It’s the eternal question.
“How do I get more patients?”
As physical therapy private practice owners working hard to serve patients, stay compliant and make a decent living in the process, there’s only so much time we have each day.
There’s just too much to do. Way too much.
So if you have limited time (and money), where do you begin with your marketing?
How do you get patients to know you, like you and trust you, while educating them about the benefits of what you have to offer?
The answer – with frequent, content rich newsletters.
Newsletter marketing involves two things – creation and distribution. In fact, there are 10 ways to grow your practice with physical therapy newsletters.
Tell patients “The best way you can thank us is by referring a family member or friend. We’re never too busy for your referrals and we depend on word of mouth referrals from valued patients like yourself”. Sometimes, all you have to do to get a referral is to ask.
Feature a patient as being your success story, and write a human story about the change you made to this patient and his / her quality of life.
Share something about you or your staff that may resonate with your audience. For example, “We want to congratulate Sherry for her three year wedding anniversary”. People relate to people. Humanize your staff. Your patients are more likely to remember Sherry’s anniversary announcement than her credentials and the continuing education workshops your staff is attending.
Never rely on just one medium for distribution. Always use multiple modes of distribution (email, print, fax) to maximize the reach of your content. Different people prefer to consume content in different ways. Some individuals simply won’t consume the newsletter through certain channels. For example, it’s unlikely your teenager will read a printed newsletter over a cup of coffee. They are more likely to read it on their phone on the treadmill.
Feature local physicians and other referral sources as ‘recommended providers’ in your newsletter. This is an excellent way to ‘break the ice’ and forge new referral relationships, and consolidate existing ones.
Offer ‘limited time offers’ in your newsletter (complimentary massage, fitness evaluation etc). Always combine content with promotions, and don’t hesitate to let patients know what you have to offer. You’re working hard to provide valuable content, and you have earned the right to promote what you do and ask for the referral or the visit.
Give away educational resources – gifts like books, audio CDs and instructional videos in your newsletter. People love freebies, especially if they have a high perceived value. The best part is – they are quick and easy to produce.
Include a ‘call to action’ in each newsletter (Call us today for…..). If you don’t ask for the ‘action’, your marketing will not generate a return on investment. Here are 4 suggestions for a ‘call to action’ – ask patients to call you, refer a friend, give you a testimonial or try one of your cash paying services.
Communicate at least twice a month so you stay connected with patients. You want to stay ‘in their mind’. Once a month is very infrequent. You’ll be forgotten and you’ll be perceived as irrelevant.
Instead of saying ‘sign up for our newsletter’ in person or on your website, say ‘we’d like to send you an ebook on arthritis prevention (or any other topic) and we’ll also subscribe you to our email newsletter, don’t worry, you can unsubscribe at any time’. It’s an acceptable way to entice individuals to sign up for your newsletter.
Businesses do this all the time. Remember the last time you went to a mall, and you were asked to provide your email address to get a discount / coupons in the mail? It’s the same principle.
Think of an email list as ‘currency’ for your private practice. It’s important to grow your email list, so you can reach out to them at any time. More importantly, build a relationship with this list through frequent, relevant contact. The result will be happy patients, and human billboards.
You’ll have more referrals than you can handle.
If you want all this done-for-you, with the most advanced, automated newsletter and email marketing technology in the world, then get Therapy Newsletter. In fact, you can try Therapy Newsletter for just $1 for the first 30 days. Click here to learn more about Therapy Newsletter.
