Why You Should Be Crushing It Right Now With SMS Marketing

Why You Should Be Crushing It Right Now With SMS Marketing

Did you know there’s one extremely effective way you can connect with your patients – and if you’re not doing it, you are literally burning thousands of dollars in potential profits for your practice?

I’m talking about SMS messaging, more commonly known as text messaging.

More than 2.5 BILLION people worldwide own a smartphone that’s capable of text messaging. That’s a staggering number – and it begs the question:

Why aren’t more health care businesses using text messaging for marketing?

Texting by the Numbers:

89% of people always have their smartphone accessible

97% of Americans text at least once a day

Texting is the #1 communication method used by people under 50 years of age.

In other words, text messaging is arguably the best way to ensure that the audience in your target audience read what you send them!

Advantages of SMS Marketing

  1. You can track SMS messages the same way you would any other marketing campaign using web-based tools.

  2. You can collect data about your text list by creating interactive content that allows them to reply to your messages quickly and easily.

  3. Text messaging provides nearly instantaneous results and stats for you to use so that you may optimize your campaigns quickly!

  4. Text messaging can be casual and personalized with direct language and even emojis to build relationships with patients you are texting!

  5. Text messages are a great way to connect with your audience when they’re most likely to be in your area or in the market for what you’re selling.

A great example of time-sensitive text messaging might be…. we just had 3 openings open up for our massage therapists tomorrow – text us back to secure your spot.

The bottom line is that if you’re not using SMS messaging to reach your audience, you’re missing out on a chance to build brand loyalty and increase your sales. Text messages are inexpensive to send and easy to write – and they can help you grow your practice.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://chat.practiceinsidersedge.com/PIE-Triage-Call


How To Ask For Reviews Without Sounding Cringy


91% of consumers between the ages of 19 and 34 trust reviews, and they are more likely to trust your practice if you have 40 or more reviews.

If you don’t already have a solid review presence, it’s time to get serious about building one.

The great news?

68% of consumers who are asked to leave a review are willing to do so!

 

Here are 3 non-cringe ways to ask:

  1. In Person:

While the patient is up at the front desk or back in the treatment area or room with you and they start talking about how great they have been feeling since they started care – BOOM – JUST ASK!

The trick is doing it in a way that doesn’t feel forced or put undue pressure on your patients.

Start by asking the patients to find everything they were looking for. Any patient who praises your clinic and practice represents a positive review!

But don’t blow it!

It’s not a good idea to ask for a review as soon as a patient says something positive. 

Ask a few non-follow up questions.

Then as you end the conversation, continue with something like…

“We really appreciate feedback from our patients because it helps more people learn about us. Would you be willing to write an online review?”

You can plug in your platform of choice whether it’s Yelp, Google or Facebook.

 

  1. SMS Messages:

Text messages have nearly a 100% open rate. If you’re already sending text messages to your patients, then following up on a purchase with a request for a review can be a great way to generate more reviews!

Since it’s a text message, it should be brief. You can try something like:

“It was great seeing you today, [patient’s name]! If we provide top-notch service to you today, would you please consider taking a few seconds and leaving us a review? [Review Link]”

If you do NOT have a system in place feel free to talk to us about our Reputation Platform – we’d love for you to give it a test run.

 

  1. Ask Your Social Media Followers:

Facebook reviews are important for health care businesses since many people use Facebook to search for clinics near them. You have the option of asking for reviews in a Facebook post or using a chatbot in Facebook Messenger to ask.

If you decide to use a chatbot, you may want to consider setting up a survey directly within the chatbot if you want to collect reviews to post on your site.

Otherwise, you can simply ask your patients to leave a review elsewhere like Google and Yelp.

 

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://chat.practiceinsidersedge.com/PIE-Triage-Call

 

Tip: Be careful not to link directly to your Yelp Page for your social media pages as Yelp frowns upon asking patients for reviews.


4 Tips To Creating Local Content For Your Health Care Business


So it’s always a good time to focus on creating localized content. That means more than simply putting your local keywords into general content. You’ll need to show casual visitors to your site that you are a part of your local community!

 

Here are some points to get you started…

 

Blog about Local Events

 

Every community, from small rural towns to huge cities, have local events that are a big deal!

 

As a health care business owner, you should be aware of these events and find a way to write about them that ties back into your practice!

 

It will be easy if you’re planning to sponsor a booth at the local event or local street fair. But local charity events and holiday celebrations offer the opportunity for you to talk about your community and why you love it!

Talk about Local News

 

Did your local little league team make the playoffs? Did a high school student win a contest? Is there a new business coming to town?

 

Any of these things could be turned into blog posts and they’re especially effective if you can find an organic way to relate the story to your health care business.

 

Develop Case Studies That Are Relevant To Local Prospects

 

You might serve a variety of neighborhoods or more than one town in your area. If that’s the case, it’s your job to show that you care about all the areas in your service area.

 

One way to do that is to develop ‘case studies’ that demonstrate your knowledge of the area and any special circumstances that might be unique to where you are.

 

For example, as a sports medicine specialist you may talk about the weather changes coming up for a local marathon and how to be better prepared for the race. 

 

Find out what your audience is interested in and then write about it

 

Of course, you don’t want to stray too far from your health care business, but there is nothing wrong with getting excited about the things your audience cares about.

 

For example, you might write about an upcoming holiday or the year’s big fire storm.

 

A great way to get ideas for your local content is to stay plugged into your local community online.

 

You might follow your local Chamber of Commerce on Facebook or subscribe to your local paper and stop into your local library to see what new flyers have been added to the bulletin board.

 

The key is to make your local content relevant to your health care business and to your target audience. You can still share general content too, but local contents are a must if you want your practice to grow!

If you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://chat.practiceinsidersedge.com/PIE-Triage-Call