How often do you plan out your practice’s marketing?
Do you have short and long-term plans—for the month, three months, or year? A marketing plan aligns with your business development goals and keeps you on track to see results for the practice. Your marketing plan should be your blueprint, roadmap, and checklist to build campaigns, organize promotions, and monitor the impacts. Every PT practice should have at least a monthly marketing plan to ensure that you are consistently communicating with prospective patients and referring physicians. Let’s take a look at the essential elements of a PT practice marketing plan:
Elements of a Practice Marketing Plan
Your marketing plan should focus on the key audiences that will support your business objectives and the way in which you are going to encourage them to patron your practice. Most practices focus on patients and physicians. However, you can also market to community organizations, health care centers, and businesses. Then, you can identify what campaigns and promotions to use to engage the respective audiences. Below are some examples of different ways to market your practice:
- Mailing a monthly practice newsletter to patients and physicians
- Mailing a monthly physician mailer
- Sending postcards for targeted campaigns and promotions
- Emailing an e-newsletter
- Having a high-quality, responsive website
- Managing social media profiles and posts
- Networking with physicians and referral sources
- Sponsoring community organizations or events
- Having professional brochures, rack cards, and in-office promotions
The above marketing programs require an investment of time and money to develop and execute. In your planning sessions, you want to decide what programs to use to market your practice and how you will implement them throughout the month(s) or year. Also, you can identify “big” projects, such as redesigning your website or adding a new direct mail campaign, that require additional preparation to get started. Your practice’s marketing plan keeps your efforts on track and working towards the big picture—a busy practice that generates growth and revenue!
