The Facebook Revolution of 2015 – Can Physical Therapy Clinics Cash In Via Direct Access?

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So I talk to a lot of PT clinic owners about “Facebook”…

And it’s usually to put them off from obsessing over “likes” and “status updates”.

(Likes are nice, but they don’t pay the bills or the rent)!

Love it or hate it, Facebook is has emerged as a real, credible source of NP’s for PT clinics and is a referral source that should NOT be over looked — especially now that Direct Access is here to take advantage of.

And it’s a great time to take advantage of Facebook…

Why?

Because it’s “cheap, cheap, cheap” to get enquires and pick up leads and turn them into new patients of your clinic bringing with them $1200 each time they get hurt!

And it will continue to be that way or about the next 18 months or so as Facebook has a massive inventory and very few business owners who are aware of how to maximise the opportunity that Facebook presents.

One thing to be aware of with Facebook — the rules and system of marketing on this platform change every week, so it’s vital you know what you’re doing.

As the changes come in, I’ll keep you posted.

For now, here are the big trends you should pay attention to if you’re considering advertising your PT clinic on Facebook:

1.) News Feed Sponsored Pages
– The ability to put adverts and messages directly into people’s news feeds.

Here’s an exact advert that I ran on Facebook to target people with neck and shoulder pain who want some help!

FB Ads - Neck Pain (PG)

2.) Targeting – You only pay to reach people in your target market, whether that be defined by geography – say, 12 miles from your clinic, age and or interests. There is no other form of marketing that allows you to reach people with Facebook’s precision in such a cost effective way.

3.) You could serve ads directly to your past patients – Facebook allows you to upload your email list (of past patients), matches it with those who have Facebook accounts, and then allows you to send messages directly just to these people.

Your patients will think you are EVERYWHERE, but actually you are spending very reasonable amounts to reach people who already know, like and trust you.

4.) Video ads – Until the last few months, I agreed with the perceived wisdom of the internet marketing world that direct response mobile advertising does not work so well on Facebook.

The mobile experience in the past has made it tricky to convert Facebook users to paying patients.

That is changing, and one of the big trends of the year will be how to monetise the massive and VERY CHEAP mobile audience.

I also want you to know that your rival competitors are unlikely to be aware of these opportunities.

They are probably not reading this blog post and probably haven’t tried Facebook advertising.

If they have, the complexity of the system probably put them off.

Or they’re just get the “strategy” completely wrong like most people do with EVERY form of marketing they put out.

See, more than anything, it’s the “strategy” and content advice that most people fail on when it comes to Marketing… Facebook included.

An example:

Take this client of mine (who I shall keep nameless, but I bet you know him and his PT clinics)…

Before he joined my coaching group, he was running a promotion on Facebook to get people to click and like his page…

And it worked well…

He got 347 people to like his page in one month.

So far so good.

Except non of them booked an appointment at his clinic.

Enter some advice from us here at the “PT Profit Academy”…

We re-worked his whole strategy from paying for “likes”, to paying for “downloads”…

Downloads of a free report that promises to help people ease back pain.

OF course, we hand picked the audience… 12 miles from his clinic and aged 45-60… and all with clearly defined interests (even income) to suggest that they would fit the profile of his IDEAL patient – one who cares more about his or her health than the money it costs to maintain it…

And so we set about serving messages into their newsfeed with an advert not too dissimilar to that of the one pictured above.

(It helps all my clients MASSIVELY that I actually do everything that I teach… meaning I’m the one who pays for and makes the mistakes first — and only pass on what I know to work to my clients 😉

The result…

After just one week (last week!) we got 7 people to “opt in” and request his Free back pain report.

And by “opt-in”…

…I mean we exchanged his great advice (inside the tips report) for their contact details …name, email, address, as they enter his new follow up system.

And guess what… We already got one person out of these 7 (leads) to immediately converted to a free Evaluation (bringing a value of $1200 to his clinic).

Think of this free evaluation offer as an “up-sell”.

Now what’s great about this is that this PT owner is only spending $10 per day as his budget…and we only started it one week ago!…

So that’s just $70, to get 7 enquiries… and already one has booked in!…

It’s very likely that at least two more of those 7 will schedule consultations at his clinic – thus the cost of acquiring a NP would drop to as little as $25.

That’s why we say Facebook is “CHEAP!”…

And now think about that happening EVERY WEEK at this guy’s clinic.

3 NP’s each week coming in from Facebook… and that’s just from back pain.

Now imagine serving ads to people with NECK PAIN… and KNEE PAIN… or POSTNATAL BACK PAIN … etc etc…

If you picked up 2-3 NP’s from each of these “pockets or people”… you could very easily acquire 10 patients per week from Facebook.

What would that do for you bottom line?

Best…

It’s all automated.

We built him a system that is set to “follow up” on these enquiries for MONTHS after they opt in to request the free report…

What does the “follow up system” consist of?

Automated emails, postcards and phone calls that educate the person who requested the free report on why arriving for specialist PT is better than a “generalist free report” or waiting for time, trying pills or risking surgery etc etc.

What’s great about this article is that it will separate owners…

Divide them if you like…

See, some will be sat reading this article and looking for all of the reasons why this will “fail” or why it “won’t work” for them and come out with the usual “B.S”, “blah, blah, blah” nonsense that is typical of most business owners and yet still “whine” about why doctor referrals are drying up or patients not showing up for all their sessions etc etc…

And then there’s the smart ones…

The ones who will look at this and think “what if…”

“What if this strategy could work for ME!”…and want to know more about this type of system and strategy and what it could do in their business.

From this far, I don’t know which you are.

If you’re the latter….

…and you want some help to get more leads, more patients and more sales through Direct Access at your clinic, we’d be happy to talk to you to see if you’re right for us to work together.

Just fill out this application form now for a Strategy Call:

www.ptprofitacademy.com/strategy >>>

And we’ll talk all about the current “marketing strategy” of your PT clinic and show you how to cash in on Direct Access like so many other PT’s are now doing.

Here’s the link to arrange a call with me personally:

www.ptprofitacademy.com/strategy >>>

Hope this helps.

Paul Gough

About Paul Gough

PAUL GOUGH is one of the top Marketing and Business Coaches in the physical therapy industry and his Systems are helping clinic owners all across America run more profitable clinics. He is a published Author, Newspaper Columnist and before his stunning success in business was hired by top professional soccer teams. HIS SUCCESS STORY is one that inspires many pt's around the world - at the age of 26 Paul QUIT a high profile job in professional soccer to begin his own clinic. He had NO money, NO business or marketing skills and NO experience - and yet now owns and runs 4 pt clinics and has a proven track record of growing a physical therapy business from 0 - $2m in record time.
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