As a practice owner, you have probably tried several different approaches to your PT marketing—phonebook ads, flyers, online specials….etc. Do you know which campaign worked? How many patients or referrals did it generate? Are those marketing results sustainable? These questions can help you gauge the success of your marketing efforts and the ROI or Return on Investment produced.
Let’s look at some general statistics:
- Net profit from 1 physical therapy appointment = $80-$100
- Varies based on services/treatments performed and insurance reimbursement
- Average profit from 1 course of PT treatment = $90 (avg.) x 10 visits = $900
Therefore, one new patient equals approximately $900 in additional income to your practice.
Now let’s think about your practice marketing plan and budget. The key correlation is between money spent and ROI with the goal always being: Money Spent < ROI.
This might seem like a simple equation, but things can get complicated. Often, practice owners will under or overspend on marketing campaigns or placements that do not generate optimal results. For example, John owns ABC Physical Therapy and decides to spend $1,500 per month on a billboard located next to a local highway. In the first three months of having the billboard, John sees 6 new patients ($5400 in additional income) and thinks the billboard is working great. However, he is assuming that these patients are coming in from the billboard campaign and uses that rationale to justify the expense.
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Take a closer look—John is still spending $1,500 per month on the billboard, but has trained his office staff to ask all new patients where they heard about ABC PT. Of the 6 new patients, 3 say that they heard about ABC PT from friends who received treatment there, 1 found the clinic online, and 2 came in after seeing the billboard. Therefore, John has spent $1,500 on the billboard and earned only $1,800 in income.
$1,500 Money Spent -$1800 ROI = $300 ROI or just 20%
See what happens when John utilizes a marketing campaign that is easy to track, quantifiable, and consistent…John decides to spend the same amount of money each month, $1,500, on a practice newsletter that can be mailed to both patients and doctors. He knows that the newsletter will be mailed to 1,000 people each month. John also has his office staff ask each new patient where they heard about ABC PT. Each month, John gets 10 new patients/referrals from the newsletter or a 1% response. Now that might seem like a small percentage, but:
$1,500 Money Spent – $9,000 ($900 x 10 patients) = $7500 ROI 500%!
As a practice owner, you cannot underestimate the importance of planning and tracking the budget and results from your marketing programs. If John had not been tracking his results, he might have been missing out on a 480% return on investment.
If you want help with planning, implementing, and tracking your marketing results—we can help!
The team at Practice Promotions will evaluate your marketing budget and will guide you in choosing a program that will deliver consistent marketing results and ROI… Contact us today for a free practice marketing consult!