Why visibility is currency in your clinic

Are you the Jack of all trades and the master of none? Are you everything to everybody and therefore nothing to nobody? If you listened to last week, we dived into the first foundation any business owner needs, and we explored the map, the roadmap that your business needs, whether you are a seasoned business owner and a clinic owner, or whether you are somebody that’s just starting out on your adventure, on your journey.

If you are a clinic owner listening to this that does not have a clear roadmap, if you get in the car and just turn right and turn left and go round the roundabout in lots of different ways, and then reverse and then go forwards again, that is one of the First things that we’ve got to fix so I would really encourage you to go back to last week and listen to that if you Haven’t already done so but this week is the second foundation and we’re gonna look at your visibility strategy What on earth does that mean?

Visibility is currency in your business it is you being out there and if we’re not out there But we’re not talking to the right people, most importantly, it’s, you’re just noise and you’re going to get lost. So join me this week to talk about the second key foundation in your business and understand why visibility is currency. Welcome to the Treat Your Business podcast with Katie Bell. I am Katie, and this is the place to learn the strategies, tactics, tools, and mindset needed. To build your clinic or studio into a business that gives you the time, money, energy and fulfillment you want and deserve. My team and I work every day with overwhelmed and exhausted clinic owners like you to shift them from a business that is a huge time and energy drain and is not giving them the income they want to confident clinic owners that are making money, saving money and getting time back in their lives.

So if this sounds like something you want, let’s dive in. This podcast is sponsored by HMDG, the leading digital marketing agency for the Clinicare is in the U. K.

[00:01:50] Katie Bell: Whether you are a seasoned clinic owner with multiple sites and lots of team and services, or you are a solopreneur, or perhaps you’re listening to this thinking about starting a clinic. You’ve got to get clear on who you are serving, and not just who, but what problems they have, what worries, what anxieties, what concerns they have, because people are motivated to move away from a problem.

[00:02:15] Katie Bell: They’re not motivated by the solution. People want to move away from the fact they can’t do the exercises at their gym, or they can’t play with their kids, they can’t jump around on a trampoline with them, or they can’t run their 5k, or they’re not able to train for the marathon, or they’re struggling to work because of their back pain.

[00:02:35] Katie Bell: That leads to them being worried about money and worried about their job etc etc. Now that’s not to say that your business can’t serve different people, But when it comes to marketing, you’re talking to one person. And I see so many physios, so many osteopaths so many sports massage therapists talking about all the things that they treat, like this whole list of neck pain, shoulder pain, elbow pain, hand pain, wrist pain, elbow pain, foot pain, knee pain, hip pain, eyeball pain, everything pain.

[00:03:08] Katie Bell: And the problem that you’ve got there is that this marketing hits a person When you’re talking to somebody that knows that they have a problem, so somebody who is in back pain, like they’ve woken up this morning, they’ve got out of bed, or they probably haven’t slept because of their back, and they are in agony, this person is like a hot ball of fire.

[00:03:29] Katie Bell: And these are people that we call in the these are the fast lane people. They are absolutely looking for the solution. They have got to move away from their problem today. They are actively looking for you. These people are so hot that they already know that a physio is what they need. They already know an osteopath is the solution to their problem.

[00:03:49] Katie Bell: They’re like almost beyond the research phase. They don’t want this problem anymore. Now then you’ve got the people who are in back pain, they may be in back pain for a while or it’s flared up and then it’s flared down again and it’s gone, on the normal cycle that we see.

[00:04:07] Katie Bell: And these people can often be the people that are researching for us. These are the like, I’m exploring what might be the right solution for me. I’m exploring who is talking to the conversation in my head. And therefore they might be the sort of person that I want to go and work with or and get help from.

[00:04:26] Katie Bell: And then you’ve got the people who have a problem. And they might be resigned to the fact that this is how it has to be. They’ve got no idea that you can help them. And I always say when I get to speak to lots of clinic owners like you. If you had a hundred people lined up outside your clinic with the problem that you know you can solve.

[00:04:47] Katie Bell: So maybe you’re listening to this and you’re like, I’m an expert at working with people who are in back pain. Or I’m an expert at working with ladies who’ve got poor pelvic floor function. Or I am an expert at working with postnatal. Ladies who are recovering and trying to get back to doing the things that they love to do post baby.

[00:05:05] Katie Bell: Or I am I am an osteopath that specializes in working with babies with sleep problems. For example, like very clear about who you work with. So that all these people are lined up outside your clinic and you say to them, what is it that you think you need? For And I can guarantee of the hundred people that are stood outside your clinic, 95 of them are not going to say what it is that I need is some kinesiology tape some acupuncture or some mobilizations or McKenzie mobs or whatever it is that you do all of the, how they’re not interested in, they don’t really care how you’re going to solve that problem.

[00:05:48] Katie Bell: They just don’t want that problem anymore. At the point of marketing, when we try and be everything to everybody and therefore nothing to nobody, we have the ability to lose ourselves to all of those people that don’t know acupuncture is what they need, or they don’t know that seeing physio is the solution to their problem.

[00:06:10] Katie Bell: They just don’t want the problem anymore. If you ask those hundred people, 95 of them are definitely going to say Probably Google it or like I might do look on YouTube for some exercises or I might ring the GP, might get some paracetamol or pain relief. Like nobody less than 5 percent are going to tell you what it is that they need.

[00:06:31] Katie Bell: So if our marketing is only talking at that level. That we are like, this is what we treat and you’ve got this whole list of problems, and then this is how we treat them. We’ve got shockwave, we’ve got diagnostic ultrasound, we’ve got injections, we’ve got kinesiology taping, we might do some acupuncture, we might do some taping, we might do some mobilizations, we might do some soft tissue work.

[00:06:50] Katie Bell: Wow. Who even knows that’s what they need. So our marketing has to hit many different layers. When we’re using Google Ads, for example, I always think Google Ads are very much targeted at the person who is super hot. The person that is actively Googling back pain relief, Sheffield, or a physiotherapist near me.

[00:07:13] Katie Bell: They know what they need. They know the solution that they’re looking for. And they are like, they’re actively looking for that. And that’s when Google ads works incredibly well. But we have to also remember that we have an audience of people out there that don’t know where, what they need. So we have to market at different layers.

[00:07:33] Katie Bell: We have to educate. We have to give very clear calls to action. So people absolutely know what they then need to do. If they resonate with your message and with your marketing. And one of the things that I see all the time is that clinics get new equipment. They get a shockwave. Machine, or they get they get some more electrotherapy or they have diagnostic ultrasound in their clinic or whatever it is that’s the latest gizmo that they have.

[00:07:59] Katie Bell: And they think they need to market that. They don’t. Cause you’re only picking up a small proportion of people who are hot. You’re only picking up a small proportion of people who know that shockwave therapy and between four to six sessions is ideally what they’re going to need for an Achilles tendinopathy.

[00:08:15] Katie Bell: Bye. You’ve got to get clear on what problems they’ve got, the conversation that’s going on in their head, how their problem is showing up in their life. For example, if you, do you remember that old TV program? I feel like it was Lloyd Grossman and it was something like Through the Keyhole. And you got to look through the keyhole into a celebrity’s life.

[00:08:37] Katie Bell: And you have to guess who owned the house, which celebrity owned the house. This is a little bit how I want you to approach your marketing is that you’re almost looking through the keyhole into your, I know this is weird, but into your ideal client’s life and you’re seeing how that problem shows up for them.

[00:08:53] Katie Bell: What is going on for them and their day to day life so that we can tap into the conversation that’s going on in their head and then we can show them a potential solution with a clear call to action. This foundation is often missed out in businesses who are still relying on word of mouth. So many business owners, when we jump on a marketing audit call and we talk about, okay, what?

[00:09:19] Katie Bell: What marketing strategy do you have? What marketing do you do offline and online? And the number of times that I hear that business owners say the majority of our work comes through word of mouth. Great. If you’re a great clinician, then you’re definitely going to get loads of work through word of mouth, but we cannot rely on it.

[00:09:35] Katie Bell: A business that is there for longevity and for growth, if you have a growth plan, cannot just rely on word of mouth anymore. And this, I think has been a bit of a change in our industry. Like I, my clinic really grew on word of mouth right at the beginning, but we were everywhere. We were so active and people used to say to me, I can’t go anywhere without seeing something to do with your clinic because people need to see you.

[00:10:01] Katie Bell: It’s something outrageous, depending on what, again, what you read, but it’s something between seven and 15 times. That they have to see you before they make the connection of, Oh, I need, yeah, I was meant to ring them or, Oh, they might be the solution that I’m looking for. So when we just think we can rely on word of mouth, that isn’t going to serve your growth plan.

[00:10:24] Katie Bell: And again, this 10 years ago when I started my clinic our lifestyle was quite different. And then, dare I mention the C word, the COVID word, and People are not as social, people aren’t working as much together anymore because there’s lots more at home working. So this communication and this word of mouth, isn’t something that we now can rely on as a business.

[00:10:49] Katie Bell: And what we then find is in most cases, businesses aren’t doing any marketing. And it’s not just relying on online marketing. It’s about having a multi layered marketing strategy, visibility strategy. Okay. If your eggs are all in one basket, or if you’ve got no eggs in no basket, that’s not great either, but all eggs in one basket is not a good strategy.

[00:11:11] Katie Bell: Because for a lot of our online marketing, we don’t like, we don’t own any of that. We don’t, if you’re investing in Facebook ads, for example, then tomorrow, Facebook changes their algorithm and your lead source has been cut off. Google, exactly the same. They could make a massive change tomorrow and our lead source is cut off.

[00:11:31] Katie Bell: So we have to have this multi layered marketing strategy and we have to have our eggs in many different baskets, but we have to know that those baskets are bringing a return, that we are tracking what inquiries are coming in through our clinic or our studios. And we know where we want our eggs, what basket and what baskets are working and what are not working.

[00:11:52] Katie Bell: If you’re seeing inconsistent results, there could be a few reasons. this happening, but we can find that out and we can get you a plan of action. So if you feel like some weeks you’ve got loads of clients coming through and then some weeks you don’t have any, and it feels up and it feels down, then that is possibly suggesting that your marketing strategy is not consistent and is not strategic and is not planned.

[00:12:18] Katie Bell: It can also be that we need to look at the other end. We need to look at your sales strategy, which. I’m going to talk about next week on next week’s episode, but there could be multiple reasons, but we need to find out, like we need to dig and understand why your results are inconsistent and whether or not you’re looking for growth in your business.

[00:12:39] Katie Bell: If you’re here for more time and for more money and to save money, then we need to have a consistent marketing strategy. Even when you think you’re fully booked and even when you think you don’t need clients, it doesn’t mean you should stop marketing. I heard from a lady just last week called Libby, and if Libby’s listened to this, hello Libby, but Libby had an audit call with us because Libby’s like right at the beginning of her business journey.

[00:13:02] Katie Bell: And she sent me this email and I thought I would just read it cause it’s so lovely. She said, after one hour on a one to one business and marketing audit call, I put in place your suggestions and within 24 hours of advertising, I have four brand new appointments. I’m so excited to see such fab results as a new starter to the business world.

[00:13:20] Katie Bell: Thank you. So if you want to be more like Libby, and if you want to get more appointments within 24 hours, then you can find the link to book your business and marketing audit call in the show notes just underneath this podcast. And you can benefit from getting an audit on your marketing, whether you’re doing it or not doing it.

[00:13:37] Katie Bell: There is absolutely no judgment. We only know what we know and we know what we don’t know, but we don’t know what we don’t know. If you have a growth plan, okay, depending on the, think about your growth plan that we set out after last week’s episode, we talked about having a roadmap. You can then work out how many clients you need.

[00:13:57] Katie Bell: based on your growth plan. And this dictates the budget that you then have for marketing, or the budget you should have for marketing. If you go ahead and work with a marketing agency, you need to know your patient value average. You need to know if a client comes in to work with you, on average, what they’re going to spend with you within that year.

[00:14:18] Katie Bell: You need to know what you’re aiming for. So that you can say to your marketing agency, this is how many new clients that we need. This is how many clients we need this month to hit our growth plan. And then they will start to work with you on what that cost is per lead. You will start to have a cost of acquisition.

[00:14:36] Katie Bell: And when you know that your patient value average is, let’s just say, 300 pounds. If your marketing agency is saying to you if you give us 25 pounds and we can get you somebody booked in and your, your patient value average is 300. Is that a good return on investment? Yes, it is. So therefore you’re more likely to be able to give them another 25 pounds.

[00:14:58] Katie Bell: Because that’s going to bring you that return. A great marketing agency will be delivering those results to you, and you will be able to see the cost of acquisition and you need to be tracking it. You need to track where every inquiry is coming from and leverage what is working. We often think we need to be doing like multiple, there’s so many different marketing strategies and depending on the size of your business, that will depend on how many you need to do.

[00:15:23] Katie Bell: But sometimes it’s about doing less better. It’s about saying these are the key things that really work for our business right now. And this is what we’re going to leverage. This is what we’re going to just take to the next level. And knowing who you’re serving helps you find more people like that.

[00:15:41] Katie Bell: You’ve got to go and fish in the right ponds. And as I said before, marketing should never, ever stop. You need to be constantly fishing. You need to constantly have a rod in the pond all day. Many clinic owners are inconsistent and that’s usually because we spend no time on marketing because we’re too busy being busy and that leads to inconsistent results that leads to therefore inconsistent income.

[00:16:07] Katie Bell: So if you feel like you’re having spikes and troughs in your income, Often it’s because your marketing strategy is therefore inconsistent. So we want to make sure that you are the expert in working with X, whoever X is, rather than just saying, Oh, I’m just a physio. I’m just an osteopath. I’m just a sports therapist.

[00:16:27] Katie Bell: You want to think about what your elevator pitch is. Your elevator pitch is if we get in a lift together. And we are going from floor one to floor two. In that time that we’re traveling between floor one and floor two, you need to be able to explain to me who you work with and what problems you solve.

[00:16:45] Katie Bell: So for example, we get in the elevator together and I say, hi, my name’s Katie. I work with overwhelmed clinic owners who are not making the money they want. They do not have the time in their life they want. And I help them make more money. Save money and get time back and feel in control and confident as a clinic owner through transformative bold business coaching.

[00:17:05] Katie Bell: So now you’re like, Oh, okay. Now I want to know more. Or I could have just said, yeah, my name is Katie. I’m a business coach. Doesn’t tell you anything. So you’ve got to stop introducing yourself as a physio because you’re so much more than that. You’re an expert at working with, People who are in pain and injured, who want to get back to doing the things that they love to do.

[00:17:27] Katie Bell: And we do that through whatever you’re going to say. So let’s think about how you can start introducing yourself, how you can make sure that when people see your marketing, they instantly feel like that is the person for me, they are the person I need to go to, to solve this problem that I do not want anymore.

[00:17:47] Katie Bell: And because we’re hardwired. As humans to solve problems. Like when we get in the place of ready to move, ready to make that step into getting this problem solved, we’re not there for very long because it’s too emotional for us. It’s too emotional to be in that state and then not do anything about it.

[00:18:07] Katie Bell: So this is why when we run like taster events or when we have even people booking in for initial appointments, you’ve got to be making sure that you’re not making people wait for weeks and weeks, because what they do is they ring when they’re hot and then they get buckets of water.

[00:18:24] Katie Bell: If you imagine buckets of water being thrown at them. Over time, and it cools them down. How many times have you had a patient or a client that comes into the room and they go, Okay, so what are you here for? Or, how can I help you today? And they say, Do you know what? Today is actually the best day I’ve had.

[00:18:39] Katie Bell: I hear it all the time. And that, for many reasons that happens, but we also want to make sure that our diary availability is that when a patient is hot, when a patient is ringing, when we’re getting those inquiries, we can take action, we can see them. And if you can’t, Because you’re just fabulous and fully booked, then you need to have some funnel set up that keeps them hot, keeps them as warm as possible, starts them on their journey so that when they do come into you, it’s like the journey’s already started.

[00:19:10] Katie Bell: They already know you’re the right person to help them. They’ve already got that confidence. They’re building that relationship up with you. So remember, nothing else. Visibility is currency. If you’re not visible, your impact will be really small. And I don’t know about you, but I am not here to make a small impact.

[00:19:29] Katie Bell: Thanks so much for listening to this show. Remember content consumption does not make changes, so commit to doing something from today’s episode. Maybe it’s taking action on what we talked about. Well, maybe it’s reaching out to me and learning more about our transformational coaching programs. Or if you have not yet, join our free Treat Your Business Facebook group, a free access to over 30 business masterclasses.

[00:19:52] Katie Bell: All of that is over at thrive businesscoaching. com or linked in the show notes. And the last favor I will ask, because social proof is endlessly important, is to leave a rating or review. I would love to know what you think of the show, how the show has been helpful for you. And I can’t wait to chat with you.

[00:20:10] Katie Bell: This is just the start of our conversation. Reach out so we can keep it going. Talk soon!