Want to Stop the Summer Slump?

It’s not uncommon in the PT industry to assume summers will be slower than other months. But while it can be a more challenging time of year, a good marketing plan can create balance in your budget by planning additional support in traditionally lower months.

It starts by getting in the mind of your patients – specifically on the top of their mind. Nobody wants to go on vacation with a back problem, but they may be distracted and need an extra reminder.

And what about athletes?

For many young athletes, summer offers the best chance to recover or deal with pain without missing time on the field. Others will be concerned with staying in shape. But it’s up to us, PTs and PT Marketers, to vocalize what they’re thinking and provide an action plan.

For these reasons, summer is a great time for additional, different-than-normal direct mail pieces. There are several tactics you can take, but here we’ll cover a simple one that is fast & fairly cheap – physical therapy postcards.

3 Examples of Summer Postcards for PT

1. Event Invite: Free Evaluation Day

Check out this impactful summer postcard:

summer postcard event invite

This piece not only stood out in design – the results stood out too…
One to One PT converted more than 11 new patients from this event!

Offering free evaluations can sound expensive, but it’s important to note you don’t have to give full 1-hour appointments here.

Instead, take a summer day and fill your schedule with twenty or more free 15-minute consults per therapist. Converting just half will have a HUGE impact on that month’s patient volume!

Why does this work?

Lead magnets are a marketing tool that offers a small piece of value in order 1) to build trust and 2) see who is interested in the topic.

That’s exactly what you’re doing with free evals – only instead of an ebook, you’re giving 15 minutes of advice and answers to someone dealing with a problem. Talk about a trust builder!

Pro Tip: make sure they leave with either an appointment on the schedule or at least an impressive, custom-branded welcome kit/folder.

workshop postcard for physical therapy

2. Workshop Invite + Bring A Guest Contest

Another easy summer postcard idea is to invite past patients to a workshop with the option of bringing a friend or loved one!

Connecting with patients on a specific condition is a great way to generate new patient leads. Consider hosting monthly workshops through the summer about a few common topics or your specialty treatments.

Invite your past patients with a mailed invite like the one above. You could even offer a contest or raffle for anyone who brings a guest!

Next, get local business partners involved in advertising. Gyms, health stores, running/sport shops… these could make a great network to generate signups.

If you’ve never done one, I strongly encourage you to start this summer! Check out this article for PT workshop tips.

3. Athlete Marketing: Summer Rehab & Training

There are 2 approaches you can take with athletes – Rehab or Training & Prevention. Which approach you take depends on your practice’s specialty but either way, summer is a great time to market to athletes.

In general, their schedules will be lighter without as many teams in season. Serious athletes will be open to help staying in shape, and many parents jump at the chance to give their child an athletic edge.

Because of this, mailing a postcard to the younger and parent-age section of your patient list could have very strong results.

Postcard Strategy Tip:

The best advice here is not simply to sell “training” or “exercise.” Those things can be compared to other options and you may lose on price.

Instead, you want to sell your unique method. Take the service you provide, outline the benefits, put a timeframe on it, then name that method.

EXAMPLE: The Peak Performance Program: 8 weeks of 1-on-1 season prep & training for young athletes

Sounds more valuable than “Get summer training” doesn’t it? Specifics sell, so make a promise, put a timeframe on it, and market it this summer!

Final Tips

Design, printing, and mailing can take some time. Try to start your project at least 4 weeks before you want the postcards to be in the mail.

If you don’t have a patient list yet, look into EDDM service which can saturate your cards in specific zip codes. You end up paying for more cards than you need but can capture attention from new patients.

Ready to get started? We can handle the full design, copywriting, and mailing for you in-house! See postcard options