Aquatic therapy has taken off thanks to many factors, including new technologies such as underwater treadmills with resistance jets, therapy pools with adjustable floors and peripheral items that add new opportunities to any physical therapist's portfolio of regimen protocols. No wonder so many clinics have embraced it. But the real trick is to make sure that profit margins are boosted as a result. That's where marketing comes into play.
Of course, many physical therapists become overwhelmed at the thought of marketing; however, it's necessary. You really do have to spend time, energy and money to see an increase in monthly, quarterly and annual revenue. The secret is to allocate your marketing dollars both logically and strategically.
When we launched the aquatic therapy arm of our business, we did so after much contemplation and investigation. Our success has led us to teach other physical therapists how to replicate our process and grow their practices methodically and for the long haul.
Step One: Investigation
The first step we took was to evaluate the market. You can accomplish this with or without the help of a marketing consultant; just make sure you do it. Basically, if you don't understand what your current and potential clientele as well as your referral sources want from aquatic therapy, you take a chance that you won't provide it.
In order to gauge the marketplace, you'll need to ask pointed questions of prospective users of your therapy pool. To be honest, we took a very assertive approach, hitting the streets, sending e-mails, making phone calls and more. We even made sure to include our partners in the medical community to see what their patients needed and desired from aquatics offerings. It was this due diligence that enabled us to make the following conclusions:
1. We knew how to proceed with our aquatic therapy program.
2. We knew where we had failed in the past thanks to unwanted campaigns that we thought would be winners but weren't (e.g., adult swimming lessons).
3. We made it publicly known that we were revamping our clinic, bringing us into the spotlight in a positive way.
Step Two: Evaluation
Our next step was to evaluate our findings and move forward with the development of groundbreaking aquatic therapy classes, offerings and more. These included those geared toward people who wanted to combat conditions that caused chronic pain and discomfort such as fibromyalgia.
We had never before recognized this group of children and adults as a client source; it was an untapped market.
Another type of aquatic therapy that came from our interviews with people around our area was focused on assisting people in losing weight safely, effectively and comfortably. Working out in the water is a terrific way for individuals who are obese and cannot exercise on land without risking medical or health problems. These prospective leads were practically begging for this option so they could become healthy.
I cannot stress enough how exciting it was to discover those unmet needs. It gave us an edge, and even though we had already invested dollars into our discovery, we knew it would be returned to us several-fold once we began marketing in earnest.
Step Three: Equipment Investment and Pricing
Step three was ensuring we had the right aquatic therapy equipment to give our customers what they required.
Our search ended with us buying a therapy pool with underwater treadmill, multiple platforms, an elevating deck, resistance jets, parallel bars and steps. It was customized just for our clinic and has been perfectly suited for our clients.
At this time, we also looked at how much our aquatics equipment would cost and how long it would take to get that back at different price points. That way, we had a pragmatic, realistic sense of the economics of our decisions. Our therapy pool manufacturer helped in this area, too, by offering us some pointers on how to recoup our investment dollars.
Step Four: Marketing, Marketing and More Marketing
The fourth step, marketing, was pivotal. We knew it would require creativity, so we explored everything from "snail mail" letters to on-hold messages. In the end, we had hits and misses, but the payback was solid. Several years into our aquatic therapy program, we're seeing a continuous return on our investment thanks to our marketing decisions.
Now it's at this point that many establishments decide they've "done enough." Thus, they cease marketing or stick with the status quo. That is an enormous mistake.
For instance, if we had rested on our laurels, we would have missed the whole social media marketing trend. (Believe me-it's bigger than you could imagine. If you're not involved, get a blog, Facebook and Twitter pages started, and keep up with them.) To build credibility and retention, we hold wellness expos at our practice, participate in walkathons, attend community events and often do speaking engagements at community centers.
In terms of credibility, providing quality care, exciting programs and educational information about aquatic therapy will encourage people to consider you an expert in the field.
Consistently being the leading provider of aquatic services in your region will make you stand out from the crowd of physical therapists. You will become known as the location in your community for outstanding aquatic physical therapy.
As for customer retention, when a client sees that you are a contributor to community causes, he or she innately understands that you care about the people you serve. It's that kind of goodwill that will pay back in many ways, not just monetarily.
Step Five: Consistent Re-Evaluation and Re-Invention
Finally, your last step to making money from your aquatic therapy program is to track your results and regularly "up" your game. Always provide quality and technological innovation. We recently added a UV ozonator to our pool. It has helped us significantly cut our pool maintenance costs and allocate those cost savings to other resources. In the end, our patients and members benefit.
Physical therapy practice owners and managers need to constantly have an eye on the technological, political and financial changes on the horizon. We are in a very competitive business environment and our proponents expect a lot from us. We have found aquatic therapy to be an enormous opportunity to grow our practice with innovation, integrity and intelligence.
Daniel Seidler is executive director of WSPT (www.wspt.org). He is a Columbia University graduate with a masters in physical therapy. His areas of expertise are aquatic therapy and orthopedic manual physical therapy based on the Maitland technique of assessment and treatment.