Don’t let your practice tank this summer!
Summer is coming, and if you’re a PT clinic owner, you know what that means.
With vacations, irregular schedules, and the kids at home, the summer months can be absolutely brutal for PT clinics. The flow of patients just seems to dry up…and so does your cash flow.
There is a way to avoid this. However, it requires you to think ahead and take action with your marketing right now!
The truth is, if you don’t start planning in the spring for the summer slump, you’re already falling behind. By starting to market your practice now and making these simple changes by April, you can ensure that your physical therapy clinic will be packed in July.
In this blog, we will give you five great ideas that will help you plan ahead and overcome the slow summer slump in your PT clinic!
- Start Marketing Early
- Market Heavily to Your Past Patient List
- Be Topical
- Create An Irresistible Summer Offer
- Leverage Quick Results With Digital Advertising
1. Start Marketing Early
Nothing good comes from procrastinating in marketing, especially in the physical therapy industry. If you want your clinic to be filled to the brim with new patients this summer, you NEED to start aggressively marketing right now. Not in two weeks, not in a month, not on the first summer day – NOW!
If you expect your cash flow to dry up in the clinic in a few months, spend it while you can now. By the time the weather warms up, you’ve got enough patients coming in to give you a return on your marketing investment!
The reason behind this is that marketing takes time to ramp up. You need time to gain the traction you’re looking for. You can’t just send out one newsletter the week before summer vacation begins or have one postcard hit mailboxes between now and June and expect your phone to be ringing off the hook immediately.
Take a look at this example…
Madden & Gilbert PT joined Practice Promotions in January 2021. Their new website launched in February. By June 2021, they hit their highest month ever with 85 new patients. They also experienced a 650% increase in Google search clicks, a 39% increase in Google My Business calls, and climbed 3,378 spots in local Google search rankings – allowing them to claim the #1 spot by March 2021.
This is all because they invested in their marketing, and they started BEFORE, not during, the summer months!
2. Market Heavily to Your Past Patient List
Your customer list is the biggest gold mine you are sitting on! Marketing to patients who already know and love you is key. The goal of marketing to your past patient list is to get the maximum value from your current and past patients.
These should be raving fans of your practice, telling others about you, and coming back for care if necessary. However, let’s face it, no one really wants to come back to therapy unless they have to. You have to coach, push, and prod them to stay in touch, and take action. And to do that, you need to stay on their mind every month.
The best way for any business to grow (especially a physical therapy practice!) is by word-of-mouth. Three great ways to market to your past patient list are as follows:
- Newsletters – Newsletters should be issued on a monthly basis. They present your past patients with relevant news and information about your clinic and the benefits of physical therapy in an educational, personal fashion. They’re a great way to stay in front of people who already know and trust you; getting past patients back in is up to 10X cheaper than finding new ones! Check out this clinic win below.
- Postcards – Postcards are an excellent way to stay on top of your past patient’s minds as they’re gearing up to go on vacations. Design, printing, and mailing can take some time, though, which is why you need to start this project at least four weeks before you want the postcards to be in the mail! Some great ideas for summer postcards include advertising your clinic workshops, free evaluation days, and summer rehab/athletic training.
Related: 3 Summer Postcards Physical Therapists Should Copy
- Email campaigns – In the technology-driven era we live in, marketing your PT practice through past-patient emails is a great idea. When deciding on the content for your email, you want it to be relevant. Opt for a seasonal theme (summer, in this instance!) and make sure the messaging is interesting. You only have a few words to capture someone’s attention, especially when they are scrolling through their inbox. Make sure your message is concise and includes a call to action for the patient to request an appointment as well.
3. Be Topical
When you’re marketing, you want to say what people are thinking. This means using verbiage such as “We know you’re busy with vacations, but it’s important for your recovery and health that you continue with your physical therapy treatment at our clinic.”
When marketing to past, present, and potential patients, it’s also a good idea to remain as topical as possible to help a reader stay focused. Some topics you can zero in on for newsletters, postcards, and email campaigns are:
- Readiness for summer
- Post-surgery rehab for the kids
- Summer sports
- Vacations
Take this newsletter for Advanced Balance Studio, for example! They focused on staying in PT during the summer months and the importance of maintaining good health even when you’re busy.
4. Create an Irresistible Summer Offer
People love freebies, and they also love knowing straight away that there is a benefit offered to them through your clinic.
Some awesome ways to grab your patients attention is to offer free screenings or evaluations, or advertise free trials for specific cash-only services, or services that have higher insurance deductibles.
Patients will really appreciate these benefits, and will also pass along your newsletter or other print product to their friends and family who they believe may benefit from therapy.
“We send out postcards that offer free screenings. We usually do a free screening offer in the second quarter, around March or April, and then another offer in October. These postcards are a great way to draw in individuals who may not know about physical therapy or the help it can provide. Then we can look at their condition objectively and see whether or not it’s something we can help them with. If nothing else, this postcard provides an offer. “ James Pumarada, Complete Physical Rehabilitation in NJ
5. Leverage Quick Results With Digital Advertising
Investing in online presence in this day and age should be non-negotiable for your clinic. People are connected to their phones and internet all day, every day, and you should use this as an opportunity to get in front of them!
When you have a solid physical therapy website and are utilizing Google ads, you’ll appear in front of thousands of extra people (ahem, potential patients) every month.
Practice Promotions’ Google Ad PPC (pay-per-click) program is exclusively designed for PT practices by the marketing experts at our company. Investing in PPC ads will help you to:
- Own more spots at the top of Google
- Get even more new patients from organic searches
- Establishes greater online credibility, authority and reputation for your practice
If you’re a current client reading this, reach out to your account manager ASAP to get PPC ads going in 3 weeks! If you’re not a current client, you can expect about 5-6 weeks for your ads to launch, and see results in 1-2 months!
Or…Embrace the Slump and Use It To Grow Your Practice
The summer slump can seem very intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Right now is a great time to plan ahead, especially if you find you have too much free time or a little extra cash to put towards marketing.
Remember, if it’s May and you’re reading this, you’re already behind. Don’t waste any more time. The quicker you begin marketing to your past patient list through print materials and email campaigns, and the faster you leverage digital marketing, the more return on investment you’ll see this summer.
