You have to find ways to stay in the minds of your audience. Remember, out of sight is out of mind.
Based on my experience, the simplest way to do this is to send an e-mail to patients, physicians and the local media on the first and the third Monday of every month.
Why Monday? Why twice a month? On Monday, people are more likely to check the e-mail and respond to offers or information.
The middle of the workweek is a bad time to communicate and provide information, because people are more involved with getting things done.
By the time the weekend comes along, the only thoughts on everybody’s minds are the weekend, family and household chores.
Communicating via an e-mail newsletter twice a month has been shown to be the right frequency to remain in people’s minds without overdoing it. If you e-mail somebody once a month, the frequency is too low, and you get phased out. The secret is to provide high-quality information with pictures and testimonials that enable the recipients to improve their lives and regard you as their provider of choice for their physical therapy needs.
An e-mail newsletter has several uses. You can communicate information quickly and instantly, at a low cost. The recipient can instantly access your contact information via the web.
Unlike regular mail, which can be lost or thrown away, an e-mail newsletter generally stays in the recipient’s e-mail inbox and can be saved for later viewing, leading to a referral or an appointment to your clinic.
An e-mail newsletter that provides a “refer a friend” module can be even more powerful because your patient can instantly refer you and your newsletter to some of their friends by entering their friends’ e-mail addresses. The result? One more potential patient or referral source added to your extensively growing e-mail database.
E-mail marketing is the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to promote your name in the local community. You get an opportunity to brand your clinic’s identity and conclusively establish yourself as the expert therapy provider in your local community. The possibilities are endless.
You should mail such a newsletter to your patients, friends, family, physicians and any other referral source that you can possibly think of. This can also include the local media.
Public relations and community services that receive your newsletter will set their sights on your clinic as a provider. In many cases, they may contact you for interviews and opinions about wellness and physical therapy.
This is instant, free promotion of your clinic in the local community.. Whether it is standard care or a niche program, the public will look to you as a source of meaningful information and seek your services for physical ailments.
Media publicity can pave the way for community events / screenings. This way, you can improve the profitability of your physical therapy private practice.
Patients you see at such events will want to work with you, because you are already an established expert in their eyes. They will seek a referral from their physician and actively cultivate a new referral source for you – all you have to do is render your services and maintain constant contact with the patient after discharge.
