Are you having a hard time reaching the people who need you most? If so, you may need a new marketing strategy.
The U.S. houses more than 14,000 facilities that help with drug treatment, so you’ve got to find a way to stand out. In order to do that, you’ve got to know a little about rehab marketing.
No matter the type of rehab you offer, the people who need your help won’t know about it unless they hear about you. So here are eight ways you can get the word out about the services you offer.
1. Use Social Media
Addiction is real and people need to know about it. So don’t be shy about bringing what you do into the public eye.
One great way to engage with the public is by setting up a social media account for your business. From here, you can post helpful information, interact with current and potential patients, and get the word out about your services.
Whichever social media platform you decide to use, make sure you use it often. Make your contact info and operating hours easily available and show people how approachable you are.
2. Learn from the Competition
If you have competition that is highly successful, take some time to study them. We don’t mean replicate or steal everything they do, but you can find out a lot about how they find success by looking at how they market.
What are they doing that you aren’t? How do they grab attention? How do they interact with people?
Pay attention to these things and implement them in your own way.
3. Post Helpful Content
Writing blog posts is one of the best ways to get the word out about your services. Why’s that? Because people take to the internet when they have questions.
There are people who wonder what rehab is like, if it’s scary or not, and if they need it. You can answer these questions in blog posts that are placed on your site. Reading a blog post is a lot less intimidating than talking to someone, so give people the chance to take that route.
Don’t post content just for content’s sake. Make sure it’s useful to your target audience.
4. Drive Traffic with SEO
As you add content to your site, make sure you implement Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics. There are certain things that search engines look for when they rank search results. In order to show up on the first page, you’ve got to know what those things are.
This is where SEO comes in. Using SEO on your site means you’re specifically adding keywords and other triggers that tell the search engine that your page is what people are looking for.
If you don’t know how to research and implement SEO on your own, it’s worth the cost of reach out to a professional.
5. Earn Backlinks
Whether you offer medication-assisted treatment or some other option, it helps get the word out if other people link to your site. When this happens it’s called a backlink.
In order to get backlinks, you’re going to have to earn them. That means providing great services and posting great content.
Encourage relationships with others in the industry by linking to their content. They may just return the favor.
6. Design a Great Website
In order to use SEO strategies and create relationships with other sites, you’ve got to have a great website. This can’t just be a bare-bones site that provides basic information.
All basic information like your business hours and location should be there, absolutely. But you need much more than that.
Photographs of friendly faces, maps on how to get to your office, explanations of the methods you use, and other helpful information make your website much more powerful.
In order to gain patients you’ve got to show that you’re approachable, friendly, and understanding. Show it through your website, because that’s the first place many people will hear about you.
7. Optimize for Mobile
Mobile optimization is required in this day and age. Google ranks sites worse if they aren’t mobile friendly, so don’t be dinged just for that.
Your site needs to work flawlessly on mobile devices as well as desktops. Don’t dumb down your design and content to make it work on mobile. Optimize it instead.
8. Get Involved Locally
If you really want to help people, reach out to the locals. They’re the people closest to your work location, so they’re the ones who’re more likely to come for a visit.
Whenever local events are held, try to participate somehow. That may be setting up a booth and offering treats while you give out free information. Or you may sponsor a local event-that’ll really get your name out there.
Parades, holidays, local festivities, and more are great opportunities for letting the locals know you’re there. If they know you’re there, they’ll think of you when the need arrives.
Rehab Marketing Shouldn’t Be Hard
Rehab marketing may feel difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. While rehab isn’t a need everyone faces, there are many who do need it. So get the word out about what you do so you can do some good.
Implement these ideas into your marketing strategy. As long as you put the effort in, you’re sure to see a difference in the number of patients you have coming in. And the more patients you have, the more good you can do.
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