Each business needs to stay consistent and relevant with their brand messaging in order to gain more clients and retain existing ones. For Physiotherapy clinics, being consistent with your marketing and brand, more than anything else, means to deliver exceptional service, both online and offline.
When creating an online marketing campaign, the most important thing to remember is what your brand stands for. There are tons of physiotherapy clinics out there, why do you think patients will choose your clinic specifically? This question is the main reason why building a powerful brand presence online is critical for any business, and physiotherapy clinics are no exception.
Creating a powerful image might take some time, but it’s definitely worth the investment. Here are 5 steps you need to think about when shaping your PT clinic’s brand online:
When trying to attract new patients to your PT clinic, it’s important to understand that most patients can’t be fooled or forced into making a choice that suits you: they will always make the choice that suits themselves. This is why it’s critical to create online marketing campaigns that are focused on the benefits that a patient gets when choosing your clinic.
People are very selfish by nature. They don’t care how many services you offer, they just want to know what’s in it for them. This is why this type of communication works best online. Explain how using your clinic’s services will benefit patients, and they will respond.
One of the important steps of establishing yourself as a thought leader in the market and creating a powerful brand presence is giving away value, for free. One thing most PT clinic owners do wrong, is that they think about giveaways as costs for their business. The thing is that value doesn’t only come in the form of discounts, free consultations or more services for the same amount of money. You could also share your experience, guide patients in the right direction, share health tips, etc. There is a ton of value that you could offer to people for free, which won’t cost you anything.
Social media is one of the easiest ways to offer value to your potential clients. Facebook and Twitter alone have around 1.6 billion and 300 million users accordingly, and most of those people have close to no education on how to be healthy. Monitor social media channels for discussions and tweets about your topic and address as many questions and concerns as you can, while asking nothing in return. This will help increase your brand presence and also build trust with the community.
Quite often, people leave formal or informal feedback about your PT clinic online. They share their concerns, good and bad experiences, ask questions, suggest changes, etc. It’s critical that you respond to every single mention of your clinic online, and never leave a comment unattended.
When dealing with negative customer feedback, it’s especially important to stay professional and honest, no matter how frustrated a patient might be. A dissatisfied client usually tells about his or her bad experience to 9-15 other people. By dealing with negative feedback online, you will not only have a chance to win that patient back, but also show others that you really care about your patients and will always take action to correct your mistakes.
Offering exceptional service isn’t enough anymore. Today, people want to be a part of something more than just getting treated in a good physiotherapy clinic. They want to be treated in a clinic that is authentic and unique in its own way, which shares the same values and beliefs as they do.
To achieve this, try sharing your day-to-day experiences with your audience online. You can take pictures together with your staff, make a short video on how awesome every day at your clinic is, emphasize your business mission and vision, show people why visiting your clinic will be good for them, etc. In other words, show potential clients that your clinic isn’t just a typical PT clinic, but is awesome and unique in comparison to others.
Lastly, don’t forget that your PT clinic’s personnel can be as great of a marketing tool as any other. Each of your staff members has his or her own social media account, and can help you reach a wider audience. Additionally, studies show that Millennials are 3 times more likely to use a brand’s service when getting prompted by real people on social media and your employees can be powerful brand advocates in this context.
Taking into account the fact that Millennials are soon to be the largest consumers of any type of service or products, it becomes even more important to use your employees’ help in online marketing campaigns.
On a final note, remember that flexibility is one of the most important aspects when it comes to online marketing. Trends and buying habits of people shift quickly and you will need to update and tweak your PT clinic’s marketing strategy from time to time. What works today, might not work in the near future and you need to be ready for that.
Building a solid brand online can mean a lot for PT clinics. At the end of the day, when presented with a choice, people will choose a clinic that is more authentic and has a better image. At PatientSites.com we know all about the importance of online branding and how Physiotherapy clinics can utilize their brand to their advantage. Take a look at what we can do for you.
Get started with a Free Evergreen Marketing Blueprint to learn how you can create long-term assets that will attract new patients for years to come.