Tips for Marketing Physical Therapy to Seniors

Every practice owner knows that a diverse patient population is key to a sustainable, successful physical therapy clinic. When it comes to marketing to attract new patients, most target younger populations (typically between 25 to 55 years old) as a way to build a solid patient base. This strategy aligns perfectly with business plans—promote your services to younger patients, provide PT that leads to great results, and create a reactivation population that will generate additional revenue from future visits.

We also know that younger persons often seek physical therapy for one-time events, such as sports injuries or post-surgical rehab. Therefore, it is important to further diversify your patient population by treating seniors (ages 65+) who may need continuous or repeated care for chronic injuries or conditions. But marketing physical therapy to seniors can be a challenge! Practices often rely solely on “traditional” marketing based on the assumption that seniors are not online and will respond best to print, newspaper, or local media placements. Is this theory true? Let’s look at different types of marketing and see how your practice can customize them for the senior patient population.

Print Marketing: Newsletters, Postcards, Branded Brochures & Office Materials

1. Newsletters: Seniors are an ideal audience for printed and mailed monthly newsletters. Direct mail provides the regularly, accessibility, and passive communication strategies that seniors prefer. This population knows to expect monthly newsletters and benefit from the convenience of having them delivered to their homes. Newsletters also do not feel “pushy” or aggressive. Many seniors do not want to feel pressured or “sold” by marketing.
2. Postcards: Seniors, especially those who aren’t online, appreciate postcards announcing upcoming events, incentives, or announcements. While it might be tempting to cram a lot of information onto one postcard, consider marketing content priority and readability/font size. A large, full bleed photo with an engaging headline on one side paired with a brief description of the hype and clear CTAs (Call –To-Action) with contact information is your best bet. Interested parties will call or, in some cases, visit your website to learn more.
3. Branded Marketing: includes brochures, rack cards, posters, flyers etc. and is also an effective way of marketing to seniors. The key consideration with branded materials is availability of them in locations other than inside the clinic. Do you leave copies of brochures and rack cards at local doctors’ offices, especially those specializing in geriatrics? Have you networked with local senior centers, YMCAs, or HOA community rooms to leave marketing? These are all locations routinely visited by seniors and would be a great opportunity to reach out to new patients and reactivate past ones.

Digital Marketing: Website and Social Media

1. Website: You might be surprised by how many seniors utilize online marketing, specifically websites as part of their daily According to the Pew Research Center, almost 60% of seniors use the internet and of those, over 70% use the internet daily. And these numbers are continuing to grow! So when you are designing your website and creating its content, make sure to think about your senior audience. If you offer services or treatments that appeal specifically to older adults, call that out in your page copy. Do you have a dedicated Medicare billing specialist or referral coordinator? That feature could be a decision maker for a senior looking for physical therapy and you should market that amenity on your website. Also, pay special attention to font size and imagery. If the font is too small, seniors might struggle to read the text especially if using a mobile device. Imagery should also be relatable—it’s easy to gravitate towards young, active stock photos, but prospective patients will respond best to images they can empathize with (think seniors golfing, walking, or playing with grandchildren).
2. Social Media: Facebook and Twitter are just for the kids right? Wrong! In 2014, over 45% of seniors were actively using one or more social media platforms and those numbers keep growing. What is your practice’s social media marketing plan? And are you considering seniors as a key part of your audience? When posting status updates or incentives, be sure to include a link to further information (if available) and include specific callouts to Medicare participants as a way to engage the older adult audience. For example, if your state adopts direct access, but Medicare patients need to have a pre-screening, mention that is your post. Example: “[State] is now a direct access state! Patients can be seen for physical therapy without a referral or prescription. For our Medicare patients, please call the office at 800-594-7656 for specific information regarding your treatment options.”

So now what? What can you do to improve your senior marketing plan? Take small steps—not every media need to be updated asap. Try adding a special call to action for seniors in next month’s newsletter, revising your website’s Medicare information to ensure its up to date, or distributing practice brochures at the local community center. For more tips on how to successfully market your physical therapy practice, contact us today!

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Absolute Truth: Secrets To Attracting More New Patients

Private Practice Marketing Expert, Neil Trickett, dives into the secret fundamentals top PT practices use to attract more new patients and physician referrals. This is a must watch for all physical therapy practice owners!

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From Old News to New Patients: How to Use Old Newsletters to Market Your PT Practice Today!

A physical therapy practice typically engages in several printed marketing campaigns: newsletters, physician mailers, postcards, brochures, rack cards, brand office materials etc. After several months or years of marketing your practice, many PTs find themselves with storage closets and file cabinets full of past copies of their print marketing. While keeping a few copies for reference is always advisable, old newsletters and extra brochures aren’t promoting your business if they are boxed up and out of sight. What can you do to both market your practice and see a viable ROI (return on investment) from your print materials?

• Upcycle: upcycling is the process of taking old items and transforming them into something new and purposeful.
  • Try this: go through your old newsletters—look specifically at the articles and exercise photos as these are most likely still current (as compared to the practice news section which might be “old news”). Do you see a set of exercises that is a good fit for patients with low back? Use a paper cutter or sharp craft knife and cut the exercise page out of the old newsletters. Include this page in your new patient packets as a home exercises sheet.
  • Sponsoring a local sports event? Bring copies of the exercises and articles with you (group them by condition/diagnosis) and fill your table with helpful info for participants.

• Distribute: past editions of newsletters and physician mailers might be old to you, but they are an informative read for new patients or doctors.
  • Network with local businesses and doctors’ offices: to see if you can leave extra copies at their front desk or waiting areas. Don’t get overzealous and bring in boxes. Leaving approximately 20 copies is a manageable number AND will give you a good reason to check back in to replenish the stock.
  • On your next doctor’s office visit, bring several copies of your newsletters and physician mailers and ask to place these in the waiting room.

• Donate: extra printed materials to community service organizations, such as assisted living facilities, daycares, rec centers, Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts, or religious centers.
  • Ask the programs coordinator if their organization could use any additional health or wellness materials. Assisted living facilities often host seminars on staying healthy as you age—would a newsletter on mobility be helpful? Daycares and rec centers could benefit from pediatric, rehabilitation or sports injuries topics.
  • Include business cards, giveaways or other promotional materials in your donation so that patients can contact you for treatment or questions.

• Recycle: if you have 2+ years worth of extra marketing materials or if your primary contact info (phone or address) have changed, it might be the right time to recycle.
  • Make an event by coordinating your recycling efforts with seasonal marketing hype (think Earth Day, Spring Cleaning, Back to School, New Years). Promote your “Recycling Day” on social media and in the office. Ask patients to bring paper recyclables to be entered to win an incentive.
  • If you have a literal ton of materials to recycle, consider calling your local recycling center. They might be able to help coordinate a recycling event (either at your office or at the center). If you do plan a big event, reach out to local radio stations or newspapers to see if you can provide a press release about the event. Good PR can go a long way to getting more new patients into your PT clinic.

Want to find out more ways to revamp your print marketing? Check out our blog post on email marketing to see if you can turn old newsletters into new e-newsletters. If you have more questions, give us a call—our experience account managers have years of experience in successfully marketing physical therapy practices!

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6 Marketing Tips for Facebook for Physical Therapy Practices

Facebook is the Google of social media—it is the most commonly used social media platform in the world with an average of almost 1 billion monthly users per http://ift.tt/StoFaj (almost 3x as many users as Twitter). Facebook is so popular that almost every major consumer brand has a dedicated team devoted just to managing their company’s Facebook accounts. As a PT practice owner, you can search “Facebook marketing tips” and get millions of articles each claiming to have unlocked the secrets of social media success. But how can you sift through the volumes and find marketing tips that work specifically for physical therapy clinics? We have created a short 6 tips list that combines best practices from major brands, physical therapy leaders, and individual clinics to provide you with the tools to become a Facebook rockstar!

1. Post smarter, not harder: one of the biggest social media mistakes is posting too much (or too little) to really see engagement with your followers. Most practices see success by posting 2-3 times per week. Try a combination of post types to see what works for your audience:
   1. Write a short teaser (Our spring newsletter is here! See how PT can help you get back into the swing of warm weather activities) and include a link to your e-newsletter
   2. Promote clinic news or announcements: new staff members (and link to their bio on your website), new service offerings, or incentive programs.
   3. Share! Share a post that you think your followers will like. We love Move Forward PT for Facebook ready physical therapy posts or try using seasonal or holiday messages to stay relevant.
2. Get more Likes: even the best posts will not generate results if no one sees them. Set a monthly target to grow your number of Likes to get more traffic on social media. Encourage patients to Like your Facebook page to stay up to date on clinic happenings and include call-to-action statements in your newsletter and website. Put a flyer up in your waiting room—patients usually are on their phones while they wait (and A LOT of people will probably be checking Facebook) so it’s a win-win of time and place.
3. Use Facebook Insights: many practice owners feel that social media is more of a guessing game than a science. Let’s change that by using analytics to track your social media marketing. All Facebook pages (business pages) have Insights already set up and collecting data behind the scenes. Why not start using these stats to check your progress? Read more on how to get started…
4. Create a CTA (Call to Action): Facebook is working to help its business pages be more than a collection of posts. By adding a CTA to your page, you can actually get new patients right from Facebook. We recommend using the Contact Us CTA since it is the most general and will make it easy for patients to reach you. Create your Facebook CTA today…
5. Start a conversation: Social media is not a one-way street. Your social media marketing plan should always focus on creating a conversation between your brand and your audience. A conversation doesn’t necessarily mean back and forth comments on a post—a Like, Comment, Share, Click all actively engage your followers. Ask open ended questions, “What is your favorite pre-workout stretch?” or be bold and ask for engagement “Like this post if you are running in the local 5K this weekend!”
6. Like other Pages: you want users (people and businesses) to Like your page to keep up to date with the practice’s news, and so do other businesses! Think about your referring doctors’ offices—they might post articles or updates to their Facebook page as a way to communicate with their patients. You can share the articles from your Page (see how) to engage in a “conversation” with both the office and your followers. You can also get updates about the offices, such as new hires, staff changes, and different treatment offerings that can mean big impacts to your practice. For example, a local doctor’s group posts 3x a week: 1) a new referral coordinator is hired, 2) they are no longer offering dry needling, and 3) a new insurance is now accepted. You now know to call and set up a meet and greet with the new coordinator; increase promotion of your dry needling services; and coordinate the new insurance changes that may increase the number of referrals your practice can accept. All of this is great news for your business and you could have missed all the updates by not following the office on Facebook!

Want more info on Facebook or other social media and how it can help grow your physical therapy practice? Check out our blog posts or webpage and look for updates on our Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages!

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How to Get Started with Email Marketing for PTs

Email marketing can feel like the fad diet of physical therapy marketing—we have all tried it, but no one really knows how it works or if its working. You might have seen spikes in patient volumes after sending an email (but that also coincided with the injury surge after the local 10K race) and have wondering if email marketing is worth your time and efforts. Or you want to try sending emails, but don’t want to waste money since 90% of those go to spam anyway right? Wrong! Here is why you need to be marketing via email and some Dos and Don’ts to get started:

Why should physical therapists use email marketing?

1. It’s inexpensive: email marketing is not exactly free, but it is a great low cost marketing option. You can choose a program and plan that fits best for your practice and goals. Start by determining how many patient email addresses you have on file and then decide how frequently you want to market to patients via email (1-3 times per month is a good starting point). Check out http://ift.tt/1wQVVS2 for a list of email marketing software.
2. Be proactive: it’s better to lead the pack then to jump on the bandwagon. Your competitors may (or may not) already be running monthly email campaigns. Be proactive and start planning and sending your own emails. You will get better results by being one of the first PT clinics to start emailing v. the last one in town.
3. Consistency is key: if you are already sending a monthly print newsletter to patients and doctors, why not send an e-newsletter too? You can mail the newsletter at the beginning of the month and email the digital version two weeks later to generate even bigger results.

Now that you are thinking about starting your program, how do you get started? Let’s choose a reasonable starting point—two emails per month to your past patients. One of those emails should definitely be an e-newsletter of your monthly print newsletter. That’s one email done! Here are some Dos and Don’ts for the other emails:

• DO: clean up your email address list. Using email marketing software can manage these lists for you. They will import existing addresses from an excel spreadsheet and can monitor unsubscribes, bounces (when messages fail to reach an address), and spam flagging.
• DO: think about your subject lines. “Your monthly e-newsletter is here” seems simple enough, but is that the best way to introduce your email? Each subject line should be distinct and informative since users usually see just the sender, subject line, and snippet before deciding to open the email. Try “Stay Safe This Summer with our May e-Newsletter” or “Stand Up to Back Pain with these Tips”.
• DON’T: purchase an email address list from online. Sending emails to individuals who have not opted in (ie. Check this box to receive promotions and updates) can be a violation of federal and state laws. If you want to expand your address list- do so buying running an incentive such as, an email contest for healthy recipes to be featured in next month’s newsletter, and make sure the opt-in information is included in the fine print.
• DO: develop a strategy and template for your monthly emails. Three pieces of content is manageable: an article, an activity, and an incentive. You can use a short paragraph your website blog articles with a “read more” link to the full article on your website (thus driving more web traffic!). Activities could be: recipes, exercises, tip sheets (ie. 5 fun games for road trips), or fact sheets (ie. simple stretches you can do at your desk). The incentive should vary each month so that it doesn’t get stale and so you can track the results of your email campaigns. Offer a 20% discount on a massage, free mobility screening, or BOGO on personal training packages.
• DON’T: get discouraged. Email marketing is challenging! If only 30% of users open your email that is a great result. Check out http://ift.tt/16pAdD9 for more data on email marketing by industry.
• DON’T: forget to be conversion oriented. What does that mean? An email is no good from a marketing perspective if the recipient cannot take action from it. Make sure to include links to: Make an Appointment, Contact Us etc. This will take your email from a static message to an actionable marketing promotion targeted for results!

Email marketing for physical therapy doesn’t have to feel like the latest diet craze. By researching and investing time and money up, you can experience lasting results (pun intended) from your PT email marketing campaigns. Want to learn more? Visit http://ift.tt/1AYWhTy today!

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How to Market Physical Therapy Direct Access without Hurting Your Referral Relationships

Depending on your state and insurance plans, patients may be eligible to skip the doctor referral and see you directly for physical therapy. This is great news both for you and for your patients, but may not be a positive outcome for local doctors and providers. As healthcare continues to evolve, many primary care providers and even specialists are feeling concerned about their ability to retain adequate patient volumes. Especially as more patients (and their insurance) seem to be favoring urgent care centers, retail store clinics, or self-referral, doctors will become increasingly wary of PT practices that promote direct access to services. How can you market direct access to your patients without hurting your referral relationship with doctors?

Be a teacher v. a salesmen: Take the POV that you want to educate your patients about the new opportunities available to them through direct access.

• Use headlines that support education versus salesmanship.
• Encourage patients to contact you with questions and/or to verify their ability to be seen without a referral.
• Update the accepted insurances list to include (*direct access available) to let patients know about their healthcare options.

Use strategic placements: Not ever marketing or branded piece needs to hype direct access. Consider the intended audience of your marketing—is this a resource for both patients and doctors or just patients?

• If you are sending newsletters to just patients, consider writing an article fully explaining direct access and how it can benefit your patients.
• If newsletters go to both patients and doctors, add a small callout box with short headline or sentence that direct access is now available and to call in for more information.
• Most doctors’ offices do not heavily utilize social media or website marketing. Use these outlets to promote direct access to patients

Proactively communicate with doctors and their staff: Tackle the topic face to face during office visits and be as transparent as possible.

• If you are seeing a patient from a specific primary care provider, let them know and make it clear that you will be happy to communicate progress reports with the doctor’s office as needed.
• If a patient comes to see you directly and needs additional care beyond physical therapy, call the office directly and help the patient get set with receiving care from their doctor.
• Some patients make a 100% recovery with PT—tell the doctor that! Sharing good results with the provider will help him/her feel that they are still up to date on their patient’s health and keeps the communication lines open.

Since direct access (and healthcare regulations in general) is ever-changing, it is important to stay up to date on the opportunities and requirements in your state. Visit www.apta.org for more information or check out this list (linked on April 6, 2015) to see what options are available for your patients. Want more tips on how to market direct access? Ask us what our clients are doing and what has worked for their marketing and practice. Call us today to learn more!

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Patient Testimonials: the Review Revisited

Patient testimonials are an essential part of every physical therapy practice’s marketing arsenal. But getting the “right review” can be an uphill battle. We love Mashable’s article on how to get good quality review- Click here to read the full article. We have taken their strategies and adapted them for the PT industry. Our earlier post addressed 1) how to market for reviews, 2) what online review sites are critical, and 3) how to best ask patients for a testimonial. Now we are diving deeper into tricks and tips to go from a 3 star to 5 star patient review:

1. Tread the incentives line carefully.

Service-based industries think hair salons, dry cleaners, or personal trainers, often offer an incentive to gather reviews. A “review” could equal 20% off on a service or special pricing on a treatment. This type of incentive can yield fantastic results- lots of reviews, most of them positive—but take caution. You can get more reviewers than you intended, resulting in a loss of profit. Or, the reviews generated can seem phony or unsubstantiated because they were only written to receive the incentive.

A better incentive for PT practices is to offer a giveaway or entry into a raffle. By asking reviewers to come into the clinic to receive their incentive, you have the opportunity to reconnect with past patients and can control the number of reviews received.

2. Consider your demographics.

As you might guess, the younger crowd (20-40 year olds) is mostly likely familiar with the review scene and is often the first to provide both good and bad testimonials. Try to target a diverse mix of patient that vary in age, demographics, and treatments received. As a way to help older patients leave online reviews, offer a paper option that your office staff can type up and add to the website or have a computer set up in the waiting room with bookmarked links to popular review websites.

3. Turn reviewers into brand ambassadors.

IMPORTANT- this is your golden opportunity to create a relationship that extends beyond a star rating and short review. If a patient leaves an awesome testimonial, he or she is really happy about the physical therapy provided and is feeling better. Ask the patient if they would like to be featured in a newsletter or on social media. Adding a picture and short bio can bring a review to life and will help prospective patients identify with your practice.

We have turned some of our best client testimonials into short promotional videos with fantastic results- check them out!

4. Don’t ignore the negative reviews.

This is probably the toughest challenge—turning lemons into lemonade. Not all patients will leave a positive testimonial. Those unhappy clients are often the first to speak negatively about your practice and for a variety of reasons (billing issues, insurance reimbursement, still in pain). Don’t take it personally.

Instead, make some lemonade! If the patient is in the office and either refuses to leave a testimonial or leaves a negative one, ask them why. This conversation is often best handled by the office manager or owner and should not have the PT involved. Have the patient step into an office to discuss their upset and to see how you can help. Taking the time to right the situation can make the difference between bad PR and a patient who leaves feeling heard, acknowledged, and taken care of. Online reviews can be a bit tougher- you can choose to ignore them (not ideal) or tackle them head on. If you want to be reactive- check out some tips from American Express’ small business team.

Want more ideas and tips on getting awesome patient testimonials AND innovative ways to use good reviews to promote your practice? Our expert account management team can help! We have years of experience in successfully soliciting patient reviews and incorporating them into newsletters, branded marketing materials, and digital media. Call us today- 1-800-594-7656

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Patient Testimonials: Revamping the Review

Most practice owners both love and dread the patient testimonial—a good review can attract new patients and foster referral relationships, while a bad review can dissuade potential clients and create tensions between the referring doctor and the clinic. To avoid the negative feedback, some clinics will opt out of asking for patient testimonials or censor online reviews. While this strategy might be appealing because it eliminates additional work and stress, the lack of patient testimonials will ultimately hurt your practice’s marketing and online presence and credibility.

How can you solicit patient reviews that are 1) positive, 2) detailed, and 3) honest? Marketing thought-leader, Mashable, published an article on consumer reviews with great tips for business owners and marketers. Click here to read the full article. We have taken their strategies and adapted them for the PT industry.

1. Make writing a review as easy as possible.

Think about the last time you wrote a review for a service or product. Was it during the activity or days/weeks later? Did you write something positive because you were pleased by the experience? Or did you vent about poor quality and negative results?

How you provide patients with the ability to leave a review can make all the difference. 3 great ways to get positive reviews from patients are:

• Discharge: when a patient is being discharged, they are often finished with their course of treatment and are feeling better. Include a blank testimonial form in the discharge packet and instruct your PTs to ask patients to complete the review (good, bad or ugly). Include a checkbox to allow you to publish the review online or use it for other marketing purposes.
• Website: have an online form for patients to submit reviews. Some patients may feel more comfortable submitting online, especially if they weren’t 100% satisfied. This can be a great tool to gain first-hand feedback from patients.
• Marketing: add a QR code to your printed materials that links directly to a specific review website (such as Facebook or Yelp). Try a free QR code generator to get started.

1. Be present on multiple review sites.

There is not a one-stop-shop for online reviews. Some popular sites include: Yelp, Angie’s List, Google Local, Yahoo Local, LinkedIn, and many more. We recommended in our Digital Marketing blog posts that you create and maintain business profiles on key sites. By establishing accounts and accepting reviews across multiple sources, you can gain credibility and attract potential new patient from a wider online audience.

2. Be candid.

Asking for reviews in person can be intimidating, especially if you have a patient who is adamant about giving (or not giving) a testimonial. Some PTs may feel more comfortable soliciting a review through a Thank You card or postcard. If you have a patient care coordinator or VP of Marketing, he or she may be an ideal resource to get testimonials. By taking the responsibility off the PT providing care, the patient may feel more comfortable speaking openly and a designated staff member can gain on-site experience in the best ways to get positive reviews from your patients.

….to be continued in our next blog post!

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