Earlier this month I was asked to speak at the SHAPE ReClaimed annual conference. The room was comprised of several hundred practitioners throughout the country. This would be the first year that the conference included a segment about growing your practice. We found that most of the practitioners in the room knew they needed to improve their marketing efforts, but as healers not marketing specialists, they didn’t know where to start. We started with the basics. If you find yourself in the same position, below is a list of 13 strategies you can take immediate action on to start growing your practice.
- Learn how to ask for referrals (and make it happen). You’re much more likely to get a new patient/client if you ask for it. Teach yourself and your staff to respond to patient compliments by saying, “Thank you, we are always looking for opportunities to help people. Please take a few of our cards if you know of someone who would benefit from our services.”
- Learn how to tell prospective patients/clients what you do. Be specific, for example: “I help women over 40 reduce inflammation in their system so that they loose weight, gain health and feel great.”
- Ask every patient/client how they heard about you. Keep records of the answers and use this information in your marketing efforts. Knowing how exactly how people are finding you allows you to focus your marketing to attract additional patients from these sources.
- Give free workshops or classes related to your products/services. People love to learn so classes on topics related to your products and services can be a big win.
- Create a blog for your practice. Adding a new blog to your website monthly can greatly increase your organic SEO. This means that you show up as a recommended provider in a search without having to pay. If you don’t have time to blog, find someone to do it for you. Often we produce a well-researched, keyword-friendly post for less money than hiring someone in-house. You can also barter services or partner with a local blogger. Encourage people to post your blog articles to their site for free.
- Create a Facebook page for your wellness business. We offer professionally designed, ready-to-post Facebook posts that you can customize to include your business information. See our Resource page for more information.
- Use LinkedIn to connect with potential patients/community partners.
- Try spending some money on social media advertising. It is often inexpensive, with very specific targeting options.
- Create a video about your products, services, specialty or patient/client success and post it on YouTube.
- Become a podcast/radio guest. Both are a very effective way of targeting your potential patients/clients and an inexpensive advertising alternative to print or television.
- Develop business partnerships and cross-promote. Cross-promotion is a great way to cut down on the cost of advertising and can create valuable synergies that benefit all the partners. Healthy restaurants and gyms are a great resource.
- Include promotions with your invoices or patient receipts. It is a great reminder of what you are offering and they are more likely to hold onto a receipt than a flyer.
- Create an email newsletter. This gives you a great opportunity to stay in regular contact with your patients/clients and gives them something to forward to friends and family. Be sure to encourage them in the letter to do so!
So now it is time to take action. Pick one item from the list below and make it happen.
REMEMBER: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you have always gotten”. Try something new today! Need help? Check out our Resource page or schedule a free 30-minute consultation!