Competition is everywhere and if you want to stand out it’s important to have a good marketing plan. It’s not as simple as word of mouth or just having a website and some social media accounts anymore. Competition is thick and you need to get ahead of the rest if you want to get more clients through your doors. Here are 21 marketing tips for your therapy practice.
Online Tips
It’s no secret that your customers could be spending a lot of time online. But how do you get to them?
- Online Bookings
Although I said a website is not enough, a very optimised website can help to do the trick. Let’s be honest, the people of today can be a little lazy so don’t make booking an appointment difficult. Have an amazing online booking experience on your website to get people through your doors.
- Online Promotions
Similarly as above, you should be adding online only promotions to your site. Tell customers if they book an appointment using your site they will receive a free gift or a discount.
Email marketing is not dead even though many people are spreading this rumour! And whoever told you that probably hasn’t figured out that getting subscribers can be a real gold mine. Emails can easily turn your one-time customer into a repeat customer. Entice them with birthday discounts or deals of the day.
- Yelp
Did you know that you can allow people to book directly from Yelp? Not only will positive reviews get people wanting to book but they can now easily do so from the app. Make sure to sign up for a Yelp account and start getting people coming to your business.
Facebook is an amazing place to not only get more people to your website but it’s a great place to build a community. You can easily start discussions and get your visitors involved. People love it when companies value feedback.
Unlike Facebook, Instagram is a whole ‘nother beast. Instagram is a very visual platform that is run by “influencers.” Get someone on your team to say how amazing you are and promote your services and tag some potentially interested influencers. They really are the leaders of social media.
- Online Ads
Running Facebook ads are powerful and can add more people to the community you built on your page. But don’t forget that Facebook is not the only place to run ads. You can also run ads through Google, Instagram and even Pinterest!
- Content Marketing
Content Marketing is great because you give value to your customers before they even pay for anything. An obvious example of this is to add a blog to your site. You are giving away free advice on a topic which attracts new clients.
- YouTube
Another form of content marketing can also be a video. Similarly as above, you are giving away free and valuable information. An added tip for YouTube is to make sure to add a call to action to either get people on your website or signed up to your email list.
Backend Tips
- Analytics
Along with all the online tips, it’s always important to see what is and isn’t working. If your ads aren’t working or people aren’t opening your emails then it’s time to have a good look and correct what is wrong in order to optimise efficiency.
Offline Tips
- Referral Program
This goes back to the concept of word of mouth. However, it is more powerful because you get TWO happy customers. You reward the person bringing in someone new, so they get a good deal, PLUS you get a new customer. Win-Win-Win!
Additional Offline Tips
Don’t get lost in the online world. There are still many “old school” marketing tricks that work very well. Here are 10 additional ways to market your therapy practice without having to be online:
- Hosting free events
- Partnerships with local businesses
- Seminars
- Direct mail
- Branded merchandise
- Print media (flyers, brochures, etc.)
- Sponsoring events
- Raffles
- Business cards
- Donating gift certificates
