Therapy Marketing Tips

14 Aug Therapy Marketing Tips

I added more stuff when I came back. This is the night before set up

I had the opportunity to have a booth at our local “back to school expo” for teachers. This was held in the new gym at our city’s public school.  There were over 40 vendors, and it was organized by the Chamber of Commerce. Our clinic got a prime spot for our booth which may have been due to us treating the Chamber President’s child a couple of years ago.

This clinic, one of the two we own, is in a small town, and at this point I do know some of the people in the town.  But since I am not originally from here and I did not go to school here, I do not know the majority of the people.  Fortunately, that is changing the longer our clinic is around, the more community functions I attend and the more business people I meet and exchange cards with. I got to make some great connections at this event such as the Special Education Director, the Superintendent’s wife who is an OT, and many other teachers who asked me about my clinic.

Realtors usually have the best displays.

Going to events such as this is a great way to let potential customers and referrers put a face to a name. Everyone there knew where our clinic was because we are on the main drag, but many had not met me. It also helped to have plenty of chocolates and candies to give away along with some pamphlets and business cards. I also put my ipad on an easel with a slide show of different pictures of our clinics. This was a hit especially when the line got backed up and people were stuck in front of my booth.

One tip I have for you if you do something similar to this is to give a little bit of information about your clinic or service but ask questions about the person you are talking to.  This will be more personable and comes more naturally to me than trying to be a salesman. I love to find out about people, where they’re from, what they do and what is going on in their life.  If people want your service they probably already have a general idea of what therapy is, and they want to know if they are dealing with a good person.  There again, therapists treat clients, and it’s all about personal relationships with the people you serve.

So, if you don’t already have some pamphlets, business cards and signs, start getting those together. I keep all of mine in a box in one place which makes it easier.

er to find when one of these events come up. Also, before you have a table at one of these events go to a couple of them and take pictures of booths and tables that you like. You can even ask them where they got certain props. Also, ask the vendors which local expos are best to have a table at based on their experience.

I met a great guy named John at this expo (he is in the peach colored shirt standing next to the wall on the right). He was selling heating and air products. Now what can a therapist learn from a heat and air guy? Well, John had been around for a while, and he gave me the scoop on which expos to go to and which to skip. Oddly enough he goes to the smaller town expos and skips the big city ones. The big city expos cost 3 to 4 times as much money, and the smaller town expos have more of a tight community which pays off in word of mouth referrals.  As a therapist you will probably find that the smaller communities have less competition.

I don’t want to finish this post without mentioning that there were three physician offices at this particular expo, all of which I work with and receive referrals from.  What a great day for networking!  Have you had a booth at any expos? If so what did you learn from the experience?