5 Physical Therapy Private Practice Marketing SOPs for Online Marketing Success

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, having effective marketing strategies is essential for the success of your practice. To ensure consistency and efficiency in your marketing efforts, it is crucial to implement standardized operating procedures (SOPs).

In this blog post, we will explore the importance of SOPs and delve into five essential SOPs for your physical therapy private practice’s online marketing success.

What is an SOP and Why is it Important?

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are documented guidelines that outline step-by-step instructions for various processes within your practice.

SOPs ensure consistency, streamline operations, and facilitate training for your team members.

By creating SOPs, you establish a framework for successful marketing campaigns, minimize errors, and maximize your practice’s potential.

Now, let’s dive into the five SOPs for your physical therapy private practice’s online marketing success:

1. Building an Email List SOP (E-rehab offers 2 ways to do this):

 

Building an email list is the cornerstone of effective communication and patient engagement. Implementing an SOP for collecting or importing email addresses into a marketing system will allow you accomplish a number of key marketing objectives like:

  • Building a targeted list,
  • Communicate with past patients,
  • Share information about the practice
  • Educate patients about current services, and
  • Stay connected with them in the future.

Ensure your SOP includes clear instructions for logging into secure accounts, processes for collection of email addresses, and segmentation to match the message with where patients are in the buyer’s journey.

E-rehab offers this functionality and it requires no more than 8-seconds per patient.  So, make sure you are using email marketing and have an SOP to implement this strategy.

2. Asking Patients for Ratings and Reviews:

97% of consumers read ratings and reviews and they read your reviews too.  Patient testimonials and reviews are powerful marketing tools that establish trust and authority for your practice.

An SOP for requesting patient ratings and reviews is essential. This SOP should guide your team on how to set expectations that you are going to ask patients for a review, the appropriate timing for requests, provide them with clear instructions on where and how to leave reviews, and how to use technology to connect your patient with a review site like Google or your website.

By incorporating ratings and reviews into your marketing strategy, you can enhance your online reputation, boost search engine optimization (SEO), make your practice look more attractive for potential new hires (after all, who wants to work at a clinic with no reputation), and leverage social media to attract new patients.

3. Establishing Review Goals and Incentives:

One way to ensure success of your reputation marketing program is to have the right SOP to make sure you are capturing reviews over a long period of time.

Here’s what this SOP should include:

  1. First, create monthly, quarterly, and annual ratings & reviews goals.  This crucial for tracking and measuring the success of your practice’s online reputation management.
  2. Aim for at least half of your patients to be able to write a Google review.
  3. To encourage your staff to follow the SOP, incentivize them by offering a $10-$20 bonus for each review they generate.
  4. Celebrate each employee’s success at company meetings to reinforce the importance of reviews and foster a positive culture of engagement and excellence.

4. All of Your Staff Need to Know – Who You Serve, What You Do, How & Why You Do It

You need an SOP for informing and testing everyone in your company about who you serve, how and why you do it, and what your ideal target market is.  From here, you can create messaging – an elevator pitch/one-liner/or talking logo.

Define your unique value proposition, articulate your core values, and what messaging you’ll be using to position your practice in your community and deliver it through your website, social media, and patient communication materials.

Where should you start? Follow Donald Miller’s concept of a Brandscript, as outlined in his book “Building a StoryBrand”, to craft a captivating practice mission.

By effectively sharing your mission, you establish an emotional connection with patients and differentiate your practice in a crowded marketplace.

IMPORTANT: you need to periodically test your staff – ask them to deliver your elevator speech/one-liner/talking logo to you.

5. Monitoring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

To gauge the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts, it is crucial to regularly monitor KPIs and metrics. Schedule monthly meetings with your digital marketing agency to review these metrics and discuss strategies for improvement.

Key metrics to monitor include website traffic, email open rates, the number of appointment requests from digital directories, and the effectiveness of Google and Facebook Ads.

Action Item:
Block out 15 minutes every month to review this data. If you notice anything unusual, find out from your marketing agency (e.g. E-rehab) what might have caused the change.

By analyzing these metrics, you can identify areas for optimization, measure the success of your campaigns, and make data-driven decisions to maximize your marketing ROI.

Wrapping It All Up

Implementing standardized operating procedures (SOPs) for your physical therapy private practice’s online marketing is a fundamental step towards achieving long-term success. By following the five SOPs discussed in this blog post, you can build a targeted email list, establish trust through patient ratings and reviews, set review goals, craft a compelling practice mission, and monitor crucial metrics.

Click the link to book an appointment with David Straight, DPT, and co-owner of E-rehab, who can help you implement these vital SOPs and take your practice to new heights!

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 Tips For Writing a Powerful Social Media Ad

Over the past decade, social media has become quite the marketing force, with businesses of all shapes and sizes expanding their ad game on multiple social platforms. But are all ads created equal? The answer is unequivocally “no.”

Physical therapy ads are targeting a unique audience – those in pain usually with movement disorders.

The Challenge with Social Media Advertising

The big challenge is that most patients don’t search for the help of a healthcare provider on social media.  This is where ads come in.  You put your message in front of a local audience that uses Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.  You’re guaranteed to get your name in front of members of the community.

The only problems are that most of them:

  1. don’t have a problem they think you can help them with,
  2. don’t know if seeing a physical therapist is the right choice,
  3. have to go through several steps before they become a paying patient.

    4. You only have a second or two to engage the social media user, so your ads have got to stand out. While there are challenges as noted above, your ads will not result in any meaningful return on investment if they aren’t compelling, well-written, and have visual creative (pictures or video) that gets Facebook/Instagram/Twitter users to stop scrolling and click on your ad.

    But how? Today, I’m going to provide 10 tips for writing a powerful social media ad.

    #1 Don’t Forget About Your Brand Voice

    You want your current and potential customers to recognize your brand voice everywhere, so consistency is key. If your business’s brand voice is light and carefree everywhere else, then you want to make sure your social media ad copy reflects that too.  Be careful with this brand voice.  Healthcare providers are professionals.  If you are going to keep it fun, always remember to be professional.

    #2 Keep It Simple

    Remember: you’ve only got a second or two before the user will scroll on and forget your ad even existed. That’s why it’s important to keep your social media ad copy simple. If it’s possible, for example, to take your ad from 5 sentences to 1 and maintain the same message, then do it. “Longer,” in the case of social media copy, is probably not better, but you have to test.  Only through testing short and long ad copy will you know what works best.

    #3 Engage Your Audience

    The real purpose of social media is socializing, so your ad copy needs to reflect that. Instead of promoting, promoting, promoting, you’ll want to engage your audience in conversation. Ask them questions, ask for their opinions, or start a discussion about a relevant topic and ask them to weigh in.

    Yes, you can still advertise, but don’t forget to converse with your local market and prospective patients. No matter how you choose to do it, socializing is much more effective in helping you make human connections than just posting ads dry ads.

    #4 Target the Senses

    Enhance your social media ad copy with visuals like intriguing images or videos. Much of your audience will be attracted to what they see and not necessarily what they read, so make sure those images or videos are good!

    Think about your scrolling habits. When you’re perusing Instagram, for instance, does the written copy or the visual image/video catch your eye first? Chances are, you chose the visuals, and chances are, so will your audience.

    #5 Proofread and Edit

    Nothing is more of a turn-off than an ad that contains typos. Even the best writers overlook an error or two, so don’t feel bad about running your ad copy past another set of eyes. Trust me: you don’t want your audience to catch them before your team does. After all, your credibility and professionalism are on the line every time you click the “publish” button.

    And there are extra benefits to passing your work off to another set of eyes. For one, your colleague could notice inconsistencies with brand voice. And second, you could get a different perspective on the tone of your ad. Sometimes when we’re “too close to the project,” we can’t see where changes need to be made.

    #6 Target the FOMO – Fear of Missing Out on Natural Care & Pain Relief

    There needs to be a sense of urgency in your ad copy. If not, then what would stop a potential customer from scrolling past while vowing to themselves to come back later? Adding an element of FOMO, or the Fear of Missing Out, is a critical part of getting potential customers to click and buy in the moment.

    So, how do you create this urgency? Offer educational information.  If you are advertising and event, then use urgency and scarcity – deadlines and limited seating.

    #7 Align Your Advertising

    Instead of thinking of your social media ad as a stand-alone piece, you’ll want to take a step back and ask yourself how it fits into your strategy as a whole. Make sure that this ad — along with all of your others — is just a piece of a broader message about who you are, conditions you treat, how to prevent problems, and what patients can expect from your company.

    #8 Your CTA

    Once you’ve determined the goal of your social media ad (whether it’s for your potential customer to learn more, make a purchase, or refer a friend), write a call-to-action that encourages customers to take steps toward that goal.

    Keep them simple and short, and make sure they deliver on the promise. In other words, if your call-to-action says “learn more,” then be sure that when they click on it, they learn more — avoid making your customers jump through several hoops by clicking on CTAs that don’t deliver.

    #9 Use Emojis

    If appropriate for your business’s tone, style, and feel, try incorporating emojis into your ad copy. Of course, if your audience isn’t in tune with emojis, then you should probably avoid them. But if you do decide to use them, make sure you’re consistent with which ones you use and how you use them. You can be funny and quirky and engaging if you choose the right emojis…but remember, you are a physical therapy practice.

    #10 Analyze Your Ad’s Performance – Even the Best Advertisers Miss the First Time

    As always, in advertising your physical therapy services, there is usually quite a bit of trial and error. If you’re not willing to put in the time and some budget, don’t advertise.  However, as long as you keep an open mind and a willingness to test, you should be able to tweak your ads to reach a wider or more relevant audience.

    Once your ad goes live, take a look at how well it performs. Analyze the “why” behind its performance, and use this information to make changes to future ads. Then, analyze their performance to see if your tweak worked or if you need to make further changes.

    It’s All About Ads That Perform

    Of course, every business wants to produce ads that perform well. That’s why it’s important to assess your current ad copy’s strengths and weaknesses and to incorporate the above tips as you write more. Trying the new and tweaking the old is essential to good copywriting, and you’re sure to see results if you keep pressing forward.

10 Steps to Market Your Physical Therapy Practice on Instagram

Are you trying to step up your social media game? If so, be sure to add Instagram marketing to your social media strategy. It seems that virtually everyone has an Instagram account these days, and users are engaging more and more with targeted ads. If you’re interested in jumping into the Instagram marketing game, read on to learn the ins and outs of marketing your practice on Instagram.

#1 Set Up Your Account Properly

First things first. To get started, you’ll need to set up a PT practice account on Instagram. Avoid using your personal account to conduct business. Instead, make sure you have a practice account. You’ll stay within Instagram’s Terms of Service, and you’ll get more tools and the ability to advertise with your upgraded account status.

#2 Add Your Website Link

In your Instagram bio, you’ll want to add a link to your website. This is your chance to turn interested prospects into patients. If they want to learn more about what you do and why you do it, the link to your website will give them that opportunity. Since the bio section on Instagram has a limit of only 150 characters, you need to make them count, and what could be more important than a link to your website?

#3 Craft Your Bio

Like I mentioned above, you’ve only got 150 characters to hook new followers, so craft a bio that gives them the goods right away. Your bio should be straight-to-the-point, telling potential followers what your practice does and how your specialty treatments add value to the feeds of followers. And remember: Instagram is not a selling platform… it’s for socializing. So, stay ditch the sales pitch.

One more quick note: Remember to update your bio when you’ve got something new to share with your followers, like an announcement about the physical therapy practice, a new offering, or a big sale, and then add a link so that they can learn more.

#4 Stay Consistent

If you’re trying to increase brand awareness and engagement through social media, you’ll need to make sure your message, your bio photo, and your name are consistent across all social media channels. You want your prospects to be able to recognize you immediately, whether they’re scrolling through their Facebook feed or searching hashtags on Instagram.

#5 Learn More About Your Audience’s Engagement Patterns

Instagram Insights gives you all kinds of information about content views, website clicks, follower activity, video views, and saves. Instagram Insights allows you to understand what’s working and what’s not. Armed with this knowledge, you can adjust your marketing strategy to expand your reach.

#6 Socialize!

Like I mentioned earlier, socializing is the main intent of a platform like Instagram, so instead of trying to sell, sell, sell, just socialize. When people comment, respond! When people ask questions, respond! Give your take when an interesting topic is posted. Share or reference another post that you found interesting. Show your audience — not to mention, your future audience — that you’re involved, engaged, and interested in what matters to them.

#7 Create Some Competition

Another great way to increase your social media presence on Instagram is to hold contests. People love to compete, and they LOVE to win, so holding contests gets people involved who may have otherwise scrolled past your page. Create a fun hashtag for your contest to get even more engagement, and share the winner and maybe even some of the close contenders with your audience. What a great way to engage people and boost brand awareness.

#8 Add a Promo Code

If you’re trying to boost sales, you can always count on an offer to help you out. Try adding a promo code to your Instagram page (and don’t forget that link in your bio so they know where to go to take advantage of it). Everyone loves to save, so a free exam or a free massage might be the very thing that turns a hesitant prospect into a first-time patient. Promo codes are also great for measuring engagement and sales because when the patient uses it, you can tell exactly where they came from.

#9 Tell Stories

Instead of relying solely on your profile to engage your followers, take advantage of Instagram’s Story feature. You can string your pictures and videos together to tell — you guessed it — a story about your brand. Whether it’s a behind-the-scenes look at your clinic or a testimonial from one of your loyal patients, you can engage your followers like never before with your Story. A quick note: each image or video in your Story is only visible for 24 hours, after which it disappears.

Get fun and creative with your Story, and be sure to offer your followers something that isn’t available on your regular Instagram page. This original content will keep them coming back for more.

#10 Work With an Influencer

In the Instagram world, Influencers are people with special expertise in a given field, and their endorsement of your product or service is a HUGE asset to your physical therapy practice. Before linking up with an influencer, be sure that he or she has a large following in your industry and that they’ve got a track record for influencing others.

You can get an influencer to work with you by offering them incentives and free samples to try. You can also pay an influencer to tout your business. Either way, getting an influencer on your side can cause a monumental increase in sales.

The Bottom Line

Whether you’re just starting out or you need to step up your social media game, Instagram is a great asset to your marketing strategy. It’s time to get out there and turn those likes and follows into new patients.

10 Ways to Promote Your Small Physical Therapy Practice on a Budget

Whether you’re just starting your PT private practice or you’ve been running your clinic for a few years, during these times you have to be efficient with spending money on physical therapy marketing. For the savvy PTPP director who wants to save some money, here are some tips for marketing on a budget.

#1 Find Some Local Online Facebook Groups

You may be open and still treating patients, or you may be just doing telehealth; either way, you can leverage your community to market your business. Get your name out there by sponsoring local Facebook groups where moms gather, sports teams gather (e.g. a running club), or your neighbors gather. Get creative about offering value.  How can you help members of the group? Offer to speak on a Zoom webinar where share your expertise. This will boost awareness about your practice help you make one-on-one connections.

#2 Be Ready with a One-Liner, Talking Logo, or Elevator Pitch

If someone asks you what you do, does your answer put them asleep, confuse them, or arouse curiosity?  

A good one-liner as Donald Miller states, is one sentence that can grow your business (more here).

Another way to describe your business to another is with what John Jantsch calls, a talking logo.   John describes a talking logo as follows: “a tool that allows you to communicate verbally the single greatest benefit of doing business with your firm. A talking logo is a short statement that quickly communicates your firm’s position and ideally forces the listener to want to know more.” (more here) 

Yet another way to think about it is by simply following this formula: “I help x get y using z.”  An example might be: “I treat people in pain naturally recover with nothing more than my hands and mouth.”  If you were speaking with someone the first time, can you see how this type of answer invites additional questions? Fast, concise, and arousing curiosity are the keys to developing a good one-liner or talking. 

#3 Network with Other Local Businesses

Find other businesses that you believe in and make connections with them. Offer them your willingness to promote them if they’ll do the same for you. You could even come together for a community event and refer potential customers to each other.

Massage therapists, yoga instructors, personal trainers, acupuncturists, running, swimming, and sports equipment stores and of course medical doctors are some examples of companies you can cross-promote.  Make a list and start reaching out.

No matter how it looks, it’s a win for you and a win for the other businesses in your community.

#4 Take Advantage of Free Social Media

We all know that there are countless social media platforms out there, and it can seem a little overwhelming. But the good news is that it is either free or very inexpensive to market your business through this medium. 

If you are looking to treat middle-aged and senior patients then Facebook is the platform you should use.  If you are looking for the younger 20-35 y.o. crowd, then Instagram is a good place to start.

But here’s a quick tip: your goal is to nurture relationships by showing interest in them, providing good content and by asking others how you can help them.  One surefire way to kill your reputation is to look self-serving.  Following someone else on IG hoping to get a follow back won’t likely foster your relationships. Social media is meant for socializing.  Imagine if you were at a party and you approached a group of others, you would disrupt the gathering of people by trying to get everyone to focus their attention on you right away.

#5 Create and Publish Great Content

Sharing helpful content is important.  As the saying goes, content is king.  Not only does it establish you as an authority and increases practice awareness, but it also helps people. Of course, you don’t have to spend any money to create great content (if you someone at your practice is willing to do create the content on their own). If you’ve got older content, an easy way to get the message is out is by simply refreshing that old content. Add some graphics, update the content, add a new take on an age-old issue… whatever the case may be, don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to.

#6 Call Up Your Referring Physicians

Believe it or not, many physicians are in the same boat as you are during this COVID crisis. Give your referring physicians a call. Ask them questions about how they are doing, their staff, their family. See how many patients they are seeing now. Offer to help them out. Ask how telehealth is working for them. Offer to help them promote their practice or find a collaborative opportunity. Offer to do a video conference call, record it and share it to your email list or Facebook fans.

#7 Email an Offer to Your List. You Could Offer a Free Telehealth Session

Many are just now experiencing how health care is delivered via remote video conferencing with systems like doxy, Zoom, Vsee, BetterPT, etc. When it comes to a hands-on provider like a physical therapist, the notion of communicating online assessments and treatment seems like a contradiction (when coming from a PT). 

One way to start the conversation and to get people to consider your physical therapy services is to email them an offer. Here’s how you can do this: 

  1. Get a list of first names and email addresses. Go to your EMR system and download a list of email addresses and names. I am assuming that you have permission to email your patients.
  2. Send out an email blast.  You want to put together a personalized message, first name only, and use a subject line like this:

    Remember, the goal of the subject line is to get them to open the email message.

  3. Get them to “click” to the next step. In the body of the message, you need to make a compelling offer.  Let your past patients know how you’re STILL able to serve them during this crisis – but it’s in a slightly different way.  Remember, the goal of the email message, in most cases, is to get them to click on a link to do something next.
  4. Give them something of value. Offer a free 15-minute “virtual” mini-evaluation to get them on the phone to see where they need the most help and let them know about your virtual services, or if you’re still open, to see if they are good candidate to come in for some therapy.

For some, this might be the solution they are looking for. If it is a valuable, compelling offer, your past patients will take you up on it.  If not, think of another offer. Most marketing campaigns fail on the first try; so, don’t be afraid to try again.

#8 Ask Your Patients for Referrals

Whether it be during a video conference or in person, ask your patients for referrals. This is how you can accomplish this.

  1. First find out if your patient is willing. Take their “temperature” by finding out how satisfied they are with your services. If you get a lot of positive feedback and you sense they are very pleased, then you can move to the next step.
  2. Ask an open-ended question. Don’t make the mistake of asking, “Do you know someone else I can help?” That’s a closed-ended question that will result in a yes or no.
  3. Take it slower with multiple, open-ended questions like:
    • “Who do you know that has a problem like you?”
    • “What have they done to deal with their pain?”
    • “What are you thoughts about how they might respond to this kind of treatment?”
    • “How could I work with you to see if they might benefit from what I’m doing with you?”

Knowing when and how to ask your patients for referrals will increase the likelihood of success. Give it a try and understand you’ll either get a No (in which case you’ll improve your ability to ask for a referral from your next patient), or you will get a Yes and you might be able to help them.

NOTE: if you do get a name from your patient, make sure you complete the process by having your patient make a warm introduction. Be willing to do a simple conference call with the patient and their family member or friend to take it to the next step.

#9 Increase the Value of Your Business Card and Add a QR Code

Business cards are cheap these days. Take a look at yours. Does it need a redesign?  Can you add services on the back?  How about a QR code that when scanned take the viewer to a video about you on YouTube or a web page where they can learn more about what you do, or perhaps to a page where you make them an offer? 

QR codes were popular back in the 2008-2012 timeframe; but, the need for users to install a QR reader app on their phone made them a challenge to use.  Back in September, 2017 when Apple released iOS 11, iPhone cameras became readers. Simply point the camera app at a QR code and it reads it.

Get creative with QR codes. Head over to QRstuff.com and create your own.

#10 Seek Out Recognition for Your Great Work

Believe it or not, it costs nothing to apply for business awards for your niche. If you are selected, you can tout that award on your website or on your front desk. This is a nice way to add credibility to your physical therapy services and it gives you another thing to write about in your social media posts.

#10.5 Bonus Tip

As of the date of this post, I’ve been in the PT private practice marketing space for almost 20 years. If there’s one thing I can share with you that is going to dramatically increase your odds of success it’s these 3 things: One, take action. Most just read about marketing and never take any action. Two, make sure you invest in your marketing. Marketing pays dividends and gives you returns. Sometimes your investments result in a loss but then you learn. Sometimes they provide you with a good profit. This leads me to my third point, persistence. Marketing is an ongoing process over time. It never stops. The more you do it, the more you learn and improve that process.

Working within Your Budget

You might think it is difficult to market your practice on a small budget. There is some truth to this. After all, you might be up against large hospitals, corporate big-box clinic chains, and POPTS clinics. The resistance is proportional to the reward though. If you want to generate patients that might net you up to $1000 when you complete a plan of care with them, it’s going to take some work.

Looking for the Best Online Marketing Services on a Budget?

E-rehab.com provides different packages of marketing services, training and tools to help you generate more new, repeat, and word-of-mouth business.

For more information about how we can help, click here to schedule some on my calendar and we can discuss your needs.

A Guide to Writing Your Physical Therapy Website Home Page

Learn to create an appealing physical therapy website  that will turn to visitors into patients by building a story

Just having a website is one thing. It’s extremely easy to create a website these days (that’s not much more than a basic online brochure), and most physical therapy practices have at least taken this initial step; but, creating a website that:

  • Communicates a promise,
  • Conveys a “picture” of how the clinicians can help,
  • Provides proof, and
  • Ultimately results in visitors becoming patients?

This is something else altogether, and a marketing strategy that many private practices really fall short of achieving.

It’s Not About You…A Physical Therapy Website Home Page is About the Patient

The primary issue most private physical therapy practices face when creating website content is simple: they spend too much time explaining who they are and what they offer, and not enough describing how it will actually help those reading it. As a result, a prospective patient may not become engaged, may not find what they’re looking for, and is likely to leave your website before they even understand what you can do for them.

Start with a Brandscript

physical therapy brandscript

There are many ways to address this common failing of websites, but one avenue way to think about how to communicate your brand message is to first create a BrandScript, which is a concept created by Donald Miller in his book Building a StoryBrand™ *.

We recommend reading this insightful book to anyone looking to build a new website or redesign a current one, but if you don’t have the time to do so, we’d like to offer a breakdown of its core principles and explain how you can utilize them for your practice.

The StoryBrand™ Framework: You’re the Guide, the Patient is the Hero

In order to understand how to create a BrandScript and develop a StoryBrand™, we’ll first need to walk you through some of the key elements of the book. As we mentioned, one of the biggest mistakes that private practices make when building a website or creating any other content is making the focus about you instead of about them. This could be the case if a website is loaded with pages like “About Us,” “Mission Statement,” and “Values,” but doesn’t tell a prospective patient front and center how you will make their lives better.

While many physical therapists may consider themselves heroes (and in a way they are, after all, they provide great care, relieve pain, and restore function), Miller would describe the patient as the hero instead of the physical therapist. The guide (the PT) is meant to elevate the hero (the patient) and help them succeed in any good story.

In essence, to truly appeal to website visitors (potential new patients) and make them care about what you have to say, all of your marketing content should follow the same formula as a captivating story.

The Players and Elements of a Good Story

Miller breaks down the key ingredients of every good story as follows:

  • A character
  • Has a problem
  • And meets a guide
  • Who gives them a plan
  • And calls them to action
  • That ends in a success
  • That helps them avoid failure

If you think about the majority of your favorite novels, films, TV shows, and any other stories you’ve come across, chances are that they generally follow this formula. It’s also likely that the reason these stories are intriguing is because of the above ingredients, since it’s a winning outline that usually keeps audiences interested when executed properly.

Building a StoryBrand™ advises that all practice owners like yourself also need to craft an engaging story about their business that clearly shows why the patient is the hero and why you, the physical therapist, is the guide that helps them reach their goals.

The StoryBrand™ (SB7) Framework

Each of these components is part of the StoryBrand™ 7 (or SB7) Framework and is described in more detail in the sections below.

  1. A character: the patient is the hero, not you or your practice

Before moving forward, the first set of questions you need to ask yourself when going through the process of creating your story are these:

  1. What do you offer?
  2. How will it make people’s lives better?
  3. What does someone need to do next to use your services?

For your practice, the answers may seem obvious at first, but spend some time thinking these questions through before providing answers, because how you respond will play a major role in each of the other steps of this framework.

The first part of the SB7 Framework is identifying the character in the story and positioning them as the hero. As we mentioned above, the character (i.e. the patient) is clearly someone who’s being held back in their life by an injury or painful condition. And what does each of these individuals want? This of course varies from person to person, but in most cases it’s likely along the lines of:

  • Getting rid of the pain,
  • Living a life with less pain,
  • Improving mobility, and
  • Recovering strength.

We encourage you to take plenty of time when trying to figure out what your character wants, because it should be at the heart of what you do as a private physical therapy practice.

Once you have identified the character in your story and landed on a clear understanding of exactly what that character wants, you can visit mystorybrand.com to start working on your StoryBrand™ BrandScript and continue to fill it out as you refine your story.

  1. Has a problem: show that you solve internal instead of external problems

This step delves a bit deeper into what problem the character (your average patient) has and how that will guide your message. To more closely hone in on your patients’ problem, it’s also important to identify a “villain” in the story. The villain in the your patients’ stories, in most cases, isn’t a person.

Villains should be relatable, singular, and real, and should be the reason people will seek out your services in the first place. For a typical patient in need of physical therapy, the villain might be:

  • A torn rotator cuff
  • Sciatica
  • Ankle Sprain
  • Vertigo
  • Balance problems
  • Post-surgical deconditioning
  • Immobility,” or
  • Some combination of these elements.

It’s also important to know the difference between internal, external, and philosophical problems:

  • External problems: the obvious obstacle in the way of success (eg, back pain, knee pain, balance issues)
  • Internal problems: how does the external problem affect the character’s internal feelings and emotions? Using the above example, external problems:
    • Back pain is preventing me lifting boxes,
    • Knee pain is preventing me from running, and
    • Balance problems prevent me from walking on uneven surfaces.
  • Philosophical problems: why it all matters. Each of the external and internal problems really add up to why it a medical problem really matters so much to the patient.  Following through with the above examples (the bold text describes the philosophical problems):
    • My back pain keeps me from lifting boxes which prevents me from working and providing for my family.
    • My knee pain prevents me from running which keeps me from running the marathon I’ve been training for over the past 3 months.
    • My balance problems keep me from walking on uneven surfaces which means I can’t go to Disneyland with my grandkids.

By considering your patients’ perspective and identifying the “villain” in each of their stories, we can better understand their external, internal, and philosophical problems.

Then you’ll be able to more clearly see why it’s so crucial to show that they can overcome these obstacles, and that you are the guide that will help them do it.

  1. And meets a guide: to be clear, you are the hero’s guide

The next step of the framework is all about positioning you and your practice as the guide responsible for leading each patient towards success and positive outcomes. The two things you need to communicate to make it apparent that you are this guide are empathy and authority.

Empathy is showing your patients that you understand where they’re coming from, and that you truly care about improving their health and wellbeing. It means expressing common frustrations that they are likely dealing with and telling them that they are not the only ones experiencing these issues.

Demonstrating authority means presenting your clinic as a place that they can trust to provide the best possible treatments to help them improve. This is where you have the opportunity to promote all of your accolades and the nice things others have to say about you, but in a manner that’s humble and not pompous.

Some of the ways this can be accomplished are through:

  • Ratings and reviews,
  • Videos expressing positive outcomes,
  • Awards that your practice has won over the years, and/or
  • Statistics on how many patients continue to come back to you for therapy.

Balancing empathy and authority will help your patients feel confident in their decision to choose you to address their problem.

  1. Who gives them a plan: to be a good guide, you need to have a good plan

If you want your patients to trust you as the guide that will help them succeed, you must show them that you also have a clear plan that will get them there. A good plan should walk visitors on your website through what you offer and how this process will work if they decide to come to you for treatment. When done effectively, it should also eliminate any fears or concerns that might be holding them back from initiating therapy.

According to Building a StoryBrand™, there are two plans you can use to effectively encourage visitors to choose you:

  • The process plan
    • This type of plan is recommended and it describes the steps a prospective patient will take if they decide to visit you for treatment; for your practice, it might look something like this: 1) Schedule an appointment, 2) Prepare for your first visit, 3) Undergo a detailed evaluation, 4) Get started on your personalized treatment program
  • The agreement plan
    • This type of plan is essentially a list of agreements you make with your patients to help them overcome fears of going through with treatment; these plans generally work in the background and are there to give you visitors a deeper understanding of your practice; to create an agreement plan, think about all potential fears an individual might have about physical therapy and then counter that list with agreements that will alleviate these fears

  1. And calls them to action: make the next steps clear and easy

If you’ve effectively shown a visitor that they are the hero and you are the guide with a plan to solve their problems, it’s imperative that you make it obvious what they should do next. This is accomplished with a “call to action” that gets them to the next phase. There are generally two kinds of calls to action:

  • Direct: these include requests like “schedule an appointment” or “call our clinic today” that will directly lead the visitor to take the action needed to initiate their path of care
  • Transitional: this type of call to action involves less risk and usually offers something for free; they are there for website visitors that aren’t quite ready to set up an appointment, but are still interested in your practice and who are considering your services; a good transitional call to action should help position you as the most trusted physical therapy practice in your area, and some examples include:
    • A video or PDF of testimonials from patients with similar problems as the viewer
    • A downloadable list of reasons why a patient should choose you over competitors
    • An infographic that lists all the benefits of physical therapy at your practice

By using calls to action, you will give your visitors what they need to move forward with you or enough information to transition them from uncertainty to certainty.

  1. That helps them avoid failure: what do your visitors stand to lose without treatment?

This step of the framework builds off of #2 (identifying the problem) and is designed to remind your visitors what could happen if they do not choose to undergo physical therapy with you. The goal here should not be fear mongering, which can do more harm than good. Instead, find a way to effectively show your prospective patients what could potentially happen and what they stand to lose if they fail to have treatment for their condition with a subtle approach. Some examples might include the following:

  • Progressive functional loss
  • The need for opioid drugs, injections, or surgery
  • Increase financial costs for more expensive procedures

Once you have identified these, try to lightly sprinkle them into your story and message to make it clear why it’s a wise decision to move forward with therapy.

  1. And ends in success: tell your audience how you will change their lives for the better

The final step is to create a vision for your prospective patients of what things will look like on the other side, after they have completed their treatment program with you. A good exercise to guide you through this final part is to make a grid of “before” and “after” completing treatment that looks like this:

Before completing treatment After completing treatment
What do they have?
What are they feeling?
What’s an average day like
What is their status?

It will also help to once again think about the structure of a good story and what the hero gets in the end. In most cases, a good story ends by allowing the hero to:

  1. Win some sort of power or position
  2. Be unified with somebody or something that makes them whole
  3. Experience some kind of self-realization that also makes them whole

With this in mind, try to vividly describe to your audience how a successful course of treatment with you will enhance their lives and accomplish one or more of these goals. There are many possibilities here, but some ideas would be “getting your life back on track,” “moving better to feel better,” or “overcoming your pain to become whole again.” Making this clear to prospective patients will allow them to visualize the success that you can bring about and lead them to realize that your clinic is the best way to help them get there.

Bringing it all together: how to apply this framework to your physical therapy website development

Now that you have a general understanding of the StoryBrand™ BrandScript—and hopefully some ideas to get you started—the next step is to zero in your own practice’s story, and then put it into action. This applies to many aspects of your online presence and marketing plan, but most directly to your website.

As a quick reminder of what we learned above, we have the following StoryBrand™ elements:

  1. A character (the patient)
  2. Has a problem (pain, functional limitations, life limitations)
  3. And meets a guide (the PT)
  4. Who gives them a plan (follow these steps to come see me for treatment)
  5. And calls them to action (contact me to set up and initial eval)
  6. That helps them avoid failure (use of drugs, imaging, injections, surgery)
  7. That ends in a success (patient goals achieved and discharge)

If you don’t have a website or you don’t feel your current website effectively tells a story in which your patients are the heroes and you are the guide that will help them achieve success, it’s probably time to make some changes.

For many prospective patients, your website is likely the first detailed impression they will have of your practice, which means it should be designed to convey that you can be trusted to deliver whatever they are seeking. These prospective patients should leave your website with all of their hopes confirmed and be convinced that you can offer the solution to their problem.

Building a StoryBrand™ lists five basic things that your website should include to help get you started thinking about what changes you need to make:

  1. An offer above the fold

This is a short line or sentence combined with appropriate images that clearly explain what your practice does and how it will help your patients’ lives. In most cases it should include a tagline or headline that is aspirational and specific, and a sub-headline that goes into a bit more detail of exactly what you offer.  Here we are offering ourselves as the guide,  addressing what success looks like for the patient, and helping them avoid failure. In most cases, this is text that is over-the-top of the hero image discussed below.

  1. Obvious call to action (in the upper right and overlaying the hero photo)

Calls to action are the fifth part of the SB7 Framework. Your number one call to action should be to have the viewer call your office.  A secondary call to action is to have the viewer click on an Appointment Request button.  You’ll need to make sure that both of these are easy to locate. The two main places direct calls to action should be placed are at the top right of the website—which should appear on every page of your site—and in the center of the screen. They should also be of a different color, font, or size than the rest of the copy on your website to increase their visibility and make them more distinct.

  1. Outcomes Oriented Imagery (the Hero image)

Writing good copy is the first step to creating an appealing website, but this also needs to be accompanied by images that clearly illustrate your message. For a physical therapy website, the best approach is usually to display smiling images of happy people engaging in recreation, sports, and other physical activities. We call these types of images, “outcomes-oriented imagery.” Using these types of photos will essentially show your prospective patients what’s possible if they complete treatment with you.  This addresses point number 6 in the SB7 Framework.

  1. A list of services (your Value Stack)

This tip demonstrates authority and shows your website viewers that you can specifically solve their external, internal, and philosophical problems.

  1. A clear outline of what they can expect and success stories/ratings & reviews

The simple steps the website viewer needs to take to start the recovery process as well as ratings and reviews demonstrating social proof of positive outcomes with patients.

  1. A limited number of words 

While it may be tempting to be as thorough as possible when communicating your message, you can lose readers’ interest if you’re overly verbose. Most people only scan websites, so focus on trimming the fat and condensing your key talking points down to the minimal amount needed to convey the core of your practice. This is easier said than done, but will go a long way when executed correctly.

Most decisions you make for your website should also be closely based on your StoryBrand™ BrandScript by reinforcing the key elements of the story you’ve crafted. Words, images, and ideas shared on your website should be informed by your script. This means that everything should show your patients that you are the guide they need to be the hero in their story and achieve a successful outcome that will improve their lives.

We can help you build your Physical Therapy Website Including Your StoryBrand™ BrandScript

If you’d like to redesign your website or overhaul your practice’s marketing plan, E-Rehab can help. Our team is well-versed in the fundamental concepts of Building a StoryBrand™, and we can guide you through the process of creating a BrandScript and executing it in your website content.

Need Some Help?

Contact me, David Straight, at 800-468-5161 or Click Here to schedule some time on my calendar.  I look forward to learning more about you and sharing with you how we might be able to help.

*This website is NOT affiliated with, funded, or in any way associated with the StoryBrand™

 

 

4 Simple Ways That the Patient Experience Can Make or Break Your Practice

When patients drop out of care, your practice loses more than the revenue from those never-completed visits. You miss out on the future revenue from that patient potentially coming back as well as the additional referrals those patients might have delivered had they completed their treatment. Imagine that cycle as it continues—the loss of those never-referred patients making their own referrals—and you begin to grasp the scope of the loss.

We have more methods than ever before to engage with patients. Despite powerful communications and marketing tools and strategies, nearly two thirds of PT patients currently drop out of treatment. That’s an opportunity loss equal to about $250,000 a year for a typical PT practice. And missed word of mouth is a big part of that loss.

What are we missing?

At its core, patient engagement isn’t a technical, clinical process. And it isn’t a customer service transaction. It’s a relationship-building endeavor and—like all relationships—an emotional journey. From intake to discharge, our patients experience highs and lows, memorable, moments of excitement, pride, doubt and fear. A successful patient experience rests on your ability to meet patients where they are at every point along that journey.

You think you’re in the PT business. You’re really in the business of relationships.

When you understand where patients are emotionally in the life cycle of their treatment you can implement the marketing and communications systems that anticipate and address those needs.  Without those systems, you and your team are left reacting to patients’ uncertainties, doubts and concerns after they arise. In today’s world, where patients are easily distracted, discouraged, and unsure of the value of treatment, that’s too late. Those patients leave your care, and with them goes their unmaterialized revenue and their power as word of mouth advocates for your practice.

4 turning points in the PT patient experience

You can’t drop in and out of empathic, informed attention to your patients’ experience. It’s an ongoing process throughout the stages of the patient life cycle. There are no moments or interactions that aren’t important. These are 4 points in the active patient journey that are especially critical. They illustrate the emotional terrain our patients experience in care, and how that connects to your work as a care provider. Anticipating these key interactions can cultivate the trust and delight in your patients that keeps them with their treatment plans, and makes them want to be ambassadors for your practice through word of mouth.

After intake, before evaluation

Patients have just completed a huge step. They’ve taken an action that more than 90 percent of the adults with physical therapy needs don’t ever take: they sought out a solution for their pain. That solution is you. At and around this point, they’re feeling excited and empowered—their brains are flush with dopamine from having taken that action. Now is the time to join them in their excitement and affirm their decision with enthusiastic, information-rich welcome communications from you and your staff. This is your one and only chance to “pre-frame” the experience that your patients are about to have in your care as one of nurture, enthusiasm, camaraderie, belonging and even humor. These early interactions are the first step in developing personal bonds, and in setting the tone for how your patients perceive your organization going forward. Make them memorable.

After initial evaluation

The dopamine-fueled confidence and thrill from making a decision doesn’t last. Post-evaluation is a common time for second-guessing doubt and fear to set in for patients, especially if they’re experiencing additional pain. There also tend to be a lot of questions that come up for patients after evaluations, questions that rarely get asked. This calls for a communications strategy that directly addresses those doubts and fills that information vacuum, helping patients re-connect with their initial confidence and commitment as they move forward into treatment.

After 3-5 visits

It’s right around the fourth visit that patients are most likely to abandon treatment.

What’s happening for patients at this point? Their pain might be improving quickly enough (in their perception) that they start to question whether they need to complete their care plan. Their pain might be taking so long to improve (in their perception) that they question whether treatment is really working.

Wherever your patients are in the treatment of their musculoskeletal problem, they are all facing essentially the same emotional gap: a brewing crisis in their trust of the process of physical therapy. That’s the need and concern you and your team must meet at this critical moment. It’s time to engage with patients to clarify expectations, address problems, re-affirm and re-commit to seeing treatment through to its end. Having a system in place for quality assurance check in at this phase of treatment can reduce drop outs and lift referrals by 25 percent.

After a successful discharge

You’ve shepherded a patient through an entire treatment plan. You’ve helped them out of pain, and in to a better quality of life. Your patient completed that journey because of the relational bonds you fostered along the way. Patients who get to this point are profoundly grateful.

Our patients are no different than we are. They want to help people, especially people they know and care about. Our patients want to do something with their gratitude. That’s how we end up with brownies and cookies. You can give them the opportunity do something far more meaningful. Now is the time to talk openly and directly with your healthy, delighted patients about referrals, testimonials, and reviews. Give them the chance to share the great experience they’ve had with you with others, including the people they know and want to help

 

This is a guest post by Dr. Jamey Schrier.  Jamey is a physical therapist and founder of Practice Freedom U, which teaches practice owners how to grow and scale their business so they can prosper in and out of the clinic.

 

 

Why an In-Depth Understanding of Your Patients Is the Only Marketing Strategy You Need

Successful marketing is about more than tracking analytics, building a social following and getting traffic on websites.

Ultimately, successful marketing is about knowing your patients. No matter how great your marketing efforts are, it doesn’t matter if you can’t connect with the audience.

So, if you want to be truly successful, you need to have an in-depth understanding of your patients.

What is a Patient-Centric Marketing Approach?

Patient-centric marketing uses personalization to deliver services, messages, and content to the patient that provides them with the answers they need. This applies not only to marketing but also to your entire organization.

Putting your patients first can improve your relationship with them and retain more patients over time since they feel valued.

With patient-centric marketing, you stop telling your patients what they need, which comes across as unappealing and untrustworthy. Instead of pushing services and aggressively asking for the therapy appointment, with patient-centric marketing, you craft your messaging, content and services around addressing their needs first.

Ultimately, if a patient knows they have other options and feel undervalued by the clinic’s lack of attention, they’ll move on.

knowing the value

The Value of Knowing Your Patients

More and more businesses are taking advantage of the power of blogging and content marketing, meaning that the internet is flooded with content everywhere you turn. As a result, patients no longer need to waste time on low-quality content that doesn’t serve their needs.

If you want to stand out among this crowd, you need to create unique content that’s relevant to the needs of the target audience. When you can create content that fits their needs, you develop trust and value with your practice. This makes patients more loyal to your practice and its services.

Having loyal patients who return to your clinic when therapy is needed offers many benefits to your physical therapy practice, not only in revenue but in positive brand reputation and word-of-mouth recommendations.

In fact, repeat patients are 65 percent more likely to convert over new prospects. This means reduced marketing costs and more new patients for you. Loyal patients are also more likely to support your efforts to generate new business since they want to share their experiences with their family and friends. This boosts your trust with new patients and gets you more cash revenue.

So, when you stop guessing at your customers’ wants and needs and start paying attention to the feedback they give you, you get both long-term patient relationships and increased profits.

patient persona

How to Get an In-Depth Understanding of Your Patients

Developing these relationships and this understanding of your patients takes time, however. Your patients’ needs may change over time, and you need to change with them.

Here’s how:

Build Your Patient Personas

A patient persona is a guide to the audience you’re trying to attract to your business. A patient persona describes one ideal patient or client in detail, giving you insights about their behaviors, demographics, background and other unique identifiers.

A truly in-depth buyer persona goes beyond this knowledge, however. It dives much deeper into understanding the patient’s life and the challenges they face. What are their problems? What influences their decisions?

The key to all of this is not to guess, of course. When you create buyer personas, you can’t just create a patient. It needs to be based on the loyal patient base you have.

If you’re trying to reach a different audience, you can even create multiple personas to target new patients, while also keeping your loyal patients happy.

Keep in mind that these may change over time as well, so you should watch how they evolve and continually find new ways to reach them.

Listen on Social Media

Many people are comfortable displaying much of their lives on social media. This can provide you with valuable insights about them and how they feel about your business.

If you only pay attention to posts and comments that relate to your business, however, you’ll miss out on insights from them about what they need from a product or service. To get a real understanding of the target audience and what they expect from your business, you need to go beyond the mentions.

Social listening tools can be helpful for this. Mention is one of the best tools to monitor your brand anywhere. It gives you insights about who’s posting about your business, where they’re located and what influence they have. From there, you can do a little more research into these potential patients to learn more about them.

You should also work to connect with your audience when they come to you. With the availability of therapists online, most patients expect quick responses when they inquire online. Be sure to pay attention to questions, comments, and feedback to you about your business, so you can get an idea of the problems your audience is experiencing.

Use Surveys

If you’re not getting the answers you need from social listening, don’t be afraid to ask your patients directly. Surveys provide you with opinions and insights that you may not have otherwise, and they’re easy for patients to participate in.

Keep in mind a few things, such as:

  • Keep your survey short and simple.
  • Humanize your message to let them know that their feedback has a purpose.
  • If your survey is a multi-page form, use a progress bar to let patients know how long they have to complete the survey.

Ultimately, the idea behind the survey is to keep it as quick and painless as possible for participants.

Pay Attention to Visited Content

Whether it’s videos, blog posts, infographics or images, patients engage with a variety of content throughout the day. To understand what they want and need, you need to pay attention to the type of content they visit.

The best way to learn more about popular content is with Google Analytics. This will show you popular content and the patterns that may arise, as well as the type of content that works better for your audience.

Don’t forget to check out your competitor’s social media pages to see what posts get a lot of attention as well. Using this information, you can create more content that’s aligned with what’s working for your competitor.

Look for Lost Conversions

In addition to learning about current patients, you can learn a wealth of information from the leads that don’t convert. This process is a little more involved, but it can provide you with valuable insights.

First, let’s look at the patient’s journey:

  • A patient is aware of a problem (usually some form of joint, muscle, and/or nerve pain)
  • A patient considers the options to solve that problem (often this starts at Google, then may progress to asking a family member, friend, doctor, or coming back directly to you)
  • A patient decides what solution to try (often based on their insurance coverage, the geographic location of a practice, and/or a practice’s ratings and reviews).

If you find that you lose patients in the consideration phase, you may be not doing enough marketing/advertising/or sales to let your community know that you exist. Of course, not every patient coming in contact with your clinic will make an appointment, but it’s still important to find leaks in the sales funnel.

With this in mind, you want to create content for each stage of the patient’s journey, so you can address any concerns they may have along the way.

building trust

Final Thoughts

When it comes to marketing, don’t assume you understand the patient better than they know themselves. Instead of telling your patients what they need, focus on providing them with information and solutions that address their needs, so you can create a loyal following that grows your business.

Physical Therapy Patient Marketing: Setting the Right Mood in Your Online Content

physical therapy patient marketing

Physical therapy patient marketing is a process that probably sounds challenging if you think you can’t set yourself apart from your competitors. Maybe you’re feeling like you’re just blending in with all the other physical therapy clinics in your town or city rather than looking unique enough. Even if you don’t have anything overly innovative to offer compared to your competitors, it doesn’t mean you can’t stand out from the crowd.

Your key to success is putting yourself in the shoes of the prospective patient and providing what you’d expect if seeking out physical therapy for the first time. Much of this comes in setting the proper mood rather than attempting to look superior to someone else.

Never underestimate the value of communicating compassion, clinical excellence, and using video as the marketing medium, when promoting your practice on your website, on social media, or other online properties. The reason these qualities are important to share is because first-time clients are nervous and often don’t know what to expect. Ultimately, you can name two places where clients are probably the most uptight: Law firms and medical clinics.

If someone doesn’t know what to expect from you, you can gain trust by showcasing compassion and clinical excellence to you help those prospective patients feel better before they even come in for their initial evaluation.

Sharing the Message of Compassion & Caring

Utilize positive feelings in all of your web content and social media marketing, which includes elements of smiling. Yes, with medical proof of how smiling affects moods, showcasing pictures and happier content makes a big difference in how a new patient perceives you.

You’ve no doubt seen other medical sites post pictures of people smiling as a header on content. It’s worth doing the same thing, if at least keeping your tone positive in the information you present. Avoid talking about procedures or illnesses, because you may want to showcase information about your techniques in a more visual way later.

Part of this positive mood should include humor. This can sometimes be a tricky balancing act, especially in a serious subject like physical therapy. Be sure not to act cavalier in your humor when talking about a serious health problem. Light humor is the best path to take when it’s appropriate.

Some of this lighter humor works well in entertaining infographics where you can rib the process of going to a clinic for the first time as a meta form of calming nerves.

Trust comes from Clinical Excellence

You also want to prove that your clinicians are extremely knowledgeable about what they do they and understand the latest innovations. Providing information that’s valuable and accurate is what many patients want.

The information you provide should always be consistent with the current best health reserach. Let your visitors know you’re providing exclusive care only those in the physical therapy community know about. Be sure to back up the information using links to renowned medical journals so you bring validity and trust.

Keep in mind that when you’re providing medical content, a sure sign of intelligence is making it easy to understand for the masses rather than using confusing medical jargon.

Brand Yourself as the Best with Video

Videos continue to be a powerful influence in marketing campaigns. Whether it’s an emotional testimony about why you started your physical therapy practice, showing procedures being done in real-time, or satisfied patients,  video helps build trust and a better understanding of what physical therapists do.

Transparency definitely help to attract the patients you are targeting your videos with.

Contact us here at E-rehab.com and we’ll help you create effective content for your physical therapy practice. We’ll find the right mood you need in your content based on your personal approach to patients.

Make Your Physical Therapy Website Local SEO Friendly

physical therapy website

The phrase “location, location, location” doesn’t only apply to real estate. When you design your physical therapy website, focusing on your location with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind is an absolute must, whether you have one location or multiple offices spread across the state.

The thing is, you can’t just have your physical address posted on your website and call it a day. There are multiple strategies that you should use to help you promote and improve your local SEO. By utilizing all of these practices, you’ll improve your reach across the Internet and among local searchers that are in need of your physical therapy services. Read on to find out how to make your physical therapy website more “SEO-friendly.”

Make Your Location a Prominent SEO Keyword

Your address or location should not be listed only in the header or footer of your website. Instead, you should focus on integrating it into your SEO strategy by putting it in key elements of your website. For instance, title headings for your webpages can be SEO-optimized instead of just giving them generic titles. Here’s an example: instead of using “Our Office” for your location page, optimize it with your location to “Our Brooklyn Office.” Other elements you can optimize include headings, titles, tags, image tags and other HTML and metadata descriptions. The more you use the name of your location throughout your website, the more optimized it will become.

Make Separate Local Pages for Each Location

If you have multiple offices, it’s important to provide separate pages that are dedicated specifically to these locations instead of just publishing content for multiple locations on the same page.[pullquote4 bgColor=”#ea8400″ textColor=”#000000″]Having multiple local pages not only helps people find the right location for their needs, but also improves your searchability across different places.[/pullquote4] Having multiple local pages not only helps people find the right location for their needs, but also improves your searchability across different places.

On each separate page, also be sure to include location-specific descriptions and content, instead of copying and pasting the same generic description or your mission statement. A good practice is to include local events you’ve sponsored in that area or describe the location in relation to special features or physical landmarks to make the description rich with local SEO.

The same should be done with other location listings: have separate pages on Google+, Yelp, Yellow Pages and other sites for each of your locations, too.

Attempt Address Accuracy Across All Map Listings

Search engines prefer consistency, especially when it comes to contact information like telephone numbers and addresses. To reach the most people, make sure that your practice is listed with the same contact information in every listing. For example, if your physical therapy office is located on “43 Main Street,” decide whether or not you will spell out “Street” or abbreviate it to “St.,” and stick to this designation throughout all uses of your address. The same goes for your practice name. The more consistent your name, number and address are, the more likely your website will be cited correctly and found.

Collect Reviews

Reviews are also an important part of building your practice’s local reputation. Besides adding testimonials to your website, you should also try to gather reviews for your local listings, such as your Google+ local page.

One of the best ways to get a Google+ review from your patients is to kindly request that they add a review before leaving your office. Set up a laptop or tablet that they can log into, and give them a few guidelines to help them write a short review. Not only does this give you a better spotlight in Google rankings, but they can also be helpful for you and your office. A great tool to use is Whitespark’s Review Generator, which will print out instructions for computer or smartphone use based on your office’s information.

Improving Your Local SEO Can Better Establish Your Physical Therapy Website

[highlight1 bgColor=”#000000″ textColor=”#3391ff”]Overall, improving the local SEO of your physical therapy website can make a big difference in your online efforts and significantly draw in new visitors that may become patients. By establishing your local SEO presence, your potential patients will be able to find you and your current patients can lend their own experience and recommendations to your practice. To get more help with your physical therapy website, contact us at E-Rehab today, and we can show you how to elevate your SEO to the next level.[/highlight1]

 

Physical Therapy Newsletters Can Help You Earn Loyal Patients

physical therapy newsletters

If you’re not already creating and distributing effective physical therapy newsletters, it’s high time that you start. Newsletters have the power to transform new and possibly reluctant patients into loyalists that support your physical therapy practice with their repeat business and spread the good word regarding their positive experiences with you.

Establish Your Expertise

Using newsletters, especially when they are coupled with a strong online presence, will make you look like an authoritative expert in the field of physical therapy. The more you build this sort of presence, the more patients will come to you to learn about the latest treatments and solutions to their physical problems.

[highlight4]Newsletters are one easiest and most effective ways to establish your expertise. [/highlight4]The average web user is bombarded with advertisements and white noise on a constant basis, but you can break away from this buzz by utilizing effective and engaging newsletters on your blog or website. Newsletters are not only a means to encourage patients to come back to your clinic, but they are also an opportunity to educate, inform and advise. Here are some tips to help you implement attractive physical therapy newsletters to keep your patients engaged:

Many Recipients Open Emails Because of Catchy Headlines

Emailing effective newsletters does not have to be complicated or obtrusive as a busy physical therapist. Action words, verbs, and catchy headline can bring about positive results. Try to incorporate these in each of your headlines and ask yourself if it sounds like an email you’d want to open if it arrived in your inbox. If the answer is “no,” you should change the headline to something more appealing.

It’s All in the Name

Email marketing agencies and software allows you to create highly-personalized emails with each patient’s name and information. Studies have shown that click-through rates are actually much higher when your patient’s name is in the subject line. This sort of lead generation is a powerful way to keep patients coming back in the long term, which is much easier to do than reeling in new patients. As a form of lead generation, email newsletters are a highly effective form of patient retention.

Newsletters Allow You to Segment and Maintain Relationships with Your Patients

Segmenting is the process of breaking up your subscribers into smaller subgroups, creating highly engaging newsletters with a relevant call to action. Email marketing agencies can help you build and create sign-up forms that allow you to monitor who signed up to your newsletters, which can effectively track their interests. You can use segmenting and specialized subgroups to create highly appealing emails pertaining to recent news, upcoming events or the impact that you have in the local community.

[pullquote2 textColor=”#000000″]You don’t want to be the type of business that reaches out to patients only in times of need; instead, you want to bet he omnipresent physical therapist that is willing to advise and is the go-to person for the latest in your medical community.[/pullquote2] As a physical therapist, your focus should always be on maintaining relationships and underlining the importance of physical health. You don’t want to be the type of business that reaches out to patients only in times of need; instead, you want to bet he omnipresent physical therapist that is willing to advise and is the go-to person for the latest in your medical community. The key is to providing email newsletters that are valuable and different than other written content. Newsletters should be unique and related but a separate identity from your blog and website.

Importance of Mobile-Optimized Email Physical Therapy Newsletters

The amount of emails opened on smartphones has jumped from 8% in 2011 to 53% in 2014, and that ratio increases every year. It’s important to consider the mobile friendliness of your newsletters. Email-responsive designs will future-proof the promotional aspect of your career. With only 19% of marketers utilizing a responsive email design, it’s integral that you utilize this sort of technology. Make sure to work with an agency that understands the importance of using mobile-friendly newsletters to distribute informative content.

[info_box]To learn more about how E-Rehab can jump-start your website SEO, physical therapy newsletters and social media marketing, contact us or follow us @erehab.[/info_box]