The number one role of a business owner is to figure out how to get customers. The next role is how to keep them happy and then how to get more customers!
If you want to grow your physiotherapy practice, there are three key strategies to implement in your business to help you grow the bottom line.
- Marketing to New Customers
- Marketing to Existing or Past Customers
- Marketing to other Health Care Professionals
Every physiotherapy marketing plan should have a number of actions under each of those headings in order to bring more clients to your practice. Let’s look at some of your options.
Marketing to New Customers
First step is to identify your target audience. Who do you want to attract into the practice.? Who do you want to work with Sports Injury and Rehab or is it Gerontology, is it Cancer and Lymphedema Treatments or Post Surgery Rehab? Once you have identified the WHO then you work on the HOW.
The HOW is actually very easy once you know the WHO. You simply just ask yourself what are the channels that that audience are using. The typical channels used by physios are
- Social Media Posting
- Social Media Advertising
- Local Advertising in Newspapers or Radio
- Public Relations
- Networking
- Sponsorship
- Speaking at events or with Groups
Marketing to Existing or Past Customers
There are two ways that your current and past patients can help you. They can either come back for more treatment or they can refer others to you for treatment.
In order to get customers to refer onto others we can either directly ask them for referrals. We can also look at ways to go beyond what they expect from their treatment so that they can’t help but talk about you to others because they have been so happy with what you have done with them.
Clients that I have worked with have done a range of different things with their clients from simple things like surprising them with treats at the reception or creating personalised branded programmes for the clients.
Creating and maintaining contact with your clients via email newsletters or useful guides sent out to their homes are different ways that you can engage with your past clients and keep your practice front of mine.
Marketing to Other Health Care Professionals
One of the biggest pieces of feedback that we get from clients is that GP referrals is a great source of referral business ranging anywhere from 10% to 30% of the client base. We also get feedback that sometimes practice owners do not get the time to do discharge letters or have any regular communication with their local GPs or relevant hospital consultants.
The key to marketing is steady and consistent communications. Think about how you can create a system of communication to the GP and HCP community in your region. How can you add value into their world with the information that you provide to them.
So what actions are you going to take? Are you going to start doing Facebook Advertising or pushing your business name out via PR? Are you going to engage with your past clients to remind them you are there? Are you going to plan out a clear action plan on how you are going to communicate with your fellow medical practitioners?
ABOUT DIGITAL PRACTICE
Led by Marketing expert, Muireann Fitzmaurice, DigitalPractice.ie is a social media agency that creates branded social media content for professional practice owners. It is a subscription service that provides physiotherapy-based content to the practice owner on a monthly basis that can be used on all social media channels. Saving you time and headspace each month to concentrate on other areas of the business.
