On this Physical Therapy Profit Academy Tutorial (with Kevin Donlin of www.marketingmultipliers.com – one of the world’s leading expert copywriters and season pro of multi-million dollar direct mail pieces), we’re going to show you how to avoid the most common mistake that most PT Entrepreneurs make when creating “copy” for their promotional material.
Before we begin – in case you’re not familiar with the term “copy” it is the marketing speak for the words that you use on your ads, postcards or webpages, that describe who you are, what you’re offering and what you want the prospective patient to do next.
Lets start with a question:
“When you think about being a successful PT Clinic Owner, what comes to mind?”…
It’s likely that you picture a clinic packed full with inquires, patients arriving for treatment on time, happy to pay co-pay and never dropping off schedule…
…and you making a nice tidy profit at the end of the month.
The next question is, how do you get to a clinic like that?
It’s nearly always to do with how you position yourself in the market place.
The choice that you make when you decide to promote yourself AND your clinic.
Are you going to be just another run-of-the-mill style PT clinic with “I’m here too…” type of advertising?…
…or are you prepared to do something a little different?
Because one of the biggest mistakes that small town and “solo” clinic owners make is this:
They copy the wrong model.
They look at the bigger, faceless health care systems or corporate PT clinics and try to copy what they do with their ads.
And most of the time, their ads are really BORING!
Plain old ads that scream out “we’re a PT clinic, we think we’re good, and we think you should call us because we’re close by your house”.
Yawn!
Yawn!
Yawn!
But what if you could transform yourself – and your entire PT business – into not just being a Physical Therapist with amazing PT skills, but a Physical Therapist that acts a little differently…
…who writes ads a little differently…
…who puts personality and fun into their clinics marketing?
Think it would make a difference if people were coming to see you because of WHO YOU ARE and what YOU’RE about… not just how great of a PT you are?
I wager it DOES!
In my clinic I have a famous saying:
“If all they ever judge us on is our PT skills… we’re SCREWED!”
Because ANYONE can learn my skills.
But what they can’t ever get, is my personality.
My drive.
My desire to help.
My commitment to giving people a piece of my life – good and bad!
Makes me completely un-touchable because I’m simply tapping into the greatest saying of all in business…
“People buy from People”.
They don’t buy from PT’s.
They buy from YOU.
So much so that back in my office (“The Paul Gough Physio Rooms”) , one for the core values I’ve instilled in my staff is that we must respect that anyone who enters our world is “PERSON first, PATIENT second!
Big difference.
While everyone else wants to talk about their back pain…
…we want to know about their grandkids FIRST!
Would that make you more likely to be a PT that people would want to RUSH back and see.
You BET it would!
So lets move into this topic some more:
Because here is where most PT owners make a BIG mistake…
They think they’re doing the right thing by trying to play the same Marketing game, and play by the same rules as their bigger competitors – think Hospital Systems and National PT Clinc chains…
At first it might seem like a great idea to copy-cat the big guys – but as a small town clinic, you don’t want to play by the same rules as them and try to compete with their large Marketing budgets.
They CAN invest in flashy brand ads because they get to run those ads week after week so that the consumer begins to trust who they are.
They get comfortable and familiar with seeing the same ads of happy, smiley faces and the same corporate logo.
Great if you have a $5 million ad budget.
I bet if you reading this article, you don’t.
But the good news is, as a small business with a limited number of staff, you have a massive advantage and it all comes down to one thing…
…”Personality”.
That’s the one thing the big guys can’t compete with.
Building your business around your personality is one of THE most valuable assets to your business.
Not something they ever teach in PT school – and not something that many PT’s like to ever think they should rely on because that’s not great for the “professional ego”.
(What would the competition say if you said or did something FUNNY! Gasp!)
The problem is this:
We’re taught to believe that success as a PT owner is down to our skills.
Reality is, nothing could be further from the truth.
I went to PT school with many therapists who are very skilled and talented – many of who are broke or always begging doctors for more referrals to pay the bills!
Not good!
Because we’re professionals, because we’ve been through school, because we’re medically educated, because we must have a ‘certain persona’, a certain way of communicating, a certain standard to keep etc, etc…
…it’s sometimes hard for healthcare professionals like us to understand that we have to become a ‘person’ and not just a ‘PT’ who can fix someone’s back, to get more people people say YES to our services.
And that’s why I built my clinic’s – Paul Gough Physio Rooms on personality.
It’s exterior is on great “trust” based marketing…
…but at it’s core, the foundations are built upon the PERSONALITIES of me and the people I employ.
Why?
Because people will buy from you regardless of whether you’re a PT, a Marketing expert, whatever you may be – if they see something in YOU that resonates with THEM.
If all you’re ever doing is competing with other the clinics in town on “how good your PT skills are” compared to theirs – people can go and pay for that at ANY clinic.
Any clinic in Detroit, any clinic in San Diego, New York, anywhere…
But what they can’t get at just ANY clinic is personality, and the fun and the traits and everything else that makes a business so attractive and likeable.
It’s a direction that health care is now moving into….
At long LAST!
People now expect MORE than just great medical advice and your qualifications. PT services have got to be delivered by somebody who is personable, who is nice, who can inspire, who can connect, and most importantly of all… someone who people can resonate with.
If all you’ve got to base your services on is great PT skills…
…it’s going to be a hard slog in the new health care economy.
And I for one would LOVE you as a competitor setting up across the street against me.
You need to use your most VALUABLE asset – your personality – and that of your staff – to inspire people to take action on coming into your clinic.
Even if you know MORE than anyone else on a particular topic – like sciatica for example – you will always struggle to get “Joe, aged 53 suffering from back pain that stops him playing golf at the weekends”, to resonate and connect with you…
…if you don’t have some fun about his golf swing!
Or, tell him about yours and how bad it is!
If you do that, he knows you “get” him, he listens more closely to you and he’s more likely to take action on your advice!
If you can lead with personality AND back that up with pretty good PT skills – then you have a far better chance at being successful than the guy down the street with amazing PT skills, but who is a “dead beat” with zero personality.
For more Marketing tips like this, go here next:
Click Here to Subscribe to Paul’s Marketing Tips Email List >>>
- Violating Social Norms and Outdated Levels of Thinking - 22nd October 2020
- MORE from LESS: The Go To Strategy During A Financial Downturn (Like here in 2020) - 15th October 2020
- How To Confidently Sell Your Physical Therapy Services - 29th April 2020
- Telehealth: What Does The Future of PT Look Like? - 17th April 2020
- How To Get More Buy-In From Patients - 16th April 2020
- Telehealth: Have You Already Done It Without Realizing? - 16th April 2020
- Telehealth: What Is the Most Important Thing You Can Sell Right Now? - 15th April 2020
- Telehealth: Is A Marketing Funnel Needed Right Now? - 14th April 2020
- Telehealth: What Happens To Discovery Visits? - 13th April 2020
- Telehealth: How Will I Compete With “Big Box” Insurance Companies? - 10th April 2020
