Why a Physical Therapy Marketing Assistant is Worth the Cost
Most new physical or occupational therapy practices don’t hire a marketing person from the start. The common practice is to go out there and market yourself to the community and to the local doctors. Who knows what you do and how you treat your patients better than you?!
Let’s think about perception for just a minute. If you’re the owner and the therapist, you MUST not be busy if you’re out marketing. Why aren’t you busy? Do you suck at what you do? No…you don’t. But it’s like the head chef of a restaurant going out on a Saturday night trying to drum up business. Why would you go to a restaurant that no one else eats at?
Hiring someone to help with marketing does not need to be an expensive commitment. You need someone that is trainable, outgoing, friendly and easy to approach. Hire them part-time or even PRN and they can make up their own schedule. You will be their trainer and guide them with where they need to go and what they need to say. Finding someone for $12/hour for 5 hours a week, will actually save you in the long run. Get 1 patient a week and it pays for itself, if not more!
Let’s face it, if you delegate tasks to an employee there is a much higher change of it getting done versus the owner trying to do it themselves. So other than visiting doctor’s offices, what can they do?? Fax and email marketing to local businesses or referral sites is easy and worth it. If you have an easy, quick platform to use for this, it can be highly beneficial and low cost. Sending your marketing assistant out to local merchants can be effective too. Have them exchange brochures or business cards and create a “community referral” program where you advertise for each other in your businesses. Market towards other businesses that have mutual customers. If you want to see more of an influx of auto patients, market to auto body shops. If you want to see more young athletes, target sports teams, high schools, gymnastics centers, etc. If you want to bring in more Medicare patients, hit up 55+ communities, buffet restaurants, and JC Penney-type stores.
Really think about saving your valuable time for the patients and running the business, and utilize a marketing person to be out there in the community spreading the word about you. For $50/week you could be delegating marketing tasks to someone else…and it will pay off!
