SEO Minion or Broken Link Checker to verify that every link is still active.

And before you go live, update the publish date. Google will crawl the new content either way, but an updated publish date will also show readers that your info is current and cutting edge.

After You Publish

When your shiny new article is updated and re-published, promote the heck out of it!

Post it on your Facebook pave, Tweet it. Share it in a newsletter.

Treat it just like a brand new piece of content and push it all over your social media channels. Give it the best chance you can to climb up to Google’s coveted top three.

In a few weeks, check your keyword again to measure your results.

Now find another piece of content, and repeat!

Google likes established websites, but new content. This method lets you build on old work to keep your website fresh. With a steady routine of new and updated blog posts, you’ll keep your pieces accurate, useful, and Google-friendly.

That’s it for this post. If you have questions about physical therapy online marketing or PT blogging, don’t hesitate to contact us. Thanks for reading.

Use Storytelling for a Better Physical Therapy Blog

In ancient times, a powerful king oppressed his people. The citizens of the land feared the king and begged the gods for help. So the gods created a wild man that could equal the king and stop his misdeeds.

The wild man and the king fought a great battle, but the king showed superior strength. After it was all over, the two men became friends and began a grand journey together that would see triumph, heartbreak, and the search for eternal life.

This is the Epic of Gilgamesh, the earliest surviving work of literature, written around 1800 BC.

Human beings are natural storytellers. We’ve been sharing tales around the campfire since the invention of the campfire! Even ancient cave paintings from 30,000 years ago tell stories of the hunt.

So what does the Epic of Gilgamesh have to do with blogging?

Turns out, a lot!

How Do Stories Draw in Readers?

Stories help your writing to stand out. In the unending ocean of blogs (over 500 million of them!), interesting stories share personality and entertain the readers. While viewers may be searching for answers to their problems, they also want to have a little fun!

Clever storytelling also helps the writer to connect with the reader. It shares your unique voice and displays your personality. Telling stories is how you can get people to look forward to your content eagerly, instead of reading a blog once and never coming back to your site.

One study showed that a blog post that opened with a story saw nearly 300% more readers scroll all the way to the bottom of the page. Since the call to action in a blog post is usually near the bottom, that’s 300% more people with a chance to convert!

One of the masters of blog storytelling is Laura Belgray of Talking Shrimp. She uses clever storytelling to draw in readers to her blogs and emails. She’s been featured in Business Insider, Fast Company, Money, and Forbes, and she uses the same storytelling techniques in these major publications.

Where Can You Find Physical Therapy Stories?

Everyday in your office!

Even simple, everyday events can be repurposed into interesting anecdotes that illustrate your point.

Laura Belgray once used a story of her search for basil for a recipe to demonstrate how important it is to build an online community. The story was funny and engaging. And while it wasn’t clear at first how it was going to relate to her final point, the eventual connection made perfect sense.

You may find that when you’re sitting down to write, you have a hard time coming up with a relevant anecdote. This is a common problem. That’s why it’s helpful to create a “story bank.”

Note the wins, failures, and funny events in your daily life. Then when you need a story for a new post, you can refer back to that bank to find an appropriate tale. These don’t have to be major, dramatic life events. A simple metaphor can be enough to draw in the reader.

Also — stories don’t have to be true!

Now, this doesn’t mean you should make up a case study or testimonial. Falsifying results is unethical marketing. But you could absolutely invent a story to illustrate a point.

For example, let’s say I wanted to write a post about a fictional patient that didn’t do their home exercises or modified their daily activities according to your recommendations.

This patient may end up back at the doctor having unnecessary tests, taking opioids, or even having unnecessary surgery. You could certainly bolster this story with the plethora of research articles supporting the use of physical therapy first and how following through with PT care can save money, time, needless expenses, and risk.

Additionally, you might tell a story about a patient that chose physical therapy first over seeing their doctor. Elaborating on the fictional experience that one might have when making this choice.

Again, there’s good support for this story. A 2014 study suggests that patients who received physical therapy through direct access, i.e. directly from their PT (vs. physician referral) had a higher level of satisfaction and better outcomes at discharge.

Where Do Stories Fit In?

The best way to use storytelling in blogging is right at the top.

The purpose of your headline is to get people to start reading. And the purpose of your blog’s introduction is to get people to keep reading. So hook them with an introductory story.

The story should have a main character, a problem, an action, and a solution in order to be interesting for the reader. Remember that without a problem, there’s no story!

After you’ve told your story, you’ll need to transition into the rest of the blog post. A smooth transition will make it easier for the reader to flow from the introduction into the rest of the piece. Your transition should connect the two, making it clear why your story aligns with the article’s message.

You may want to use a transitional phrase like, “What does this have to do with ____?” or “Why does this matter? Because…”

You can also split your story between the introduction and the conclusion of the post. Introduce your main character and their problem at the top of the blog post. Then get into the “meat” of the article, explaining ways to resolve it.

In the conclusion, return to your story. Share the action the character took to solve their problem (using one of the methods you explained), and how that action led to a solution.

Practice the Craft and Share Your Passion for Treating Patients

Storytelling takes practice, and it will take some time before you have a robust story bank to pull from. But start putting one idea in the bank daily, and soon you’ll have a wide variety of options.

Try adding stories to some of your old blog posts to see if the reader’s time on page increases. You might be surprised by what you find!

Don’t Have Time to Write?

Need help with blogging? We offer blogging services as part of our physical therapy marketing services. Contact us for more information at 760-585-9097.

10 Ways Online Marketers Make Their Products More Attractive*

I get more calls, now more than ever, from physical therapy clients trying to figure out how to build their practice back up to where they were pre-COVID.

This article is about some of the predatory marketing practices that I’ve seen in a number of online advertisements, as well as complaints I’ve heard from a number of PT business owner.

One paid $12,000 and didn’t get a single new patient in the two months they used them.
Another paid $17,000 for marketing training – no new patients
Another practiced owner estimated that they had spent over $100,000 in marketing services and it was a huge loss.

If you are a PT practice owner (I used to own a practice), you feel bad for these owners. All they want to do is care for their community and make a reasonable living doing so.

It has to be said that there are also a number of ethical marketing companies in the physical therapy space.

TL;DR

Online marketing companies use tactics to get you to buy
Here are 10 of them to be aware of if you are going to invest
Work with an online marketing company that knows physical therapy
Marketing companies have an obligation to provide ethical services

This piece is about companies that have aggressively targeted physical therapy private practice owners during the COVID crisis, fully aware of their limited business/marketing knowledge, as well as knowing that their products are unlikely to help their customers achieve the results that are being sold to them.

Desperate Times Can Lead to Bad Physical Therapy Marketing Decisions

It’s easy to understand why some practice owners face such a great challenge, when it comes to discerning good marketing versus bad marketing, especially when they’re desperate.

After all, if you’re faced with having your career, passion to help others, as well as all of the blood, sweat, and tears you’ve invested in your private practice business, stripped away, it’s easy to see why some clinic owners fall for these tactics.

Note: some of these sales strategies I have employed in the past. Because they work. Indeed, if you’re offering a good product or service and you use the strategies ethically, in many cases I see no problem with it. The problem is that many online and information marketers are taking advantage of physical therapists and small business owners.

At the end of the day, of course, the consumer is responsible for what they buy but, some of the psychological tactics end up leading to purchases that Even when implemented as instructed, will not have a positive benefit on the practice. It’s the marketers that are selling information products and services fully knowing that the results are unlikely to be achieved by a majority the purchase them, that I have a problem with.

Quick Backstory – Marketing Tactics Can Be Used for Both Good & Bad

Here are 10 ways to determine if a marketing company is likely to be disingenuous, but first, here’s a quick backstory: There have been many information marketers that have achieved great success selling their knowledge, experience, and services to others online.

Many of these information and service marketers use psychological sales/marketing techniques to persuade prospects to become buyers.

While some of these marketers do indeed offer quality information and services, many don’t. Moreover, the psychological formulas/sales tactics these predators use are so common, they’re very easy to identify.

10 Ways to Recognize if a Webinar is Offering Something that’s Unlikely to Get You the Physical Therapy Promotion Results You Want

So, here are some easy ways for you to recognize if an advertisement and/or a sales webinar is likely to be offering something that isn’t going to get you the results that they promise.

A rags to riches backstory. So many people that sell information online report that they went from having next to nothing to riches. Redo this to make it seem like anyone can achieve similar results. Fact is, to achieve remarkably remarkable results, takes a tremendous amount of work over an extended period of time. In fact, one of the true cornerstones of marketing is repetition.
Extraordinary income as a result of using the product. I’ve seen it many times, marketers saying if you use our product you can double your business, you can have a seven-figure practice, you can have your best month ever. While these results can sometimes be attained under rare circumstances, most of the time marketers are selling the outliers, the very best cases, results that are unlikely to be able to be repeated over and over. Worse yet, when people buy these products and try to implement what they’ve learned, and don’t get the results they are sold, they’re made to think that is their fault rather than the bad information that they’re sold. Often times people that buy these products are unwilling to speak out against them. They feel like they should’ve got results but it was their own fault that they didn’t. Fact is, extraordinary real results or just those extraordinary. When it comes to marketing getting a one, two, or 3% return on your marketing efforts is typical. In most other things in life if you got a 12 or 3% return on anything would be considered a failure. Having the proper expectations is important when it comes to implementing any marketing program.
Wishful identification. This is the next indicator that a product might NOT be a good one to buy. When the salesman is pitching you what life could be like before and after the use of the product, they’re playing upon your desire to attain a certain outcome. Again common sense applies. If the use of a product or service made it so easy to get rich quick, why would this marketer be selling it. Wouldn’t they just be doing it themself? Why would they share? If your goal is to double or triple your practice, you have to understand that to get to this place in business takes time, a considerable monetary investment, A willingness to test and retest, and some significant risk.
Demonstrating significant material reward. Many of the marketing gurus that sell information products will demonstrate their success by showing themselves in a new Lamborghini/sports car (that is probably not even theirs) or in a multi million dollar mansion, you don’t see this as much from marketers that are selling information to PhysicalTherapy ‘s. However, displaying materialistic rewards as a result of newfound knowledgeAnd a secret strategy that no one else has ever heard of, her common psychological tricks to get you to think that you too can achieve exceptional financial success.
Disguising their sales pitch as free expert information. A common tactic is to promise to reveal something unique, something extraordinary, something that no one has ever seen before, something that is new, something that is different, something that has been successful in another industry and now has been discovered to be successful in the physical therapy industry, all in the name of getting you to sign up for a webinar or a podcast. Now the information marketer has your name and email address and is going to drip market on you and tell you or in a week position financially in our desperation to find a solution. This is a common sales tactic. Moreover, this free information almost always ends up being a sales pitch for their product. How many times have you heard that you can do “what I’ve told you on your own,“ or you can buy my product and achieve things much easier. Now, well this is sometimes true, the tactic of promising free, unique, or secret information so that you’ll listen to the sales pitch is what information marketers are really after.
The heavily discounted product. Another strategy that information marketers used to sell their information is a heavily discounted product it’s very common for these marketers to say that they offered this information in a live course or as a video series but today we’re discounting it by not just 50% but 90% so it appears to be affordable for everyone. Moreover when you add on a couple of key psychological sales tactics like urgency (a deadline to buy the product) and scarcity, a limited number of the products being made available, it makes the information product even more attractive. You can get it at a discount price but you need to get it before the inventory runs out and the discount deadline expires.
Bonus after Bonus. Offering multiple additional bonuses on top of the main product is a common sales tactic. These bonuses are often used to make the entire package appear even more attractive. One way this is achieved itactic by marketers is through the use of an OTO or one time offer. You buy the main product but before you have the chance to start consuming the information, product or service you purchased, the marketer offers you a one time offer called an OTO. Moreover, it’s also common to upsell the prospect on more than one OTO. If the prospect doesn’t buy the first one time offer, then a common strategy is to down sell them the same thing at a lower price or offer even a different OTO. The net result is additional income in the marketer’s pocket.
Inflated value. What inflated value means is it if you were to buy individual components of the package that is offered, it was some up to be much more expensive than the cost of the product they’re trying to sell plus all of its bonuses. This tactic is called inflating the value of your product. Again, it makes the information product’s Price with all that’s included bonuses as noted above, much more attractive.
End the price in a seven (e.g. $497, $997, or $1997). This strategy comes from research that demonstrates of the prices the end of the seven are more likely to be purchased then Products that have a price and in a zero or a nine.
Risk reversal. This sales tactic is used to limit risk for the buyer. Offering a product guarantee or even the price you paid plus money back is again away to minimize risk. While this is an attractive offer to a prospect, if indeed the marketer will honor the guarantee, if the marketer makes it difficult for you to obtain your money back, add stipulations on a refund offer within the fine print ( e.g. you have to complete every single task in the information product or you can’t get your money back), or if the marketer simply understands that some people will buy the information product knowing that a certain percentage of paying customers will be too lazy, not have the time, or will simply for get to ask for their money back. In all of these cases it’s advantageous for the marketer to offer some sort of risk reversal.

You Have to Invest in Marketing to Survive

We at E-rehab are first believers that the best care provided to patients occurs in a small private practice. So, it’s important that you invest money (i.e. put in a dollar and make more than a dollar back) in your marketing. E-rehab provides the best value, incredible customer service, and a suite of tools and marketing support to help any small practice. Make sure you invest to survive.

We Marketers Have an Obligation to Provide High Quality Services

Everyone in the PT industry has an obligation to provide great service to not only patients, but those that support PT clinic owners as well. Vendors should also feel an obligation to provide great information, products, and services to the physical therapy clinic owners that are for them as well.

For those vendors that don’t, I hope the information above helps practice owners tease them out.

Looking for an Honest & Ethical Marketing Company? Give Us a Call at (800) 468-5161 or Click Here to Schedule Some Time with David Straight

*Some of the information presented above is based on Mike Winnet’s Contrepreneur Formula https://youtu.be/vC5cmW8O3L8

12 Versatile Marketing Approaches To Consider When You Need To Do Something Different

The world has changed over the last several months, and businesses of all kinds are trying to figure out marketing strategies that will work going forward.

There are lots of options and while we will outline several below, there are some that are higher priorities than others. To find out what’s best for you, we recommend you…

click here to schedule some time with us.

Read on to learn about 12 versatile marketing approaches and which of them will work best for your practice.

#1 Cause Marketing

What values or beliefs are the heart behind your business? When you know what your business cares most about, you can use cause marketing to get your patients to kill two birds with one stone by purchasing your treatment or service. For example, for every new patient, your business will plant a tree. Not an environmentalist? That’s okay. For every new patient that comes in, donate to a local shelter or soup kitchen. No matter what cause you choose to support, this type of marketing goes far beyond brand awareness and reveals the heart of who you are as a practice.

#2 Close Range Marketing (CRM)

CRM allows you to send messages about your treatments or services to patients who are within close range to your business. When they’re passing by, why not take advantage of this quick and easy method to get them in the door?

#3 Relationship Marketing

Want to ditch all the cheesy sales tactics? Your patients base will likely thank you for it. Instead, opt for relationship marketing. Simply focus your attention on making connections with your patients — whether that’s through face-to-face relationship-building, through social media, or through email. Instead of focusing on how to get the sale, focus on the person behind it. You’ll be surprised how easily this method translates into patients’ loyalty (and even more sales) down the road.

#4 Transactional Marketing

On the other hand, maybe you’re finding that relationship marketing just isn’t enough cutting it. Transactional marketing could be the better option, as it focuses on maximizing individual sales transactions through coupons, discounts, and sales.

#5 Word-Of-Mouth Marketing

Everyone knows that word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool. But how can you maximize it for the benefit of your practice? Put simply, when you wow your patients at every turn, you won’t have to ask them to share your practice with their friends and families. This means curating a stellar patient’s experience from start to finish. When you’ve got that down, word-of-mouth marketing is a natural result.

#6 Call to Action (CTA) Marketing

With so much dependence on technology these days, you can’t afford to neglect the web when it comes to your marketing strategy. CTA marketing is a method of getting your online visitors to engage with your brand through your ad or landing page design. Whether it’s to “click here for more information” or to “submit an email address in order to access a promo code,” your CTAs lead your web traffic to where you want them to go.

#7 Email Marketing

Speaking of technology, email marketing is a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to reach many patients with just a few keystrokes. Through this avenue, you can offer discounts, convey new treatment or service info, announce upcoming events or treatment launches, or solicit sales.

#8 Event Marketing

Join or create your own event in order to create some buzz and invite potential patients to engage with your brand. Invite other businesses that complement what you’re trying to achieve, set out brochures and business cards, engage your patients face-to-face, and hype it up on social media. This is a trustworthy method to increase brand awareness and turn on-the-fencers into patients

#9 Inbound Marketing

If your business takes incoming calls for any reason, use this opportunity to sell your treatments or services. Of course, you’ll need to have a plan for meeting your patients’ needs so that you’re not trying to sell to the wrong audience. However, a little bit of script planning for diverse target audiences can make your inbound call marketing successful.

#10 Freebie Marketing

Everyone loves FREE. With freebie marketing, you simply promote free treatment or service giveaways to create a buzz around your business. Once your patients have experienced your treatment or service and come back for more, you can then sell additional treatments or services to meet their needs and boost your own sales.

#11 Content Marketing

Over the past couple of years, content marketing has become somewhat of a must-have for those wishing to boost online brand awareness. This method involved writing and publishing content (such as podcast articles, blog articles, expert interviews, or how-to exercises) to educate potential patients about your services. Of course, they don’t lead directly to a sale in most cases, but they do meet a real need for your audience.

#12 Social Media Marketing

People want to be social on social media. And it says a lot about your business and how much you care for your patients when you reply to your followers’ comments, concerns, or questions. Create that online relationship to boost patients’ loyalty.

And That’s Not All…

Of course, there are countless methods for marketing your business, and as technology changes, we can expect even more. However, the right combination of the methods covered above can take your marketing strategy to the next level. It may be time to shake things up and try something new!

6 Reasons To Include Physical Therapy Content Marketing In Your Strategy

You’ve heard it before: “Content is king.” And while other new marketing techniques may have your attention, content marketing is still a big player when it comes to bringing in patients and establishing credibility in your industry. Below, we’re going to talk about 6 reasons to include content marketing in your strategy. Let’s get straight to it.

#1 Build Trust and Credibility

Content such as how-to blog articles, podcasts, case studies, or interviews allows you to show off your expertise in your niche and help your potential patients at the same time. Content marketing will not only build your credibility as an expert, but it will also help you build trust with your audience which is essential for brand loyalty.

Make a list of the problems or pain points that your target audience experiences and develop content that helps them find solutions. And don’t use your content to sell, sell, sell. The purpose of content marketing is to help patients and establish your brand, which will lead to organic sales eventually anyway.

#2 Build Practice Awareness

Do people know about your products or services? Do you have a reputation in your niche? If not, content marketing can help you change that. When people land on your website to get answers or find solutions, you increase brand awareness organically. Use your content to showcase your expertise, as we said above, and to increase traffic to your website. It’s a win-win.

#3 Get More Leads, Keep More Patients

It’s all about generating leads, right? And content marketing allows you to reach a pool of patients who might have otherwise not engaged with your brand. When you provide relevant, timely, and helpful content, you draw in new leads. Plain and simple.

Content also keeps patients coming back for more. People are more likely to return to a resource that has helped them in the past. Once they begin to depend on you to provide relevant content as an expert in your field, your patients will think of you when they have a need related to your niche.

#4 Rank Higher in Searches

Your content affords you the opportunity to weave in keywords that will help you rank higher in Google search. The more you post relevant content, the higher your authority, and that means more traffic to your website. We all know that no one (well, almost no one) ventures past the first page of search results, so the higher and longer you rank, the better!

Also, if you post quality content, other businesses will want to link to your website, which further expands your audience. Plus, these “backlinks” are great for your site’s SEO. Want to rank higher? Backlinks are a significant part of getting you there.

#5 Attract Your Target Patients

Yes, the purpose of content marketing is to attract leads, but you don’t want unqualified leads that will never result in a sale. Instead, you want to attract your target patients, your ideal buyer, so that you don’t waste time with the uninterested. So, how does content marketing bring in ideal patients? Put simply, only those who are interested in your industry will search out your content. And only those who search out your content will click your CTAs and end up perusing your landing page and viewing your products or services. This means that quality leads will be considering purchasing from you.

#6 Get People Marketing FOR You

When your content is valuable, relevant, and solves a problem, you can expect people to want to share it to benefit others in their social circles. And when that happens, there’s almost no limit to how many people can stumble upon your content in their feeds. Just make sure that, when you create content, you do so with purpose. People won’t share content that didn’t help them in any way.

Time to Create More Content

There’s no time like the present to start creating and posting quality content as a part of your marketing strategy. Add content marketing to your strategy, and welcome those organic leads!

For more information about content marketing and how we can help, simply schedule an appointment with us by clicking here.

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