As a physical therapist, you know that you need to continually reach new patients to grow your practice. But with hundreds of possible marketing strategies, it’s hard to know which is the most effective for your business.
Below is a comprehensive guide on how to create a solid physical therapy online marketing plan, including the benefits of digital advertising for PTs, how to develop your strategy, what to include, and how to use these tactics to grow your physical therapy practice. Keep reading to learn more.
The Benefits of a Good Online Marketing Plan for Physical Therapists
There are numerous benefits that creating a strategic plan can have for physical therapists, particularly those who want to create a strong digital presence online for their practices. With savvy marketing, you can:
Reach a Wider Audience
A well-developed marketing strategy can help your PT practice reach a wider audience and potential patients who may not be aware of your practice. You can also use online directories and review sites to list your practice and attract new patients.
Maximize Your Marketing Dollars
Digital marketing is also a cost-effective way to raise awareness around your physical therapy practice. By creating a budget and allocating your resources wisely, you can save money on marketing costs while still reaching a large number of potential patients. You can also track the results of your online marketing campaigns to ensure that you are getting the most bang for your buck.
Increased Visibility for Your Practice
Effective digital marketing also makes your practice more visible to people who are searching for physical therapy treatment and services. By optimizing your website for search engines and using social media, you can make sure that potential patients can find you when they are searching for information about physical therapy.
Developing Your Marketing Plan
Start developing your physical therapy online marketing plan with these tips:
Define Your Goals
The first stage of any successful digital marketing plan is to outline or define your goals. Consider what you’re hoping to achieve with your marketing efforts, like increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or driving traffic to your website. Once you’ve defined your goals, you can begin to develop a strategy designed to attain them or at least put you closer to reaching them.
Research Your Target Market
Before you can start developing a physical therapy online marketing plan, you need to know who you want to reach with your messaging, also known as your target market. Identify their needs and wants and how they prefer to consume information on the web. Find out what interests them and resonates with them so you can meet them where they are with your content. Make sure you’re using effective tactics for your local audience, too.
Analyze Previous Marketing Efforts
Before starting any new marketing campaign, it’s important to analyze previous efforts so that you can learn from past successes and failures. Think about which campaigns worked well in the past and what didn’t work as well to drive traffic or attract new patients. By looking at previous campaigns, you can save time and money by avoiding repeating mistakes and focusing your resources on marketing strategies that have proven effective in the past.
Choose Your Channels
Now that you know who your target market is and what their needs are, it’s time to select the channels you’ll use to reach them. There are numerous marketing channels available for physical therapists, like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn, as well as blogs, articles, and other authoritative industry content.
Look at your audience demographics to help you make decisions. For example, if your ideal patients are younger, you may want to use Tik Tok to reach them. If you want to reach aging patients in need of physical rehabilitation, Facebook might be a better choice.
Create Compelling Content
Once you’ve selected the channels that you’ll use to reach your target market, it’s time to start creating content. The content that you create should be compelling and relevant to the needs of your target market. Aim to empathize with their position and offer effective solutions to their problems.
Putting Your Advertising Strategy Into Action
Now that you have your physical therapy online marketing plan in place, it’s time to start implementing it.
Determine Your Budget & Allocate Resources
The first step in bringing your marketing strategy to fruition is deciding where and how you will allocate the resources you have. This may include hiring additional staff, contracting with outside agencies, or investing in new marketing software. Don’t forget to anticipate and plan for future advertising costs as well.
Monitor and Adjust Your Campaigns
As your campaign progresses, it’s important to keep track of your results so you can make necessary adjustments. Regularly check in on your website traffic, social media engagement, and other key metrics to see how well your ads are performing. If you’re not seeing the results you want, don’t be afraid to experiment with different strategies or tactics until you find what works best for your physical therapy practice.
What To Include In Your Physical Therapy Online Marketing Plan
Website Design & SEO
A well-designed website is essential for any business, but it’s especially important for physical therapists. Your website is often the first point of contact between you and potential patients, so it’s important to make a good impression. In addition to a professional design, your website should also be optimized for search engines (SEO). This will help ensure that your website appears as high as possible in search results, making it more likely to be seen by potential patients.
Reputation Management & Online Reviews
It’s also crucial to manage the online reputation of your practice, as this can have a big impact on your business. Potential patients are likely to research you online before booking an appointment, and they may be influenced by what they read.
Positive reviews can help attract new patients, while negative reviews can deter them. Actively manage your public image by monitoring reviews and responding professionally to both positive and negative feedback within a few days of receiving it.
Content Marketing & Social Media
Content marketing is a great way to attract attention to your physical therapy practice and establish yourself as an authority in the industry. By creating compelling content such as blog posts, infographics, or videos, you can reach a wider audience and build trust with potential patients. Social media is also a powerful tool for promoting your content and engaging with potential patients, and can start thought-provoking conversations about important topics in your field.
Directory Listings & SMS Marketing
In addition to traditional marketing channels like website design and content marketing, there are some other digital marketing strategies that can be effective for physical therapists. For example, listing your practice in online directories like Google Business Profiles and Yelp can help improve visibility and make it easier for potential patients to find you.
SMS marketing can also be an effective way of reaching out to existing and potential patients alike. By sending text messages with special offers or appointment reminders, you can stay top of mind and encourage bookings.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is another great way to stay in touch with existing patients and promote your physical therapy practice to potential new ones. By sending regular newsletters or targeted emails with special offers or helpful information, you can keep people interested in what you do while also prompting patients to book or refer friends or family members to you.
How To Grow Your Physical Therapy Practice
The demand for physical therapists is at an all-time high, and patients are looking for PTs who can provide them with the best possible care. Your online presence is important, especially for younger patients who exclusively look for establishments on the web or social media before visiting the business in person. But how do you make sure that your physical therapy practice is growing and that you’re reaching your full potential? The answer lies in business intelligence marketing software.
Business Intelligence Marketing Software From Surefire Local
Business intelligence marketing software allows you to collect data about your patients, their needs, and what kind of care they’re looking for, so you can develop targeted marketing campaigns that will attract new patients and keep existing ones coming back. You can manage all of the important aspects of your marketing in one place, making it easier to run multiple channels without having to go back and forth between websites.
Surefire Local provides PT practice owners with marketing software that includes features like patient segmentation, campaign management, and ROI tracking that can help you take your PT practice to the next level. You’ll also get access to tools for higher Google rankings, better local search results, more positive online reviews, and lead generation and management. You’ll be able to reach more patients, provide them with better care, and improve your bottom line when you work with Surefire Local’s advanced digital marketing platform.
Now that you understand the importance of developing and implementing an effective physical therapy online marketing plan, you can take steps to reach a wider audience, save money on advertising, and increase visibility for your practice with proven advertising strategies that work. Contact us today to schedule your free software demo or to learn more about how our platform can help your practice grow and refine.