How JAG PT Became a Market Leader: Multi-Location Physical Therapy Marketing with CMO Kayla George

[0:18] Neil: Hello and welcome to the Practice Marketing Podcast, highlighting successful strategies from North America’s fastest growing clinics and experts so you can learn from their wins and power your practice growth. Hi, I’m your host, Neil Trickett, CEO of Practice Promotions. And today’s focus, we’re going to talk with the chief marketing officer, Kayla George, from JAG Physical Therapy. Kayla is a seasoned marketing and PR executive with over a decade of experience in leading healthcare brands. At JAG Physical Therapy, she’s been the driving force behind a multi-channel marketing strategy that’s helped position the company as an industry leader in a very highly competitive space in the Northeast. From brand architecture and digital strategy to mergers and acquisitions integration and community management, Kayla has shaped the way JAG connects with patients and grows its footprint. So I’m excited to dive into how she and her team have built JAG’s market-leading presence and what smaller clinics can learn from their playbook. So, Kayla, welcome to the podcast. Tell me a little bit about your story. How did you become the chief marketing officer at JAG Physical Therapy, and what has that evolution looked like?

[1:28] Kayla: Well, I’ve been at JAG for a lifetime. This is my 15th year with the company. Very early on, right out of college, I was a business major. I was a student athlete growing up. I played soccer. So when I went to school, I was like, I want to work in athletics some way, shape, or form. I definitely thought I wanted to be in the front office, and learned very quickly that that wasn’t the case. So I graduated and worked for a sports marketing agency, and JAG was actually one of my clients. I had about 10 to 13 clients that I worked on on a day-to-day basis, and I just immediately fell in love with the brand. Back then, when I was at the agency, John was really just starting the company. He had his first facility in West Orange, then expanded to Warren, New Jersey. That’s really when I took over the account, when he opened the second location. He opened a third location in Hackensack, and then when it was time for number four, we would meet on a regular basis, and he kind of brought me in and gave me his grand plan. These were some big dreams, and I was still young, really learning my way and figuring out what I want to do. But every time I walked into the clinic and walked into JAG, the atmosphere really got me. The motivation, the patients. Obviously, being a student athlete myself and having my fair share of physical therapy, it was something I was very passionate about, and I understood the experience and what it did for me as an athlete. Then being able to go in the clinic and see what it does for the general population, you know, grandma, grandpa, someone that just had surgery, I was immediately drawn to it. So he gave me this grand plan. He’s like, “In 10 years, we’re going to be this big company. We’re going to be multi-location. We’re going to be multi-state.” And he was like, “Join me. Join the team.” So I went home. I slept on it. And I was like, either this guy is crazy, or if half of what he says comes true, I’ll be in a really good position. At the end of the day, I love the brand, I love the people, and I was like, let’s just see where this takes me. And I have been here ever since. It has been quite the journey. I have done more roles within a marketing realm at JAG than I ever thought imaginable. I have the very unique opportunity, and I’m very honored and understand that I’m very blessed, to be at a company that I was able to really build from the ground up and take this department and mold it around different ideas and visions that I’ve had, obviously alongside John and the company’s growth plan. I know it’s very rare to start somewhere very young and be able to grow and evolve as a company has grown and evolved. So that’s my story. As of right now, I oversee everything related to marketing, communications, PR, sales, but I am also very entrenched with our strategic corporate initiatives and our growth vision moving forward.

[4:35] Neil: Yeah. And that’s probably one of those things that as the clinic evolves, right, and you need more and more business systems in it, you have to be more strategic, especially from a marketing perspective.

[4:53] Kayla: Yeah. And you know what, marketing in general has obviously evolved a lot through the years. When I started, digital marketing was like a banner ad. What it is today is very different, and the data insights we have today just weren’t available. They didn’t exist when I started with JAG. So kind of learning on the fly and understanding the new tools and resources we have as marketers and people that develop business, it’s been a great ride and definitely a learning experience.

[5:26] Neil: Yeah, you’re so right with that. How that’s evolved, and the tools and the data that we have at our fingertips today, is pretty amazing. So for our listeners out there, JAG Physical Therapy is in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, so in the Northeast there. I think you have over 100 locations. Is that right?

[5:44] Kayla: Yes, we have over 160 locations. We will close out the year around the 170 mark. We’ve been in a high growth phase for quite some time now.

[6:02] Neil: That’s fantastic. And so has the expansion there of JAG been through a lot of acquisition?

[6:06] Kayla: We have both a de novo and acquisition strategy. I would say mostly through de novo, although we have closed a good amount of acquisitions to date. Very different in terms of how we look at the strategy and continue to grow, but the basis of our growth is surrounded by our people. Very early on, John had a wonderful group of clinicians, and he said to himself, how do I continue to give them development opportunities and room for growth? If I don’t do that, and if I don’t provide those outlets, I’m going to lose some really great people, or have them pigeonholed in a place where financially and professionally they’re kind of just stuck, and either they make the decision that, hey, this is what we’re doing, or they have to move forward and make the hard decision to leave. So he wanted to base the company around our people and provide really good opportunity to those that very well deserved it. That’s been really the basis of our growth strategy: taking the people that we have and giving them the opportunity to open up their new clinics. As we started going down that path, we realized it wasn’t just an opportunity for our employees for professional development, but also for the patients, to be able to provide our high-quality care to even more communities and more populations. We’re an in-network company and we are a care-first company. Our CEO is a practicing physical therapist and athletic trainer, so really the core of our values surrounds that patient experience. The fact of the matter is patients need convenience and they need affordability. As an in-network company, our multi-location model and our growth model has really been, how do we meet the patients where they are? That’s opening up more facilities so that the patients don’t have to drive 10, 15, 20 miles to seek our care. We have one essentially in every community, and that’s really where we’re continuing to grow. We’re of course multi-state, but there’s still a lot of room for growth in the three states that we’re in.

[8:14] Neil: That’s awesome. And that really intrigued me, the way that you were talking about giving the opportunities to the clinicians within and to your employees. I think that sometimes, for smaller practices, whether they’re a one, two, three, four location practice, they sometimes think, well, should I open that next practice location, or should I make that acquisition, or should I really take that leap and push harder forward, or should I just kind of stay with what I am? But I think it brings a good point that in order to bring the best people to you and get them to stay with you, they want opportunities for growth, too. So being forward thinking, being visionary, taking risk, growing your practice, you can surround yourself with great people that help you move forward.

[9:07] Kayla: Exactly. And I think you hit the nail on the head with taking risk. Of course, it’s a risk to open up new locations, especially in an industry that’s so saturated, right? There’s physical therapy everywhere. But what makes you different? What processes and foundation do you have in order to feel comfortable taking that risk? And then the rewards there on the back end.

[9:31] Neil: Definitely. And you were speaking to really getting to know your patients, your avatar, and wanting convenience, right, the ability to go different places. So for you, as a marketer, what do you like to hone in on? It might be different depending on the area, but what do you like to hone in on from an avatar perspective with your patients?

[9:56] Kayla: Yeah, I mean, as marketers today, we have so many tools and resources at our fingertips. I tell people all the time, and especially when I’m speaking with fellow marketers that might be in an introductory phase or launching a new business and they don’t have all these bells and whistles, they might not have a CRM. But as healthcare marketers in particular, we have our EMR, so that holds information about every single one of our patients. Even if I didn’t have a CRM, which is a marketing database, marketing tools, I still have that foundational aspect of who my patients are, what are they coming in for, how long is their length of stay, where do they live, NPS scores, how do they feel about their experience. Even if I just take that introductory data and look at it, which I look at on at least a daily basis to understand trends, it tells you a lot about not only your current population, but where there might be room and opportunity for growth. We use that not only to market to our employees, but also to do market research on, hey, where do we need to open more facilities? Where is there a population that we’re seeing some success, but we see that there’s a need, whether that’s that the clinics are almost filling to capacity and we need another one in that town or a neighboring town, or an injury or ailment that we’re seeing fill up very fast, which has contributed to our growth of service lines from just PT to hand therapy to vestibular therapy to pelvic floor therapy, and really understanding those patients’ wants, needs, who’s your current patient base, and where is their opportunity for growth? I live in that space currently, but 15 years ago I didn’t. Those tools weren’t available to us. I had to do a lot more collaboration with our physical therapists, with our patients in the clinic, really understanding what their experiences were, what are they looking for, why did they choose us. So a lot more time and effort to get that data, which is now available at the click of a button and really allows marketers the flexibility to be innovative, learn, and set growth models moving forward.

[12:22] Neil: That’s fantastic. And you bring up such great points there, that as a much bigger enterprise you have to have that data to make decisions across everything, right? If you’re a growing practice, in order for you to make the right decisions, you’ve got to have the right data. Often we don’t think of the market data as being as valuable as some of the clinic metrics like visits and things like that. But it’s really fascinating that you point that out, because that marketing data and what you’re gathering from the EMR allows you to make decisions of where do you open, and where can you put more emphasis, or where would there be more need or demand. So I find that very fascinating at that large level, because you have to make those better data decisions. And then how you can incorporate that thinking, probably from a smaller clinic perspective.

[13:25] Kayla: Absolutely. And even with all the data we have at our fingertips, there is still a strong need to collaborate internally, not just with the clinicians and the clinical team, but also with the patient access or administrative teams, to really understand, this is what I’m seeing from a data standpoint, and asking those pointed questions to really understand what exactly is happening. The data might say something, but there’s always a piece of the puzzle that you might be missing. So having that open communication and team-based approach is something that we’ve done really well here at JAG and has contributed to our success. But especially for small businesses where you only have maybe one or two clinics to manage, having those conversations and that ongoing collaboration is critical.

[14:17] Neil: Absolutely. Now for you at JAG, obviously you built a really well-known brand there. Can you give us some insights into how you’ve looked at the brand of JAG, in the context of physical therapy in general to the public, and your approach to that?

[14:28] Kayla: A brand, it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in. If you’re a large business, small business, mom and pop, your brand is your identity. It is what the community, your patients, your clients need to know about you, what you stand for, what makes you different. That’s really consistency across the board. I work with a lot of clinicians, and they haven’t gone to business school, so I do brand work all the time, and storytelling, and letting them know I’m really not just being a pain. I don’t want this wall to be red and I don’t want the logo to look like this for my health. There’s a reason behind it, and there’s a reason why me and my team are walking into the clinics and having these conversations, because the brand is our identity. I can’t be selling something externally or being on the radio or having our digital marketing say X, Y, and Z and look and feel a certain way if that is not the service that we’re delivering, if that is not the experience that we’re selling. So that cohesive branding, the consistency, the frequency, the visibility, that all plays a key factor. I am incredibly OCD, as are most marketers, on the brand and what that stands for. We’ve really created systems and guidance and tools to be able to feed not only our marketing teams but the entire organization: this is how you talk about the brand, this is how you represent yourselves in the community. If we’re out tabling at a charitable event or a 5K or an educational conference, this is what you need to bring, this is what you need to talk about, this is how you need to look and present yourself. So it’s all about that consistency and really creating, this is who we are, as an identity, and being able to grow and evolve that. At JAG, I’ve had the unique opportunity that we’ve evolved the brand several times. When I first joined the company years and years ago, we had these little figures. We had a golfer, a tennis player, very athletic focused. So very early on when I came in, I took the logo and adapted it in a way where we weren’t necessarily just focusing on athletics. JAG was a brand for the people, for every walk of life, not just athletic or sports physical therapy. So we adapted things that way. Our CEO, who’s still very involved in our marketing, was the only voice in our marketing. His picture was on everything. As we started to open multiple sites, I said, well, John, you can’t treat everybody, so we have to broaden this a little bit. Of course he’s always the voice. He is truly the pioneer behind our brand and behind our company, but we were growing and we needed to be able to showcase that. So branding is everything. Definitely be strategic in that, set your brand goals and guidelines, and stick to them. For us, we rebranded a couple years ago, back in 2018, to JAG One Physical Therapy. That was adopted as part of a merger. JAG Physical Therapy merged with One on One Physical Therapy, which gave us our foundation for our New York footprint. So we changed it to JAG One, which worked for a couple years, but then we continued growing and acquiring other companies, and we were much more than JAG Physical Therapy and One on One Physical Therapy. So we went back to the old JAG PT. I have done more rebranding than I wish to talk about or ever wanted to take on, but it’s all been a learning experience, and something that not only did I have the opportunity to learn and adopt and innovate, but it allowed our company and our clinicians, as we were in high growth phase, to really grow and understand, this is what it all means. I feel like we’ve done a lot of education, and our clinicians and our patient access reps are all part of it and have all bought into the brand. So I consider myself very lucky, although it was a very enduring year and a half to have to rebrand over 100 facilities, but we’re on the other side of it.

[18:43] [Mid-roll ad for the free Market2Grow book (practicepromotions.net/book), about 18:43 to 19:25. Not transcribed.]

[19:25] Neil: And now back to the show.

[19:27] Neil: That is a huge lift. But it brings up a good point there, that your brand should evolve with the company. Brands do change over time. Even Coca-Cola changes occasionally. I think it’s okay to realize, hey, we can evolve the way that we look, the way we feel, the way our company has evolved. You make a great point, too: brand is not just the way that you look, right? It’s that whole patient experience. So really looking at that whole patient experience, the feel of everything within the clinic, how people speak, how people present the company to the customers, all of that is part of your branding, and you’ve done a fantastic job there, it sounds like, of all the standard operating procedures of how people present the brand to the communities. And that’s the way to scale your practice. It’s interesting hearing, too, as you’ve done acquisitions, how you’ve incorporated brands or even changed brands to fit. We work with a lot of companies that do acquire other clinics, and there are kind of two ways that people do it. One is they just keep all of the clinic branding and have multiple companies underneath them, and then they have ones that acquire into them. So I’m just kind of curious from your standpoint, as you’ve acquired clinics, what does that look like for you as you’ve acquired brands, bringing brands into the JAG PT brand? Just curious about your experience on that.

[21:02] Kayla: Yeah, it’s funny you asked that question, because very early on, right before we made our first acquisition, that was a big conversation: what are we going to do? Are we going to rebrand them to JAG Physical Therapy? Are we going to operate other brands under a big JAG umbrella? What does that mean from a branding standpoint, an investment standpoint, a digital marketing standpoint? A lot of that was considered. And listen, if you talk to 10 different marketers, five of us are going to vote to bring everything under one brand, and five of us are going to say manage it as a parent company but keep the existing brands as is in local markets. I’m not sure there’s a right answer, but for us at JAG, it was bring everyone under the JAG umbrella and adopt the JAG Physical Therapy name, but also be aware and learn from the current brands. You’re acquiring a practice because you saw something special in them. You shared a mission and values. You wanted them to be part of your team. But if you go in and just rip the Band-Aid off and not learn from maybe the local market that they’re in or what they’ve developed and created over the last however many years, you’re really doing yourself a disservice. So even when we acquire companies, it’s a multi-stage process. It’s a learning process. I want to know everything about their brands and what they created and what their mission and values are, and how we incorporate that under the JAG Physical Therapy name. While JAG PT might be the name on the door, there are certain things that the local communities and local clinicians have that keep their patients coming back year over year. So with every acquisition, it’s a learning experience for me and my team, and I’m constantly taking initiatives and things that some of our acquired companies have done and incorporating them into our strategy. We also have a process. I don’t go in day one and rip the name and legacy off the door. These are conversations that happen pre-close. They understand the why behind it, and they also understand the time frame. I’m not going in day one and changing all the signs. That takes a couple months to kind of percolate. We work on that together. We work on the signage. In all of our messaging, we never use the word “acquired.” It’s “joins our team,” “joins our family,” because we want it to be a cohesive experience. As someone that owns and manages and develops a brand, it is incredibly important, and a lot of people have a lot of value in it. It’s like their baby, especially these sellers. They’re joining JAG for a reason, but at the end of the day, they might have created this company 30 years ago and poured all their blood, sweat, and tears into it, and the last thing they want is for me to walk in and just remove that right away. So there are a lot of conversations surrounding the why, surrounding the strategy, and there’s also a lot of learning so that we can continue to grow and innovate and make our brand stronger by bringing in these practices that we see value in. I do want to learn from the sellers, and I also want to learn from their up-and-coming PTs on what they’re looking for in a brand, in a company, what they want to stand for, so that we continue to grow a brand and a company that we’re all proud of and aren’t kind of stuck and stale but remain innovative and constantly learning and developing.

[24:42] Neil: That’s fascinating. And so I’m curious too, you mentioned working with the PTs in those acquisitions. So you’ve obviously done a tremendous amount of work for branding JAG, and as you brought in clinics, to help with the transition of the branding there too. Have you in recent years focused the branding not only for new patients but also for hiring and growing the team?

[25:08] Kayla: Absolutely. I do a ton of collaboration with our human resources and our clinical leads. Even upon onboarding, I am very involved in what that looks like, what the process looks like, what the materials look like, because from day one we want them to know why JAG Physical Therapy is different, what our mission is, what our values are, what we bring to the table. We want to create that sense of belonging, and our employees should be proud to work for us and truly understand what we stand for. If they don’t buy in on day one, then they’re probably not a great fit. We’re doing them a disservice by not showing them, this is the JAG Physical Therapy experience, this is what is expected, and these are the tools and resources that we’re going to provide you to continue to grow and develop your practice. So on day one, and even throughout all of our recruiting materials before employees are chosen for that interview, I am very involved in that process: the messaging, what it looks like, what it feels like, what the process is. At the end of the day, we want to attract employees that buy into that mission and want to be a part of JAG Physical Therapy for the long run. So there’s a ton of collaboration there. I have learned a lot, especially with HR and recruitment, and that’s a new world, and there are new tools there every day, just as there is in marketing. But that collaboration is key, not only to ensuring a positive experience for our patients but also for these new employees coming in, so that they feel a sense of belonging and that they’re part of something that’s much bigger than themselves or their clinic.

[26:55] Neil: Love it. And that’s one thing that we’re really trying to promote for practices too: the world changed tremendously in the last five years when it came to the need for clinicians and great staff, right? So having marketing and HR work together like they haven’t before, and certainly the bigger the company becomes, the more that function needs to occur together, because you can’t have a tremendous amount of turnover and grow your business. So I love what you’ve done there, and listening to you about the brand part and how you’ve incorporated that, tied in with the hiring aspect too. So you have a lot of different marketing channels, and obviously there are influencers everywhere. I’m curious, has there been a couple of channels, or premium marketing channels, that you’ve found work the best for JAG Physical Therapy?

[27:48] Kayla: Absolutely. If you talk to any marketer and they tell you that 100% of their spend, they’re able to track ROI, or return on that investment, down to the dollar, they’re lying to you. I’m going to be very honest in that. And I think there are two main channels that, when I look at my marketing budget and our strategy, we regularly invest in that bring us the biggest return. One is black and white, super measurable: digital marketing. I know exactly the dollars I’m investing, the channels I’m investing in, and what the return is on that channel. The other one, more of a gray area, is our grassroots marketing, and that has been the fabric of JAG Physical Therapy’s success back when we had one location. I can’t even tell you my budget, but it was next to nothing. It was like, here’s this small pot of money, do something with it. As outpatient physical therapy, we know we don’t have to cast a super wide net. If you have one facility, you’re really only going to grab a three to five mile radius. This is based in the Northeast, where we are, just based on the convenience, the population density, the fact that there is ample PT, and we know simple human behavior. So for us, it was, let’s do grassroots marketing. Let’s invest in our communities. Let’s make those strong ties, because that’s going to be the population that we serve. Even to this day, there are things we do where we know, listen, we’re out here, we get 10 patients every year, home run, but there are things that we do to support. Maybe it’s a local nonprofit, or maybe it’s a local school that’s doing a first-time fundraising initiative, that we want to be there for and support. When we say that we want to be a resource to our local communities, that’s exactly what that means. It’s not always just throwing sponsorship dollars. It’s sending out a PT to do some stretching or an injury prevention educational seminar for a group of seniors that are about to get total joint replacements. So there’s a lot of community engagement, and that is and always has been at the fabric of JAG Physical Therapy’s strategy, and it has really been one of the driving forces in making us successful, back when we had one facility to over 160 today. That is still our bread and butter. It is still something that we’re investing our money, time, and resources in, and it is probably the number one thing that we preach and collaborate on and teach to our clinicians. Yes, JAG is the name on the door, but we are here to service a community, and this is how you do it. This is how you build your practice within our brand, and this is the expectation. We’re not just preaching it. We are making sure we back that up in every way, shape, and form possible. So when you look at our two biggest buckets, digital, obviously very black and white, and then a little bit more in the gray area, but we know what works, is our grassroots marketing.

[31:04] Neil: Love it. I can’t agree more. That’s so powerful. Sometimes we just want to chase the new patients, right? We think digital marketing is the end-all be-all of everything, but we don’t pay as much attention to those grassroots efforts that are harder to measure, but they do have a broader influence, using our customer base to network and be part of different community events like you mentioned there. I think that’s so critical. And with that, you’ve obviously worked with a lot of clinics as you’ve acquired them and different brands and things like that. So I’m curious, what piece of marketing strategy do you think most PT clinics overlook today?

[31:53] Kayla: I would say the one piece that people often overlook is public relations and the power of that. It’s not always paid either. There is a way to get your voice and expertise out there, but there is nothing like having someone else vouch for your business, or lend to your area of expertise, or tell your story. You could say till you’re blue in the face, “We’re the best. Come to JAG because of X, Y, and Z.” But to have that validation from an outside source is often overlooked, because a lot of people think you need to invest in this huge PR agency, which has a tremendous amount of value, but that’s for a bigger company. If you’re a one to two-person clinic, one to two locations, looking to make a splash out there, there are a lot of ways that you can make your voice heard, set yourself apart, and lend to your own PR, whether that’s through influencer marketing, or there are even local digital publications where you could go and write columns. But being able to have someone else vouch for your business is huge, and it’s something that a lot of small practices, and even bigger companies, overlook.

[33:16] Neil: Yeah. And I see the clinics that are very successful are the ones that do put that effort into PR, which is really getting your good works well known, right? The things that you do, the amazing stories that you have within the clinic, all those great outcomes that you have, how well are you telling those to the world, in the community? And then what are the people saying about you from the results that you’re getting? You have to be able to promote that, and you also have to get people to say those wonderful things about you and tell those stories from within the clinic. It takes a little bit of effort, but it doesn’t take a lot of money to do that kind of stuff. And getting reviews is one of those components of PR, right?

[33:55] Kayla: Right. And now with video marketing and social media marketing, I remember we used to have our patients write in their testimonials. There’s nothing better than hearing a patient’s story, and we see so many different stories. What about the young child that got hit by a car that was told, “Hey, you’re never going to walk again,” and then seeing that child graduate and walk themselves out of those doors? That is the type of stuff that gives you goosebumps. And those are the stories that marketers are never going to be able to bottle up and do themselves. They need that validation, and they need those patients and community members to really say, this is what JAG did for me, this is what XYZ company did for me. And like you said, some of it is no cost. It’s just a little bit of effort.

[34:47] Neil: Definitely. And so you’ve been with JAG quite a while now, and obviously built up the brand and built up the business there. We talked about how fast marketing has changed in this crazy world, so what do you like to do to stay current? What kind of books or podcasts or gurus do you like to follow?

[35:07] Kayla: Yeah. So I have three young children with a fourth on the way, and I am all over the place. I am also not one that sits still, so I have to admit I am not a huge book person. I try to listen to podcasts in the car, but a lot of what I do to grow and evolve and continue learning is, number one, LinkedIn, because it’s local people, local stories, connections that I’ve made over the years. I am constantly on LinkedIn and always looking at new articles and opinions. I also subscribe to Marketing Brew, which is essentially a daily newsletter on marketing. I also subscribe to Healthcare Brew, which gives you a daily rundown of everything that’s going on in healthcare. I live by those because it takes me five minutes to read them. It comes delivered to my inbox. So those are really the two avenues that I go to to continue learning and evolving. And then I would say once per quarter I really dive in and do research on market and industry trends and marketing trends. I do try to attend at least one to two conferences a year, whether it’s strictly business related or marketing niche related, to understand new products, developments, etc. So I wouldn’t say I am someone that gets to read or listen to podcasts every day. I wish I had more time, but those are the tools that I use frequently, and I continue to try to grow and develop them every year. But Marketing Brew, I think, is great, because again, five minutes in your inbox every day, I at least learn one new thing every single day.

[37:03] Neil: I love it. And congratulations on the fourth child there. So, four kids, chief marketing officer, 160-location practice. Pretty impressive accomplishments there for you, Kayla. So I’m curious: as you’ve worked with different practices over time, having a marketing director really can help you grow your business. When do you think is the right time for a practice to bring on someone to focus on growing their marketing?

[37:35] Kayla: I would say early on. I would say even a one-facility practice, whether that’s someone that has multiple roles. When I first came to JAG, of course I oversaw marketing, but I was also doing a bunch of other administrative tasks that I never went to school for, had to learn on the fly, and kind of grow and develop a lot of different skill sets. So I think to have someone, whether you want to call them strictly a marketer or you want to use them in a dual role for various things, to have someone that’s always focused on marketing and advancing your brand and creating business development opportunities, I think is key. Even if you’re an established practice that has been around 30 years and has this great loyal patient base, I always think that there’s room for development, to continue growing your business and evolving your business. So marketing is something that, again, you don’t have to just hire a marketer, especially if you have one location, but you need someone thinking about marketing and checking that box for you.

[38:48] Neil: Great advice, and I can’t agree more. We see a lot of growing practices where the owner is still trying to hold all those functions, and it really starts to bottleneck the business growth, because marketing is such a critical part of growing your business that you really need someone at the helm making that happen. And there’s a gazillion marketing actions that need to occur within the practice, all those things that we were just talking about today, all the logistics of putting all those things together, working even with outside agencies and technical people and all this other stuff too. So I couldn’t agree more that it’s one of those functions you’ve got to look at implementing in your business earlier than you think. Yes, it’s an investment, because you’re paying for that person’s salary, but they’re really going to help you get to that next level.

[39:37] Kayla: Absolutely. And you know what, with all of the data and tools at our fingertips now, marketers have the ability to be more efficient, where they can take on other roles within a business, especially a small business, where it takes the pressure off the CEO. It’s being done. You don’t have to think about it. You’re not going home at midnight and doing all these marketing tasks. I think for a CEO or business owner to be able to really focus on the business and know these key aspects are being taken care of is critical.

[40:09] Neil: Excellent. And so for marketing directors out there for clinics, do you have any advice for them trying to grow with limited resources?

[40:16] Kayla: Yeah. First thing is understand what the long-term goals are for the company, the entity, the brand that you’re working with, and create that foundation. You’re not going to be able to do everything. So where do you want to be next year, two years, three years, four years, five years from now? Then work backwards and create the foundation and the building blocks in order to get there. When John opened his first facility, he wanted to give out branded materials, and we only had enough budget for pens. So we had to be strategic in what we were giving out. How do we ensure that we are still out in our communities, that our brand is represented, but working on a limited budget? You really need to get creative, but understand, okay, this is where we’re starting, and then this is where we want to build six months from now, nine months from now, a year from now. Have that communication and collaboration with your CEOs, with whoever is looking over the financials for the company. Oftentimes it’s a small business owner if it’s a smaller entity. Make sure that you’re all aligned: this is what I am being given to work with, these are the foundational steps that I am going to make, but this is how we want to see it grow. Are we on the same page? What are the expectations? How are we going to measure it? And then what does that growth look like in terms of additional assets, resources, strategy, and the budget needed? I worked at an agency very early in my career, and I worked with a bunch of different clients, and the worst thing that a client could come to me with was, “You can run a print ad for this month.” I’m like, that’s just opening the window and throwing out your money, because you’re not getting anything by doing something for a month. It’s not going to get you a return. You might as well just put the money back in your pocket and save it. So I think collaboration and clear strategic vision by all stakeholders is important, and creating that foundation of, okay, what do we want to be when we grow up? How do we get there? And create those building blocks.

[42:28] Neil: I love it. Yeah. So just setting the future, right? And having that marketing director there, it’s not just the practice owner trying to come up with that vision. They have a vision of where they want their practice to be, or if they want multiple locations or a different size clinic, whatever it may be for them, but having the marketing director envision, okay, what does the marketing need to look like in order to accomplish that at those different phases? I like how you broke that down for that component. So, Kayla, you’ve given tons of great advice here today, and congratulations on all your success building JAG Physical Therapy up to what it is today. And I’m sure there’s going to be even bigger growth into the future. But if you had to start over today, would you do anything differently?

[43:17] Kayla: I would do a lot differently, especially since I grew up here. But I think the one thing I wish is that I had a better understanding of the fast-paced adoption of technology, and how, if I had set it up a little bit earlier in the journey, it would have helped us on the back end in terms of integrating our EMR with certain tools I was using in digital marketing, and allowing us to automate some of that at an earlier stage, to be able to give us the insights or deliver products, services, and campaigns faster, easier, more efficiently. To go backwards, I wish I had had that foresight a little bit earlier on, or the resources, in order to develop some of the systems that I have at my fingertips today. Like I mentioned, digital marketing used to be just banner ads. We all kind of learned on the fly, and Google updates their algorithm, it seems like, every single day, so we are still constantly learning. But to be able to set up that infrastructure a little bit earlier, I think, would have helped us in the long run, which is why I continue to leverage some of the tools and conferences and really want to see what the future holds, because I never want to be reacting to something again. I think that was a bit of a mix between me growing as a professional, the company growing as a professional, throw COVID in there, and that totally disrupted everything. But if I could have done something differently, it would have been spending more time and resources on adapting that technology infrastructure earlier on to help us with future growth.

[45:07] Neil: Great advice. And boy, is it a fast-paced, changing world. Like you said, Google’s changing things every single day, and the rise of AI here has made things incredibly fast. I think we’re all trying to figure out all these new technologies and tools: how do we incorporate that into our practice in a way that’s meaningful, doesn’t waste time, but enhances our capabilities to market our practice and deliver better quality service, all of the above, right? But yeah, it is fast changing. We used to be predominantly Google search, right, and then search engine marketing with Google Ads, but now that’s exploded to ChatGPT and AI search, and now answer engine optimization, being at the top of the AI in Google, social search optimization now with all the things that have changed with Meta. So yeah, it’s a fast-paced digital marketing world for sure.

[46:12] Kayla: Yes. And a lot of marketers, you’ll hear people say, “I’m scared AI is going to take our jobs.” No, AI isn’t going to take our jobs, but it’s going to make our jobs more efficient. If you’re a marketer that’s not in tune with that or utilizing those resources to make you and your team more powerful and efficient, then yeah, that’s maybe where we’re going to see some attrition. So I preach to everybody: play around with the tools, learn something new every day, but you need to be using it in some way, shape, or form and have the foresight to understand this is where it’s going. How do I utilize these to help me not just today, but in the future?

[46:49] Neil: Great advice. And so to learn more about JAG PT, is the website the best place for people to go?

[46:57] Kayla: Yep. Go to jagpt.com. You can learn all about us. And if you’re a patient, you can book online. Again, a very innovative tool, trying to make things convenient and easy. And you can also look us up on social.

[47:10] Neil: Fantastic. Well, Kayla, thank you so much for spending the time with us today. I know our audience got a lot out of our conversation here and learning the journey, and the brand, and all the cool things that you’re doing there at JAG Physical Therapy. So thank you for being on the podcast. And for our audience out there, thank you for joining us. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Practice Marketing Podcast as well as our YouTube channel. We’ve got tons of advice for you there. And at practicepromotions.net, we’ve got lots of great marketing downloads and things that you can do to enhance the marketing in your practice. So this is Neil Trickett from the Practice Marketing Podcast, wishing you much success in your practice.

[47:50] [Outro inviting listeners to leave a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, about 47:50 to the end. Not transcribed.]