Whether you're launching a new practice or have been operating for years, marketing is crucial to your private practice's success. Yet, balancing marketing with compliance concerns and documentation can feel overwhelming for many rehab professionals.
The good news? It's easier than ever to share your practice within your local community and the digital world. Consistency is key—marketing isn't a one-time task. Just like treating a patient with L1 back pain, your marketing efforts need to be ongoing to achieve the best results.
This comprehensive physical therapy marketing guide will equip you with a variety of actionable tactics that you can implement right away, from leveraging the power of digital advertising to building strong relationships within your community.
A physical therapy marketing plan outlines the strategies a practice will use to target a specific market. These strategies are typically set over a defined period—yearly, quarterly, or monthly.
There's a difference between a marketing plan for a physical therapy clinic and one for an individual therapist. A clinic's plan emphasizes the shared values and collective experience of its practitioners, while an individual therapist's plan focuses on personal achievements and accolades.
Regardless of the focus, an effective physical therapy marketing plan should include the following core elements:
Creating a successful physical therapy marketing plan requires a strategic approach. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you craft an effective plan that drives growth and patient engagement.
Your brand as a physical therapist is the essence of your practice — it's the impression people have when they hear your name. Like well-known companies such as Nike or Apple, a strong brand communicates your values and the quality of your services without explanation. This recognition is vital, as the physical therapy practice with the strongest brand awareness will naturally attract clients who trust its reputation.
Establishing and promoting your brand in a way that reinforces this trust is crucial for long-term success. Whether you're a clinic owner or a solo therapist, how you shape your brand will define how patients perceive and choose you.
Here are some tips for defining your brand:
It's essential to know exactly who you're directing your message to, as your messaging should be tailored for each audience. While patients are often considered your primary consumers, other groups are just as important—and, in some cases, even more so, depending on how you acquire patients.
Key audiences to consider include:
These groups are also consumers of your services because they can refer potential patients. They often need rehab services for their own clients, so don't overlook them as critical partners in growing your practice.
Here are some tips for defining and understanding your target audience:
Before you can effectively target your audience and develop a winning marketing strategy, it's essential to conduct thorough market and competitor research. This will provide you with valuable insights into your target market's needs, preferences, and behaviors, as well as the competitive landscape in your area. Here's what you need to do:
Here are some tools you can use to conduct your research:
Once you have a solid understanding of your target market and the competitive landscape, it's time to set clear marketing goals. When setting goals, ensure they are SMART. Here's what that means:
Here are some examples of SMART marketing goals:
With your market research and goals in place, you can now develop and prioritize your marketing strategies. Consider a mix of internal and external marketing efforts to reach your target audience and achieve your objectives.
Begin by brainstorming a wide range of marketing tactics that align with your goals. These could include everything from digital advertising and social media campaigns to community events and patient referral programs. The key is to be diverse in your approach, covering both online and offline strategies to ensure you reach a broader audience.
Not all marketing tactics will have the same impact, and it's essential to focus on high-return activities first. To do this, you can categorize your strategies into three tiers:
Say one of your goals is to increase your online presence; a high-priority strategy could be investing in your website and optimizing it for search engines. A medium-priority strategy might be engaging with social media influencers, while a low-priority strategy could be starting a blog that provides valuable content to potential patients.
Don’t forget—the best marketing plans are dynamic and flexible! As you implement your strategies, track your results and be prepared to pivot based on what’s working and what isn’t.
A successful physical therapy marketing strategy requires a balance between internal and external efforts. Internal marketing focuses on nurturing your current patient base and generating organic referrals, while external marketing helps attract new patients and grow your reach. Understanding how to leverage both is key to long-term success.
Your first and most valuable marketing opportunity lies within your practice. Internal marketing is cost-effective, strengthens patient relationships, and drives retention. By enhancing the patient experience, you create loyal advocates who can refer new patients to your practice.
Here are a few key internal marketing activities:
A proactive approach to internal marketing not only improves patient loyalty but also builds a foundation for sustained growth through referrals and strong relationships.
External marketing is essential for reaching new patients and broadening your practice's visibility. This often involves more investment but pays off by expanding your reach. Some effective external strategies include:
Referral sources, like physicians, can provide a steady stream of patients, but focus on meaningful engagement rather than overwhelming them with materials. Provide updates on new treatments or equipment that enhance the value you offer.
By integrating both internal and external efforts, you can build a strong marketing foundation. It’s time to take things further with marketing strategies that will elevate your practice's online presence and boost patient acquisition.
With the wide range of physical therapy marketing approaches available, we've pinpointed 18 key strategies to help you streamline your efforts, sharpen your focus, and effectively grow your practice's online and local presence.
The Engage module from EmpowerEMR is a powerful tool designed to automate patient communication and engagement, helping physical therapy clinics build stronger relationships and improve patient retention.
With features like automated email marketing, NPS (Net Promoter Score) surveys, and a fax blaster, Engage allows clinics to stay connected with patients at every stage of their care journey. These tools not only streamline communication but also drive clinic growth by fostering positive patient experiences and gathering actionable feedback.
Leverage EmpowerEMR's Engage platform for:
One of the most effective digital marketing strategies for physical therapists is to prioritize their practice website. Your website serves as the foundation for most of your marketing efforts and often forms the first impression potential patients will have of your practice. A well-designed website helps prospective patients learn about your services and team, while current patients rely on it as a hub to book appointments and access their treatment details, such as home exercise protocols.
To maximize your website's impact, follow these essential physical therapy marketing tips:
In addition to your website, having a strong social media presence is crucial for external marketing. Platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook are ideal for reaching key demographics, especially since many potential clients are still active on Facebook. Social media offers flexibility with no word count restrictions, and smartphones have made these platforms highly accessible.
If you're ready to commit, here are some tips for managing your social media presence effectively:
Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is the process of enhancing your physical therapy website to improve search visibility for patients seeking PT services on search engines like Google.
When implementing the use of SEO into your physical therapy marketing campaign, keywords are essential. For a physical therapy practice, keywords are the search queries that a potential patient will input to (hopefully) find your practice — like "physical therapy services" or "physical therapist for back pain." Once you identify the search terms that drive traffic to your business, website optimization is key.
There are a variety of best practices to consider to effectively optimize your physical therapy website:
A Google My Business (GMB) profile is a powerful form of local SEO that helps potential patients find your physical therapy practice. Many patients will search for "physical therapy near me," and Google will use GMB listings to show them the closest practices, making it essential for your business.
A Google My Business profile also allows patients to leave reviews, offering valuable insights to both practice owners and prospective patients. The more positive reviews you accumulate, the higher your practice will appear in relevant searches.
Your GMB listing displays key business information, including contact details, Google Maps location, and hours of operation. Setting up and maintaining your GMB profile is not automatic, so it's important to keep your listing up-to-date.
To manage your Google My Business profile effectively, consider the following tips:
Email marketing is a cost-effective way to nurture and maintain long-term relationships with both current and inactive patients. With easy access to patient contact information, you can use email campaigns to send reminders, updates, and relevant content. This simple but impactful strategy helps keep your practice top-of-mind.
Here are a few tips to help make your email marketing more effective:
Marketing for physical therapists has evolved beyond written mediums to include video content. As many physical therapy topics or jargon can be complex for patients to understand in a written note or email, video content marketing is an ideal medium to demonstrate your position as a reputable PT knowledge broker to current and potential patient leads.
Though video content is often much less time-consuming than written content to streamline your general physical therapy marketing ideas, it packs a substantial punch. Client interviews, treatment demonstrations, and condition breakdowns are all video types that can help patients gain a better feel of your practice and gain the trust necessary to book that first appointment.
When diving into developing video content, physical therapists should be sure to:
Marketing for physical therapists must include the prioritization of patient reviews, as they are the primary source of social proof, brand reputation, and practice credibility. Because of this, physical therapists and practice employees must ensure continuous top-tier service that encourages a positive patient experience and, of course, positive reviews.
PT practices can take various steps to prioritize review efforts and drive positive patient reviews, such as:
Unlike big company marketing that can broadly target their audience, healthcare and physical therapy marketing must come with a personal touch. Adding personalization to your physical therapy marketing campaigns will help make potential and current patients feel more valued and less like a statistic.
Due to the one-on-one nature of physical therapy treatment, distributing personalized marketing material from the start of the patient journey and into your lead generation efforts can encourage more conversions. Maintain personalization long after the patient relationship has been established to increase patient retention and secure optimal patient satisfaction over time.
When looking to create more personalized marketing materials, PTs should consider the following steps:
Enhancing patient experience is a key strategy in physical therapy marketing. A positive experience not only increases patient satisfaction but also generates valuable word-of-mouth referrals. To improve patient experience, consider these steps:
Use patient surveys to gather feedback and uncover areas for improvement. Questions to ask include:
By addressing feedback and using tools like SMS and email marketing to maintain communication, you can enhance patient experience, build stronger relationships, boost retention, and grow your practice through referrals.
Paid digital advertising, or PPC, is a powerful tool for reaching potential patients online. By targeting specific keywords and demographics, you can display your ads to people who are actively searching for physical therapy services.
Here's how PPC advertising works:
Some of the most popular PPC platforms include:
When creating your PPC ads, keep the following tips in mind:
Referral programs can be a powerful way to attract new patients and reward your existing ones. By incentivizing your patients to refer their friends and family to your practice, you can tap into a valuable source of new business.
Here are some ideas for referral programs:
To ensure your referral program is successful, make sure it's easy to participate in by clearly communicating the terms and simplifying the referral process. Offer attractive incentives that motivate patients to refer friends and family. Promote the program well through your website, social media, and within your practice.
A patient loyalty program is a great way to reward your most loyal patients and encourage repeat business. By offering incentives for continued patronage, you can build stronger relationships with your patients and increase patient retention.
Here are some ideas for patient loyalty programs:
When creating a patient loyalty program, be sure to:
By implementing a patient loyalty program, you foster long-term relationships with your patients, increase patient retention, and drive repeat business.
Webinars and educational events are a great way to position yourself as an expert in your field and attract potential patients. By providing valuable information, you can build trust and credibility with your audience.
Here are some ideas for webinar topics:
When hosting webinars or events, be sure to:
Working with local businesses helps create a sense of community and drives foot traffic to your practice. These partnerships can be symbiotic, where both parties benefit. Imagine setting up collaborations with nearby gyms, health food stores, or even local sports teams. The more local businesses you partner with, the wider your reach in the community.
Here are a few practical ways to establish these partnerships:
These collaborations can provide an excellent return on investment and are relatively simple to set up. A warm introduction and a willingness to brainstorm mutually beneficial ideas can go a long way.
When building partnerships, be sure to:
Voice search is becoming increasingly popular, so it's important to optimize your content for this type of search. By understanding how people use voice search and incorporating relevant keywords, you can improve your chances of appearing in voice search results.
Here are some tips for optimizing for voice search:
By optimizing for voice search, you can make it easier for potential patients to find your practice when they use voice-activated devices like smartphones and smart speakers.
Community outreach is a great way to increase brand awareness, build relationships with potential patients, and give back to your community. By participating in local events and activities, you can showcase your commitment to the community and position yourself as a trusted healthcare provider.
Here are some ideas for community outreach activities:
When engaging in community outreach, be sure to:
By engaging in community outreach, you can build strong relationships with your community, increase your brand awareness, and attract new patients to your practice.
SMS marketing is a powerful way to reach your patients directly and deliver important messages in a timely manner. By sending text messages to your patients, you can provide appointment reminders, send updates about your practice, and offer exclusive promotions.
Here are some ways to use SMS marketing in your physical therapy practice:
When using SMS marketing, make sure that you:
By using SMS marketing effectively, you can improve patient communication, increase patient satisfaction, and drive repeat business.
Marketing your physical therapy services is more essential than ever.Whether you're just starting or running an established practice, your success depends on effectively communicating the value you provide to patients and referral sources.
Empower EMR's Engage module boosts marketing efforts by enhancing patient communication through automated email marketing, NPS surveys, and secure document sharing. By streamlining outreach and gathering valuable patient feedback, Engage helps clinics build stronger relationships and improve retention.
Schedule a demo today to see how Empower EMR can elevate your PT marketing strategy.
