[Free Training] Confessions Of Two PT Clinic Marketing Experts

Direct Response Marketing Secrets
For PT’s – Click here to watch the video.

Pull up a chair…

And let me tell you a quick story:

…So not long ago I was speaking at a big Marketing Seminar in “St.Louis”.

It’a beautiful city with an impressive Arch and I stayed in the fabulous “Union Station Hotel” which has an awesome light show going on inside the main Lobby each night starting at 7pm.

But that’s not what I wanted to tell you about…

[Press play on the video ^ to watch the webinar]

No, I want to let you know all about another PT I met there whose name is “Chad”.

A PT who REALLY impressed me with his marketing ideas.

Anyhow…

At the bar one night, we got to talking about “all of the different ways that PT’s could (and should!) be using to bring more patients into their clinics”…

Mainly, direct response type stuff to attract direct access patients!

It turns out that “Chad”, (of “Madden PT” over in Harrisburg, PA) is the founder of a company called “Breakthrough PT Marketing” – meaning, like me, he also helps other PT’s in the USA to grow more successful practices.

He is an AWESOME guy (and very clever, too) and recently, he invited me to talk to HIS list of clinic owners about how I grew my own practice using direct response marketing,

– AND –

Share some secrets of what I’m doing to help other owners overcome their biggest business challenges.

Owners from all across the USA paid to attend – and the “webinar replay” is here for you to watch:

Just press play here now >>>

Here’s just a taste of what you’ll discover on the webinar:

* The secret website strategy that generates new patients 24/7, on autopilot.

* Why attacking CHIROPRACTORS in your marketing is healthy for profits.

* The SUPER secret to boosting your average patient visit – you need to get good at just this one thing that anyone can learn!

* How to use patient testimonials to get get more referrals.

* My big tip if you’re sending out “every door direct mailers”.

* The single best way to test past patient reactivation offers, for FREE!..

* How to create your first “lead generation” advert and what to offer.

* How I built a $1m dollar clinic, selling against a completely free health care system!

* The one thing I read that changed the way I think (and my practices profits!), literally over night

* And so much more revealed in under 60 minutes!…

If you want to know all of that, and more, best hop over to this video replay now:

Just press play here now >>>

Cheerio for now 😉

Paul Gough

P.S I’m the one with the “tropical” British accent.

P.P.S Watch the webinar… and within 3 minutes you’ll also learn the single fastest way to boost referrals from your website, (often in under 20 seconds flat!)

Here is the link to the replay to watch it:

Just press play here now >>>

[True Story] Another PT Clinic Owner Who Is Relying ONLY On Doctor Referrals

So yesterday I did three “Strategy Calls” and one was with a pt clinic owner from Cambridge, Boston. 
 
A guy currently surviving ONLY on referrals from doctors who refer post op knee replacement patients to his clinic. 
 
We’ve chatted on Skype now a couple of times about what is the best way for him and his business to move forward so that he can begin to generate his own referrals
 
– AND – 
 
take advantage of direct access and stop wasting time on chasing doctors proving “harder than ever to reach than ever”.
 
(His exact words!) 
 
But here’s the thing: 
 
My “system” – and what I said I could do to help, he didn’t feel was right for him – at this moment. 
 
See, he KNOWS it’s what he needs…
 
And he knows it’s going to be what he HAS to do (eventually)…
 
But, it just doesn’t feel right at this moment for him to invest in my system for finding new patients.
 
…Even though it’s working in different counties and states in the USA at this VERY moment and even though my “ads” are generating phone calls from new patients who had they not seen the ads I write, would NEVER have even considered visiting a pt.   
 
BUT anyway…
 
He now has a very clear understanding of what MUST be done to get more patients in his business that means he isn’t going to be relying upon just 3-4 doctors. 
 
I left him with some tips for his website – something which I sensed is frustrating him more and more as NO referrals come from that either…
 
Even warned him of the pitfalls of advertising “in-clinic seminars” without having an “offer” to move the people who attend from “pupil”, to paying patient. 
 
So what I’m trying to say to you is this:
 
If you’re at all interested in learning about the options you’ve got for getting more new patients into your clinic (via direct access), then why don’t we have a conversation about it? 
 
It might be that what I can do IS right for you and your clinic. 
 
But if it’s NOT, I’ll do my best to help you decide what is – and tell you where to look to get it.
 
Would that be worth the 30 seconds of your time it will take to fill this form out:
 
www.ptprofitacademy.com/strategy >>
 
Claim a strategy call with me by filling out this form here:
 
www.ptprofitacademy.com/strategy >>

Paul Gough 
 
P.S Was talking with a client of mine from CA yesterday…
 
…and as we’re preparing a new marketing piece set to run in the newspapers soon, we spoke all about the different types of problems that his patients with back pain face…
 
And they’re NOT things like: sciatica, SI Joint stiffness or muscle tension or anything medical like that. 
 
It’s much more important than that…
 
Things like: being unable to play golf, surf, sit in their beach chair, run, go to the Pilates studio, or play at the swing park with their children, is WHAT the REAL problems are.  
 
Only when back pain stops any of these things do people think they even have a problem – despite the pain they’re suffering having been there for weeks or months! 
 
Do you know what your prospective new patients REAL problems are? 
 
If you don’t, it’s very difficult to attract them to your clinic.
 
We’ll talk about this some more on a strategy call. 
 
Apply here:
 
www.ptprofitacademy.com/strategy >>

[Marketing Plan] Get Little-Known Marketing Ideas To Boost Direct Access Referrals At Your PT Clinic….

If you came looking for Marketing Ideas to boost self-referral at your small town or independent Physical Therapy Clinic, then you’ll find this article helpful.

It’s Physical Therapy Marketing Ideas for beginners who just don’t know where to start, or are somewhat overwhelmed by the constant message they keep hearing that they must better learn to “market your services”.
So I’ll start by introducing you to something I call the “Marketing Triangle”.

Marketing ideas for physical therapists
It’s something which forms the foundation of all good marketing activity in EVERY industry – and that most definitely includes the physical therapy sector.

It’s made up of THREE components and they’re all as important as each other:

  1. Market
  2. Message
  3. Media 

And the first I’ll teach you about is the Market.

Marketing Triangle Part 1 – How To Identify Your Ideal Patient

This is your “WHO” you want to attract to your pt clinic.

(Because you don’t just want to try and attract everyone and anyone, right?)

Now…

I often refer to the WHO as an “AVATAR” – and it’s essentially WHO your IDEAL client or patient is.

Someone you love to work with.

Get great results for.

Someone whose hopes, dreams and goals are perfectly aligned with your pt skills and clinics specialist solutions.

Thing is, NOT many pt’s really know WHO their ideal patient is (so it’s almost impossible for them to have ANY success at marketing their services to them).

Sure…

PT’s will always be able to tell me that they see more people with back or neck pain etc…

…but rarely are they are able to describe to me their IDEAL patient in any more detail than that.

What I mean?

Well, let me tell you about my own “avatar” to help you understand:

“It’s” a lady – and she’s in her mid 50’s (or 60’s).

For a whole bunch of reasons, but in a nut shell…

…simply because my clinics service is focused on helping people maintain independence, mobility and living free from drugs and without the risk of surgery – all of the things that many women value most (MUCH more so than men).

And another reason…

Women are “pre-conditioned” to invest in their body and health.

They’ve been going to hairdressers, beauty salons, spend a heap of money on face creams and care greatly about how their nails look – enough to spend money on it – so I want to tap into that pre-conditioned behaviour pattern rather than try to create one with guys who don’t regularly spend time or money on their health until it’s an urgent or pressing need.

Now back to my “avatar” (Ideal client)…

She is married with children (and now likely to have grandchildren who she adores), is politically “conservative”, pays using Credit card rather than cash and is MORE interested in things like maintaing “self worth”, social independence, mobility and playing with those grandchildren in the park – than she is merely ending “back pain”.

(An end to back or knee pain (or whatever) is hardly EVER the reason a patient will come visit your clinic!)

I even got it down to which newspaper and magazines she likes to read, what TV shows and which radio station she is more likely to be listening too.

What’s more…

I spend so much time thinking about her and talking about her with my star, I felt I had to give her a name – so I did, and it’s “Mary”!

And whenever I’m preparing a marketing piece to attract more “Mary’s” to my clinic, I go so far as to look at a picture of a “best” patient of mine (also called Mary) – one who accurately represents the type of person I love to work with and want to see more of in my clinic.

Consequently…

When I sit down to write these marketing pieces, say for a newspaper advert or write words to attract a patient from Yelp.com etc, I have a clear understanding of what to write that will motivate many more people like “Mary”, to respond to my message.

And that “Message” (another part of the “Marketing Triangle”) has nothing to do with “me”, my services, how reputable I think I am, or how many years I’ve been in business.

I make NO attempt to be “all-inclusive” or to cast the net wide to catch as many “fish” as possible – like most of the marketing guru’s will tell you to do.

Nor do I even give a minutes thought to who I might repel, even offend (usually chiropractors or drug companies!) when I do so, either.

In fact, the more I mention those two in my ads in a negative way, the more calls to my clinic I seem to get from “Mary’s”!

I know my prime target (the “WHO”) – and I design my “Messages” and choose my “Media” accordingly.

And if you want to attract more self-referrals to your clinic, you’ll need to give some tough to YOUR Who, too.

Start “brainstorming” your favourite clients, think through what they have in common, what words they use to describe their pain, what their hopes and goals are. You’ll soon see a lot of commonalities in there and when you know them you’ll have a clear picture of who you want to MARKET your services to.

So now let’s talk about the MESSAGE.

Marketing Triangle Part 2 – The Message

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If you’re looking to grow the number of referrals from Direct Access, but it’s not quite happening for you yet, then one of the things that is getting in your way is the number of people telling you to:

“Market your service”…

I first heard it from a practice management “guru” I watched at a seminar in New Jersey and I’ve continued to hear it ever more from companies “advising” PT’s on how to Market their clinics.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it. Just, “market what you do”. As in, run an advert in the paper, or send out a postcard to people in your town, buy some likes on Facebook (and now pay more to “boost your post”), set up a page on Yelp and just make people more aware or YOU and what YOU do.

And if you do, they will call… And yes, I get the idea behind it and even the theory. I just don’t don’t agree with it. Because it doesn’t work well enough! …

Even less so if you’re an independent or a small town clinic battling against the big hospitals or the POTS. Why? Simple. People don’t care about you. Heck, most don’t even know that what you do is what they need – so they won’t even call your clinic when the offer is an offer of a completely free session.

So if you’re running adverts like this, it’s the MESSAGE that is going wrong and limiting how many people self-refer.

What to do about it?

Well, instead of the “Message” in your Ad being about “you” (and your clinic), why not switch is to saying something about the problems you know how to solve?

Say, or better yet, “offer”, (like bait), something that can help someone solve a problem or pain in their life and at least let them know there is a solution out there and tell them exactly how and where to get it – i.e. by calling your clinic.

Think of it this way:

To the person who is sat at home on his or her couch and starting to get frustrated with gradual and ever increasing intensity of their back pain (or knee pain etc)…

…who really doesn’t want to have to go through the hassle of contacting their network and doesn’t even want to contemplate having to sift between all of the PT’s on Yelp.com or popping up on Google, and choose between the self labelled “best in town”…

…is he or she more likely to be motivated to call YOUR clinic, if they see an advert with a Message which offers something like a “free tips report” on the best ways to end back pain? Or one who offers a free telephone consultation with a PT BEFORE going any further and signing the forms – just to help them make sure they’ve made the right decision? Probably.

So your “MESSAGE” – it’s not about you or even PT, it has to be something that is compelling enough to spark a response. Preferably, one which is going to solve their particular problem, in the easiest and fastest possible way – that THEY See it. (Which, at this stage, is NOT attending for 10 session of pt treatment).

Here’s where it gets profitable:

When they do call your clinic (to request the free “DIY tips report”), THEN you or your reception staff can begin a conversation which talks about their real pain points i,e, the thing that concerns them most about their back pain – such as loosing their ability to work, walk, or play time with grandchildren.

And when you know that… THEN you can begin to educate the person about how what you do, as in your PT skills, really is the best option to solve that specific problem. And you do that while on the phone and you’ve got all the time you need – not in Ad which which costs $100’s dollars per inch to place!

Most clinic owners get poor results from their advertising and marketing because they give no compelling reason to respond. (Free sessions and “call now” aren’t enough…) …they offer no “bait” like a free report to self help, or they put out the wrong bait for the right people they want to attract.

If you’re not giving people compelling reasons to respond in your advertising messages, then you’re doing something called brand advertising – which is what the corporate hospitals love to waste money on – and I urge you NOT to copy cat.

Your marketing Message should be “direct response” style. It should have a deadline, a reason to respond TODAY, and even include some “scarcity” too. (No body wants to miss out).

Marketing Triangle Part Three – Where To Place Your Advertising (Media)

So now you know about the “message”, and your “market”. Next, let’s chat about “Media”…

Because you need to know precisely which MEDIA you’re going to use to locate your WHO. Or, in reverse, you’ve got to know which media your “WHO” is tapped into – so that you can serve them highly specific messages to trigger response to your clinic. Remember…

…the goal of why we’re using *direct response marketing* is to get your prospective patients – with, say, back pain – to take action BEFORE they ordinarily would have (had they not seen your Ad) and most definitely before they call their insurance or a chiropractor.

Sounds a little “cerebral”, right? Well, it kinda’ is! But it’s fun. And hugely profitable. And means for less worrying about getting referrals from doctors and more time thinking about achieving the main goals of your having your clinic in the first place.

So, “Media” is  where you choose to run your ads and the list is long – often so long that it can feel overwhelming and stop you in your tracks before you’ve even got going. The Media includes but is not limited too:

* Facebook

* Google

* Newspapers

* Magazines

* Yelp

* Coupons

* TV

* Radio

* Etc, Etc…

The question is, which is best?

And the answer. “There isn’t one”.

It varies a lot by “WHO” YOU want to reach. An example: If you’re trying to reach a 65 year old gentlemen who loves to play golf and take cruises with his wife (because that’s “WHO” you have decided you want to work with), then is he likely to be looking on Google? Perhaps.

But maybe you’d have more chance of finding more gentlemen aged 65 with back pain, by running an ad in a golf magazine, appearing on a website for a cruise company or sending out a postcard to a list of highly targeted individuals who fit this description – and offering them a free “tips” report titled:

“Golfers – How To Swing Without Back Pain Even In Your 60’s”

And of course…

One of the “tips” that is going to be included in that report is YOUR PT service. And the first goal of running the advert is to get the Gentlemen’s contact details when he calls to get his free report – so that you can have a nice chat with him to find out precisely what his problems are, what he wants and needs and politely make him aware that physical therapy is something that will help him, get there faster.

Remember, the process that I’ve just described there, that’s called “direct response” advertising. And my advice is that whatever Media you’re going to choose – it must allow for you to deliver a “direct response” message – or skip it. With that said, your goal as captain of your ship should be to use as many different MEDIA as possible to seek out your preferred “WHO”. Most clinic owners become very lazy at this…

…choosing to be dependent on only physician referrals which could be stopped at any time…

Or on only one, two or three means of getting new patients, leaving them very vulnerable to sudden disruptions in business and never really feeling as though they can move from, say, seeing 30 patients per week, to seeing something like 100 (and employing others to do the work for them) – not to mention the threat from competition opening up in the market place.

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Hope this helps.

Paul Gough

Author, Clinic Owner, Founder at PTProfitAcademy.com

P.S If you want more marketing tips like this to boost self-referrals from direct access at your pt clinic, please click the link below:

Click Here to Subscribe to Paul’s Marketing Tips Email List >>>

The Maximum Cash Value System – Part 3 of Your Pt Clinic Marketing And Growth System

Let’s talk about the third component of your PT Clinic Growth System:

The Cash Value System.

I should really call it the MAXIMUM Cash Value System because it’s a method of extracting the absolute maximum value for the money you invested at the very beginning to find these new patients in the first place.

Remember the golden rule of direct response marketing:

“$1 in, $2.00.

Ideally, $1.00 in. $10.00 out.”

So let’s talk about how to get $10.00 of this new machine you’ve created.

(A “machine” is a nice way to think of it).

Let me take you back to my diagram…

It’s gotten a bit “fancier” since the day I mapped it out on a scrap piece of paper on the plane home from Chicago that day.

(Same rules apply though).

Here it is for you to look at.

Marketing ideas for physical therapy clinics

(Click the image to see it bigger)

We’re now over on the right hand side having passed through the ATTRACTION SYSTEM & The BUYER SYSTEM.

So, how do we Maximise Cash Value?

Simple.

Find as many different ways as possible to re-sell to that same patient and turn a profit, over and over again.

i.e. introduce a new service or product such as massage or a monthly subscription Pilates class.

– OR-

Have a system in place to get your existing leads and patients to give you referrals.

I like both.

But lets talk about *referrals*.

Because people who have been referred are much easier to work with, happy to pay your prices and are nearly always going to follow through on the treatment plan you suggest.

And all you have to do to get more of them is build a referral process it into your system…

One way is to do it when people come to your website and “opt in” for a free report or ebook, OR, simply have your buyer (follow up) system do it for you.

Here’s an example of how I do it:

I email a link to a webpage which tells my patients what to do if they know anyone who is currently unhealthy.

Here it is:

Marketing ideas for physical therapists

(Click the image to make it bigger)

How it works…

First, note that I don’t ask for a referral.

I simply ask them to request some information from me.

(The exchange takes place – info for contact details).

And when they do that (by opting into my system), guess where they end up?

That’s right…

Into the same BUYER SYSTEM (as their friend or family member) and they will begin to receive the same offer of my book, emails, postcards and direct mail for however long it takes them to realise that physical therapy is their best option.

Now here’s the fun part:

Let’s say I spent $500 for some kind of advertising which brought in four new patients spending an average of $900 each.

You have spent $500 to make $3600, pretty good return on investment, right?

($1 in, about $7 out).

Well, what if immediately after those 4 new clients had their initial consultation with you – an automated system asked each one if they knew anyone “unhealthy?”

Let’s be pessimistic and say just two of them sent this web page to a friend who had back pain – he or she entered your system – and not long after became a client.

That would be an extra $1800 in revenue that you otherwise wouldn’t have got.

So now instead of generating the $3,600, the original investment in marketing would have generated $5,400.

That’s 50% more money for zero additional effort.

(It’s now $1 in, nearly $11 out).

But it doesn’t end there.

Because you’ve built a system to automatically do it for you, the two new referrals would also be asked for referrals.

If the stats remained the same, you’d get a further 1 patient and another $900, making a $6,300 return.

(It’s now $1 in, nearly $13 out).

In other words, having a simple automated referral system in place to maximise the referrals you get can DOUBLE your new patient in take and sales… on autopilot.

Now…

You won’t need me to tell you that the pt industry is getting more and more competitive by the day.

Do NOT try to figure this out for yourself.

You don’t have to understand how electricity works to turn lights on.

You don’t have to understand how web pages are programmed to be able to surf the internet.

You don’t have to understand how to build a system like this in your business for you to start profiting from it.

Let me and my team build it for you.

If you want to be the stand out physical therapy business in your town – perhaps even the USA – one with the type of business you’ve always dreamed about and making the income you deserve, SYSTEMS are the fastest way to do it.

Just imagine…

No more worrying over having no marketing skills or getting referrals from doctors.

In a few months time from now, you could wake up every day to a flood of hot new enquiries, eager, keen and ready to say yes to an examination or consultation at your clinic – meaning you’re much closer to achieving more free time, real wealth or financial security.

Your clinics car park is full everyday, your new patient numbers are through the roof and your bank account is full of cash, but most importantly, your business is working hard for you, rather than YOU working (excessively) hard for it.

I know that not every pt in the United States is ready for this…

But if you think you are, then go ahead, fill out this form here now:

Let Me Talk To Paul About Getting My Own Clinic Growth System >>>

And we’ll get on the phone or Skype and see how this type of system could radically increase profit for your clinic.

Here’s the form again:

Let Me Talk To Paul About Getting My Own Clinic Growth System >>>

I’ll see you on Skype.

Paul Gough.

P.S For obvious reasons…

My systems are “Area Exclusive”.

Meaning, if I’ve already agreed to work with one of your competitors, then I’m not able to do this for you.

With that in mind, please be quick to fill out the form and indicate that you want to talk to me before another pt in your area does:

Let Me Talk To Paul About Getting My Own Clinic Growth System >>>

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Note to physical therapist looking for marketing ideas…

Sign up to Pauls email list and get Marketing ideas and strategies for your pt clinic sent to you by email:

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Google Adwords – How To Avoid Blowing Through A $1000 Budget In A Week

Sometimes I get questions from pt’s asking me about if “google adwords” actually works.

Should they do it?

Or, just stick to the free listings like what everyone else does?

In short, here’s the very latest email reply I’ve had on this topic:

===

“My biggest problem is I have few marketing skills.

So I tried Google ads pay per click for a week – but I had to discontinue it because it seemed like more people clicking but no one was calling except telemarketers.”

– Brian. Portland, Oregon.

===

“Alas!”

A common problem.

So let’s chat about this.

See, “paid for” google advertising, it DOES work.

…but only if you’re doing it in a certain way.

And that way is to run google ads (any ads) with the goal of capturing people’s contact details – in exchange for some valuable information, like a free tips report on ways to end back pain.

(This is called “direct response marketing”).

Yet, what most pt’s do is they set up the google ad’s account (or have someone do it for them), apply a budget of, say, $300-400 dollars a week – and blow through it in a day without getting any calls or inquiries.

(‘xcept, from telemarketers).

Why?

Simple.

The ads are sending people to their main website.

Which, for most pt’s, isn’t written well enough to motivate people to take action immediately.

Nor does it offer any compelling reason to leave contact details to let any follow up take place.

Sure, some will display a free “ebook”…

But even the benefit of something FREE, needs to be sold hard.

What’s worse, most google adverts run right to the home page of that website.

Why so bad?

Because as a general rule, you’ve got *7* seconds to give people the information they came looking for – or they’re leaving your site!

If you’re running paid for google ad words – the very least you’ve got to do is send them to a webpage RICH in content and loaded with helpful information about the topic they searched for i.e. back pain, showing them precisely how you can solve their specific problem.

(A skilled copywriter is needed).

The next thing you’ve got to do is give them a reason to respond – right from that page.

It could be a simple form to fill out…

…A SPECIFIC 800 free number to call to “get seen quicker”.

Or, the most profitable way, ask the visitor to enter their name, phone number and email address and in return you’ll send out a very helpful “tips” report featuring all the best ways to end back pain.

(Of which, YOUR service is one of them).

Doing it this way gives you a chance to get on the phone next day to ask more about what that person needs….

Maybe even get their full address and send out some more information by post – something like a postcard or a compelling sales letter which shows off your service even more.

(Ideally, using an Automated “follow up” Marketing System).

Follow this strategy and you’ve got much more of a chance of turning a profit from using google ads.

All right.

‘nuff said?

Or do you want to know some more on how to get the best out of google ads?

If so, Hit Reply with your questions, or use this link to set up a Free Strategy Call with me, here:

Let Me Talk To Paul On The Phone And Have My Biggest Marketing Challenges Solved For Me >>>

Paul.

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Big Corporate Hospitals – You Vs Them And One “Killer” Way To Get Patients To Choose Your Small Town PT Clinic, And By Pass Them

So the other day I mentioned that the big corporate hospitals (with a bunch of guys in suits, sitting round a board table sipping on coffee with stockholders to consider) have a completely different reason for marketing than you and I.

Here’s what I mean:

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Their Agenda

1.) Please/appease that board of directors (most of ‘em who know zip about advertising and marketing but have lots of options)

2.) Please/appease those stockholders

3.) Look good, look appropriate (even to wall street perhaps, if they’re big enough!)

4.) Look good, appropriate to the media

5.) Look good, appropriate to the government/banks (for future funding)

6.) Build a brand identity (curse that word)

7.) Win awards for best advertising

8.) Get patients through the door and make a profit.

Your Agenda (and mine).

1.) Get patients through the door and make a profit. Now.

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Here’s the thing…

Most small town pt clinics are “advertising victims”…

Prayed on by sales people and companies who promise to “do a newsletter”, build a website (and maintain it for a monthly fee), take care of all their advertising etc etc etc, yet, the people doing so, rarely do they know anymore about how to actually produce a patient or make a sale, than the clinic owners do!…

If in doubt, try to get that sales or marketing person to accurately tell you where and how they got those new patients for you — and what it cost from source A or B — or, what results specifically come from this new website, or that newsletter or the latest display ad, and usually,well, they can’t.

Enter Direct Response Marketing.

And let me show you how to use it to get ahead of your bigger competitors.

First, I need you to think about how a “typical” patient with, say, something like “back pain”, might think, and, take action.

As you know…

MOST patients don’t take action the minute they feel their back pain coming on.

No.

Many wait weeks, months and even years before doing something about it.

Why?

Including, but not limited too:

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* Not sure what a pt actually does

* Insurance hassles and headaches

* Time – everyone thinks that tomorrow will be the day it just disappears

* Self doubt – most people are so negative that they think nothing and no one can help “ME”.

* Easier to just suffer (than find time for 10 sessions of pt)

* Too much choice (pt, chiro, osteo, drugs, homeopath etc etc) meaning that it’s easy to get the decision wrong – so inaction seems the best and safest one.

* And many, many more.

===

So now think about how you could possibly motivate all of these people people, who think like this, to call your clinic?

Are you really going to do that by simply putting an advert in a newspaper or on Facebook which says “I’m here, call today” (i.e. brand awareness).

Unlikely.

Now think about why a patient might choose a corporate hospital in the first place.
.
.
.

It’s all to do with “trust”!

Something that because of the perceived status and authority that a BIG hospital has in society, which is difficult for anyone to match – small town or independent pt’s included.

But there is a way to get round this…

By catching the attention of, a usually unsuspecting prospective patient, by OFFERING them something that is much easier, less hassle and comes with no effort, zero risk or finical outlay (than calling their network or visiting a hospital).

It could a “free tips report”.

Something that has a perceived benefit (and value) and promises to solve their problem — with very little effort required on their part.

That free tips report could be:

“How To End Back Pain Quickly
And Easily In 9 Simple Steps”…

(I call it “bait”.)

And would give people a reason to RESPOND to your advert by calling your clinic…

Therefore giving you an opportunity to, first get their contact details, and then later, begin to answer questions that your new prospective patient has.

And the real GOLD in this marketing strategy, is this:

Once you’ve got their contact details, you’ve also bought yourself some TIME.

TIME which you can use to build authority, trust and respect.

(Like what the corporate hospitals get automatically).

See…

Now you can FOLLOW UP with that person (who you know has back pain) and convince them that YOU (and pt) are the best solution to solve their problem long term.

Maybe tell them all about how you help people just like them with some recent success stories…

Explain why coming to see you is going to be better in the long run, because you can offer the type of personalised and highly specialised care that the corporates can’t…

– AND –

That, you can take care of all the referral and insurance headaches for them, by having your assistant setting up appointments or getting forms faxed to and signed by doctors who you like.

To sum up todays lesson:

Use “direct response marketing” to exchange valuable information for contact details and you get a chance to explain what you really do and how you can really help – LONG before those people were even beginning to think about calling their network and ever get to parking their car outside a big hospital.

In essence…

You’re getting to all these people long before physicians at hospitals are even mentioned.

Make sense?

Let me know what questions you’ve got for me about this.

I love to hear from you and I read all replies personally.

(Just give me a day or so to respond as I’m busy with my own patients too – really busy with new patients at the minute ;-).

Go ahead, hit reply.

Paul.

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P.S Look out for the next email in this series devoted to showing you how to put an end to worrying about doctor referrals at your clinic.

HIT REPLY and let me know what questions you want answering or fill out this form here to let me know what specific challenges your facing and I’ll work to solve them with you:

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What To Do If Corporate Hospitals Are Dominating Your Physical Therapy Clinic’s Market Place With Bigger Ad Budgets

“Behold”!

So I read an interview the other day (on a well know pt marketing website) about a pt who thinks he can’t “out spend” the big corporate hospitals who dominate his town with their big advertising budgets…

And as a result…

“Thinks” he has no option but to “surrender”…

And accept that his pt clinic will never be as profitable as he would like, because he’s never going to be able to get his name out there in-front of the big corporates.

Here’s a teaser of what he said:

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“I tried paid advertising once, but I really do not have the ability to compete with large orthopaedic practices or hospital based therapy centres for advertising space.

Large scale brand advertising campaigns could bankrupt a small town clinic like mine and is better left to the large corporates”!

===

And he’s right…

Large scale brand advertising campaigns ARE better left to the big corporates – because they have the money to *waste* and rarely does any form of brand advertising work anyway.

(Unless you’re coca-cola or apple).

And here are a few more things on his comment:

1.) You don’t need a marketing budget to beat the corporate hospitals

A “budget” implies that you’re going to spend the same amount of money EVERY month – whether your ads are successful, or not. Here’s what most people don’t get about advertising: if your ads are successful, spend more, run more, make more $$$.

If they’re not successful, stop and try something else.

2.) You shouldn’t even try and “copycat” what they do

Most small businesses think they should advertise and market much the same as the bigger “brands” (I loath that word), so they spend (waste) a lot of money on image, brand, and presence – often thanks to the advice of the “guru’s and practice management consultants. But that would be a lot like a rabbit trying to emulate a lion.

The big corporate’s have all sorts of reasons for the way they advertise and market that have nothing to do with getting a new patient or making sales.

3.) You do have the ability to not only compete, but WIN when it comes to advertising

Why? Because your agenda is much simpler. And all you have to do is find successful business with similar agendas to copycat. Those using direct response marketing (like what my own pt company uses) that share these two basic ideas:

* Spend a $1.00 on marketing, get $2.00 back. Preferably more, fast, and should be able to be accurately tracked back to that $1.00 spent.

* Never spend another $1.00 unless it directly and quickly brings in that $2.00 (or more).

And that, in a nutshell, is how something called “direct response marketing works”.

And, I don’t hold back in saying this, it could well a life changing principle that if you know more about – could solve your biggest business challenge and help you achieve your main business goal.

Want to know more Direct Response Marketing and how to use it to make more profit in your clinic?

If so, open up my emails across the course of the next few days I’ll tell you more about it…

Talk soon.

Paul

P.S Hit Reply if you have any questions for me, I love to hear from you.

Do you think that you’re “beat” because of the big corporate hospitals advertising power and budgets?

Want some help to overcome that?

If so, let me know what you need by reply to this email.

Click Here to Subscribe to Paul’s Marketing Tips Email List >>>

Where To Look To Find Patients Before They Call Their Network And Even Get Close To A Physician

Let’s chat about “Media”…

(One component of the “Message – Media – Market”, Marketing Triangle).

Because you need to know precisely which one you’re going to use to locate your “WHO”.

Or, in reverse, you’ve got to know which media your “WHO” is tapped into – so that you can serve them highly specific messages to trigger response to your clinic.

Remember…

the goal of why we’re using direct response marketing is to get your prospective patients – with, say, back pain – to take action BEFORE they ordinarily would have (had they not seen your advert) and most definitely before they call their insurance.

Sounds a little “cerebral”, right?

Well, it kinda’ is!

But it’s fun.

And hugely profitable.

And means for less worrying about getting referrals from doctors and more time thinking about what you’re going to do with your profit!

So let’s being another marketing lesson.

Got your pen and paper ready?

Off we go…

“Media” is where you choose to run your ads.

And the list of options is long – often so long that it can feel overwhelming and stop you in your tracks before you’ve even got going.

The Media includes but is not limited too:

* Facebook

* Google

* Newspapers

* Magazines

* Yell

* Coupons

* TV

* Radio

* Etc, Etc…

The question is, which is best?

And the answer.

There isn’t one.

It varies a lot by “WHO” YOU want to reach.

An example:

If you’re trying to reach a 65 year old gentlemen who loves to play golf and take cruises with his wife (because that’s “WHO” you have decided you want to work with), then is he likely to be looking on Google?

Perhaps.

But maybe you’d have more chance of finding more gentlemen aged 65 with back pain, by running an ad in a golf magazine, appearing on a website for a cruise company or sending out a postcard to a list of highly targeted individuals who fit this description – and offering them a free “tips” report titled:

“Golfers – How To Swing Without Back Pain Even In Your 60’s”

And of course…

One of the “tips” that is going to be included in that report is YOUR service.

And the goal is to get the Gentlemen’s contact details when he calls to get his free report – so that you can have a nice chat with him to find out precisely what his problems are, what he wants and needs and politely make him aware that physical therapy is something that will help him get there faster.

The process that I’ve just described there, that’s called “direct response” advertising.

And my advice is that whatever Media you’re going to choose – it must allow for you to deliver a “direct response” message – or skip it.

With that said, your goal as captain of your ship should be to use as many different MEDIA as possible to seek out your preferred “WHO”.

Most clinic owners become very lazy at this…

…choosing to be dependent on only physician referrals which could be stopped at any time…

Or on only one, two or three means of getting new patients, leaving them very vulnerable to sudden disruptions in business and never really feeling as though they can move from, say, seeing 30 patients per week, to seeing something like 100 (and employing others to do the work for them) – not to mention the threat from competition opening up in the market place.

Anyhow…

Have you got any questions for me about this?

What Media have you have the most success with?

OR, which one has swallowed up most of your marketing dollars?

(Google Ads or Facebook, I bet?…)

HIT REPLY to this email and let me know what frustrations you’re having…

Or…

Apply to talk to me personally on a *free strategy call*… and I’ll work with you to identify the best Media for your clinic… and how to get the best response from it!

I’m happy to help you figure this out faster…

And if your application for a FREE strategy call is successful, all I ask in return is you give me a nice testimonial for my website based on the good advice I give you 😉

Sound fair?

If so, hit reply and let me know that you want a strategy call, or fill out this form to let me know more about your challenges:

Yes! Let Me Talk To Paul Personally And Have My Biggest Marketing Challenges Solved Today >>>

Hope this helps,

Paul.

P.S The free strategy call is limited to just one per week…

…and is offered on a first come first serve basis and is only for my email subscribers.

Click Here to Subscribe to Paul’s Marketing Tips Email List >>>

Do it in time, here:

Yes! Let Me Talk To Paul Personally And Have My Biggest Marketing Challenges Solved Today >>>

End of blog post.

===

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What “Avatar” Has To Do With Running A Profitable PT Clinic (One That Makes A Profit With Out Knowing Any Doctors Or Physicians)

In today’s “episode”….

Let’s talk about what you need to create a *profitable marketing piece* using Direct Response Marketing – something that if you master, will let you put an end to your worries of no doctors referring to your clinic.

So, let me introduce you to something I call the “Marketing Triangle” which forms the foundation of all good marketing activity…

It’s made up of three components and they’re all as important as the other:

Market – Message – Media.

And the first I’ll teach you about is the Market.

This is your “WHO” you want to attract.

(Because you don’t just wan to try and attract everyone and anyone, right?)

Now…

You might hear me refer to the “WHO” as an AVATAR and it’s essentially WHO your IDEAL client or patient is.

Someone you love to work with.

Get great results for.

Someone whose hopes, dreams and goals that are perfectly aligned with your skills and specialist solutions.

Thing is, NOT many pt’s really know WHO their ideal patient is.

Sure…

They will always be able to tell me that they see more people with back or neck pain etc…

…but rarely are they are able to describe to me their best patient in any more detail than that.

What I mean?

Well, let me tell you about my own “avatar” to help you understand:

“It’s” a lady – and she’s in her mid 50’s or 60’s.

For a whole bunch of reasons, but in a nut shell…

…simply because my clinics service is focused on helping people maintain independence, mobility and living free from drugs and without risk of surgery – all of the things that many women value most (MUCH more so than men).

And another reason…

Women are “preconditioned” to invest in their health – they’ve been going to hairdressers, beauty salons and care greatly about how things like their nails look – enough to spend money on it – so I want to tap into that pre-conditioned behaviour pattern (rather than try to create one with guys who don’t regularly spend time or money on their health).

Now back to my “avatar”…

She is married with children (and now have grandchildren who they adore), are politically “conservative”, pay using American Express Cards (rather than VISA or MasterCard) and are MORE interested in things like maintaing self worth, independence and mobility and playing with those grandchildren in the park – than they are ending “back pain”.

I even got it down to which newspaper and magazines she likes to read, what TV shows and which radio station she is more likely to be listening too.

What’s more…

I spend so much time thinking about her and talking about her, I felt I had to give her a name – so I did, and it’s “Mary”!

And whenever I’m preparing a marketing piece to attract more “Mary’s” to my clinic, I go so far as to look at a picture of a “best” patient of mine (called Mary) – one who accurately represents the type of person I love to work with and want to see more of in clinic.

Consequently…

When I sit down to write these marketing pieces, say for a newspaper advert, I have a clear understanding of what to write that will motivate many more people like “Mary”, to respond to my message.

And that “Message” (another part of the Marketing Triangle) has nothing to do with “me”, my services, how reputable I think I am, or how many years I’ve been in business.

I make NO attempt to be “all-inclusive” or to cast the net wide to catch as many fish as possible – like most of the guru’s will tell you to do.

Nor do I even give a minutes thought to who I might repel, even offend (usually doctors or drug companies!) when I do so either.

In fact, the more I mention those two in my ads in a negative way, the more calls to my clinic I seem to get from “Mary’s”!

I know my prime target (the “WHO”) – and I design my “Messages” and choose my “Media” accordingly.

How about you?

What messages are you writing?

Where are you placing them and who are they going to?

Are you doing what most other pt’s do and making the mistake of marketing “your services”?

Or…

Are you writing cleverly worded messages that seek out your ideal patients by aligning your specialist services with the values of highly motivated patients?

Ones who feel compelled to call your clinic because you seem to “get them” better than anyone else and because of that will pay any price you set?

If you’re NOT currently doing that…

*Want some help to get started?*

HIT REPLY to this email now and let me know what questions you have for me.

Or, if you want to talk on the phone or face to face on Skype, give me signal in the same reply.

Be quick though…

For obvious reasons, (like my own time famine), I can only give one free strategy call away per week.

Get it in time, by reply.

Talk soon.

Paul.

P.S Now you know about one of the components in the Marketing Triangle you need to know to beat the POTs to the patients…

I’ll discuss the others in much more detail, next time.

Be sure to watch for my name appear in your inbox 😉

Note to reader: Click Here to Subscribe to Paul’s Marketing Tips Email List >>>

Why People Choose Physicians Over Pt’s In The First Place – And What To Do To Reverse Engineer The Referral Process

So if I’m going to help you to defeat your number one business challenge – getting patients to your clinic in-spite of where doctors send referrals too – and achieve your business goals…

…then “Direct Response Marketing” is something that I need to teach you some more about.

So, off we go:

First, think about how a “typical” patient with, say, something like “back pain”, might think and take action.

As you know…

MOST patients don’t take action the minute they feel their back pain coming on.

No.

Many wait weeks, months and even years before doing something about it.

Why?

Well there’s a whole bunch of reasons and the more of them that you know, the easier is it to get more patients to your clinic.

But I’d say there’s a few common ones why patients don’t move toward seeing a physical therapist at the same speed they would, say a dentist, at the first sign of tooth ache.

Including, but not limited too:

===

* Not sure what a pt actually does

* Insurance hassles and headaches

* Time – everyone thinks that tomorrow will be the day it just disappears

* Self doubt – most people are so negative that they think nothing and no one can help “ME”.

* Easier to just suffer (than find time for 10 sessions of pt)

* Too much choice (pt, chiro, osteo, drugs, homeopath etc etc) meaning that it’s easy to get the decision wrong – so inaction seems the best and safest one.

* And many, many more.

===

So now think about how you could possibly motivate all of these people people, who think like this, to call your clinic?

Are you really going to do that by simply putting an advert in a newspaper or on Facebook which says “I’m here, call today”.

Truth is, you’re not.

Not enough to forget about the physicians not referring thing, anyway.

Now think about why a patient might choose a physician or medical doctor in the first place – or better yet, WHY they will accept a referral to any pt clinic that the doctors sends them…

.
.
.

It’s all to do with “trust”!

Something that because of their perceived status and authority in society, is difficult for anyone to match – pt’s included.

But there is a way to get round this…

And you’ll do it by catching their attention of a (usually unsuspecting) prospective patient by offering them something that is much easier and less hassle and comes with no effort, zero risk or finical outlay – than calling their network.

And you’ll do that by using marketing which offers something like a “free tips report”.

Something that promises to solve their problem – with very little effort required on their part.

That free tips report could be:

“How To End Back Pain Quickly And Easily In 9 Simple Steps”…

And would Giving people a reason to RESPOND to your advert by calling your clinic and gives you an opportunity to first get their contact details, and then begin to answer questions that your new prospective patient has about pt and back pain.

And the real GOLD in this strategy, is this:

Once you’ve got their contact details, you’ve also bought yourself some TIME.

TIME which you can use to build authority, trust and respect – as well as over come all these objections I just listed.

(Like what the physicians get automatically).

Now you can FOLLOW UP with that person and convince them that YOU (and pt) are the best solution to solve their problem long term.

Tell them all about how you help people just like them…

..show off your testimonials…

..add them to your mailing list…

…explain why coming to see you is going to be better in the long run

– AND –

That you CAN take care of all the referral and insurance headaches for them, by having your assistant setting up appointments or getting forms faxed to and signed by doctors.

To sum up todays lesson:

Use “direct response marketing” to exchange valuable information for contact details and you get a change to explain what you really do and how you can really help – LONG before those people were even beginning to think about calling their network as their pain inevitably got worse.

In essence, you’re getting to all these people before physicians are even mentioned.

Make sense?

Let me know what questions you’ve got for me about this.

I love to hear from you and I read all replies personally.

(Just give me a day or so to respond as I’m busy with my own patients too – really busy with new patients at the minute ;-).

Go ahead, hit reply.

Paul.

P.S Look out for the next email in this series devoted to showing you how to put an end to worrying about doctor referrals at your clinic.

HIT REPLY and let me know what questions you want answering.

===

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Marketing Tips For Physical Therapists Frustrated By A Lack Of Physician Referrals (And POTS)

If you’re anything like most of the other PT’s who I help, one of the challenges, (maybe even *threats* to your business), is from physicians and doctors.

(Either setting up against you, or just not referring regularly enough).

And I understand, how, if you’re a small town or independent physical therapy clinic just trying to make a living and hoping for a few referrals to boost your profits – it can be frustrating when they don’t come in – despite your best “marketing to physician” efforts.

And if you’re battling away against a physician owned therapy service positioned across the street, then that frustration must be even worse as you watch their car park fill up each day with patients (and not yours).

So, what are *we* going to do about it?

Well, I have a few solutions.

(Proven ones that work, too).

Want to know more?

“Great…”

Well, the first thing you’ve got to do is stop focusing all your efforts and energy on “marketing to physicians”.

Who wants to rely solely upon referrals for all the referrals, anyway?

What if the one that you’ve got a nice relationship with, the one who sends say, 60% of your clinics referrals, decides to take an extended vacation?

Or, retire early?

Worse yet, set up his own clinic against you because he realises how much cash is to be made from owning a pt clinic he and his friends can refer to?

(His reimbursements are dropping too, remember).

So lets focus on a different style of marketing.

“Marketing solutions”…

Preferably to patients you love to work with – hassle free, high paying, always show up, follow through on care plans etc etc.

Now, did you notice how I NEVER said “market your services”.

Despite what the “APTA” and the “guru’s” out there are telling you, doing that is a waste of your time.

Why?

Simply because patients don’t really care about “your services” and as much as the APTA want to “raise awareness” of how great a profession physical therapy IS, people don’t have the time to listen.

So what to do?

Well…

You’re going to need to know how to get the attention of prospective patients LONG BEFORE they decide to call there network (and end up in the care of a medical doctor).

And how to do it?

It starts with marketing solutions in the form of “bait”.

Offering something that somebody wants.

Something that makes their life EASY and hassle free – and less painful or more active, of course.

This bait has got to be something that can help someone solve a problem or pain in their life.

And your marketing has to at least let them know that there is a solution out there that doesn’t involve anything too strenuous or difficult – like calling their network or arranging to go and see a doctor – and tell them exactly how and where to get that solution (i.e. by calling your clinic).

This type of marketing is known as “Direct Response”…

And is way more effective than running adverts that “raise awareness”, “get your brand out there”, or wasting time “marketing to physicians” (who don’t have the time to read what you send them any way).

Interested to know more about how you can use direct response marketing to beat the POTS and generate your own continuous supply of new patients?

If so…

Watch for my name appearing in your inbox over the next few days when the marketing lessons will begin.

In the mean time, Hit Reply with your questions for me.

I’m interested to know what marketing you’ve tried so far…

Did it work successfully?

Was it an expensive flop?

What’s the single biggest thing that frustrates you about marketing that you’d love to know the answer too?

Go ahead, HIT REPLY…

I read all your replies and love to hear from you.

Talk soon.

Paul

P.S If you want me to help you solve your problems personally…

…Let by know by REPLY to this email and we’ll arrange to get on the phone or Skype and work through your challenges together.

Be quick though…

For obvious time reasons I can only offer one free 45 minute strategy call per week.

If you want to get it, let me know by reply in time.