Direct Access Marketing for Rural Practices

As more and more states pass legislation allowing direct access to PT services, practices should start planning and incorporating strategies to market direct access to their patients. Our last blog post on direct access talked through how to market this opportunity in a way that is favorable for both patient and doctor relationships. This post is tailored for rural practices, which are ideal candidates to benefit from direct access marketing.

Rural PT practices can either be located in communities with low populations or those with wide spread residents, common in farming and ranching regions. These communities tend to have high rates of self-employment, such as family farmers or ranchers, or other residents with varying degrees of health care and insurance. For these populations, direct access can mean the difference between seeking physical therapy services or trying to managing pain with OTC treatments. Especially for persons with jobs that are physically intensive, proper physical therapy treatments are essential to mediating and recovering from pain or injury.

Your practice’s direct access marketing should be informative and transparent to be effective for both your business goals and patients’ needs. Direct access can be a confusing concept for patients to grasp and may involve careful coordination of insurance and billing to avoid unexpected charges. When planning your campaign’s messaging and content, incorporate these key features:

• Define direct access. The APTA provides, “Direct access means the removal of the physician referral mandated by state law to access physical therapists’ services for evaluation and treatment.” But most patients will benefit from a contextual definition. Try saying, “Direct access laws allow patients to seek physical therapy services without requiring a physician’s referral.”
• Explain the benefits. Most patients will not understand the advantages of direct access from the definition alone. Use a list of bullets to help illustrate why direct access matters, such as “Direct access benefits include:”
  • Eliminate the need for an extra appointment with a physician.
  • No referral required.
  • Save money by avoiding physician co-pays and fees.
  • Save time and get treatment sooner by coming directly to the physical therapist.
• Describe the PT process and results. Some patients may not be fully aware of what PT is and how it achieves results. Your direct access marketing should include a short paragraph about physical therapy, how it works, and what benefits it can provide.
• Be transparent. While many states allow direct access, not all insurance plans are as accepting. Make sure to reference that your practice will verify that the patient’s plan allows or reimburses PT without a physician referral. And that you can answer any questions about payment and financing options. This shows the patient that you really care about them both physically and financially. And avoids confusion and upset from unexpected bills or expenses.
• Use positive, inspiring imagery. Physical therapy marketing often uses from a mix of pain and success images. Direct access marketing needs to be benefit or achievement focused. Add pictures of people being active, smiling, returning to work etc.

Direct access marketing is more than just getting new patients—it is about expanding your service network to populations that may have not be able to receive care before now. These individuals will be more likely to take advantage of direct access if they understand physical therapy and its outcomes. This is also a great opportunity to build loyalty as direct access allows patients to really see anyone for PT with being influenced by their physician and referral. By providing an easy, pleasant experience and high-quality care, you can turn these new populations into repeat patients who see you for all their physical therapy needs.

The post Direct Access Marketing for Rural Practices appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1QuKmJh
via IFTTT

Patient Engagement Strategies for Practice Newsletters

Is your practice creating and sending monthly newsletters or e-newsletters to patients? You and your team might spend several hours preparing the articles and content, but is that what patients want to read and does it encourage them to see you for PT. Your direct marketing, especially practice newsletters, needs effective patient engagement strategies to be truly viable and drive business for your clinic.

Patient engagement strategies can include newsletter content, e-newsletters, email marketing, social media marketing, incentive programs etc. These strategies should have different tactical approaches and might be segmented to best fit the target audience. However, all patient engagement strategies should share a common goal—to get patients to make appointments for physical therapy.

For your practice newsletter (and e-newsletters), this goal can be achieved by providing relevant content that patients want to read, can interact with, and that demonstrates the benefits of PT. Most practice newsletters follow a similar format or template each month, which creates economies in terms of marketing planning and content creation. This also sets the reader (aka patient) up to know what to expect from your newsletter. For example, the New York Times runs the same sections every day. Subscribers know that they can find headlines on the front page, business, sports, fashion, and lifestyle news inside. There are also operational sections for real estate, classifieds and advertisements. For special events, such as a presidential election, there might be a special section to provide additional coverage of key topics.

For your practice’s newsletter, establishing these sections is the first step in your patient engagement strategy. Every newsletter should have at least one article that dives into a medical condition or physical therapy treatment, such as back pain or shoulder pain. But what else should you be sharing with readers? Take a look at some ideas:

• Exercises are a great tool and educational asset to share with patients. You can either match the exercise series to the newsletter topic or provide total body exercises. Try to have these fit on a single page of the newsletter so that patients can tear off and save for future use.
• Patient testimonials share your patients’ results and add credibility to your care. Try to find testimonials that are descriptive and meaningful, avoiding those generic one liners. Also, consider having a featured patient of the month—someone who is being discharged and has really seen great results in PT. Take that patient’s photo with their therapist and add that to your newsletter. You can also have a Patient of the Month wall in the office with framed photos of the winners.
• Upcoming events can engage patients who might not be ready to come back to PT, but who want to stay involved with your practice. Add a list of the next month’s events to your newsletter and include icons or images to break up the text. If you have more than 5 events, prioritize only the top ones to include in the newsletter. It can become information overload to see 10 events listed.
• Staff spotlights help introduce new and current staff to your patients. Be sure to include office and administrative staff as well. Often they are the voice on the other end of the phone and being able to put a face to the name helps patients feel connected with your practice.
• Healthy tips can be truly helpful if they are meaningful and new. Try to tie in seasonal tips or ones that are specific to your patient population. Have snowy winters? Do a tip list for shoveling snow and include both PT related and general advice, such as how to shovel and how long to stay outside in the cold. If you have a lot of senior patients, consider a list of rainy day ideas for playing with grandchildren or recommendations for kid’s movies to watch with grandma and grandpa.

Your practice marketing and patient engagement strategies need to be tailored to your clinic and its patients. Successful campaigns are those that are relevant, fun, and informative. Focus on local events or activities, seasonal content, and demographic specific information to really see results from your monthly newsletter. Want a content and patient engagement strategies assessment from our expert team? Give us a call today!

The post Patient Engagement Strategies for Practice Newsletters appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1M7Cgyn
via IFTTT

Recruiting and Growing Your PT Practice

Managing your PT practice goes beyond marketing and converting new patients into loyal, lifelong customers. Your practice is, at its core, a business and needs to recruit and maintain the best possible employees. From front office staff to physical therapists, your team significantly contributes to the effectiveness and success of your practice.

The key to sustaining a fantastic team is continuously recruiting via direct mail and online marketing.

Now, that might sound strange—you already have a great team, why keep recruiting? Because you need to keep marketing your practice’s name and expertise to stay current and present in the PT practice landscape. Think about this—a new clinic opens up in town and sends out recruitment mailers. Your staff receives the mailers and starts to take note of the new clinic. Even if none of them are interested in the positions available, they still took notice of the new clinic and might mention the opening to their friends and family. Thus, this recruiting mailer may not have attracted new staff members, but it did generate PR and interest about the clinic.

Let’s look at some strategies to both recruit talented staff and market your practice to the larger community:

• Continue advertising for professional and key positions such as front desk, even if not currently needed.
• Have a contact mailing list of professional staff (PT, PTA, OT, etc.) from a large enough area surrounding your practice.
• Direct mail every 1-2 months to the list, ideally promotions on hiring, or PR actions such as your practice newsletters. Increase the frequency when a position is needed.
• Have a dedicated career page on your website that is promoted in direct mail. Make it interesting, exciting and showcasing the personality of your staff. Have pictures of staff interacting with one another and patients.
• Leverage contracts with universities and colleges, setting up internship programs to discover talented new graduates.

These recruiting strategies can do more than market your practice—they can also help moderate swings in patient volumes and improve overall business planning.

For example, every practice has a busy season whether it’s a surge of patients in September and October or maybe you sponsor a softball team and have spikes during spring training. These seasons can make or break your clinic—more patients mean more appointments booked which can increase your waitlist for new patients. By proactively maintaining recruiting campaigns throughout the year, you can attract additional staff resources such as an extra receptionist for extended evening hours or more PTAs who can work weekend sports clinics. This slight increase in staffing can support your practice’s growth for both the short and long terms.

Visit our product page for more ideas on recruiting and marketing your practice to PT professionals or give us a call! We have years of experience helping practice owners grow their business.

The post Recruiting and Growing Your PT Practice appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1NdWuIh
via IFTTT

The PT Patient Funnel from Commitment to Referral

Our last blog post described the PT patient funnel from Introduction to Investigation to Decision. Introduction is the phase when a prospect first hears about your practice either from a friend, family member, physician, or even online. This is also when the prospect identifies that they have a need or want for PT services. Next, the prospect begins researching (the Investigation stage) physical therapy as one of several treatment options and also looks into your competitors to determine which PT clinic is the best fit. Lastly, the prospect has all the information and context needed to make their Decision—to make an appointment for PT. This decision phase is critical to the success of your practice. Once the decision to make an appointment is made, now the PT patient funnel is solely controlled by you, your practice, and the new patient.

Now that a new patient appointment is booked, you and the patient transition into the Commitment stage of the funnel. The time between booking and the actual appointment is your practice’s opportunity to really “wow” the patient with both your customer service and marketing. Use your website to streamline the new patient process from having FAQs or frequently asked questions available to help new patients know what to expect to having forms available to download and complete prior to the visit.

On the day of the first appointment, the patient needs to have a truly easy and comfortable experience. The front desk and PT staff can provide welcomed support to the patient as they start their initial evaluation. Everything from an informative new patient packet to a clean and attractive facility add value to a patient. Now, you still have to sell them on your full treatment plan—remember, the last two phases of the PT patient funnel are largely owned and directed by the clinic experience.

Once the patient leaves your office, they have to convince a spouse or family member that spending the money for deductibles or copays at your practice is a wise investment for them. They also will revisit your website and social media to verify they are making the right decision. This is where online reviews can really matter. Often past patients will leave a review about how they feel after therapy. You want to make sure that these online reviews are accurate (even if they aren’t positive). Even a negative review can be a public relations win if you respond to it appropriately and demonstrate how much you care about your patients, present and past. After discussing with family, confirming their online research, and verifying with insurance, the patient is now ready to commit to physical therapy treatments at your clinic.

The last stage of the PT patient funnel is Referral—the essential component of any successful business. You want patients, past and present, to continue to rave about their successes with your PT and to send their friends and family to you for care. Additionally, if the patient was referred to you by a physician, you want them to report back about their improvement health and mobility. This will encourage the physician to send future patients needing PT to your clinic.

To support the referral stage of the funnel, there needs to be an emphasis in the clinic on asking for referrals and giving print materials that make it easy for current patients to refer. Furthermore, promotions and engagement on Facebook and Twitter can make it easy for patients to share your information with friends and family, driving those potential referrals back to your website.

The PT patient funnel is ultimately circular from Referral to Introduction—the feedback and recommendations of current patients supports the sharing of your.  clinic’s information with friends, family, and doctors. To learn more about the patient funnel and how to best market your physical therapy practice, sign up for a free download of our 7 Secrets to Attracting New Patients through Online and Social Media.

The post The PT Patient Funnel from Commitment to Referral appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1MWrdvL
via IFTTT

Practice Marketing Plan and Checklist

Every physical therapy practice needs a marketing plan. Your practice marketing plan should include branding, public relations, patient reactivation and referrals, physician networking, patient communications, and staff recruiting.

The below infographic gives you a checklist to developing your own practice marketing plan and assets. For more information and to get started marketing your PT practice- call us today!

The post Practice Marketing Plan and Checklist appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1Lr7n7H
via IFTTT

Inside the Patient Funnel for Physical Therapy

Every consumer focused industry has a funnel or a process that maps consumer interactions and decisions prior to conversion. That might sound complicated, but at its core—the funnel can be your guide to analyzing and conquering that ever present goal of getting more new patients. We will be diving deeper into the patient funnel below and to learn more, sign up for a free download of our 7 Secrets to Attracting New Patients through Online and Social Media.

Think about a typical retail sales funnel: the customer first hears about your brand, company, or product via marketing, referrals, or organic searching. The customer might visit your website to see product details or learn more about your company’s mission and policies. They also often visit third-party websites or information sources to solicit reviews and make comparisons. Commonly, the opinions and experiences of friends and family can heavily influence customer decisions. Now the customer can make a choice whether to buy your product—if they do, you have continued opportunities to build brand loyalty; if they don’t, they might knowingly (or unknowingly) re-enter your funnel in a different way at a later date.

For physical therapy practices, the patient funnel has five key stages: Introduction, Investigation, Decision, Commitment, and Referral. Let’s explore each to see how your marketing can optimize that stage of the funnel.

Introduction: prospects (aka potential patients) find you via a friend, family member, doctor referral, social media share or online search engine. This introduction can be driven by a need “my back hurts and I need PT” or by a want “my back hurts and I want a way to feel better”. At this stage of the funnel, your practice’s marketing should be able to speak to both the need and the want.

Investigation: this is the researching phase of the funnel. The prospect will probably conduct auxiliary research. They have to think about whether or not physical therapy and your clinic are the right choice over medicine, physicians, tests, or surgeries. Once the prospect has decided that PT is the right treatment for them, then they will most likely check out a number of local clinics—both yours and your competitors.

One of the key elements in the investigation stage is visiting your website. We stress that website pages should explain the condition first; then demonstrate how PT can help the patient feel better. This strategy works! Those with a need can verify that PT is the right step for them, and those with a want can learn how PT can help them achieve their goal. Additionally, your brand has to speak to them and their emotions, getting them to decide that you and your clinic are the right choice. Patient testimonials, social media marketing, and online reviews can be very persuasive in this softer, more emotional research. Being able to relate to other patients, who have succeeded in their PT, helps drive the prospect into making a decision.

Decision: the decision making process flows from the investigation outputs. Both the informative and educational research about what is physical therapy and how it can help the prospect and the empathy research stemming from personal connections and emotions determine the next step. Once a prospect decides to make an appointment with your clinic for PT, your website can help affirm that decision. A Make Appointment form is critical to executing that decision—you need convert the prospect into a patient at the exact time that they make their own decision to come to your clinic. Converted prospects also want to be able to verify that their insurance is accepted and many prefer to complete referral and new patient forms in advance to save time at the clinic.

The patient funnel does not stop at the decision stage. Now, you need the patient to commit to your treatment plan and refer their friends and family to your clinic. These last two phases will be covered in depth in our next blog post!

To learn more about the patient funnel and how to best market your physical therapy practice, sign up for a free download of our 7 Secrets to Attracting New Patients through Online and Social Media.

The post Inside the Patient Funnel for Physical Therapy appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1MGHKF5
via IFTTT

Best Practices for Direct Mail Marketing to Physicians

As the healthcare and insurance landscapes continue to change, physical therapy practices can struggle to secure and maintain referral relationships with physicians. We all know the story—your marketing manager calls the office to set up a visit and the receptionist says “I’m sorry we are no longer seeing medical or pharmaceutical representatives for office visits”. Now what? How can you keep the referrals flowing in when the front door has been shut?

If a physician’s office is no longer seeing reps, then you need to find another way to get your clinic’s marketing in front of the doctor. And guess who your new messenger can be—the good ole United States Postal Service! Come healthcare changes and insurance woes, the USPS continues to go…and delivers mail to the doctor offices. So why not ramp up your direct mail marketing campaigns?

Physician mailers can take a variety of forms from postcards to tri-folds brochures to mini-newsletters. The key objective is to mail a piece of practice marketing that has content and calls to action specifically tailored to a doctor audience.

Tips for Direct Mail Marketing to Physicians

Don’t send letters. Doctors’ office receive dozens of letters a week, usually from insurance companies, hospital groups etc. Adding one more letter from your practice to the stack does not guarantee that the doctor will even see it (or open it). Think beyond the white envelope and into a mailed piece that stands out.

Use a different paper size and weight. If there are 10 letters in the stack and one postcard, printed on a thicker material and in a different size and shape, the postcard will get noticed first. Practice Promotions uses this strategy with all our mailed marketing. From glossy, heavy weight postcards in non-traditional sizes to full-color, sturdy trifold physician mailers to silky, magazine-like newsletters, we know that our colorful, textural marketing pieces stand out.

Use targeted medical messaging and imagery. This might seem like a no-brainer, but using generic stock photos of doctors is only halfway there. Think about your physician mailer list—who will be receiving your mailer and what are their demographics. For example, if you are sending a mailer about post-surgical rehabilitation- consider using a mix of imagery that includes surgeons and physicians. Or if you are in a rural community that has mostly nurse practitioners, consider using more nurses than doctors in your images. People are more likely to open a mailer that they can relate and respond to. So by providing a visual image that is similar to the recipient, you increase the open rate for your campaign.

Be genuine and specific. Physicians are one of the more heavily marketed groups so your mailer needs to be unique to your PT practice. Consider adding real statistics to your content and finding testimonials that show how well you can make patients feel. Say you treat a lot of worker’s compensation cases—you know how many of your patients were able to return to work after leaving your care. Start marketing your practice as a “Worker’s Compensation Specialist” with a verifiable claim like “over 85% of our patients are able to return to work”. This gives real context and value to what doctors can achieve by sending their patients to you!

Physician mailers should take a variety of shapes and sizes, use appropriate content, and are effective at getting more referrals for PT. Call us today to see how our marketing experts can help you choose a mailer that meets your practice needs!

The post Best Practices for Direct Mail Marketing to Physicians appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1NZnCNA
via IFTTT

How to Write Brand Guidelines for Your Practice

The mark of a truly exceptional brand is the uniformity and consistency that aligns all its marketing and assets. Think about brands that you can recognize anywhere like Coca Cola, Ford, Amazon, or even Starbucks. Whether or not you like and support these brands, you can identify them right away. There are even mobile apps and trivia games based solely around recognizing iconic brands’ logos and fonts.

Why Do PT Practices Need Brand Guidelines?

As a practice owner, you want to ensure that all representations of your business are accurate and on point (or “on brand”). This goes beyond just your marketing and includes marketing content from other organizations too. Say your practice pays annual fees to be featured in various local marketing—your Chamber of Commerce directory, church bulletin, YMCA program guide, and local community college registry. Each year you send them your business information and logo to be placed on their marketing, and usually that’s all the input. You don’t necessarily receive a rough draft of their marketing materials before they are printed, so it’s almost impossible to check for mistakes.

Now, if you had brand guidelines, then you could send those to the organization as a check point to ensure their marketing is on brand for your practice. Even if you don’t get to review the rough drafts, the organization has a document that shows exactly how you want your practice to be represented. (And if they don’t follow your brand guidelines, you might be able to ask for a reprint or refund).

What Are Brand Guidelines?

Brand guidelines can take a variety of forms, but the easiest is to create Word document with how your logo and business need to be presented. Typical brand guidelines will include:

• Logos: types, sizes, colors, and requirements. Be specific—a good graphic designer will know exactly what hex colors your logo uses, what the minimum size is (if your logo is too small or squished it could be hard to read), and how it looks best.
• Name Conventions: most practices have a full, legal business name and several variations of that name. Your brand guidelines should state which names can be used and how. For example, if you have a small or iconic logo, then you would typically want your full business name used so that people can identify your practice. Or, some practices often drop the LLC or other suffix to simplify their name. Lastly, if your practice uses an abbreviated name, then you want to be specific about what that abbreviation is and when to use it.
• Digital Media: website URL, social media accounts etc. For digital marketing, this could include links to your account profiles. For print media, this could include the platform’s icon followed by your account. A common mistake is printing a campaign with social media icons and not including your account profiles. For print campaigns, the icons should always be followed by the account (@PracticePromos for Twitter) or URL (http://ift.tt/1SoS5q2).
• Contact Information: address, phone number, fax number etc. By providing your contact information, you avoid that risk that someone could look it up and inadvertently insert the wrong information. If you address has a suite or unit #, be sure to include that in the correct formatting. For practice’s that have multiple phone numbers such as a dedicated appointment line or referral coordinator, you can include all relevant numbers in your brand guidelines. However, it can be helpful to say “for general marketing communications use: XXX-XXX-XXXX” to avoid any confusion. Keep the area code with the number to streamline calls. For fax numbers, generally these aren’t need for marketing purposes unless you are targeting physicians. Include a rule on when fax numbers are needed to avoid having too much contact information.

Creating your practice’s brand guidelines can provide internal marketing benefits as well. If you hire new marketing staff, they have immediate access to all your information and styles. Consider keeping separate internal brand guidelines that include a list of logins (usernames and passwords) for your website’s CMS, social media profiles etc. so that access can be maintained.

For help creating your brand guidelines and marketing plans, contact our expert team today! We can streamline your marketing and operations, saving you time and money.

The post How to Write Brand Guidelines for Your Practice appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1NrZJjq
via IFTTT

Social Media Management Software for PTs

As your practice starts to expand it digital marketing channels from the clinic’s website to email campaigns to social media, it can become challenging to keep up with all the different messages. Your social media marketing alone might include three or more platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. What is the best way to manage your social media without spending ton of money? Start using a social media management software like HootSuite!

Social media management software is a web-based program that integrates across different platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.) and allows for content planning, post scheduling, and analytics.

The team at Practice Promotions has experimented with several different services, but ultimately chose HootSuite as the best program for both our company’s social media management and our clients. Before we dive too deeply into HOotSuite, let’s look at some key features to help you choose a social media management program that works for your practice.

Key Features for Social Media Management

Integration across major platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google +. Most physical therapy practices are active on at least Facebook and Twitter. The ability to connect and manage those accounts from one program is key to effective social media management. Note: some programs may offer a set number of platforms for free (HootSuite offers 3 free) and then may charge for adding more platforms. A great workaround to save some costs is to use a management program for the maximum number of free platforms and then manually schedule posts for others. However, this will increase the time needed to manage your social media so weigh the pros and cons of budgeting costs versus time.

Advanced scheduling for posts can solve for much of the day to day work that goes into marketing your practice on social media. Management programs should offer the opportunity to schedule posts for either individual networks (ie. Facebook) or for groups of networks (ie. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn). If you are scheduling three posts per week, you can schedule the entire month (12 posts) in roughly 30 minutes!

URL shrinking is beneficial for platforms, such as Twitter, that restrain characters in individual posts. Some social media management programs incorporate a tool into the post creation window that allows for URLs to be condensed. For example, if you want to link to your most recent blog post (http://ift.tt/1M3LaBo) then shorter URL (www.ow.ly/asd123) would be generated—saving characters so that you can increase your marketing message.

Analytics integration and reporting within the program will save you time pulling stats from multiple platforms. HootSuite allows a certain type and number of free reports and then charges for additional metrics. Even the basic reports, such as Facebook Page overview, Twitter overview, and Link Clicks, can provide excellent insights into how your social media marketing is performing.

If your practice is considering a social media management program, do your own independent research and go ahead and try a couple different ones to see which works best for your marketing. Most programs offer free trials for several months or are free (with conditions) overall so there really isn’t a cost to explore. Our team uses HootSuite and often helps set this up for our website clients as part of their monthly maintenance subscription. Give us a call to learn more!

The post Social Media Management Software for PTs appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1Sc6YvB
via IFTTT

Holiday Marketing for PT Practices

The holidays can often be a tough time of year for physical therapy practices. Patients are busy with family events, school activities, and prepping for the holidays. This usually leaves going to PT pretty low on the To Do list. How can practices plan to offset the end of year slow down? The answer: with holiday marketing campaigns!

Holiday Marketing Plans

The season’s major holidays might be at the end of December, but the holiday season can start as early as Halloween. Think about your local superstores—they start selling Christmas trees the first week of November. The best way to start planning for your December and early January marketing is to look back at last year’s stats for those months. When did you start to see a decline in patient visits? What weeks had lower numbers for doctor referrals? Remember to avoid the actual week of the holiday as your office was most likely closed for a few days or had reduced hours. Note which weeks started to trend downward and plan to offset that this year. Typically, you would want your marketing campaign to hit about three weeks before your slow week. So if the last week of November (aka Thanksgiving week) was slow, you would want your marketing to reach patients the first week of November.

Holiday Marketing Ideas

You can always use seasonal themes to market your clinic during the holidays. Fall and winter imagery, Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas etc. offer a variety of fun marketing opportunities and promotions. Some of our favorites are:

• Using images of people raking leaves or shoveling snow. These can easily relate to back pain from seasonal chores and are great reasons for people to go to PT.
• Thankful For referral incentives. During November, run a program to increase patient to patient referrals. Ask patients to refer someone who they are thankful for and, in turn, they will receive a Thank You gift card.
• Give Back and Get Back. Giving back or donating to the community is very popular during the holiday season. Coordinate with a local food bank, outreach group, or religious organization to generate good PR and community sponsorship. Have collection boxes at your clinic and run an incentive for those who donate. For example, persons who donate a toy for Toys for Tots at your clinic can get 15% off a massage or yoga class. Or, consider boosting January revenues by offering an incentive for half off personal training for those that donate to December drives.
• Done with Deductibles. Many patients will have used up their insurance deductibles by late November and December. Send a postcard reminding patients to see you for PT now that it will be mostly or entirely covered by their insurance.
• HSA and FSA Close Outs. Depending on their policy requirements, some patients will have to use (or lose) their HSA or FSA balances. Encourage patients to do so by making appointments for PT. Does your clinic offer annual facility memberships for patients to continue using your gym after their therapy has ended? This could be a great opportunity for patients to pre-pay for next year’s membership.

For more tips on holiday marketing for physical therapy practices, follow our blog and social media accounts. We love sharing tips from different industries and marketing experts!

The post Holiday Marketing for PT Practices appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1OMLLdd
via IFTTT

Website Marketing to Increase Doctor Referrals

When creating your physical therapy practice’s website, the primary audience in mind should most definitely be patients. Patients are most likely to come to your site for information and often determine whether they want to see you for PT based on your content. In addition to patients, doctors or their office staff can use your website as a tool to decide whether to refer patients to you. It is important that when creating your website, you consider doctors as a secondary audience and tailor your website marketing to their needs.

Best Practices for Website Marketing to Doctors

What do doctors value most when visiting a PT clinic’s website? First, they expect to see a well-designed website that functions flawlessly. A site that is mobile-optimized and responsive is very helpful as many doctors use a smartphone or tablet device as they move between appointments. Doctors also appreciate clearly labeled navigation—if you have specific content for the medical professional, use a direct menu label like “For Physicians” to help them easily find their content.

When it comes to content, doctors like to be able to quickly determine if you practice provides the right type of therapy for their patient. Including a list of your services with links to the corresponding services pages give both the high level overview and detailed descriptions that doctors need before referring patients. The content on these services pages, though tailored to patients, should convey expertise and authority on the treatment provided.

In addition to the doctor, the office’s staff may visit your website to help coordinate referrals. The staff benefits most from being able to accomplish tasks online versus having to call your office. A web form can be a great tool to allow offices to submit a referral request online. Include fields for the patient’s name and telephone number, the doctor’s name and telephone number, and a write in field for specifics or notes. Ensure that once submitted, this form goes to an inbox that is regularly checked, such as the front desk or referral coordinator. Train your staff to take action upon receiving these emails—prepare a listing of available appointments and call the patient right away to get them scheduled for PT. Remember to call the office back as well to thank them for the referral and to gather any additional information for intake.

Lastly, a list of insurances that you accept and whether you take cash can be helpful for doctors and their staff. Patients have a much better experience if they know in advance whether your office accepts their insurance. We recommend always including a disclaimer “Insurance plans accepted are subject to change. Please call our office to confirm your plans acceptance,” just in case.

When we design a PT website, our team looks at the full range of uses and benefits for patients, doctors, and the public. Call our team today to get a free website review and to learn how your website marketing can start bringing in more revenue to your practice!

The post Website Marketing to Increase Doctor Referrals appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1OJgeJd
via IFTTT

How to Maximize Your Sponsorships with Marketing

A huge part of a practice marketing plan often involves partnering with and sponsoring local community events and organizations. From little league teams to seasonal running races, sponsorships are a great PR opportunity to showcase your expertise and dedication to local residents and businesses. But, many practice owners shy away from sponsorships due to bad past experiences—lack of return on investment, poor planning from the organization, or conflicting interests with other parties. How can you take advantage of sponsorship opportunities and avoid all the stress?

Set a Business Plan and Goals

Taking the time to plan what you hope to achieve for your practice will guide your expectations and evaluation of the sponsorship opportunity. Formulate goals that are quantifiable, such as “I want to get 10 new patients from sponsoring the 5K race”. Then compare these goals against the costs, in terms of both time and money, to be a sponsor. For example, you need to pay $1,000 to be a sponsor + $500 on marketing supplies (brochures, giveaways etc.) + $200 to pay your PTs for working the race day tent, a total cost of $1,700. Now compare this cost to your goal (10 patients at $100 profit per visit times 6 visits = is $6,000). That’s $4,300 to be gained from this sponsorship.

Develop a Sponsorship Contract

What are your expectations for the sponsorship? These can range from general to specific. Think first about your marketing opportunities—most events do pre-event marketing as well as during the event, you want your practice to be included (and in the right placement) during these promotions. Establish requirements that suit your practice’s plan and goals, such as your logo and business name needs to be included on all posters and on the race bib. If there are digital communications to participants, your logo and link to your website should be included in these as well. Be sure to get these expectations in writing and get agreement with the event team.

Advice from the pros- make sure that the event team is also the marketing team. Sometimes the race might be managed by a local organization, but the marketing is created by the larger race company (say Tough Mudder or Spartan Race). Be sure that your agreement is valid with all operational parties

Do Your Own Marketing

No one knows your practice and its brand as well as you do. Marketing the sponsorship in your own campaigns and promotions is a must! Add information about the event to the follow channels to really see results:

• Newsletters
• Postcards
• Social Media (make a Facebook event)
• Emails and e-Newsletters
• Website Event or Blog Post
• Office Flyers and Posters

Also, watch for cross-promotional opportunities on digital channels. If the event sends out an email or social post, share it with your patients and on your own social media. Link to the event website directly from your blog post to make it easy for patrons to sign up.

Sponsorships can be an excellent marketing opportunity and way for your practice to get more new patients. Let our expert team help you with your next event—we can build a custom marketing package to suit your needs and ensure results!

The post How to Maximize Your Sponsorships with Marketing appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1Lznp0p
via IFTTT

How to Handle Phone Calls with Upset Patients

One of the most challenging parts of your staff’s job is handling upset patients. These communications most often occur over the phone and can escalate quickly, taking time away from other patients and responsibilities. Think back to the last time an upset patient called in, maybe they were surprised by their bill or annoyed that their appointment was rescheduled, and how that call impacted your office staff.

Now most phone training is customer or patient focused—what does the customer want or need, how do they feel etc. But, is that really the most important issue at hand? Think about this call from the lens of your front desk and other patients. The front desk answers the phone to hear an upset patient and immediately goes into crisis mode, solving for the problem as quickly as possible to calm the patient down and to be able to end the unpleasant phone call. The call might last 5-10 minutes and often results in a marginally satisfied patient, a frazzled receptionist, and a waiting room full of uncomfortable patients who have just listened to a one-sided version of the call. How can you avoid these situations, while still helping the patient reach resolution and ultimately, a neutral to positive emotional state? Let’s look at some tips and training that might help…

Tips for Resolving Patient Phone Calls

• Train your staff to transfer the call once the appropriate recipient is identified. For example, if your front desk handles scheduling and check-ins and billing is handled by a different staff member, then get the upset patient to billing pronto! The patient might really want to have someone listen to them vent about their bill, but that shouldn’t be your receptionist.
• Have a warm transfer to avoid unnecessary repetition and frustration. If the patient needs to speak with billing, train your front desk to place the patient on a brief hold while they establish the transfer. Simply dialing the extension and switching the line doesn’t set up a great customer experience. Instead, use the hold time to 1) call billing and ensure someone is available to talk and 2) give the billing team a heads up and important information (name, file number etc.) so that they are prepared to handle the call effectively.
• Take the call in private especially if your front desk is within full hearing of the waiting room. Always have an additional line or portable phone in a quiet room where the staff can handle the call discretely. Remember that access to computer records might be important, so ensure that a laptop or additional computer is available.
• Report out on difficult calls or patients so that management has full context of the conversation. If a staff member spends 20+ minutes on the phone with an upset patient that should be documented and shared with the owner and manager. This helps provide transparency and allows management to know when they need to follow up. Great customer service can be achieved when the owner personally calls a disgruntled patient to check in and make sure their needs were met. Your team will also feel supported and empowered that you are taking a vested interest in the communications.
• Know when to take a message. If a patient calls back several times to complain or starts to begin aggravated, train your staff to politely take a message, “I’m sorry, our patient coordinator is unavailable at this time. I can take a message and they will reach out to you within the next business day,” will end the call before things get heated and allow the patient time to cool off. This might feel counter-intuitive, but sometimes silence and “space” are the best tools to dealing with a difficult situation.

Your front desk is the “front-line” of your practice. From keeping the clinic operating smoothly to handling patients, the front desk needs to be on their A-game. A difficult patient or upsetting phone call can throw things out of balance. Training and supporting your staff, while helping the patient seek resolution, can ease tensions and leave all parties feeling respected and comforted.

For more help with patient relations, check out our blog posts or call our account management team. We have years of practical experience in managing PT practices and patient communications.

The post How to Handle Phone Calls with Upset Patients appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1N0ciAe
via IFTTT

Designing Business Cards for the Modern PT

SEO Keywords for Physical Therapy Websites

When it comes to your PT website, SEO or search engine optimization is critical to the success of your digital marketing. An effective SEO strategy helps your website rank higher in natural search. Now that might sound like marketing jargon, but in simple terms—planning for your keywords and SEO will help your website show up higher on the page in Google and other search engines. There are numerous components that go into your search engine performance, but let’s focus on keywords.

SEO keywords are the single word or set of words that each page within your website is indexed for in search engines.

Think about SEO keywords as a traditional textbook index. If you wanted to find “spinal stenosis” in your physical therapy textbook, you would flip to the index at the back and search for spinal stenosis. The index would tell you all the times that the words “spinal stenosis” were used and the page they were found on. Keywords function the same way for your website. Each page gets one keyword that it is indexed for by the search engines. So when someone searches “sports rehabilitation” if your page uses that as a keyword, it is more likely to show up in the search engine results.

Now there is a trick with keywords—you can overuse SEO keywords. For example, if you use “physical therapy” as the keywords for every page, then the search engine can drop your ranking for overuse. It’s might not seem fair, but sometimes you have to play the game by the other team’s rules. Let’s learn how to use keywords correctly to improve your SEO.

Best Practices for SEO Keywords

• Keep a spreadsheet of all your website’s pages and the corresponding keywords to avoid overusing any specific words or phrases.
• Check for frequency of use on the page. A keyword should be used between 5-10 times on a page with 500 words. Avoid using a keyword 30+ times.
• Include the keyword in the URL for that page. If the keyword is dry needling, make sure the page URL is .com/physical-therapy/dry-needling for example. Use a hyphen in between keywords to indicate a space (and don’t combine the keywords into a single word ie. /dryneedling as this does not work for SEO).
• Include the keyword in the title of the page. The keyword will be indexed better if it is in the title of the page and in the SEO page title (the title that shows up in search engines and is populated through your website’s content system).

Using SEO keywords correctly can be a bit experimental. Working with a professional website design and marketing team helps to eliminate the guess work and increased results. For more help with your website’s SEO keywords, request a free demo today!

The post SEO Keywords for Physical Therapy Websites appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1juWprT
via IFTTT

Using Twitter for Social Media Marketing

When it comes to your practice’s social media, Facebook is often the first platform to be utilized. Most practice owners and marketers are most familiar with Facebook from personal use, thus making it an easy adoption for clinic marketing. However, Twitter can be a great sister platform that serves a somewhat different purpose and communicates with a different audience. Twitter provides the opportunity for short, simple statements that range from hyping an incentive program to promoting a blog post to sharing an update on clinic operating hours.

Who Uses Twitter?

Twitter users vary slightly from other social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. A 2015 study from the Pew Institute shows a demographic breakdown of all social media platforms. Twitter tends to sway more towards male, under 50 years of age, college educated, and higher income. These demographic combinations differ from Facebook, which is more age neutral and lower income, and Pinterest, which is predominantly female and leans toward rural communities. So by incorporating Twitter into your social media platforms, you can start to market to a different online population.

How to Use Twitter

• Tweets: are 140 characters or less (including links) and act a Twitter’s version of a Facebook post without images. It is important to keep your tweets short and compelling to engage viewers.
• Hashtags: are the “old-school pound” or # symbol. By adding them to the front of a word or phrase, such as #PhysicalTherapy, you can automatically link your tweets to other with the same hashtag.
• RT or Re-Tweet: if you see something you like or think is interesting, RT it! This is the Twitter equivalent of Facebook’s Share feature.
• Favorite: if you like a tweet and want to maybe save it for later, you can favorite it (aka Like it in Facebook terms)
• Reply: say a patient tweets “Back to #running again thx to @ABCPT”, you can reply with “@runnergirl glad to help you get back to #running and #healthy”. Now this looks like a simple interaction and it is! Replying to a tweet is similar to replying to a text message, but on social media.
• Follow: if you see an account (in Twitter speak a “handle”) that you recognize, then follow them on Twitter. Also, if you see someone tweeting fun tips or PT advice, follow them too! A Twitter follow can lead to more exposure for your clinic.

What to Tweet

Unlike Facebook, Twitter is all about quick updates and sharing information. You can tweet several times a day (we recommend a max of 3 times) and share different content with your followers. Three types of tweets are:

• Status Update: share something new or interesting happening at the clinic. Use hashtags where appropriate to increase visibility.
  • Example: Registration for our fall #sports #camp is open! Call the office for more details 888-888-8888 #PhysicalTherapy
• Link Share: when you write a new blog post or add a new service to your website, share that link with your Twitter followers.
• Conversation/PR Update: try to RT another user’s tweet that you find fun, positive, or engaging. This builds a social network and helps to build a POV for your Twitter account.

Want more help with social media? Check out our Pinterest boards for tips, stats, and free content to get you started!

The post Using Twitter for Social Media Marketing appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1NTBivV
via IFTTT

Coupon Content Basics for Physical Therapy

Many practices routinely send patients a coupon as an incentive to get them to come to physical therapy. This coupon could be for a free screening, discount on services, promotional offer etc. However, practice owners and marketers often comment that patients do not respond or forget to use the coupon. Why? Does the coupon’s design encourage response, does the messaging make sense, and is the incentive worthwhile? If you cannot answer yes to all three of the above, then maybe it’s time to revamp your coupon.

Coupon Design Don’ts

Usually we focus on the Do’s, but with coupons it is often a challenge to know exactly what will work for your practice. Instead, we will tell you what we know to avoid in the coupon design space.

• Overcrowd the design: choose one (and only one) incentive to promote with the coupon and stick to it! It’s easy to want to add a list of all your services, hype your social media…but that only confuses the customer. Choose one message and stick with it.
• Forget key details: think carefully about the incentive you are promoting. What are the key details that can encourage response and prevent awkward confusion about redemption? Every coupon should have:
  • A clear promotion ie. Free 15 minute Injury Prevention Screening
  • An expiration date
  • Fine print for exclusions or restrictions ie. Only valid for new patients
• Create multiple versions: the best solution is to create a template for all your routine incentives and coupons. This provides consistent branding and makes it easier for you to create coupons quickly. If you want to use a coupon in your newsletter, on flyers, and on social media, then choose a design template that works with all those platforms.
• Be gimmicky with your fonts: look at sales and coupons from national brands for inspiration (we like Nordstrom’s, REI, and Apple). They don’t change their font for coupons, which keeps their promotions in line with other branded marketing. FREE (bolded, italicized, and underlined) is font styling overkill! If you want to emphasize something, choose a word or phrase (not a whole sentence) and one style like bold. This adds prominence without being gimmicky.
• Add a dashed border: the “cut along the dotted line” dashed box around a coupon is an instant throwback to 1980s grocery store circulars. Instead, choose a full color background or image that makes the coupon stand out. If you need a border (say for a black and white printed flyer), use a double line stroke with varying thicknesses to add visual weight without the dashed line.

Designing an effective coupon that gets patients into your clinic and generates revenue takes time and some degree of trial and error. If you try a new template or design, monitor the coupon’s results. Do more people respond? Does it work better on one platform versus another? Tracking your response rate is key to a successful promotional campaign and coupon design.

For more graphic design and marketing advice, contact our expert team! We have years of experience, across a variety of industries, and know how to promote your practice.

The post Coupon Content Basics for Physical Therapy appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1Fdhssr
via IFTTT

Write a Headline that Gets Patients’ Attention

Ever see a billboard along the highway that has a headline that really gets your attention? What is it about those words or phrases that draw your focus away from the road (for a split second) and make you think about the message? It could be something funny or clever, and maybe it’s “catchy” and something that you will remember. Whatever words catch your attention and makes you think for even a split second is probably a good headline.

Most physical therapy practice owners and marketers struggle to find fun and innovative ways to grab patients’ attention while maintaining a sense of authority and professionalism that is needed for a PT. How can you catch a patient’s eye, be creative, and still deliver a clear message? Focus on the headline!

Tips for Writing an Awesome Headline

• Think outside the box: if you are creating a flyer for an upcoming open house, the first headline that comes to mind might be “Come to Our September Open House”. Now this does tell the reader exactly what to do, but is it catchy or memorable? How about something fun and engaging, “You’re Invited to ‘Back to School’ Night at ABC Physical Therapy”. It’s personal, seasonal and stands out.
• Use “key” words: marketing companies, such as HubSpot, spend a lot of time researching which words perform best to get viewer’s attention and have them complete the desired action (ie. go to your clinic’s open house). Some of the best words and phrases to use are:
  • You, Your, etc.
  • How to
  • Get, Start, Learn
  • Now, Today
• Say it in 6 words or less: shorter, simpler headlines are easy to read, comprehend, and remember. Try to use at most 6 words to convey your message (excluding words like the, to, with etc. and your clinic’s name). And, if possible, start with a personal word (you, your) or a verb (get, start) to immediately engage the reader.
• Be positive: physical therapy marketing maintains a delicate balance between pain and recovery or injury and prevention. In some cases, such as article headlines or blog posts, a headline with an intentional negative, “Feeling Sore and Achy from Back Pain,” can be a good fit. But for shorter or smaller marketing campaigns: postcards, brochures, or social media, opt for positive messaging, “Get Back to Work Pain Free!” that encourages or uplifts the reader.

These tips might seem like a lot to process—be creative, use the right words, be brief, and stay positive. But try to incorporate at least one of these tips into each marketing piece and see if you notice a better response to your campaign. Small changes to your headlines can attract more readers, hold their attention, and prompt them to complete the ultimate task of making an appointment for physical therapy.

For more help with writing an effective headline and access to professionally written newsletter and website content, contact us today! We want to help you get the biggest return on investment from your PT marketing.

The post Write a Headline that Gets Patients’ Attention appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1Q4bZEN
via IFTTT

Time Management Guidelines for Practice Owners

As a private practice owner, your time is valuable and limited. Most practice owners wear many hats: physical therapist, CEO, employer, staff member, spouse, parent, friend…the list is endless. With these many hats comes a variety of responsibilities and expectations that are all critical to the success of your practice and to your achievement of personal and professional goals. How can one person do it all? The answer is planned, effective, and careful time management.

Time management for practice owners is finding a method to prioritize and perform multiple tasks while maintaining a viable work-life balance.

To some, this might sound easy. But to most, successful time management is a challenge to execute on good day let alone tough ones. True time management requires a set of plans and schedules that are both rigid and flexible and feasible (if you can’t follow your plans then your time is not well managed right?). Let’s take a look at some simple strategies to manage your time and to restore balance to your daily life.

5 Time Management Guidelines

1. List your top three priorities in life: your family, your business, and your career are probably at the top of the list. Now be more specific and think about what it means to prioritize these three things. Do you want to be a loving spouse and engaged parent, a successful business owner, and a caring PT? Breaking things down to a smaller scale can help put things in perspective.
2. Outline what you need to do to support those priorities: keep it simple with choosing 3 actions that will continuously sustain your efforts. For your business, these can be: ensure adequate patient volumes, maintain a balanced budget, and invest in staff training and operational updates.
3. Figure out how much time you need to complete these actions each week: look at parts of a day, not hours or minutes. To ensure adequate patient volumes you might need to do daily reviews of the PT appointment schedules, monitor analytics, and work on your marketing. Altogether, these three tasks might take you 1/3 of each day of the week or maybe 1 day per week.
4. Time box yourself: if you need 1 day per week to ensure adequate patient volumes, then block a day from seeing patients. This will allow you to have 1 whole day (that’s 8 hours) to work on your business and be uninterrupted. You can leave the PT hat off that day and only where your practice owner hat. This boxed time will allow you to really focus on the tasks and be productive.
5. Know your peak performance times: just like some people hit the gym in the morning and others after work, you too have a peak performance time to get stuff done. Maybe you like to tackle the business tasks in the morning when you are refreshed and see patients in the afternoons. Or maybe you want to be home when your kids get off the bus and should treat patients in the mornings and work from the home office later in the day. Figure out your peak times and align these with your time boxes.

These time management guidelines might seem simple, but they do work. You can do the same amount of work that you are doing today in less time (giving you more “fun time” with family and friends) by working effectively. Start small, maybe with time managing your budget and financial tasks, and work your way up to a well-managed schedule that suits your needs and preferences. Let’s get started!

The post Time Management Guidelines for Practice Owners appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1Ocxm69
via IFTTT

Building Partnerships to Expand Your Community Network

Smart business owners, especially small business owners, know that they cannot succeed solely on their own or without the help of others. A small business needs a network of local businesses and organizations that share and reciprocate patrons.

For example, the town government provides recreational sports leagues through the local community center. The community center orders custom t-shirts printed at the nearby print shop. The print shop forms a partnership with the small sporting goods store and agrees to have the shirts delivered there for pick up. This increases business for the sporting goods store when parents buy sports equipment there during t-shirt pick up. The sporting goods store may give the printing shop 5% of the revenue generated from sales to rec league members. And, the printing shop might provide 100 free flyers to the community in support for their business from the t-shirt order. This partnership does not increase work or efforts for any of the businesses, but results in increased business and revenue for both the sporting goods store and printing shop.

How to Build Partnerships for Your PT Clinic

Think about logical relationships between physical therapy and local businesses. Some good opportunities might be with:

• Sports leagues or school sports teams
• Senior centers or retirement communities
• Chiropractic or massage therapy providers
• YMCAs, CrossFit, or local dance studios

Develop a plan to network with the business or organization. Think first about what benefits they could receive from a partnership with your practice. Can you offer discounted care for their patrons, free PT support during games, or on-site services at the retirement community?

Now think about what you want in return for their partnership. You could have your clinic’s logo printed on the uniforms or a banner at the field. For on-site services, you could have your business listed on their website and maybe included in their marketing campaigns (postcards, social media etc.). For YMCAs or other membership/fitness studios, would your patients be able to receive a discount on membership (say 10% a YMCA membership for patients). This could be marketed on your website, social media, and in your new patient packet.

Once you have a partnership plan in mind, prepare for when and how you would want to introduce the idea to the business owner. There can be a couple approaches to consider:

• Do you have an existing relationship with the business? If so, it might be easier to set up a meeting to discuss your potential partnership. If not, take a couple weeks or months to build that relationship before introducing a joint venture.
• Find out who is the right person to talk with. If there is a clear owner, you might want to go straight to them. For larger organizations, such as the YMCA, they might have a community outreach or business department to speak with.
• Present your plan clearly, but be flexible. You are presenting a plan that works well for your business and benefits you. The other partner will probably need time to review and refine the plan to suit their business. Expect that they will need time to review, consider, and might present different terms or ideas.
• Get the finalized partnership solidified in writing. Have an attorney draft a contract and get both parties to sign to ensure that you receive the benefits of the partnership. Keep copies for both yourself and the other party.

Want more ideas on business partnerships for physical therapy clinics? Or already have a partnership and want to start marketing it? Talk with our expert business and account management team. We have years of experience in creating successful relationships and can help take your practice to the next level.

The post Building Partnerships to Expand Your Community Network appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1X5xJFU
via IFTTT

Practice Newsletter Content Strategies

A practice newsletter is a great way to engage patients and demonstrate your PT expertise, while also telling a story about your clinic. Whether you have an ongoing monthly practice newsletter campaign or are looking to get started, planning your content strategy in advance helps to increase read-through and to improve patient lead generation.

Your newsletter content strategy should be customized to support both your business goals and marketing plans. But, it also needs to be sustainable and something where you can economize your time creating content each month. Preparing a newsletter content strategy for printed pieces can be time sensitive—you often have to send your content to your marketing agency or printing company at least two weeks in advance to ensure on-time mailing. So it is important to plan for content that is independent of timelines or to have a stock of ready to go information that can be used interchangeably from month to month.

How to Develop a Newsletter Content Strategy

1. Plan your layouts

An effective newsletter will have a combination of educational information, such as articles and exercises, and marketing content, such as patient testimonials and clinic stories. Try to keep your layouts consist from month to month to avoid having to rework pieces. Plus, then you can learn the amount of space you have in each section.

2. Keep your sections consistent

Think about your local newspaper—it often has the same sections from day to day or week to week. You know what pages the articles are on, where to find the editorials, and how the classifieds are formatted. Try the same approach with your newsletters! Even consider adding section headers, such as Patient Superstars (for testimonials) or Clinic Catch Up (for practice news).

3. Prioritize your information

It’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to cram in every piece of information for the whole month into one newsletter. But, that does not give your patients an easy to scan or read overview of your practice. Instead, chose 2-3 stories for your clinic updates that appeal to different audiences, such as an employee spotlight, sponsorship event, and incentive program.

4. Pick good photos

We’ve all seen them, those grainy or blurry photos that have poor lighting or angles. Avoid these at all costs! Poor imagery degrades the quality of your newsletter. Invest in a good camera for your practice and take all the photos with that same camera to ensure consistency between images. Also, think about the image size—sometimes a great photo can replace 1,000 words. Or if the photo is the size of a stamp—is it really adding value to your content? If you work with a marketing agency or art director then ask their input on your photos, they are the experts.

Your practice newsletter content strategy should have two key objectives: achieving your business goals and engaging your patients.

When it comes to planning and reviewing your content, ask yourself—does this align with what is happening in our clinic, and would a patient enjoy reading this newsletter? If the answers are yes, then dive deeper. Ultimately, would you want to visit your clinic for PT after receiving this newsletter? Be honest with yourself…if the content is not marketing your clinic successfully then change it!

Want expert advice from our marketing team on how we can help take your newsletter content strategy to the next level? Sign up for our free webinar today!

The post Practice Newsletter Content Strategies appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1PyaP44
via IFTTT

Doctor Communication Strategies for PTs

As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve, some doctor’s offices are closing their doors to sales and marketing representatives. This means that it may be almost impossible to do office visits with local physicians. Physical therapy practices rely on physician referrals as a key source of new patients and often have a network of carefully crafted relationships that support their business. How can PTs keep communicating with and marketing to doctors once the front door is closed?

Doctor Communication Strategies

• Direct Mail: this might feel new or innovative, but direct mail is still a viable marketing channel. This beyond the basic letter campaign and try more engaging and different options:
  • Full color brochures and flyers stand out in the daily mail stack
  • Custom invitations to open houses or physician demos

• Packages: a package instantly engages both the doctor and office staff. While there is additional costs to shipping a package, the value added by the more substantial presentation is worth the investment:
  • Prescription pads for your PT practice make it easy for the doctor to refer to you
  • Welcome kits with branded office supplies and fun gifts for the office staff, such as healthy snacks or product samples, indicate the effort that you will put into establishing a referral relationship
  • Thank you kits with the patient’s testimonial, results, and branded giveaways show your appreciation for the physician’s referral

• Open Houses: if you cannot visit the doctor, invite the doctor to come to you. Open houses can take a variety of formats and it helps to host several a year to see which works best for your clinic:
  • Morning coffee and healthy breakfasts can work great for PT clinics located in medical office parks or buildings
  • Lunch demos are a great opportunity to show your skills and expertise to both physicians and the patient community. When it comes to invites, invite 3X the number of people you hope to receive to ensure a good turnout
  • Happy hours can be a fun, informal way to network after the work day. These do not have to be drinking focused either—host them at a restaurant that offers lounge seating and encourage physicians to bring their staff and families

• Digital Interactions: the digital marketing channels (web, email, and social media) can be challenging to use for doctor communications. But if you develop and execute strong strategies, you can start to expand your interaction options (and most digital marketing tools are free!).
  • LinkedIn is our pick for the best social media to use for referral networking. Most doctors will maintain LinkedIn profiles to connect with colleagues, professional organizations etc. Use your professional profile to connect with members of your referral network and share relevant communications about your practice’s services and updates.
  • Email marketing for doctors can be used in very specific ways. Sending generic or patient-focused communications to your doctor list may hurt your email strategies. Instead, focus on sending only 1-2 messages per month that are engaging and informative. The subject lines will be very important to encourage opens and click throughs—spend some creative time thinking about that first line.
  • Website marketing to doctors is best suited to soliciting professional reviews of your practice and treatment. A positive review from a well-known local physician shows both patients and other practitioners that you are an expert PT and great to work with.

As you explore your doctor communication strategies, try to implement at least 2-3 to see which ones work best. Allow several months to see the results and be proactive about asking for feedback. If you see an existing referrer at a conference or in passing, ask him or her how they feel about your approach. Honest feedback is best gathered in small, personal conversations and it helps to have an established relationship with the physician. For more tips- check out our blog posts on Doctor Marketing!

The post Doctor Communication Strategies for PTs appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1UVLxAM
via IFTTT

PT Website Content Checklist

Website Content for PT Clinics

Our last post, The Best Pages for Physical Therapy Websites, described that pages that your website needs to be a viable component of your digital marketing. From the About Us page to Contact Us, those pages are essential in attract new patients to your clinic.

But, your website also needs to have informative and educational content that conveys your expertise as a physical therapy provider. This content showcases your services, specialties, and achievements–differentiating your practice from its competitors. The content for these pages goes beyond the text and needs to include relevant imagery that encourages a patient to come see you for PT. Let’s looks at the must have content for your practice’s website:

Key Website Content

• Services Pages: go into detail about your services. Explain what low back pain is, show a picture of someone receiving treatment for low back pain, and tell the viewer how you can treat their low back pain with PT. 4-8 pages on your services is key to building SEO (search engine optimization) and to being informative.
  • Sample services pages:
    • Back Pain
    • Knee Pain
    • Shoulder Pain
    • Sports Rehabilitation
    • Neck Pain
    • Occupational Therapy
    • Aquatic Therapy
• Patient Forms: allow patients to download and fill out forms prior to coming to PT. Many patients, especially young professionals and busy parents, like to eliminate their waiting time and can complete their forms at home.
• Accepted Insurances and Direct Access: provide a list of the insurances you except and your direct access policies. Emphasis that patients should call your office to confirm their insurance just in case. You don’t want someone to be out of network and have them book an appointment.
• Patient Testimonials and Reviews: post your best testimonials and reviews to your site. Include photos of the patient and their PT to show “real people” getting results.

These pages have content that explains your physical therapy services and encourages a viewer to make an appointment. The patient forms and insurance information simplify the booking process and provide transparency for your patients. Reviews help to qualify your skills and the results your patients achieve.

Our posts focus on a lot of Do’s, but some Don’ts can help ensure your website performs at its best. Below are some high-level best practices for your content:

Web Content Don’ts

• Pages with <500 words. If you cannot write two paragraphs about the service, then it should not be featured on your website. 500 words is the SEO minimum and anything less does not present you as the expert.
• Photo galleries: people want to see pictures of your clinic, but only a handful. Include professional photos of the clinic on your About Us, Services, Forms, and Insurance pages.
• Pages that simple link to other digital media. Encouraging people to follow your social media or leave a Google review is definitely a marketing best practice, but make those links icons in your header or sidebar. A click through to another click is not a good user experience.

Creating a top-notch physical therapy website goes beyond an attractive design. PT websites that truly generate results (AKA: more patients!) for the clinic have the right balance of quality content, engaging imagery, intuitive user interfaces, and practical execution. Our team has built over a dozen successful physical therapy websites for clients and knows what your site needs to succeed. Call us today for more information!

The post Website Content for PT Clinics appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1LgO6LW
via IFTTT

The Best Pages for Physical Therapy Websites

When it comes to creating or revamping your PT practice’s website, many owners struggle to determine what content is relevant or important. There may also be concerns about the sustainability of that content—how often would you need to update it, is it applicable year round etc. There are some pages that your website needs as a baseline, pages that are recommended by digital marketing best practices, and pages that may be completely custom to your practice.

There is also something to be said about the overall number of pages on a site. Think about when you are looking up a new restaurant, do you want to have to click through 10 pages to find the menu or would you rather have a set choice of options to streamline your browsing and search experience. On the other hand, some sites have so few pages that either all the content is jumbled together on the same page or there is not enough content for the pages and site to be credible or informative to the viewer.

Let’s go through what pages you must have, pages you should have, and pages you should avoid if possible—all of which contribute to an informative, well-managed PT practice website.

Must Have Pages

• Home Page: this is main page that most users will land on. This page should be informative, well designed (aka. pretty images), and helpful to prospects, current patients, and doctors.
• About Us: this is often the 2^nd most viewed page on any PT clinic website. This page should explain your practice’s mission, expertise, history, and callout any specialties or affiliations.
• Our Staff: this is page #3 for views. People want to know who will be providing them care. Consider having a staff bio template for your PTs, front desk etc. with professional headshots to match. Its less about what your team looks like, and more about an organized team with robust credentials
• Our Services: tell your viewers what services you provide in a comprehensive list with short (1-2 sentence) blurbs about the service. Include links to longer pages that address each service individually for those who want more information.
• Contact Us: this page is your gateway to getting new patients. If someone wants to see you for PT, they will need your phone number and address (a Google map helps too!). Also, include a contact form for people to make appointments, ask questions (especially if it’s after office hours).

These pages help to tell the story of your practice to viewers online. For some, this might be the only glimpse they have into your clinic and the care that they can receive. It is important to spend enough time and resources on these pages so that their content is helpful and informative to the online viewer. Your website also needs to market your clinic–highlight your services, specialities, and achievements with appropriate text and imagery.

Want more ideas for your website’s pages? Our web design team has built custom, responsive websites for many physical therapy clinics. Check out our portfolio or request a custom website analysis today!

The post The Best Pages for Physical Therapy Websites appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1TkhwI3
via IFTTT

Patient Lead Generation: Where Are Your Patients Coming From?

One of the biggest challenges for private practice marketing is determining the effectiveness of your campaigns, promotions, and channels. How can you track patient lead generation and your return on investment (ROI) from different marketing initiatives? Most practice owners use a combination of business statistics, such as # of patient visits and # of physician referrals, plus data from new patient intake forms and registrations. Business stats can be a great, quantitative metric that shows spikes in volumes, which can be linked to different monthly and promotion campaigns. For example, if you mail a monthly newsletter on the 15^th of each month, you should expect to see a spike in patient visits about 3 weeks later. Similarly, if you host an open house for local physicians, you might expect to see an increase in the # of referrals in the days and weeks following the event.

Patient lead generation is the ability and quantity of leads (or prospective patients) produced as a result of marketing campaigns, promotions, and channels.

When it comes to tracking your patient lead generation, however, the process may not be nearly as linear. For a patient to become a lead, they typically must see your marketing at least 5X before they “convert” into a patient. Sounds technical right? Essentially, for someone who is not aware of your practice, they need to see your marketing (newsletter, advertisements, postcards, website, social media etc.) at least 5X before they will consider becoming a patient. Once they decide to become a patient, they “convert” and this conversion takes place when they check in for their first appointment.

This conversion moment or at new patient registration is the precise time when you should determine where and how a patient become a lead or heard about your practice.

Most clinics attempt to determine lead generation by asking, either on a form or in person, “how did you hear about us?”. This is definitely the right question to ask, but are you asking it in the right way? Check out our patient lead generation strategies…

In-person lead generation and confirmation:

• First, ask what marketing (campaigns or channels) the patient has seen:
  • Have you received our newsletter or visited our website?
• Next, ask where the patient first heard about your practice:
  • Where did you first hear about us?

These in-person prompts accomplish two main business and lead generation objectives. First, you can determine what marketing the patient has interacted with. Second, you can determine which campaign or channel prompted the patient to convert and book an appointment for PT.

Form-based lead generation:

• Ask patients Have you received or visited the following? (select all that apply)
  • Include check boxes for all your primary marketing resources (but keep the list manageable at around 4-7 platforms). Examples include:
    • Practice Newsletter
    • Postcard
    • Email
    • Website
    • Online search (Google) or reviews (Yelp, HealthGrades etc.)
    • Physician Referral (include a line for the physicians name)
    • Social media
  • Include a free response or write-in section Where did you first learn about our practice?
    • This question should follow the “Have you received or visited the following? (select all that apply)”. This ensures that patients realize the full scope of what marketing they have engaged with and will help them determine where they truly first heard about your practice.
    • By having this question be a free response, you also avoid any traditional survey biases, such as ordering bias, by allowing the patient to dictate their response.

When it comes to accurately determining where your patients are coming from, we strongly recommend in person lead confirmation. This allows the dialogue to be more fluid and engaging and allows your front desk to connect with the new patient. Many practices also already have a similar step in their intake process, resulting in only an incremental change to the business flow.

To learn more about patient lead generation, conversion strategies, and marketing analysis, sign up for our free webinar today.

The post Patient Lead Generation: Where Are Your Patients Coming From? appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1Isw0jZ
via IFTTT

Marketing Health and Wellness Services

Many private practices have expanded their services beyond physical therapy and into complimentary fields, such as personal training, massage therapy, or exercise classes. These services often align with PT’s core mission of improving personal health and wellness in a holistic manner. But, some clinics struggle with the initial promotion and routine marketing campaigns of these services. It can be challenging to introduce a new service without having it compete against the main physical therapy treatments in terms of resources, budget, and time.

Examples of health and wellness services:

• Personal training
• Group training
• Exercise clinics or classes
• Gym memberships
• Massage therapy
• Yoga
• Wellness Coaching

All of the above can easily help patients transition into and out of PT, while keeping them engaged and active members of your practice. Fitness services (ie. training, exercise classes, workshops, and gym memberships) can be a great resource to offer patients as they are ready to discharge. Many patients, especially those suffering from isolated injuries or rehabilitation, can benefit from continuing their fitness and recovery at your clinic. Similarly, participation in auxiliary programs can help potential patients identify physical impediments or conditions that could be treated through PT. But how can you market these services without taking away from your main clinic?

Wellness Program Marketing and Strategies

• Feature one program each month in your practice newsletter. Include a write up of the program, photos of the services “in action”, and a participant testimonial.
• Include dedicated pages for each program on your website. Having the program’s name, such as Personal Training, in the page title, URL, and content will optimize that term for SEO and generate more traffic to your website.
• Insert a brochure or flyer about the programs in the discharge packet. Have your PTs counsel the patient about what program would be the best fit to support their recovery. Offer a discount (2 free weeks) to incentivize the program.
• Run bi-monthly or quarterly postcard campaigns that promote the programs and provide an incentive.
• Have a weekly post about your programs on social media or include a monthly blog post that highlights the benefits of a specific service.

As a practice owner or marketing manager, it is a delicate balancing act to support multiple services and programs. Your business plan should include monthly analysis of the marketing’s results and the program’s statistics (number of participants, number of new sign ups etc.). If you are seeing a growth trend, keep marketing and consider new channels to promote your program.

If you are seeing a decrease in response and participation, dive deeper into the possible causes. You could be marketing to the same audience and have reached all the interested participants. Or the market could have changed—did a new gym open, is another clinic offering the same service, or does your program need to be revamped? If there is an increase in local competition, try to differentiate your program from the rest. Gym’s often do not have PTs on hand to help with injuries and treatments, and some might not require certifications for their trainers or group exercise instructors. If your staff is certified, do a staff spotlight to show their training and expertise. Other PT clinics might be stiffer competition, but do they offer classes at the same times or as often? See if there is a gap in class offerings (early morning, after work etc.) and market your program’s variety of class times and days.

Breaking into a new program and marketing it successfully can be intimidating, but it will ultimately help to grow your practice. For more expert advice on marketing your physical therapy practice and services, contact us today!

The post Marketing Health and Wellness Services appeared first on Practice Promotions.

from Practice Promotions http://ift.tt/1DqouJJ
via IFTTT