Are you a marketing director at a multi-location clinic? Then you probably know the pain of having that one clinic location that just doesn’t perform the way it should. In this short article, we’ll give you 5 PT marketing ideas to help an underperforming clinic. These ideas will help you boost patient volume, fill schedule gaps, and STOP losing money!
1. Update your website and Google Business Profile.
Before you do anything else, double-check and make sure you’ve covered the basics.
- Create a unique Google Business Profile. Make sure you have a unique Google Business Profile for each clinic location. Google sees each clinic location as a different business. So if you want your new location to show up on Google Maps, it needs its own Google Business Profile with its hours, phone number, and address. Go to Google Maps and search for our client “Connecticut Physical Therapy Specialists” to see their three locations pop up.
- Add the new location to your website. Make sure you add your new clinic location to the bottom of your website. You should also make sure that each location has its own website page. Creating a new website page for the location will help you get found on Google. This is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
- Add your new location address to flyers, handouts, or any other marketing materials you create!
PRO TIP: Go to Connecticut PT Specialists’ website to see how we’ve structured their website, location pages, and Google Business Profile.
2. Measure your PT patient visit numbers.
“As we grow, creating systems – trackable systems— and paying attention to metrics becomes even more important.” – Colin Bostic, Connecticut PT Specialists, Practice Promotions Client
You may feel like your clinic is underperforming. But you need to know “how bad” it actually is. How many patients should that clinic be seeing every week? How many are you actually seeing? Make sure you know what you SHOULD be hitting vs. what you’re actually achieving for the following numbers:
- Number of weekly new patients
- Number of weekly returning patients
- Insurance reimbursement / billing per visit (target $90 / visit)
- How many patients a provider sees each day
- Gross collections every day, month, week
Don’t know what your targets should be? Look at your top-performing clinic and figure out what their metrics are. For example, if providers at your busiest clinic see 12 patients a day, you should expect the same for your struggling clinic. If your providers at the underperforming clinic only see 7 a day…you have a problem.
3. Consider what makes your underperforming clinic different.
What is unique about this struggling clinic? Is it rural, while your other locations are suburban? Does it serve a different demographic – like seniors, workers’ comp patients, high school athletes, or high / low income patients? Is it separated from your other clinics by a geographical barrier that patients won’t cross?
Be realistic about your location’s disadvantages. But then look for your PT clinic’s natural advantages.
For example, when Connecticut Physical Therapy Specialists opened a new clinic location, it was literally across a river – and their patients at the other clinics didn’t want to cross it.
But then they realized that a local high school used a gym in their building for weight training. A lightbulb went off for Business Director Colin Bostic. “It’s a baked-in referral source,” said Colin. “It’s a baked-in source of new patients, because the kids are naturally coming into our building, we’re able to provide them with a little bit of value – whether it’s just helping them out while they work out or what have you – but if they have an actual injury or dysfunction, we’re right here!”
Consider that you may need a new marketing strategy for this location. And start marketing to the natural advantages of this new clinic. If it goes well, you’ve tapped into a whole new market of people. After all, that’s probably why you opened this clinic.
4. Leverage Google Ads to target specific zip codes.
Google Ads are a great way to boost results quickly for an underperforming clinic.
Why? Because you can target specific zip codes around your clinic!
Here’s what Olivia, Marketing Director at Connecticut PT Specialists, has to say:
“We talked with Justin, our Google Ads PPC Specialist with Practice Promotions, and dumped a little more of our money for Google Ads into our [new] Glastonbury location, and took some from West Hartford and Granby because those locations were already strong, performance-wise.”
5. Go talk to doctors, gyms, fitness centers, and schools in your struggling clinic’s area.
Sometimes you just need boots on the ground. Look for new referral partners – whether that’s a doctor or a local gym. Remember to provide value for the partner via a workshop, helpful handouts, or co-throwing an event.
“We work really closely with an athletic trainer from Yukon,” said Olivia. “He’s a great referral source for us. And that turns into – we’re seeing one of his clients, and then we’re seeing the mom and the dad, and stuff like that. That organic type of growth is really helpful.”
The Best PT Marketing Idea: Multi-Location Clinics Need to Market Consistently to Patients
Multi-location PT clinics need to market consistently to patients every month, build repeatable systems (ways of doing things), and measure your numbers across clinics.
As Colin Bostic says, “Marketing takes the valleys away from the peaks. We’re not so reactive. If we’re constantly doing the same strategies, then you’re not going to have so many ‘we poured the gas on the fire and now we’re super busy…oh no, stop stop stop! … and then we’re back down.’ Marketing allows us to deliver our product and get our message across to a wider audience…that creates business growth and patient volume.”
At Practice Promotions, we help high-performing clinics attract new PT patients online with powerful marketing services. Request a Practice Marketing Demo today to see how we can help YOU boost your underperforming clinic location.
You may end up elevating your entire business.