Physical Therapy Marketing Takes Time, Strategy, Training, Practice, Testing and Research!
You invested 5 years (if you’re my age)…7 years if you’re younger…or 4 years if you’re older…in earning your Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctorate Degree in PT.
And you likely picked up a Bachelor of Science degree as well.
Throughout your PT career, you’ve read journals (Physical Therapy, JOSPT, JMMT)…you’ve invested time and money in continuing education…studying the latest research…considering Clinical Predictor Rules…earning certifications…with the purpose of getting better outcomes for the patients, customers and clients you serve.
And for the most part, it works. Pretty cool.
More education equals more knowledge equals a better toolbox of clinical skills which helps you produce better outcomes.
Spot on.
So why not treat the marketing of your skill clinical set the same way…like a scientist?
Most of us have had the experience of taking a weekend course from a fellow PT who was “a little bit out there.”
We get back to the clinic…apply his or her stuff for a week or two and quickly see that it doesn’t produce outcomes consistently…
So, we go back to applying what does work.
And over time, our skill set improves more and more until we can handle the majority of cases who walk through our doors…with unconscious competence.
So, in marketing our services and skill sets…we aim to do more of what works…and less of what doesn’t.
In the classic book, Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins, he repeatedly recommends to test advertising and marketing methods prior to investing a ton of money into it. In fact, Chapter 15 is named, “Test Campaigns”.
What testing our offers does is encourages us to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
For example, we recently had a Breakthrough Physical Therapy Marketing owner report results from doing the “Greatest Promotion Ever” campaign. He had 17 Free Screens from a mailing of 800…that’s more than a 2% response. Amazing. (and that crushes my response percentage of 65 from a mailing of 6700…slightly less than 1%).
None-the-less, he has a winner.
Don’t Abandon Your Winners
Weirdly enough, most PTs (and a fair number of marketers) decide to abandon the winner.
Instead of going with what works, they try to brave unchartered territory looking for the next home run.
Why?
If we’re treating our Marketing and Promotions in the same manner…we should repeat the winner.
Imagine if you had a classic directional preference PT patient (I believe McKenzie called him “Mr. Smith”). Pain reproduced with forward flexion. Repeated extension centralizes and resolves the symptoms. It would be insane to deviate from that successful action…
Yet we do exactly that when it comes to marketing.
On the flip side, if you know of a consistent winner and do not see results you were expecting…search for the why diligently.
Many DPT students we’ve had through the clinic do the “wind-up” before a grade V mobilization. This usually results in a failed outcome. Correcting it…mobilizing at end-range with no back-off…produces a positive outcome. Right strategy…failed execution.
If you stick to this pattern of repeating what works (and looking for ways to make it stronger), correcting bad marketing techniques (which can require an outside eye), and dropping unproven methods which don’t produce…the end result is an ever efficient marketing system which attracts more patients…or better patients…with less and less time and money investment…and an ever improving ROI.
But How Do I Find My First Winner?
Casting a wide net and trying a lot of different strategies can work to produce a handful of reliable winning campaigns.
But it can also be expensive, and you run the risk of over-promoting if you have a small audience and burning them out.
A better method is to see what’s working, right now, for other PTs and translating that over to your practice.
Want to see the exact marketing strategy that’s producing a consistent flow of new Direct Access patients for me and over 700 PTs?
Then I recommend signing up for my brand new online masterclass where I reveal the six steps to doubling your practice in under 3 years.
Click here to register -> Direct Access Marketing Course
Testing is the key to marketing success and this free online class is the shortcut that’ll cut down on all the noise and let you test proven techniques that are producing results for real practice owners.
