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.


3 Ways You Can Use YouTube To Promote Your Practice


Have you been sleeping on YouTube marketing?

If the answer is ‘Yes’, you’re not alone.

But the truth is that YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine.

Only Google sees more traffic.

This creates a huge opportunity for health care businesses like yours to find a whole new audience with video marketing.

 

Here are 3 awesome ways to leverage YouTube and video marketing:

 

  1. Show off your practice

Does your audience know how to schedule an appointment for your practice?

More importantly, do they know what your services are and how they can take advantage of your services?

If they don’t and you can help them get the most of what they buy from you, then YouTube is the best place to do it!

 

  1. Film and Share Patient Testimonials

Patient reviews and testimonials provide powerful oral proof when a potential patient comes looking for the services you provide.

Because YouTube gets so much traffic, it makes sense to share your patient testimonials there!

A video testimonial is more direct and appealing than a written testimonial. Your target audience will get to see your patient’s face and hear their voice – and they can see the work you did and why the patient is happy with your practice…

 

  1. Use YouTube to Demonstrate Your Expertise

Building authority is essential if you want your patients to trust you!

Deliver on your promises…

Testimonials play a role in that, but it’s also important to find ways to visually demonstrate your expertise.

One way to do that is to show everyone what you do.

What month is it and what sports are happening in your community?  If it’s football and/or volleyball, show them what happens with typical ACL injuries and simple pre-hab exercises to help them avoid the injury.

The benefit of videos like these is that it may inspire someone to do some exercises to keep them healthy.  Sure, it may keep them out of your office for now…. but when they do get injured and they will; they will think about you. 

 

The bottom line and the thing we hope you’ll take away from this is that YouTube marketing is one of the best ways to connect with your audience, share your expertise and build your health care business!

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


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


5 Insanely Useful Hacks For Building A Local Email List For Your Practice


99% of consumers check their email every day!…

 

80% of retail professionals indicate that email marketing is their greatest driver of customer retention…

 

87% of marketers use email campaigns to nurture their audiences…

 

It’s no surprise that list-building gets a lot of attention – and it probably sounds like a lot of work!

 

When you’re already wearing multiple hats every day, it can be exhausting to think about adding another chore to your never-ending to-do list!

 

Guess what?

 

It doesn’t have to be difficult to build a list.

 

Here are some quick and easy hacks to try.

 

  1. If you have a clinic, train your receptionist to ask for email addresses during checkout. This is such an easy method it’s surprising when health care businesses don’t use it. Let patients know they’ll get early access to special coupon codes for products or services or upcoming workshops if they subscribe.
  2. Post about your list on social media and include a link to your opt-in form. This is a great tip if your social media following is outstepping your subscribers. It only takes a minute to do and your health care business can build an email list very quickly this way.
  3. If you have email addresses that you’ve collected from your loyalty program or other sources, you should add them to your main email list! Provided that you include an opt-out option at the bottom of the email, it shouldn’t be a problem.
  4. Partner with other local health care businesses and see if they are willing to plug you to their email list to help you attract more patients – and vice versa!
  5. Put opt-in forms on every page of your website(s), including your home page. You may want to experiment with static opt-in forms on the margin of the page as well as pop-ups and lightboxes to see what gets the biggest response.

BONUS TIP: In an email series, we like to add an enticing ‘P.S.’ at the bottom to text our next email and build anticipation.

 

The bottom line is that email marketing has one of the highest ROIs of any marketing technique and we recommend it to all of our clients. These local email marketing tips here will help you build a robust list, create content your subscribers will love, and grow your practice!

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