By Tannus Quatre, PT, MBA, VP of Private Practice for Net Health
When promoting your PT, traditional marketing avenues such as advertising, website, and sponsorships are available anywhere you look. But if you want to differentiate your practice and take it a step further, there is one important aspect that will really stand out from the rest – your personality.
Your personality – and that of your staff – is what can help you shine and make your practice attractive to others. Take a look at a few tips I’ve gathered that will allow you to showcase your personality to patients in the best of ways:
Snap pictures
Pull out your camera, or hire a professional photographer, and get your staff and patients together to take some photos. Make sure you’re included in them, too! Pictures can do wonders to convey personality, so capture the environment and everyday happenings around you. Share them in a number of places, such as your clinic, your clinic’s lobby, your website, on your blog, on your business card, and more. Before posting any picture, though, make sure to get permission and necessary disclosures from patients protected by HIPAA.
Put your pen to paper
That’s right – write! Whether you’re writing on your blog online, writing a “thank you” card, or sending a letter to your patients, your personality can be efficiently shared through the power of the word. Writing to your patients, about your patients, and about how you can help them are just some examples of how you can stay connected with them, in a way only the written word can.
Share and engage in conversation
The days of clinical stereotypes which mandate a sterile and uniformed environment to interface with our patients have ceased to exist. Now, interaction and bonding with our patients is fully welcomed and embraced. We all have lives and stories, and it’s through the sharing of these stories that we find common ground and want to know more about each other. Share a bit of your story with your patients and watch how a bond develops that goes beyond muscle strength and range of motion.
Embrace your personality
Sometimes there’s a lack of personality in practices due to the fear of being unaccepted by staff – one may be concerned that individuality may compromise the corporate image. While this is understandable, it comes at the risk of not making a practice unique. Add your personal touches to your professional environment, feel confident in what you do and in the help you can provide others, and soon you’ll find your personality will speak for itself.
About Tannus Quatre, PT, MBA
Tannus is a marketing expert in outpatient PT practice and speaks nationally on the topics of entrepreneurship, marketing, and finance, and has written articles for numerous publications, including PT in Motion, Impact Magazine, and Advance for Directors in Rehabilitation. In addition, Tannus attended physical therapy school at UCSF and practiced as a physical therapist in outpatient, inpatient, and home health settings.