What’s a Physical Therapy Marketing Funnel?

Visualizing How Patients Choose Your Practice Online Can Help You Improve the Process

In marketing, we talk about funnels to describe the process of identifying patients and getting them to know, like, trust, try, buy, repeat and refer.

This infographic is an online marketing funnel for physical therapy practices.

Physical Therapy Marketing Funnel
Physical Therapy Marketing Funnel

Note: at the bottom, in the red circles, are some Internet technologies that you should leverage in your physical therapy marketing efforts.

  • A mobile website for those looking at your brand on their smartphones is a must.  Thirty-five percent, on average, are looking you up on their smartphones.
  • Email newsletters be used to welcome patients, thank them and to build a long-term relationship with the practice.  It’s fast and easy.
  • Your reputation everything.  Make sure you have a great reputation online for those that are comparison shopping or confirming a physician is a good one.
  • Video should be used to build engagement, trust, and to make sure you tell viewers exactly what you want to them to hear.

Providing Value in Your Physical Therapy Marketing

A Value Proposition to Offer Your Primary Care Physician Referral Sources

There are a number of studies that demonstrate the value that physical therapists offer.  Here’s an infographic/newspaper ad I put together for a local practice.

physical therapy marketing infographic

Reminder: when you do create some physical therapy marketing collateral, make sure you have a call to action as well…your phone number at the bottom of the ad should do it.

References:

Gellhorn AC, Chan L, Martin B, Friedly J. Management patterns in acute low back pain: the role of physical therapy. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2012;37(9):775–782 [PMC free article] [PubMed]

Fritz JM, Childs JD, Wainner RS, Flynn TW. Primary care referral of patients with low back pain to physical therapy: impact on future health care utilization and costs. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2012;37(25):2114–2121 [PubMed]

 

Why an Email Physical Therapy Newsletter Should be a Priority

physical therapy newsletters

Physical Therapy Newsletters are a No-Brainer

As the owner of a private physical therapy practice, there are numerous ways to increase your patient volume. One of the affordable ways to stay in touch with patients is with an physical therapy newsletter.

Online marketing is a must for anyone who owns a practice. After developing personal relationships with referring physicians, the internet is the second most productive way to get your clinic recognized.

One way to accomplish this with physical therapy newsletters delivered via email. Email marketing is effective for a number of different reasons. Email marketing:

  • Allows you to reach many people at once
  • Gives you an unlimited number of contacts
  • Is more affordable than regular mail
  • Is easy to update

These facts are very important for small practices like yours. Let’s talk about the first point. Email marketing allows you to reach a number of people at once.

Allows You to Reach Many Patients at Once

Let’s be clear here. When we say “A number of patients,” we don’t just mean ten or twenty. It can literally be in the thousands. For example, you might have a hundred email addresses to work with and email marketing will instantly help you reach a large percentage of them (note: some will unsubscribe, some email addresses will change and no longer be valid, some email addresses will be input incorrectly into your system, and some patients will give you a bad email address).

It’s not just the fact that you can email many people; the great thing about email marketing is also that you can email many people at once and say the same thing to them at the same time. In other words, you don’t have to rewrite the email over and over.

Compare this to how direct mail used to be done. You don’t have to worry about photocopies and buying stamps, all you have to do is write an effective newsletter and send it through with an email marketing program like Constant Contact, Mailchimp, or iContact.

Email Addresses vs. Snail Mail Addresses

That brings us to the second point. Email lists can be unlimited. Yes, physical addresses of your patients can be unlimited as well, but emails are so much easier to keep up with and organize. You don’t have to worry about losing your address book or having one of your important patients moving and not having their new address.

Keeping your email list organized is also much easier than you think, in fact, most providers keep your contacts organized systematically.

It Is So Affordable, Why Wouldn’t You Do It?

Email marketing is almost free. It really doesn’t get any better than that, does it? When it comes to marketing, very few things can be considered affordable. After all, marketing, when done right, costs a lot of money. When you market physical therapy practice, you have to keep up with your competition.

Not all practices have a big marketing budget, so most clinic owners affordable and effective marketing resources without it breaking the bank.

This is why email marketing is so important for a private practice like yours. Let’s look at the cost of postage for a moment. When you send a letter, you’re paying for the price of the paper, the envelope, the stamp.

Those are just the outside costs. Creating a direct sales letter campaign also means that you’re paying for your time or the time of a staff member. Writing one effective sales letter can take anywhere from an hour to a few days. Copying that letter hundreds of times will take even longer. Clearly, this can be a time-consuming task.

Emailing your clients takes away all of that extra time and money you would have spent on sending those newsletters through the mail.

It’s Easy to Update

One of the most difficult parts of regular mailings is keeping all of your information updated, as any major change or update will require a new mailing. That notification takes you back to square one of your mailings. Why would you want to go through all the trouble of having to mail out numerous newsletters when you could just email all those updates for free and instantly? For example, let’s say you moved your practice location to a new address. You can easily see the advantage of using email marketing to communicate this to your past patients.

One of the best things about having an email list for your online market is that not only can you write to your patients and keep them up-to-date on any important developments at your practice, but you can also email newsletters with wellness advice and helpful tips on how to avoid injuries.

Top Tips to Make the Most Out Of Email Marketing

  • Make your email subject line captivating to increase open rates. The first thing your subscribers will see other than who the email came from is the email subject line. Don’t use all caps, which can look like you’re shouting, but instead utilize certain techniques such as the power of specifics.
  • Another great way to increase open rates is to ask a question. Here’s an example: “Did you receive your our wellness report?” Subscribers will most likely open it out of curiosity and to make sure that they didn’t miss out on anything.
  • Be consistent with your broadcast emails. The last thing you want is for your subscribers to forget about who you are and why they subscribed to your list. It’s a good habit to email on a consistent basis. Subscribers want to know when to expect to hear from you.
  • Use email as a way to drive traffic to your website. For example, you could write a really long email about a special event, grand opening, new program, community presentation, etc.; or, you could simply tell your subscriber to click on the link to view the message on your physical therapy website.
  • The idea is to get your subscribers to visit your website, and you could include rich media like a video, interactive blog post or a page with more information on your practice, so that they can interact with in your content. With email, your subscriber would only be able to reply to you via email.
Using an Autoresponder Service to Build Your Email List
[info_box]One of the easiest and most convenient ways to build and maintain a list (called a database) of your subscribers is to use an email autoresponder service.

One powerful feature of using an autoresponder service is that you can schedule messages to broadcast on specific days after someone subscribes to your list. This makes an effective sales tool to welcome patients to the practice, thank them and follow up with them by simply entering their email address into the autoresponder service one time.[/info_box]

How Often Should You Contact Subscribers?

When it comes to contacting your subscribers, how often should you contact them? On the one hand, you don’t want to be in their face every week. After all, physical therapy is a service no one wants, they only need it when they need it. On the other, your message to be so infrequent that they forget about you.

So what’s the frequency that works best?

The simple answer is: when we asked a small focus group, most recommended that PT practices contact them via email once per month.

What’s important to take note of is that you need to set your subscribers expectations from the start when they are opting in to your newsletter. Tell the subscriber exactly what they can expect from subscribing to your newsletter.

Do you need assistance?

As you can see, a physical therapy email newsletter is a great way to reach patients and remind them that you are the best choice and should be the first choice for the treatment of movement disorders.

Most big-box corporations (Select, ATI, Benchmark) do it and even as a small private practice, you should be collecting your patients’ email addresses and be ready to send mail to them too.

A carefully planned email campaign can:
1.  Remind patients you are still there for them
2.  Sell additional services to existing customers
3.  Promote brand awareness
4.  Convey important health and wellness information

[titled_box title=”Give Us a Call at (760) 585-9097″ bgColor=”#000000″ textColor=”#000000″]We have designed, built and delivered many successful physical therapy newsletter campaigns for 12 years now, and we can help you create an affordable email marketing campaign for your practice too. Please don’t hesitate to contact for more details.[/titled_box]

Why Every Private Practice Should Use Google My Business

Google-My-Business-for-Physical-Therapists

Google has made life much easier for physical therapy practice owners with the launch of its exciting new tool, Google My Business. It combines:

  • Google Places,
  • Google Maps,
  • Google Analytics & Insights
  • Google+

They are all under one easy-to-use dashboard and now, managing multiple Google accounts has never been simpler and the marketing advantages are endless.

What’s more, it’s free with no hidden costs. Here’s a quick summary of some of the services included in Google My Business:

Google+ (Google Plus):

Google Plus Page for Physical Therapy Marketing
Here’s a Google + Page that’s great for your physical therapy online marketing

G+ (Google Plus or Google+) This is Google’s answer to Facebook. It’s a social networking platform that allows you to share messages, photos, videos and links to your followers, directly from the My Business page.

Reviews: Google is the number 1 business review platform online. Google My Business has an entire review platform that gives practices a place to manage ratings and reviews in one location.

Google Analytics: You can very quickly and easily see all of your websites stats right on your business dashboard.

Insights: Insights gives you vital information on your visibility, engagement and trends in the market.

Maps: Manage your businesses location and information available on Google Maps.

YouTube & Hangouts: Video chats with key members of your physical therapy practice (think expert interview, patient testimonials, doctor interviews, etc.).

As mentioned earlier, this is all a free service. If you currently use Google Places for business or Google+ Pages to manage your online presence, you will already have been upgraded.

Not only that, but they are fine-tuning the My Business platform for mobile use too, and it is available in both iOS and Android.

6.5 Ways That You Can Take Advantage of Google My Business
Right Now and Quickly Overtake Your Competition

1. Be easily found on Google
Brand awareness is vital for any practice. How can you gain patients if people don’t know who you are or what types of services you offer? As a small private practice, you know how hard it can be to get high rankings on Google, especially if you’re in a big market with corporate and hospital brands.

So in order to create better brand awareness your first step would be to create an effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to make your site more searchable on Google. Research has proven (and you probably know from your own personal experience) that 75% of Google users never scroll past the first page. This highlights how without good Google rankings, you are simply missing new patients.

This is where Google My Business comes into play. When you create a My Business account, fill out all of the information Google requests, as it will increase the odds that your practice will show up on a Google Search, Maps and Google+.

You’ll need precise information about your location, your office hours, contact information, website address, email and fax numbers, and at least 10 pictures of your practice.

IMPORTANT: Make sure that the information you put on Google is the exact information NAP (business Name, Address, Phone number) that you have on your website and any other places where your practice is listed online. Consistency is very important in SEO and it can affect your search engine rankings if there are any inconsistencies.

The more information you add, the more Google’s search algorithms will work to help your search ranking.

Together, all of these features will give your patients an inside look at your practice. As a result, when potential patients are comparison shopping or simply doing a broad search for “physical therapy and a location”, they will be more likely to find your Google My Business listing and visit your website.

2. Connect with existing and potential patients
Not only can you manage your practice listing (AKA Google online phonebook listing), you can also manage your Google+ page from your My Business dashboard. It has taken a while for people to get used to the Google+ social network, and most people still prefer and use Facebook and other social media sites, but bear in mind that your Google+ business page increases the trust in your practice name and gives you significant boost to with respect to your Google Local SEO listings.

Google is always trying to provide its users with the best, most relevant experience. As such Google takes note of those who comment, shares or +1 your G+ page posts, captures this information, and identifies your audiences identity, activity and interests. From there, they can even deliver your Google+ page content to your followers in the organic search results. It’s truly amazing how Google provides users such a customized experience.

The other advantage of using Google+ is this; while other social media sites place a “no follow” tag on any link you post, Google+ doesn’t. So if you posted a link on Facebook for example, any links that you put in your posts (to your website in attempts to improve search engine optimization) will not influence your practice’s Google search results. Google, on the other hand, treats them G+ posts as web pages, which then helps increase your sites visibility and page rank.

But even without the SEO benefits, Google+ is also a terrific way to engage with past patients and build a long term relationship with them, which will increase the trust in your company.

Just as on any other social network, if you expect any kind of results on Google+, you need to be consistent and post regularly. If you have a practice blog, post the links on your page and ask your audience to read and share them. Post fun pictures of you and your employees so that your followers can get to know you better and have a clearer picture of who you are. It will encourage brand loyalty.

It is worth reminding you that any content you share should be relevant and interesting to your audience. You don’t want to keep posting promotional offers like Free Screenings or Discount Massages. The point of Google+ is not to push your physical therapy services on people, but to create a close-knit community, which will inspire trust and loyalty in your practice.

3. Hang out with your clinicians
If you are not already familiar with it, Google Hangouts are another great way to demonstrate your clinical expertise. You can hang out with up to 15 people at a time.

It’s the perfect way to build an online video marketing strategy for free. Use it to answer questions, share information about your new services or even give online demos of treatment.

4. Check the Performance of your activity
It’s helpful to post on Google+ and host Hangouts with your patients, but it could all be a waste of time and effort if they are not producing the desired results.

This is where the Insights tool comes in for your Google+ page and Analytics for your presence across all Google platforms. Both of these tools make it very easy for you to see how many views you’re getting, and you can even see how many people are reading your specific Google+ posts. It even gives you information on how many people have checked out your practice on Google Map searches.

5. Encourage and Respond to Patients’ Reviews
Whether you love them or you hate them, some patients want to leave a review about your practice. It’s part of online culture and people will either want to rave or complain about any experiences that they’ve had.

Side Note: the most common “bad reviews” are about patient billing and payment. It’s worth knowing this and making a little extra effort to make sure patients understand your physical therapy billing practices and policies.

Since online reviews are the second most trusted form of advertising, it’s worthwhile to make it easy for patients to post ratings (0-5 stars) and reviews (text comments about your practice). Chances are positive reviews will generate more business for you too, as many patients decide to make decisions based solely on what their peers have to say about your practice. Google My Business makes it easy by allowing you to claim your practice listing so that patients can add their rating and review by simply by Googling your name and clicking on the blue Google+ page link under your business listing.

The dashboard even makes it easy for you to promote the reviews on your Google+ page and monitor reviews on other platforms like Yelp. This will help you to easily respond to positive reviews, while professionally and politely dealing with any negative reviews. You will have a great pulse on the online reputation of your practice…certainly an asset for any physical therapy practice these days.

6. Create an AdWords Express Account
It probably won’t surprise you that at the bottom of the My Business dashboard, there is a button that will bring you to an AdWords account. After all, advertising is where Google makes 95%+ of its money.

The “express version” if AdWords, in my experience is very easy to use for private practice owners, but your ads will often show up for keywords that aren’t related to your business. This will result in unnecessary clicks and expense. Nevertheless, it still super easy to quickly create ad campaigns. It’s very similar to the right-side and inline Facebook ads, where you simply write your ad and set your budget and then Google AdWords will do the rest the work.

6.5 Stay Informed on Your Mobile Device
Just as 30-40% of your patients are likely to visit your physical therapy practice website while browsing on their smartphones, Google My Business will allow you to do manage My Business with either both iOS and Android apps. The mobile streamlined dashboard makes it easy for you to simply swipe through all of your tools and data, allowing you change dates, manage ads and modify your online presence from wherever you are.

Claim Your Page Today

With Google My Business, you will find all of the best Google tools are right in front of you by simply by logging into your dashboard. It makes management of your online presence easy.

[info_box]As you can see, Google My Business is a robust practice brand management platform; but, as with all aspects of online marketing, your web performance is only as good as you can make it. It’s very important that you include as much relevant information about your practice as you can. If it’s done right, it really can make a difference between your online success or failure.[/info_box]

If you are in any doubt or would like more helpful tips and advice on how to make the most from this great tool, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.

Using Twitter to Promote Wellness Services – a How To

Twitter to Promote Wellness Services

Jack Dorsey sent the very first Twitter message at 9:50 pm on March 21st of 2006. Ever since, Twitter has become a vital means of communication for many and has grown into the one of the most popular social networks online.

Twitter is such a hit because it’s so easy to use. Unlike other social networks, you don’t need to set up detailed profiles or author 500-word posts on your profile. You simply Tweet up to 140-characters, which then leaves you plenty of time to focus on your practice while still taking advantage of the massive potential on Twitter.

Growing your tribe of followers on Twitter is also a snap.

Twitter to Promote Wellness Services

In this post we will show you how to set up an effective marketing campaign on Twitter that will significantly maximize your exposure and bring new wellness business to your practice.

It Starts with Your Twitter Account

Your profile is the place where potential followers go to learn about you and what you have to offer. It’s just a simple one-page outline that includes a short bio and your website address, so potential customers will know where to go if they want more information about your practice.

Set up your page so that those visiting it will be motivated to follow you. It’s vital that you make it work for you. You can do that by including a direct link to a specific page on your website that includes and offer or valuable content. Don’t make the mistake of trying to push your services or products immediately from this page. The most effective campaigns begin with establishing in the community as a leader in the delivery of a particular wellness service, and you do that by offering valuable incentives. This allows you to be able to keep in touch with them and build a relationship with them so that they will come to you services in the future.

Make sure that your brand comes across on the Twitter profile page. Be authentic and friendly and offer something valuable based on your niche service. A picture of your face is also recommended as it helps establish trust with your followers.

Important – Twitter is the Top of the Funnel, Not the Bottom

Many businesses seem to forget that Twitter is a social network and most users Twitter users follow others to learn about their expertise and passions. They generally don’t sign up for Twitter and follow you for special offers, so be smart and build your Twitter relationship first.

One way to do this is to create a newsletter focused around your wellness specialty. Then set up a simple landing page that offers the newsletter or a report. For example, “Five Different Kinds of Massage – Which is Best for You?”

Your subscribers will then receive instant access to your report once they confirm their email address.

The next step is to build relationships with your subscribers, and you do this by following up with additional free content and resources. Resist emailing them promotional-based offers until you’ve established a rapport with your readers and connected with your audience. People need to trust you and see that you offer professional, relevant information that they are interested in. Building trust and proving that you can deliver quality information takes time, but if you can deliver results before recommending your services, it will only make your recommendation far more effective when you eventually do promote something.

To get the most potential, make sure that you include a direct link to your squeeze page right on your Twitter profile account and then once you’ve established a following, you can start posting updates on your website so that you can begin directing traffic there.

Growing Your Follower Base

It may seem strange to create a squeeze page and blog first and then going looking to find followers on Twitter but it actually makes good business sense. It is far easier to establish a following within Twitter when you have something to offer.

Not only that, but if you are just starting out on Twitter and people see that you don’t have many followers, they might be hesitant about following you themselves. But if you have established a website, blog or squeeze page and you have somewhere to direct your followers, it makes it a whole lot easier to achieve the success you are looking for on Twitter.

Don’t Be Shy, Tweet Often

When it comes to tweeting, don’t waste time worrying whether your tweet is pithy or interesting enough.. Once you have become an active member of the Twittersphere, you will find it much easier open up and provide your followers with creative Tweets and you will also be able to respond to ongoing discussions from those who you follow and who follow you.

So, in the beginning, post what’s on your mind. Think of it as joining a conversation at a party. If you worked with an interesting customer, tweet about it. If you had a success, tweet about it. If you found an interesting blog post about something pertaining to your wellness services, tweet about it. If something made you smile or angry today, tell them about it. Consistency is the key and posting often enough so that you become comfortable how to use Twitter is very important.

Once you’ve posted your first Tweet, it’s time to start following people on Twitter so that you can build up your Twitter presence and encourage people to follow you in return.

Just as you would in your offline business, you need to develop a reputation on Twitter as someone who is interested in helping others, while developing your own Twitter presence.

Finding People on Twitter

The great thing about Twitter is how easy it is to quickly locate other people who are involved in your target market or industry. You will be able to find people who share an interest in nearly every topic and subject online, no matter what niche you’re in.

Twitter is all about building connections and relationships, and Twitter helps you do just that. You will soon be able to engage with your followers and make friends so they’ll be more likely to buy your products or services.

Three Apps That Make It Easier
Twitter is like public texting and texting is done on mobile phones. As such, there are a number of great apps to help you manage your Twitter profile. Here are three we recommend:

That’s it for this post about Twitter marketing for your physical therapy cash-based services. We hope this information gave you some foundational information on how to use the giant social network…Twitter to generate some interest in your wellness services.

5 Crucial Physical Therapy Online Marketing Tactics

online-marketing-for-physical-therapists

Do you get upset and frustrated with the constant changes that take place in the world of online marketing. Are you confused about how to create a complete online physical therapy marketing strategy?

You Don’t Have to Be…

While marketing online can seem overwhelming, with just a little knowledge, patience, and perseverance, some simple physical therapy online marketing tactics should be part of your overall practice marketing strategy.

It’s 2014. You can’t expect to make it as a small physical therapy practice unless you use the Net to grow your new patient baseand maintain a competitive advantage over the big-box clinics. With over 80% of all Americans seeking out health information online, you need to embrace online marketing opportunities.

I get calls almost every day from practice owners asking me how to get found online? Who should they trust? Is it worth the money? They want to know what systems and processes they should put into place to attract website traffic and convert them into patients.

In the offline world, brick and mortar practices need to be found first when people are searching for the practice by name. Think about it. You are a referral-based business. It’s crucial for your practice to survive and even when patients are referred to your clinic, they will first look you up online to make sure you are a credible practitioner.

Once prospective patients arrive at your website, you need to have the right copy and content to make sure they are performing your call to action, which is (not to sign up for a newsletter) to pick up the phone and make an appointment.

As such we’ve put together five essential marketing tactics, that will give your practice’s online presence an edge over the competition.

Some are easy and free and others require some money and expertise.

1. Get Your Physical Therapy Online Brand In Order
First of all, make sure you have a beautiful website that makes a great first impression and reflects the 5 star service you provide. Read through each page, correct spelling errors and grammar problems, make sure links work and everything is up-to-date. For example, check the copyright year at the bottom. Does it say “2010?” If so, it makes you look dated and out of touch with technology.

Is your address and phone number at the top of your home page? There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to find a simple phone number to contact a practice and make an appointment. Make the user experience a fast and easy one. In other words, don’t make your viewers think.

Is your website mobile-optimized? If not, then you are simply disrespecting and making it difficult for 30-40% of your viewers. At E-rehab.com, you can’t buy a desktop website from us anymore. We feel it is important to lead our clients and there’s no better way to do it then with a mobile-optimized website.

2. Claim your Important Online Business Listings
After your website and an email newsletter, the most valuable online marketing tool for your practice is Google. Use Google My Business to set up your G+ page, map listings and more.

It’s a fact. The search engines, like Google, have replaced the yellowbooks in referring patients to practices, and Google My Business is critical tool for making this is happen. Listing your practice with help you gain credibility, generate more traffic, and help you build your online reputation.

3. Reviews – The 21st Century Version of Testimonials
Reviews on sites like Google+, Facebook, YP.com and Yelp are extremely influential. Have you ever read the reviews on Amazon before making a purchase? Of course you have. Your patients are doing the same thing.

If you don’t have any reviews (i.e. no online reputation), start encouraging your patients to review you online. However, don’t just blindly e-mail all employees and their spouses. It’s all about “review velocity”. If you get 20 reviews in one week when you had none the previous week, that looks suspicious, and worst case scenario, you could get your Google account suspended. Getting ratings and reviews is not as hard as you may think and most patients are happy to do it if you just provide them with simple instructions. Make it part of your company culture. Kindly ask your patients to “provide you with a review if they think you have earned it.” A few will, most won’t, but over time you can build quite a reputation online.

Don’t be fearful of negative reviews either. No one can please everyone. We all have a bad day (especially when dealing with insurance companies and documentation as well as treating patients). If you are lacking good reviews, those negative reviews stick out like a sore thumb. So be proactive and start collecting good reviews from your patients. That way, when a bad review comes, and it most certainly will, it will actually give you some credibility (what I mean here is if you have 20 positive reviews and 1 negative review, it mirrors your customer service reality; because, no one can please everyone all of the time).

Also, when you get a bad review it’s critical that your response be swift, professional and polite. Let the person know that you want to make their bad things right: offer them something to give you another chance (but don’t waive copays or refund money – this could get you in trouble). Acting immediately goes a long way in diffusing a bad review. Not doing so will cost you more in the long run and you may sacrifice new business and not even know about it.

4. Build Your Social Networks
There are hundreds of social networks but don’t fret, you don’t have to use all of them. At the very least set up a Facebook and Google+. Later you can experiment with Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

The old saying is that no one buys through social media. Instead, use social networks to stay in touch with your followers. Provide them with interesting and valuable information about your company culture, your profession, something cool that’s going on in the community, or something a strategic partner (massage personal training, physician) is offering.

There is a familiar saying: “People buy into you before they buy from you.” That is especially true on social media. If your social media is current, provides valuable information, videos, articles, and photos, people will engage. If you haven’t posted for 3 months, no one will care anymore about your brand on social media.

5. Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to Attract New Patients
Google, Bing and Yahoo want your practice to be found by patients searching for physical therapy services in your community. If they don’t deliver the search results people expect, users won’t continue to use them. In other words, the search engines want to deliver relevant search results about you and your practice but you need to help.
To ensure that viewer get the information that they are looking for, search engines index (or catalog the words on your website) what a website is all about and how important that website is regarding certain keywords. This is where we get into Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
Being a physical therapy practice owner, your website is going to be all about the physical therapy services you provide, the area you serve and most important, your business name. These keywords should be found in text content on your website, your meta data and blog posts. It’s likely that the search engines therefore will recognize that your website is genuinely dedicated to physical therapy.

The challenge is that there are often many other physical therapy websites competing for viewers on the search engines. Some have deep pockets too.

Another challenge is that you, the practice owner, are going to get almost daily calls from so-called experts wanting to market your practice online. Who can you trust, which services work in the physical therapy market? These are E-rehab.com’s strengths and we encourage you to call us and find out more.

It’s a Volume Game Now

Payment is declining; therefore you have to see more patients to make a profit. By implementing these 5 steps, your online presence for your private practice is very likely to improve.

We realize that many private practice owners feel discouraged…left behind.

[fancy_box]Just pick up the phone and give us a call, toll-free at 800-468-5161 x 1101 for a free consultation. I promise you won’t be sorry.[/fancy_box]

Physical Therapy Social Media Marketing: The Big 3 You Need to Know About

physical therapy social media marketing

Marketing yourself and your services online isn’t just about setting up the right website and an occasional blog post. The internet is huge, and you have to know how to utilize it to get the most effective results for your physical therapy private practice.

Currently, a very effective way to stay in touch with current and past patients to is by taking part in social media. Social media is everywhere. People from all ages and backgrounds use it, including the majority of your patients.

There are a number of social medial platforms that you could be part of, but here are the big 3 that you need to know about for physical therapy social media marketing. These three essential social media platforms are:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

LinkedIn for Physical Therapy Social Media Marketing

 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of the best social networking groups to become involved in if you own a small private physical therapy practice. LinkedIn is like having your little black book of business associates, and their little black book of business associates, all rolled into one neat little package.

LinkedIn allows you to not only tell the world about yourself and your practice but also learn how other PTs like yourself are solving the challenges of the current health care system. It’s quite different than the other less formal social media platforms.

Think of it as a type of résumé that anyone can follow. You give details about yourself in reference to jobs you’ve had, your current endeavors and a short bio and business portfolio for others to see. Then you ‘link’ your peers and partners to your bio.

You can then see your associates’ ‘linked’ business associates and create a
larger business-based social network based on these assets.

You might be wondering what this does for you and your practice? After all, why would you need to have your business résumé online for the world to see?

Let’s look at this from a different standpoint. If you are trying to get your name out there as a successful business person, you will want to have as many people on your side as possible, because the business world is all about the networking.

The larger your portfolio of people, the more networking options you have available to you. Let’s say, for example, you want to expand your business into a cash-based service. For the sake of the scenario, we’re going to suggest you want to expand into sports performance.

In order to make this expansion, you can reach out to other successful PTPP owners that have not only had success but often times, they will share the secret sauce too. More often you will find like-minded PTs that also want to start cash-based practice, some that have failed, some that are struggling and have found solutions too. LinkedIn in is a fantastic way for professional people to come together.

[warning_box]NOTE: buyer beware. Many of the groups out there are simply setting up groups to capture your contact info and sell their services to you. Hang around in enough groups and these people quickly reveal themselves.[/warning_box]

facebook-for-pt-marketing

Facebook

Facebook is more familiar and less formal than LinkedIn.

We tend to think of Facebook as a way of hanging out with your friends, without actually meeting any of them.

As a practice owner, it’s important to know that Facebook is also a very easy and effective way to market your practice culture and stay in touch with select patients that enjoy this social channel. Using this method of social media in a similar way to how you would use a blog is the key to getting yourself out there.

The key to creating a good Facebook page for marketing is not only to make sure your page is up-to-date and accurate, but to keep posting engaging content on your Facebook page. Engaging means content that will motivate the fans of your page to Comment, Like and Share. Take a look at several Facebook pages created by PTs. Without question, photos of your practice culture and involvement in the community get the most engagement.

What’s the point of all this if you already have a blog on your website? Facebook is different than a blog because some people check their Facebook pages constantly throughout the day.

Have you ever watched a teenager play with their phone? These kids are constantly social networking. Not only do they look for cool memes to show off to their friends, but they’re telling their friends what they are doing, what they like, what they don’t like and who they are with. To this point, one often overlooked opportunity is to have your patients review your practice on your Facebook business page. The fact is that Facebook is now the number 2 online review website, passing Yelp a couple months ago.

What exactly does this mean for you as the owner of a private practice? This means that you have to communicate through channels that your patients use. The quickest way to market yourself is to make sure you have a Facebook business page.

There are two things you need for your page. The first is an actual Facebook page for your practice and the second is a profile page for yourself.

Your Facebook profile is the place people are going to start when they’re looking for you, because almost everyone uses Facebook. Not to worry though if you don’t want to personally participate on Facebook. Your Facebook “profile” is simply the account through which you manage your Facebook business “page”.
twitter-icon

Twitter

In addition to Facebook, Twitter is another social media platform you need to take advantage of in order to tell the world about your practice.

Twitter is different from Facebook in two main ways:

• Your message is limited to only 140 characters
• Hashtags are essential

The first way that Twitter differs from Facebook is that there are a limited number of characters you can use to create a Tweet. In other words, this is the perfect place to speak when you don’t have much to say or you can get your message across in a short, pithy way.

Twitter allows you to send people little messages about what’s going on in your life or at your practice. You can’t get into a long description, so it’s an ideal place to drop quick, informative messages to patients and other followers.

Facebook users have higher expectations than a two or three sentence post. Twitter users know you won’t go into those kinds of details. They will expect to see very basic information.

How does that help you and your practice? For one thing, it’s easy to Tweet. Instead of having to come up with long, informative and interesting posts or blogs, all you have to do is write a sentence or two.

While you won’t generate a bunch of new patients on Twitter, like LinkedIn, it’s a great place to find physical therapy thought leaders…and those thought leaders often share great bite-sized pieces of information; moreover, they share links to valuable information that can better help you manage your practice.

Another reason Tweeting is good for you is, much like Facebook, people can follow you on Twitter. Twitter allows you to follow an unlimited amount of people, read quickly what everyone is up to, respond when you want to, and then move on to other things. It’s all done very quickly, too.

One thing that really stands out from the Facebook social network is that Twitter users use ‘hashtags’ in order to find things that they are interested in.

Hashtags are a way of grouping conversations into more organized methods of communication. Let’s say, for example, someone posted a great tweet with a link to an article about physical therapy business and you need to keep the ball rolling, so to speak, and make sure your Twitter followers are aware of the link to this article. Putting a hashtag (#) in front of the tweet (e.g. #bizpt) will keep the Twitter conversation about this article organized.

Twitter hashtags are also a great way of keeping up to date on the latest Twitter trends. Hashtags are a means of tracking what’s popular. For some businesses trying to market their goods or services, hastags can be very important to know what people are looking for, and a very easy method of tracking those markets.

While at first the concept of hashtags may be confusing to some people, it does get easier. In fact, most television programs now use hashtags frequently, so fans of the show can follow the conversations about the program in real time while they are watching it.

The one thing to remember when creating a hashtag is to make sure your it’s relevant to your conversation or to ensure that people understand the hashtag you’re trying to create, and don’t confuse your followers by using too many hashtags in one post.

If you hashtag your practice, do so in a sentence. Simply put the # symbols before your company name or a keyword that represents the theme of your tweet and a hashtag is automatically generated for you.

The fact is that so few Tweet about their physical therapy problems that in most cases, there’s no way to consistently drive new patient business from Twitter at this time. Nevertheless, Twitter is an excellent place to share ideas and learn from the collective intelligence of this social network.

[info_box]Take home message: while social media marketing can be a time sink, there is value in building your PT private practice’s social presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.[/info_box]

Help is at hand to show you how to run a successful social media campaign

We can show you how to optimize your social media channels for maximum practice exposure. We can show you how to plan your time and, crucially, how to monitor and measure the results of your campaign, or we can even run the whole campaign for you.

We will help you select the right tools, walk you through the rules and etiquette of social media to ensure maximum visibility, set targets, decide what metrics to measure and help you calculate your Return on Investment (ROI).

We can advise and guide you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blog, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ or YouTube campaigns.

Give us a call at E-Rehab and let’s talk about how we can help you. We look forward to hearing from you.

10 Observations About PT Promotion from My Travels

PT Promotion Online

I just returned home from 3 consecutive weekends of travel to different areas of the United States.  The topic I spoke on was PT promotion in today’s online marketplace.  It’s always nice to get out and meet with my colleagues…those on the front line.  I wanted to share some of my observations:

1. Physical therapists seem so concerned about payment and things that they can’t control.

2. There was some negative conversation about online marketing services, a few that start with a “Y”, that didn’t work for anyone that tried them.

3. Even though there was a strong desire to have patients directly access physical therapists, some of the PTs I spoke to clearly couldn’t articulate their value.  In other words, they didn’t have an “elevator speech” that was top-of-mind.

4. There were plenty of practice owners that were doing quite well and were happy so share with others about their success.

5. Clearly, physical therapy is still a vastly underutilized health care profession and service.

6. When it comes to online marketing and consumer perceptions and behaviors, PTs still have a lot to learn.

7. PTs still don’t understand how consumers digitally interact with their practice and the opportunities these interactions present.

8. One of my pet peeves reared is ugly head.  More than once PTs referenced, in my opinion, an incorrect comparison about consumers and their willingness to pay for “personal trainers” but not pay their copay.  Which leads to my next point…value.

9. Almost every presentation at WebPT’s Ascend event or one of the others made mention of “value”.  PTs being able to communicate their value.  The value of PT before drugs, imaging and surgery.  The value of marketing to patients, the public, and our referral sources.

10. When it comes to marketing…there’s lots of confusion.

In summary, with PTs wanting to have consumers directly access their services, we are seeing an groundswell of ideas, successes, marketing opportunities, and supporting services emerge in the market.

Considering consumer behavior, there are many opportunities but they have to match the market’s needs:

  • 8 of 10 patients are going online these days for healthcare information.
  • There are an estimated 150 million smart phones in use in the  US
  • Social media is part of consumers’ daily life
  • Ratings and reviews are the second most trusted form of advertising.

The future of PT is changing but there are a number of opportunities to reach consumers and convey value.  It will be interesting.

How NOT to Capture Physical Therapy Reviews

Don’t try to gain an unfair advantage over their competition by paying for reviews…it could cost you.

physical-therapy-reviews
Facebook post suggesting that reviewers of the practice could WIN!

 

Physical Therapy Review Incentive
Don’t pay for reviews – it could come back to bite you.

I was browsing the net and ran across a Facebook page that offered to incentivize its fans if they were willing to post a physical therapy reviews on Yelp for one or more of their locations.

There are a number of reasons why physical therapy practice owners don’t want to do this.

1. It’s illegal in some states (New York for one). https://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/09/yelp-and-ny-ag-go-after-fake-review-industry.html

2. It’s against Yelp’s terms and conditions. https://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/12/paid-reviews-dont-have-a-place-on-yelp.html

3. It’s unethical

4. See bullet point number one again.

If I Had a Dollar for Every Yelp Complaint

I’ve had dozens of clients call me and complain about Yelp filtering good reviews, removing good reviews, not removing bad reviews that are against their own terms and conditions, their sales people calling and if the practice doesn’t advertise, reviews are removed, etc.  Yelp is an imperfect and for-profit company.

Shift Your Focus to Google…and Do It Right

I do recommend you shift your focus to Google.  While Yelp is popular for reviews, Google get a lot more people using it to look for your PT practice.  You will stick out like a sore thumb if you have 6+  Gold Star (or green star reviews) Google reviews and your competition has none.

I also understand the market is competitive and there is nothing wrong with competing for business.  However, when it comes to misleading people by providing fake or paid Yelp reviews, there’s no place for this.  Take the time to learn Yelp’s Terms and Conditions and to earn them the “good old fashioned way”, by providing great care and asking properly.

Take the high road.  Don’t buy reviews.  It’s the right way to publicize your physical therapy practice.

 

Google Makes a Big Change in Local Search Marketing Stars

In working with clients to get them listed on page one of Google since 2003, we’ve seen a lot of changes.

Most of those are barely noticeable by the layperson that uses Google once or twice per day or less.

However, in a recent update, Google has made a change to local search results that most everyone will notice…Green Stars.

Why the green ratings stars instead of gold?  We can only speculate.  Perhaps it is to draw less attention to organic local business listings in hopes that users are more likely to click on ads.

Maybe it is to differentiate itself from Google.

Whatever the reason may be, I am sure Google will have a public explanation soon.

We First Noticed the Color Change Last Week on Aug 24th.

Screenshot_24


Google Green Stars Much More Prevalent on Sept 4th

We now are seeing the stars in all the search results that involve the phrase physical therapy and a city (i.e. local searches).

Screenshot_30


What Does This Mean for Small Private Practices – Not Sure

We will find out soon but our guess is that if the local listings are less attractive and more Google users click on ads, it will give some minute advantage to bigger practices (e.g. POPTS and corporates) that are using Google AdWords.

Whatever the outcome, getting your physical therapy practice listed in the A-G Google Local Business Listings (AKA the 3 Pack or 7 Pack) is still a great objective, less expensive than Google AdWords and your listing will stand out compared to your competition if you have the new “Google Green Stars”.

Personally, I don’t care for them but that’s just my opinion.  What do you think?

Stay Up With the Times and Modernize Your Practice With a Strong Web Presence

important web presence

Don’t Deny the Changing Tides of Business

Some business owners, especially those with a bricks and mortar business, might like to pretend the Internet isn’t happening. This can be particularly true for private physical therapy practices that have been around for a while and have never needed to make any real drastic changes to adapt with the times. They think if they ignore what’s happening around them and put their heads in the proverbial sand, it will all go away.

Sorry, but for those of you stuck in denial and the past, it’s time to take your heads out of the sand and face reality. The Internet isn’t going anywhere. It’s here to stay. It’s like a juggernaut that’s thundering along, gaining more and more momentum, and all your potential patients are moving with it.

Get Mobile-friendly Now

Right now, just having a website is not enough. It is vital that your practice has strong web presence with a mobile-friendly version.
[note_box] Your patients are not going to wait until you have one created. If they can’t see your site properly (if at all) on their smart phones, they will likely take their business somewhere else…your competition.[/note_box]

This is not scaremongering. The statistics all around are warning us what is happening right now: 49% of mobile subscribers in the United States own a smart phone, and they are eager to find information about your practice and possibly come to you with their business.
These numbers are growing: 9 out 10 phones now sold today are smart phones. In the first quarter of 2012 alone, almost 145 million smart phones were sold. By the end of 2012, it was estimated that more smart phones would be sold than PCs, with estimated sales of 657 million smart phones sold to consumers. As an experiment, ask your friends and family what kind of phone they have. If they don’t have a smart phone at the moment, no doubt they will tell you that they will be getting one soon.

A Vital Component of Everyday Life for Some

Smart phones are an important part of your patients’ lives. Some people may even get addicted to them, constantly using them for Twitter posts, updating their Facebook status and shopping online.

If you provide treatment services that they want, they will expect to be able to see your website on their phone. If your website content is not easy to read on a mobile phone, you are in trouble, because most mobile users will simply leave your site and take their business elsewhere.

So even if you don’t think you need a mobile version of your website, you will actually be doing your practice a lot of harm by ignoring the statistics and your customer’s needs. Every day you don’t have a mobile website you may be losing potential patients interested in your practice who decide to go elsewhere.

Future-proofing Your Practice

Having a mobile website will future-proof your practice by opening the doors to literally hundreds of new and creative ways to drive traffic to your site. For example QR (quick response) codes will allow you to create unlimited marketing campaigns that will drive potential patients to specific mobile friendly landing pages with calls to action that work.

Recent figures show that 50% of Smartphone uses have scanned a QR code and 18% of them made a purchase afterwards as a result. That’s an easy increase in business you wouldn’t have gotten without your mobile marketing platform. The opportunity to improve your practice’s web presence and boost business with something as simple as a QR code should be clear.

Another important point to focus on is you need get your name out there to constantly remind your potential patient-base of who you are and how you’re interested in helping them improve their condition. Using the right tools and resources is vital. Some business owners attempt to draw attention to their business by throwing away good money on large newspaper ads, the Yellow Pages and flyers.

Newspapers and the Yellow Pages are part of a dying business model, and in most cases, it’s a waste of time putting a one-time advertisement in them. Flyers are expensive and only reach a limited demographic.

Mobile marketing is the most effective way of keeping in contact with your current and potential patients that may have forgotten you or not known that you were there.

Consult Us for Additional Expert Guidance

We would advise any private practice considering using mobile marketing to reach potentially millions more customers to contact us at E-Rehab to discuss how you can employ traffic generating marketing strategies and turbo-charge your practice.

Having a mobile-friendly site will not only impress your patients, but will set you well apart from your competition, who still have their heads in the sand and are refusing to acknowledge that times are moving at such a terrific pace.

[colored_box bgColor=”#788794  ” textColor=”#ffffff  “]Keep up with the times and bring your practice up-to-date with a web-based marketing strategy and you’ll notice a change in the way you’re perceived.[/colored_box]

The Top 7 Questions Private Practices Ask About Social Media

physical therapy social media
More and more of the private practices we work with are starting to realize how important social media is for their business and recognize the need to have a presence on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

Some physical therapy practices who are too busy running the day-to-day affairs at their physical location, though, might tend to find social media marketing and the technology surrounding it a bit intimidating.

Social media can seem daunting at first but because many small businesses realize social media is not a fad and it’s here to stay, they generally have some questions that they would like answered before they decide to get involved.

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions. Hopefully a question that you might have asked is included in this list:

1. What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing involves interacting with your customers and other users on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

You do this by sharing information, opinions, knowledge and interests. This process allows you to build online communities or networks, encouraging patients to participate and engage with your practice, which will promote their loyalty to you and your brand name.

2. Why Does My practice Need to Get involved with Social Media?

The way that your customers communicate and use the Internet has changed dramatically. Most people now access the Internet via their smart phones and tablets, where the information is literally there at their fingertips. There are billions of people of all ages now using social media, and they expect your business to be there too.

[note_box]By embracing social media your practice will:

• Increase your online presence
• Raise awareness of your services and treatments offered
• Build loyalty with existing patients
• Build trust with prospective patients
• Increase website traffic through social sharing
[/note_box]

Not only that, but you could also see an increase in your search engine rankings. Likes, shares, tweets and social authority are all taken into consideration in the search engines’ algorithms.

3. HELP! I Don’t Know Where to Start

Marketing on social media sites is not really much different from other marketing campaigns that you may have run. It is a good idea to start with a plan. Write down your goals and objectives you want to achieve with your social media campaign.

With a well-structured plan, you will be able stay focused and not get distracted, which is so easy to do with social media.

4. How Much Time Should I Spend on Social Media Each Day?

It does not have to be particularly time-consuming, especially if you set off with a clear objective about what you want to achieve.

The only time it gets time-consuming is if you allow yourself to get sidetracked by all of the ‘noise’ and activity happening on the site. You can easily have a profitable marketing campaign by spending just 10-20 minutes in the morning and 10-20 minutes in the evening.

5. When Should I Post on Social Media?

The best time is when your target audience is likely to read your posts. In order to determine the best time to post, consider the lifestyle of your target audience. For example, if you want to target people who work, post in the morning when they are most likely be on their way to work and check their messages on the journey. You could then post at lunchtime and again when they are travelling home again after 5pm.

If want to target an audience that is retired or does not work, post mid-morning, mid-afternoon and mid-evening.

With practice and experience, you will soon be able to decide when the best time to post comments for your patients. The secret is to test and to measure the responses and comments that your posts generate (or the lack of them). Over time, you will discover what works best for your practice, industry and patients.

6. Which Social Media Platform Should I Use?

There are a number of popular platforms you could choose from. Facebook is the most obvious choice with well over 1 billion users and more new ones daily.

Facebook is a good choice for businesses as you can target audiences with a variety of advertising options. Not only that, but Facebook is now part of people’s daily routine, and they check their accounts many times a day.

Twitter is another platform that’s part of people’s lives. It’s fast-paced and gives users access to information and news much quicker than traditional news channels.

As tweets are limited to just 140 characters, you need to learn how to get your message across using as few words as possible. It is a reminder of how people’s attention span on social media and the Internet in general is extremely short because there is just so much information out there. People tend to scan information online rather than read huge amounts of it at once.

Three relatively new social media platforms are also becoming incredibly popular.

The first one is Pinterest. Pinterest is a visual platform used to upload and share photos of literally any subject you can think of. It has a huge female following, but is starting to level out as more men are discovering and using it.

Google+ (Google Plus) is starting to flex its muscles now, too. Online giant Google owns it, so naturally it has huge financial backing. Google+ is widely tipped to be the social media channel to challenge Facebook as the king of social networks.

LinkedIn is a business-to-business social media platform, and is a lot more formal and corporate than the other social platforms. It’s an excellent way to connect with peers and network professionally within a specific industry such as physical therapy.

There are many more platforms out there, but these are the ones that are more widely used by businesses.

7. How Much Does Social Media Cost?

If you are a private practice with little or no marketing budget, then the only cost is the time you need to buy out of your busy working day.

If you have a modest budget and would like to increase your practice’s exposure, then you could consider Facebook advertising, which can be affordable and very effective.

We Can Help Get You Started with a Social Media Marketing Strategy

As we said earlier, social media is not a fad and it is here to stay. Your patients are using it on a daily basis. Also, it’s worth mentioning that social media is not just for big brands, either.

You don’t have to be a global conglomerate to get involved with social media. In fact social media platforms give all businesses, no matter what their size, a level playing field. Small private practices like yours can reap terrific benefits from the range of opportunities that social media has to offer too.

The list above is merely meant to present some of the most commonly asked questions, but is not a list of all the possible answers provided.

[colored_box bgColor=”#788794  ” textColor=”#ffffff  “]If your question has not been answered, then please don’t hesitate to contact us at E-Rehab, and we will be happy to share our experience and expertise with you.

We hope that this article has provided you with enough information to see how important social media marketing is and how it can reap great benefits and boost business for your practice.[/colored_box]