Physical Therapy Marketing That Delivers patients

If you’ve navigated your way to this page, it’s likely that you:

• Recognize increasing competitive pressures in physical therapy marketing
• Need help to effectively manage the physical therapy marketing process
• Are serious about maximizing the impact of your physical therapy marketing message and budget
• Are ready and committed to protect and grow your practice

Physical therapy practices of every size have tapped into our physical therapy marketing expertise.

And having been able to solve some of the toughest marketing and advertising issues for hundreds of practices around the nation, we know it’s complex and competitive.

Public demand for services is up, and competition has also increased. As it is with marketing for many medical and healthcare professionals, it is a highly dynamic business landscape—mergers, acquisitions and “roll-ups” are increasing competition for physical therapists trying to capture higher paying cases. At the same time, the demand for services has grown with the graying of baby boomers in America and the shifts in healthcare delivery systems.

If there is “good news” about physical therapy marketing and advertising, it’s that there’s an amazing spectrum of audiences and opportunities. In fact, PT practices typically have more things to talk about, more promotional gateways and more ways to generate revenue than many other medical and healthcare specialties.

Demand is growing for therapy in sports injury, personal injury and workers’ compensation injury, as well as the traditional preventative and therapeutic physical therapy treatments. From pediatric and geriatric patients to aquatic therapy and lymphedema management, to acute care and sub-acute rehab hospital settings—few specialties provide such a wide range of value to patients and have as many prospective revenue streams.

And while that’s the good news, this diversity of services has transformed physical therapy practice marketing into a multi-faceted endeavor that requires a well-considered and closely-managed physical therapy marketing plan to do it right and to be successful.

Marketing for physical therapy has evolved. 

Dynamics in society, medicine, medical delivery systems, and the professions (generalists, specialists and sub-specialists) have changed in recent years. Marketing and advertising for physical therapists, occupational therapists and physiatrists have shifted from simple and straightforward to being increasingly varied and difficult.

Even the point of service has expanded to many venues, including working in and sometimes marketing and advertising with fitness and sports training centers, workplace or occupational environments, inpatient and outpatient settings, and skilled nursing, emergency care and/or extended care facilities.

Today, the marketing message of a physical therapy practice reaches out to diverse and sometimes overlapping audiences including physicians, patients, prospective self-refer patients, insurance plans and others that are part of the mix.

In nearly two decades of helping physical therapy practices grow, we have found that physical therapy practice marketing campaigns achieve the greatest success because they planned it that way. Their goals are clear, supporting strategies are in place, and implementation tactics are well-considered and carefully coordinated. Reaching, convincing and attracting diverse audience segments requires cost-effective and solid programs to increase revenue and physical therapy practice profitability, as well as a comprehensive content marketing strategy.

Effective physical therapy marketing requires precise planning.

Don’t let the treatment plan get ahead of the diagnosis. In our consulting work with practices around the nation, someone often calls to say they “need a flyer” or “have to have a newspaper ad” or whatever else they think is right for their practice. Imagine if a patient presented himself with a request for a specific rehab regimen before you had any history, exam or tests.

The same principle applies in successful marketing programs, especially with physical therapy practices. Don’t jump ahead. Invest the time to ask these questions of yourself, and get a clear and unbiased perspective on where you are and what you need to do to achieve your practice development goals.

Healthcare Success can guide your physical therapy practice marketing and provide customized, creative and results-driven healthcare practice marketing strategies. Success in marketing requires the ability to recognize, identify, plan and capitalize proactively on opportunities as they present themselves. This process requires a common group vision and common goals, effective planning, skillful execution, consistency and frequency in communication strategies, as well as a process of measuring, quantifying and evaluating marketing performance so that real-time adjustments can be made.

We understand what works and what doesn’t work in physical therapy marketing and advertising. We know how to effectively communicate your value to your various “customers” in ways that help them appreciate and utilize all that you have to offer.