Creative and effective physical therapy marketing is essential to your physical therapy business. Nitin Chhoda emphasizes reasons why marketing your practice is not actually an expense, unless you already have a big number of patients coming in.
All of your physical therapy marketing goals should be broken down into manageable pieces. While it is important to start with a big picture, long-term visions for the practice, your goals are what will take you there.
Make some five-year goals as well as your retirement goals. Consider the short-term goals of the practice as well as long-term goals. If you can see a broader set of goals, you will always know what you are working towards.
But to get there, you’ll have to break things down into smaller and smaller pieces of your physical therapy marketing plan and business that are actually attainable.
If you know when you want to retire and how much money you want to have in your retirement account by that time, you can figure out just how much money you need to make each year. But will your clinic support that figure for you the way things are going right now?
Physical Therapy Marketing: More Important Now Than Ever
Some managers and owners of small private practices opt to cut the physical therapy marketing budget at the first signs of trouble. It seems that physical therapy marketing is often overlooked because there seem to be so many more important things to do and to budget for.
However, getting through a financial squeeze may depend on the effectiveness of your physical therapy marketing campaign.
Naturally, if you’re not having trouble bringing in new patients, physical therapy marketing may not be a necessity. But the thing about a physical therapy practice is that most clients only need or want your services for a set period of time. So each time a patient moves on, you need to be ready to fill that space with a new client.
Physical Therapy Marketing Techniques
There are a couple of physical therapy marketing tactics that work fairly well for people in this particular market.
The first is to aim your physical therapymarketing campaign towards clients who simply want to get healthy and stay healthy.
Reminding folks that they can benefit from physical therapy even when they are not injured can be powerful.
The second strategy is to engage other healthcare practices in a mutually beneficial referral agreement.
Physical therapists are used to getting referrals from surgeons and specialists, but these days the referrals are going the other way around, too.
Physical therapy is sometimes the first form of healthcare that a patient tries when something doesn’t seem quite right. When the physical therapy practice determines that their patient needs another kind of doctor, you should know who you are going to refer your patients to.
Incorporating Short-Term Strategies into Long-Term Goals
More than anything, remember that every part of your physical therapy marketing campaign should support your short- and long-term goals. A steady stream of patients translates into a steady stream of income.
If you can keep your long-term personal income goals in mind, you can design your practice so that you get the best results for everyone involved. Patients and staff will benefit from a physical therapy marketing campaign that keeps goals in mind.
