Alophysio,

It looks like you're getting your head around the marketing of physiotherapy. You can't underestimate the benefit of differentiation and target marketing. Choosing a few clearly defined target markets and demonstrating your niche "key value proposition" to that target market is a very powerful strategy. I guess we might see you at the Marketing lecture's PBA are running nationally this year.

Part of the reason that Chiro marketing has gained recognision is because they target market a very specific niche - adjustment of Backs. Dentists do teeth, Opto's do eyes etc - really clean and clear scope of practice and simple messages. Conversely physio is so diverse that it's difficult to deliver a single highly targeted message of what a physio does. Once the message says come and see us for "exercise and musculoskeletal conditions (question whether the average consumer knows what this means) and knees and rehabilitation and continence and ageing and cardio related work and ergonomics and occupational health and by the way, hows that race horse of yours going" - we struggle to retain the same level of 'clear and simple' as other consumer based marketing campaigns. At a micro level, the best way to address this is to get individual practices to determine thier own preferred niche and to support the practitioner to market that niche (hence marketing solutions launched this year). This shifts physio away from being a generic product that is easily compared and purchased on price alone.

As for associations, they can either run 85 concurrent and well funded niche campaigns (and tripple the membership fee) or they risk running something that's generic and doesn't totally satisfy anyone (this may ring a bell for those that remember the hunchback - all puns aside).

At a macro level, I understand associations around the world get an equal number of members asking for support with workforce shortages as they do marketing. 1/2 want help creating supply and 1/2 want help creating demand. This suggests that associations are actually getting it about right.