Mr Physio,

I must agree with you on many areas, perhaps not as emotionally - I am still relatively young and not as frustrated yet!!!

It would seem to me that a lot of "marketing" is targeted at physios - this, I presume, is to maintain and increase their base of funding. I do not mind sponsors although they can be annoying - the best is the 5% discount at Rebel!

I would like to see promotion of Private Physiotherapists as the "Public Face of Physiotherapy". I am not saying that Private Physios are in any way better, more superior, more worthy of the title; it is just the plain facts that the general public have most of their physio encounters with their local private physio.

Lets use this fact and get the word out there that physios can do so much more.

My practice is based on repeat business and word of mouth referrals. Medical referrals, yellow pages and walk-ins account for less than 30-50% of my new patient referrals. This is because I market to the client, not through the GP, yellow pages or signage. I find that the client will tell their GP if I do a good job (better than me telling the GP if i do a good job!), they will tell their friends and family, they will do my marketing for me. Letter drops have been shown to have a 0.1-1% response rate (not conversion rate), Media ads have good recall but don't necessarily drive "action". Yellow pages account for around only 40 new patients per year across 2 practices. I can continue but it becomes even more boring!

My point is that we need to focus our strategy in marketing. The people we want to target are the people who can afford to pay for physiotherapy. I say this because these people are the ones who will use Private Physios, bring their relatives who cannot pay and pay for them, and are generally in the "decision-making" role. These people "network" and will do marketing for us.

An example of the demographics i am speaking of are:
1. Mothers with new babies - most stay home for nearly a year and watch a lot of TV, especially late at night.
2. Professionals and their associated staff. They earn good money and want the best their money can buy.
3. Baby-boomers. They have made their money and are now retiring. It is reported that they will spend their money rather than pass it on to the next generation. Let them spend it on us! Have them influence their friends and family.
4. Children. This is tricky. Going to a health-professional is not what you generally want children hankering for. But if it the difference between a chiro or a physio being chosen by the parent, we might as well have something in place (such as a spinal checking service).

The point about the focus on the marketing is right. I believe and I have stated elsewhere in this forum that Chiros are the best marketers I know in the health profession. They dress in suits and ties, recommend regular check-ups (like a dentist) and charge more per minute than a physio ($40 for 10-15 minutes compared with $50 for 30mins (my rates)). I am actually about to put up rates next year and when people ask why I am more expensive than the person up the road, I will tell them that I don;t know about the other person's quality but I know our quality is very high.

In summary (because i tend to ramble):
1. Use private physios as the "public face" of physio and use it as a gateway to tell others about the other facets of physio.
2. Target more effectively the demographics which are most likely to drive change.