Therapy Marketing: Why Content is King for Rehab Therapists

In the first season of the popular series “Ted Lasso,” the football-turned-soccer coach famously told one of his star players to “be a goldfish.” In the scene, Lasso pointed out that goldfish have memories that last only 10 seconds, and that his players would do well to move on from their mistakes just as quickly — charging forward with conviction rather than living in the past.

In a consumer marketing world where content continues to be king, healthcare is not exempt. Physical therapy practice owners and managers would do well to keep this advice in mind when considering how various forms of content might help their clinics stand out in competitive local markets. The most successful practices are continually charging forward rather than looking back, continually giving potential consumers what they need to make informed decisions about their wellness and physical therapy needs.

And who are these consumers? Think of them as goldfish. Because of the constant bombardment of brands, messaging, options, and opinions they face every day, potential patients (both new and returning) are likely to overlook you unless you continually remind them why you’re their best option.

This is where a consistent, thorough, and diversified content marketing plan can help. By creating valuable, engaging content across various platforms — for example, blog posts, videos, social media updates, and email newsletters — physical therapy private practices can stay top-of-mind with potential patients. This includes attracting new patients as well as building trust with existing ones, fostering long-term relationships and “patients for life.”

In this post, we explore the different types of content that can make a significant impact in promoting specific physical therapy clinics, how to effectively use them, and where the best sources of content creation lie. Let’s dive in.

What Types of Content Can Drive Physical Therapy Success?

To make an impact in today’s competitive healthcare landscape, the most successful outpatient and private practice physical therapy clinics produce a variety of engaging content that resonates with both current and potential patients. From informative blog posts and instructional videos to active social media campaigns and targeted email newsletters, each type of content serves a unique purpose in building trust, showcasing expertise, and staying top-of-mind.

A diverse content marketing strategy ensures that your clinic reaches patients seeking wellness advice, looking for injury prevention pointers and guidance, or evaluating local rehab therapy options. Let’s explore the most effective content formats and how each can drive patient engagement and clinic growth.

Blog Posts and Articles

Posts and articles featured on your clinic’s blog site often serve as foundational pieces of a physical therapy marketing strategy, particularly those directed toward rehab therapy consumers. They serve as a platform for showcasing expertise, improving search engine optimization (SEO), and educating both current and potential patients. Blog posts are the most popular content format, with 90 percent of marketers using their blogs to achieve content goals.

By regularly publishing blog posts on relevant topics — these topics may include injury prevention, rehab and pain relief tips, and the benefits of physical therapy — clinics can demonstrate authority in the field while addressing common patient questions or concerns. Well-written blogs not only help clinics show up higher in local search results, but they also provide value to readers, helping them make informed decisions about their health.

Blogging Best Practices

• SEO: Incorporate locally relevant keywords (e.g., “physical therapy in [City or State],” “rehab back pain in [Town],” etc.) to improve search rankings and grow website visitors.
• Engagement: Use patient-friendly language, visuals, and calls to action (CTAs) urging readers to engage with you to increase readability and encourage further interaction.
• Consistency: Regular updates ensure the blog stays fresh, relevant, timely, and engaging for readers. It also provides you with additional opportunities for creating and scheduling social posts, videos, and more, that relate to new topics.

Videos and Exercise Demos

Videos — especially short videos —are among the most engaging and effective types of content for physical therapy practices. Using video marketing content, clinicians are best able to visually demonstrate expertise, offering patients tangible, actionable guidance they can follow at home. They can also help you connect with a younger generation of patients as 51% of Gen Z users now choose TikTok over Google as their engine for finding advice, tips, and answers.

Whether it’s a video showcasing stretches for back pain or an instructional guide on post-surgery rehab exercises, these short, practical videos provide immense value and help build trust with your target audience. Videos can even give potential patients a preview of what to expect when they come in for treatment.

Nearly anyone can start shooting and editing video relatively simply using their smartphones. Completed videos can be posted and shared on platforms like YouTube, embedded on your clinic’s website, and shared via social media, where they can attract a broader audience.

Best Practices for Videos

• Keep it short and specific: Short-form videos (60-90 seconds) tend to perform best on social media platforms like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts.
• Showcase expertise: Feature licensed therapists explaining techniques or providing tips to show your clinic’s professionalism and knowledge. Viewers appreciate personality and authenticity over highly polished, clinical content.
• Optimize for silent viewing: Many social media users watch videos on mute, so use captions or on-screen text to ensure your message is clear without sound.

Social Media Content

Here’s a crazy stat: the average user scrolls through 300 feet of news feeds every day on their mobile devices. That’s the approximate height of the Statue of Liberty — a towering stack of text, images, and videos we raise daily with the swipe of our thumbs.

Social media remains a powerful tool for physical therapy clinics to connect with both current and potential patients in real time. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn allow practices to showcase their expertise, highlight patient success stories, and share valuable health information. Social media also offers an opportunity to share timely, relevant, and visually engaging content that resonates with users.

Social media thrives on real-time interaction, making it an ideal space for physical therapy clinics to build relationships with both new and existing patients. By posting educational content, exercise tips, or behind-the-scenes looks at clinic operations, practices can highlight their expertise and humanize their services. In addition, patient testimonials or recovery journeys posted on these platforms can establish trust and inspire others to seek treatment.

Social Media Best Practices

• Consistency: Posting regularly ensures your clinic remains in the minds of your followers. Develop a social media calendar to maintain a steady stream of content.
• Platform-Specific Strategy: Tailor content to each platform. For example, Instagram and TikTok are ideal for short, engaging video content, while Facebook and LinkedIn are better for sharing longer, more detailed posts about treatment options and success stories. Also consider the demographics of each platform’s typical user.
• Engagement: Encourage interaction by responding to comments, answering questions, and using polls or Q&A features. This two-way communication builds community and fosters trust with your audience.

Email Newsletters

Email newsletters offer a highly effective way for physical therapy clinics to stay connected with their patient base and engage with potential new patients. Through personalized, informative content delivered directly to subscribers’ inboxes — perhaps in the form of links to blog content — clinics can maintain regular communication, provide valuable health tips, and keep patients updated on new services or promotions.

Email marketing helps foster a relationship that goes beyond in-person visits, offering an ongoing source of education and support that encourages patient retention and loyalty. It provides an opportunity to further engage and reactivate past patients, helping ensure they will think of you the next time they experience chronic pain or a musculoskeletal injury.

In the healthcare space, patients appreciate receiving content that is relevant to their needs. For example, clinics can segment their email lists to deliver tailored content, such as injury-specific rehabilitation exercises, seasonal wellness tips, or updates on new treatment techniques. By keeping newsletters concise, engaging, and actionable, clinics can ensure that patients remain informed and feel connected to their ongoing care.

Email Newsletter Best Practices

• Personalization: Use patient data to customize content. For example, target emails based on patient history or their specific therapy needs.
• Engaging Subject Lines: Ensure your email stands out by crafting concise, attention-grabbing subject lines to improve open rates.
• Clear Call-to-Action: Include CTAs that encourage further engagement, such as scheduling appointments, signing up for webinars, downloading a free guide, or leaving online reviews.

If you’ve never sent out e-newsletters, prepare by building an email list of existing customers and future patients. Collect email addresses on your intake forms, making sure you’re transparent about how you plan to use the emails. Never buy email lists as this will lead to a high number of bounces and unsubscribes, each of which can impact your ability to most effectively distribute this content.

Paid Digital Marketing and Advertising

Paid digital advertising is a strategic option that enables clinics to target specific audiences and drive traffic to their websites or social media platforms, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads. These give physical therapy practices the ability to reach potential patients who are actively searching for physical therapy services or who fit the demographics most likely to need them.

Paid ads offer a way to increase visibility and generate leads by delivering personalized content directly to users who may not yet be familiar with your clinic. They can help clinics appear at the top of search results when potential patients search for terms like “physical therapy near me” or “rehab for sports injuries.” Social media ads can also target users based on interests, location, and behaviors. When executed well, it can be a powerful driver of both immediate leads and long-term patient growth.

Digital Advertising Best Practices

• Targeted Campaigns: Use audience segmentation to ensure your ads reach the right people. For example, create separate campaigns for patients needing post-surgery rehabilitation versus those seeking sports injury prevention.
• A/B Testing: Experiment with different headlines, images, and CTAs to determine which combinations yield the highest engagement and conversions.
• Clear CTA: Ensure your ads include a strong, clear CTA, such as booking an appointment or visiting your website to learn more about specific services.

PR and Media Outreach

Media formats have changed quite a bit over the last few years, but there’s still incredible value in capitalizing on opportunities for earned (free) media within your local media market. Public relations (PR) and media outreach help physical therapy clinics build credibility, increase local visibility, and establish thought leadership within their area healthcare communities.

By securing media coverage — whether in local newspapers, TV and radio stations, online publications, or health-related blogs — clinics can reach new audiences and position themselves as trusted experts in their field. PR efforts can also involve participating in local events or health fairs, sponsoring community initiatives, or offering expertise to media outlets as a health resource. A well-executed PR strategy can lead to increased patient inquiries, improved local standing, and greater trust from potential patients.

Earned Media Best Practices

• Keep It Local: Build relationships with local journalists and healthcare reporters. Offer them stories on innovative treatments, patient success, or community involvement to increase the likelihood of coverage.
• Press Releases: Use press releases to announce new services, clinic expansions, or community initiatives. Ensure the content is timely, newsworthy, and includes relevant details that capture the media’s attention.
• Event Participation: Sponsor or participate in local health events, charity runs, or community wellness fairs. These events provide excellent opportunities for both local visibility and media coverage. It also provides additional content opportunities for videos, blogs, and social media.

Physical Therapy Content Sources and Approaches

In school, rehab therapists don’t learn the ins and outs of creating physical therapy marketing strategies. When you graduate and earn your license, you generally don’t get hired into positions that provide time, training, and guidance for marketing and the development of quality content. Patients are the focus, and often any “free time” is devoted to documentation and other administrative work. Developing and implementing even the structure of a physical therapy marketing campaign can feel out of reach.

So, short of hiring a full-time marketing professional, how can rehab therapy clinics keep up with consistently writing blogs, creating videos, posting to social media, and connecting with local media?

Internal Staff Contributions

One of the most authentic sources of content for physical therapy marketing comes from clinicians themselves. Physical therapists, PT assistants, and aides have a unique understanding of the patient experience, treatment methods, and the value their services provide to various types of patients.

PT practitioners can offer a sense of authenticity and authority that external content creators may struggle to replicate. Therapists can create detailed, insightful blog posts or videos on rehab, recovery, and injury prevention processes and exercises, building trust with patients who prefer to get advice directly from the professionals they may interact with during a one-on-one visit. By involving the entire rehab therapy team in content creation, clinics can produce credible, relevant, and personalized material that resonates with patients. What can such an approach look like?

• Blog Posts and Articles: PTs can contribute blog posts about common injuries, recovery journeys, or frequently asked patient questions. They can also shed light on current topics of the day, be they new exercise and wellness studies or an overview of what, say, an ACL injury recovery might look like after a popular athlete blows out his knee. This not only educates current patients but also improves the clinic’s SEO ranking, attracting new patients through increased reach online.
• Exercise Tips and Demonstrations: Rehab therapists can provide detailed exercise demonstrations and tips that patients can refer to between appointments. These could be delivered as short instructional videos or written guides with visual aids. Either way, these can be shared on the clinic’s website, blog, or social media.
• Case Studies: Highlighting real patient success stories — with permission, of course — through case studies allows the clinic to showcase the value physical therapy provides to patients. These case studies give prospective patients a realistic look at the kind of outcomes they can expect.

Challenges When Using Staff Contributors

The biggest challenge with internal staff contributions is time. Therapists and staff are often stretched thin between patient care and administrative duties, leaving little room for creating content. To overcome this, clinics can streamline the process by providing content templates, allocating specific content responsibilities, or even outsourcing some tasks like editing or content formatting.

By tapping into the expertise and experience of internal staff, physical therapy clinics can create effective blogs, videos, and posts that are both informative and aligned with the needs of their local area. This approach fosters a sense of trust and builds a stronger connection with patients, all while maintaining authenticity.

Freelance Writers and Content Creators

Contracting with freelance writers, videographers, and social media experts, can help physical therapy clinics maintain a professional, consistent content stream without overwhelming internal staff. When hiring freelancers, clinics can immediately tap into a high level of expertise around creating content that’s engaging, SEO-focused, and tailored to the clinic’s needs and brand.

Freelancers can bring fresh perspectives and can help produce content at a regular cadence — blog posts, social media management, website copy, etc. — while giving the clinic’s internal team more time to focus on patient care. They also provide flexibility. Clinics can hire them on a per-project basis or set up retainer agreements to ensure a steady flow of content. Freelance contributors may be ideal for:

• Long-Form Blog Posts. Freelance writers are ideal for creating in-depth, researched blog posts that focus on injury prevention, treatment options, and patient success stories. These posts can help boost the clinic’s SEO performance, driving web traffic from prospective patients searching for information on physical therapy services.
• Social Media Strategy and Management. Freelancers can craft compelling, visually appealing posts for platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. They can also manage the entire social media strategy, ensuring consistency in messaging, increasing engagement, and responding to followers.
• SEO. Many freelance content creators are well-versed in SEO best practices. They can help optimize blog posts, websites, and other digital content to ensure they’re engaging and the clinic performs better in search engines.

Challenges When Using Freelancers

The main challenge with hiring freelancers is cost. While more affordable than a full-time employee, freelance rates can vary (often, but not always, you get what you pay for) and clinics must balance content needs with budget constraints.

Artificial Intelligence Tools Like ChatGPT

Yes, artificial intelligence (AI) is making waves in marketing, too. Tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Copy.ai, and many others are becoming increasingly more valuable in the content creation process, including content for physical therapy marketing efforts. These tools offer a fast, cost-effective way to generate a variety of content.

These AI tools can create content quickly, making them ideal for clinics that need to produce a large amount of material in a short time. They’re often versatile, as well, able to generate blog post drafts, help with search engine optimization, assist in brainstorming topics, or repurposing existing content for different platforms, ensuring your clinic’s content marketing remains fresh and dynamic.

AI can be used for creating:

• Blogs and Article Drafts. AI can quickly generate first drafts of blog posts on topics like “benefits of physical therapy after surgery” or “how to prevent sports injuries.” These drafts can then be refined and personalized by staff to fit the clinic’s tone and expertise.
• SEO. AI can help identify relevant keywords and optimize content for higher Google search results, ensuring your posts and pages show up higher in search results.
• Social Media and Email Copy. AI tools are great for creating short, engaging social media and email newsletter copy, helping ensure all posts and promos best align with your brand.

Challenges of Using AI for Content Creation

Contrary to prevalence concerns, AI is not replacing people. This goes for physical therapists as well as writers and content creators. Just as AI tools in healthcare are best used as a guide, the same goes for AI writing and content tools.

The fact is, AI is far from perfect. AI tools can sometimes get facts wrong, and they often lack the personal touch and human nuance that is critical in building credibility and trust through content. Precision is key in healthcare, and copy that’s imprecise and generic just doesn’t cut it.

This means people — ideally experts —should review all copy that’s generated through AI before it’s published for your audience. In other words, to make the most of AI-generated content, physical therapy clinics should view these tools as assistants rather than replacements.

The Evolution of Physical Therapy Marketing

Patient education is at the heart of successful physical therapy marketing campaigns. Helping patients understand the benefits, processes, and outcomes of physical therapy not only builds trust but also empowers them to make informed decisions about their health. By providing clear, engaging content — whether through blog posts, videos, or social media — clinics can demystify physical therapy, positioning themselves as accessible, expert partners in wellness.

However, content today doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s being shaped by technology — driven by Google algorithms, SEO best practices, and the ever-evolving landscape of social media tools and trends. Staying current with these changes is critical for maintaining a long-term content strategy that grows with your clinic, rather than having to constantly reinvent your approach each year.

Additionally, the rapid evolution of AI and related tools is set to have a transformative impact on content marketing. As these technologies continue to evolve, clinic leaders need to stay informed and adaptive or risk falling behind more tech-savvy competitors in their local markets. Embracing these advancements will ensure their content strategies remain relevant and effective in the years ahead.h services via a variety of channels, including blog posts, press releases, social media posts, email newsletters, and print flyers.