When Marketing Becomes Fun

I have found that marketing is the #1 challenge for most physical therapy clinic owners. In just a few short months I received hundreds of questions about marketing from clinic owners. This tells me it is a challenge for many of you.

Did you know that one of the most common reasons physical therapy practices don’t have business coming through their doors is simply because people don’t know about them?

I’d like to tell you about four key changes you can make to your marketing approach which will make marketing fun while boosting your business significantly. Read on.

The Four Changes That Will Turn Around Your Marketing Success

1. The first change is a mindset shift.

I’d like you to change how you think about marketing and start using this phrase:

"I will do what it takes to find the easiest and most effective way to reach and serve prospective new clients". As a physical therapy clinic owner the chances are you feel overwhelmed when it comes to marketing. While you are an expert in your field, consistently getting new clients is probably not one of your strengths. You need to stop hoping, hoping that clients will just magically appear. You need to stop wishing that someone will come along and just do it for you. You simply must do it yourself. No one else will do it if you don’t. You are the owner of this valuable asset; you have invested your precious money, energy and time in it. Marketing is the fundamental way to reach new clients and grow your practice. Think about marketing differently and you’ll find you enjoy it!

2. The second way to make marketing more fun is to learn what works and what doesn’t.

When you learn what marketing strategies work and which ones don’t you will no longer spin your wheels, feel uncertain about what you are doing, and waste your valuable money. Here are a few marketing principles that work and don’t work. Watch for your Association’s next newsletter, to learn what specific marketing strategies work and don’t work for physical therapy practices.

Marketing Principles That Work:

Choose a set of simple, effective things to do and do them consistently.

You may think there is some hidden secret to marketing your professional practice. There isn’t. The real key to successful marketing is choosing just a few simple, effective things to do, and then doing these things consistently. This is how you build your business more quickly while doing less.

Trying to do too much is one of the ways you may be sabotaging your own marketing efforts. Starting something and not doing it consistently may actually prevent you from getting clients because you never spend enough energy on any one approach to really make a difference.

Rely on persistence, not magic.

If you limit your marketing efforts to what you can realistically do well and move purposefully in a specific direction, you will be exercising persistence. People will hear your name over and over. They begin to think of you when you’re not in contact with them and send you referrals. To make this happen you have to do the work consistently and persistently; positive intentions alone won’t work. There is a direct connection between your level of effort and the results you get.

Choose a niche and become known in it.

Choosing a niche or target market is a must for your marketing success. You may be reluctant to choose a niche for your physical therapy practice. I know you don’t want to limit yourself. Having a niche doesn’t limit you; it focuses you. Of course you can still choose to work with anyone who shows up at the door of your practice. But to be effective in marketing, you need a focal point for your activities. The world is too big to market to all of it.

3. The third way to make marketing more fun is to realize and accept that it is not difficult.

It is simply about giving your brilliance to others. You have something to give and marketing is offering this to others. What could be more fun, fulfilling, and fundamental to your success?

4. The fourth way to make marketing more fun is to think like your clients.

Stop trying to sell prospective new clients on the idea of physical therapy. It doesn’t sell. When you learn to think like your clients do, you’ll know what to sell. Here is an example. Don’t speak generally about what physical therapy services can do for them. Don’t talk about your processes, the history of your clinic, and how long you have been in business. Prospective clients just don’t care about this. Speak to your clients about the challenges you know they experience, and how you can help them achieve their goals for recovery. Your interest in them is a big part of the attraction they will have to you and your clinic. Attract their attention by speaking about how your services can help them personally.

Within only a few months of making these four changes in your approach to marketing, this will happen:

- Instead of being scattered in your marketing, you’ll become focused.

- Instead of feeling uncertain about what to do, you’ll become clear.

- Instead of being overwhelmed, your marketing becomes purposeful.

- Instead of limping along financially, your practice becomes highly profitable.

And you’ll actually have fun marketing because it has become easier and you know how to attract new clients to your clinic.

Prosperous Physical Therapy
Copyright @2008 by Erika Trimble All Rights Reserved