You pull into the parking lot at your local car dealership. As you park and step out, a man with slicked-back hair and a crisp suit extends his hand to greet you. He eagerly shows you around, going from car to car, talking about the latest bells and whistles on each one. You can barely get a word in edgewise. The slick car man is too busy trying to sell you a car – any car.
You’re filled with frustration as you try to explain what you want. But all the slick car man seems to care about is the sale. So, you throw up your hands and storm out of the dealership without being any closer to buying a car.
So what does that have to do with marketing you say? Well, here’s the deal. Many practitioners feel the same way when they think about what it means to “market your practice.” You hate feeling salesy and want to avoid giving off that feeling at all costs. So, you shy away from talking about what you offer out of fear that you might sound too much like that slick car man.
Surely there’s a way to market your practice without sounding salesy, right? Great news – there is! Keep reading for five ways to market your practice authentically.
1. Focus On Connecting.
Let’s think about the slick car man for a minute. Instead of eagerly greeting you and launching straight into the sale, what if he had taken the time to get to know you. What if he…
- Asked you about your day or offered a genuine compliment?
- Shared about why he loves his job?
- Genuinely wanted to know about you, your needs, and how he might be able to help you the most?
It would make all the difference in the world, wouldn’t it? Connection matters. So, if you find yourself struggling with feeling a bit salesy, shift your focus to connecting on a human level instead.
2. Listen More Than You Speak.
This one is HUGE, especially as a wellness practitioner. Patients want to feel like their healthcare practitioner actually listens to them and takes what they’re saying to heart.
This helps them build trust in you and that the protocol you recommend will actually address their underlying problem and help them feel better.
So, when you’re marketing your practice, show how you’re a top-notch listener. For example, talk about how a time you incorporated patient feedback and improved how you run your practice.
3. Share Your Values.
As the saying goes, “people do business with those they like, know, and trust.” The same is true for choosing a practitioner. Patients want to know and trust that you’re the go-to specialist who can actually help them.
But they also want to like you. And to like you, they need to know more about you and what you stand for.
So, share what’s important to you as a practitioner. Talk about your practices’ core values. Share what makes you unique from others who offer what you do – and why that matters.
4. “Sell” the Transformation – Not the Service.
Let’s take that same example of buying a car. Yes, you may care about the miles per gallon, horsepower, or the number of people it can hold. But when it comes to buying, you’re choosing a car because it’ll:
- Have the power to get you where you need to go.
- Help you make lasting memories whenever and wherever you need it.
- Keep you and your family safe while on the road.
So, when it comes to marketing your practice, focus on how the transformation you can provide and how what you do will change their lives. Whether that’s helping them…
- Get through their day with more energy.
- Get out more rather than be stuck home with a migraine.
- Run that half marathon without fear of reinjury.
Focus on their life after you treat them- the transformation they’ll experience. Shift their mindset from the present to the future and show them how your treatment will lead to better days ahead.
Pro tip: Regularly sharing testimonials or case studies of your patients’ success is an effective way to do this. So, be sure to share the transformation using actual words from your patients.
5. Change up Your Calls to Action.
Having a call to action (CTA) helps your reader know what to do after reading your content. Often, the CTA appears at the end of your email, blog, or post.
But don’t end every post, blog, or email with the same CTA. That gets old fast. Instead of commonly used CTAs, like “Comment below!” or “Call to book an appointment,” play around with new, creative endings. Ones like:
- “Try out this idea and let me know what you think!”
- “Hop on our email list for more simple tips about how to sleep better.”
- “Not sure what supplement to take? Let’s get on a no-pressure chat to talk through it.”
CTAs let them know exactly what to do next and remove the guesswork. So, be sure to include one in your content, and don’t be afraid to have fun with it.
You Don’t Have to Be Salesy to Market Your Healthcare Practice.
The core of not sounding salesy is your heart. It’s your genuine desire to help others. So, whenever you get stuck, reconnect with that part of yourself. And then choose one of these five tactics to help you get started.
If you’re finding that you’re still having trouble, we’d be happy to help. Let us take a look at some of your marketing material and we’ll give you our thoughts about how you can warm up your copy and share more about the transformation, not the sale. We’ll arm you with quick ideas on how to fix it right up! 😊
