When Just Surviving Is A Struggle, It’s Time To Assess Your Marketing Strategy
Traditional physical therapy and healthcare marketing depends on one-on-one relationship building, or sales techniques. 20 - 30 years ago this worked fine. In fact, one-on-one meetings were the primary vehicle professionals used to learn about the other service providers in the area. Not only was this true for professionals, but it was also true for those seeking care; for the healthcare consumer, the family doctor or internist was the information gatekeeper directing access to care. Today, however, the system has changed on almost every level; physicians have markedly less control over their own time, and an overwhelming amount of easily accessible information reduces the need for personal meetings. Consumers frequently consult search engines and websites
before accessing care. This trend will accelerate.
The introduction of your practice can be reduced to a 1-2 minute website visit, so why would a potential referral source or patient invest 30-60 minutes with you (or anybody else) when they can kick the tires online first? Sure, some will, but most will not – until they are ready. This means that your communication effort should be marketing based, not sales based. You need to drive people to your website strategically, capture contact information, and provide compelling decision facilitating follow up information (not sales information) systematically. The first qualified provider to do this well in your market space has the power to dominate. 99% of practitioners don’t aspire to dominate (for them, surviving is just fine), but the other 1% who do will enjoy control over practice growth and long-term prosperity that makes a real difference professionally, as well as personally.
