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Most of the old-school marketing techniques bring short-term gains. A TV ad, for example, might bring in new patients for a few months, but it will eventually grow old, and you’ll have to create a new one and buy new ad space to maintain the influx. A direct mail campaign might convert a handful of prospective patients, but once you send it, you’ll have to come up with a new design for the next batch.

Not that’s anything wrong with these models, especially if you see a return on your investment. But, if you want to be successful in the long run and have a growing base of patients for your physical therapy clinic, then you need something more powerful. You need something that produces results without the enormous costs of old marketing and advertising techniques.

Enter content marketing.

If you’ve been serious about growing your PT clinic, then you’ve probably heard about how great content marketing is for driving leads and results. There’s just one problem: everybody is doing it, and Internet users are getting a bit saturated. Recent reports show that 70% of businesses are creating more content in 2017 that they did in 2016.

So, how do you stand above this noise? What is the best way to get traffic to your PT clinic’s website, build a loyal audience, and become the go-to source in your niche?

Content marketing frameworks might be the solution for improving your strategy and connecting with your audience.

Before we present you the models that can put you on the path to growth, it’s important to note that these frameworks aren’t a silver bullet or one-size-fits-all strategy. They need to be tailored to your specific audience and their needs.

With that in mind, here are five content marketing frameworks that can help you drive more traffic to your physical therapy clinic’s website.

1.     The Spaghetti Content Marketing Framework

In most cases, we would never recommend throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. An efficient content marketing strategy has a vision, S.M.A.R.T objectives, and a clear roadmap of how to achieve them.

There’s one exception to the rule where this framework can be especially helpful.

Point in case: you’ve just started creating content for your PT clinic’s website, and you’re already feeling overwhelmed. You have no idea what to write about, what type of content you should focus on, or how often you should post.

That’s where the Spaghetti Content Marketing Framework can help you answer these questions and develop the critical habit of creating and publishing content on a regular basis. The idea is to produce the best content you can at that time and improve it as you go. Don’t overthink it or you will never hit the publish button.

You can use two approaches to implement this technique:

• Write about Anything and Everything

The idea behind this approach is to experiment with different types of content and topics and see what sticks (what your audience likes.) So, post listicles, infographics, how-to-posts, video content, memes, and so on to gain visibility.

• Try One Recipe for a Month

Instead of using whatever ingredients you have in your kitchen and see which ones can help you create a pasta dish try out meatball spaghetti for a month and see what happens. In other words, you can create how-to posts about dealing with sports injuries, for example, and see if your audience enjoys them. If they don’t, then try something else next month until you find the content marketing recipe that hits base with your patients.

2.     The P.O.S.T. Method

The Spaghetti Content Marketing Framework involves a lot of trial and error. If you want a more educated approach that can help you address the issues of getting started with content marketing in a more structured way, then the P.O.S.T. method is just right for you.

This formula has been used initially for social media campaigns, but it’s proven its effectiveness on content marketing too. The acronym stands for: People, Objectives, Strategy, and Technology.

Let’s discuss each briefly.

• People

Creating content without understanding your audience is like entering a contest without knowing how to dance. Sure, you are taking action, but your efforts will most likely be in vain. If you want to be successful at content marketing, then you need to know everything about your patients, from basic information like age, education, income, and demographics to detailed psychological traits, like their needs, dreams, and motivations.

• Objectives

What do you want to achieve through content marketing? Don’t give a vague answer, like more traffic or more patients. Set measurable goals. Look at your PT clinic’s business needs and write down what you want to achieve and how much effort you are willing to invest into this.

Example: I will increase my PT clinic’s traffic by 15% in 3 months by posting content two times a week.

• Strategy

If you want to drive more traffic to your PT clinic’s site in the age of content overload, you need to go beyond identifying needs and communicating benefits. You need to focus your efforts on creating experiences that engage your patients and offer them something valuable in exchange for their time and email addresses.

• Technology

Once you have a good understanding of your audience and goals, and you have a sound strategy, you can start looking for the right tools and tactics.

3.     The White Bread vs. Wheat Bread Framework

The first two content marketing frameworks are ideal to get you started. But, once you get into the habit of writing and publishing content constantly, you want to fine tune your efforts and get more targeted traffic.

That’s where the White Bread vs. Wheat Bread framework can come in handy. Here’s how it works.

• White Bread Content

You probably know that wheat bread is better for weight loss and your health than white bread. The same goes for your content marketing.

Don’t get the wrong idea; white bread content (articles that are trending, fun, and easy to digest) isn’t necessarily bad for your PT clinic’s website. It can help you get the attention of your audience and increase your traffic and social shares. However, white bread content isn’t very useful if you want to become an authority in your niche.

• Wheat Bread Content

Unlike white bread content, which is fun and conversational, wheat bread content is thought-provoking and more insightful. Consequently, it’s also harder to create than white bread content and your audience will have to put more effort into reading it. However, this type of content can help you establish your PT clinic as a trusted expert and thought leader.

• White Bread Content vs. Wheat Bread Content

As mentioned above, one framework isn’t better than the other. In fact, you should use a mix of both if you want to get more targeted traffic to your PT clinic’s site. Use white bread content to engage and entertain your audience and wheat bread content to educate them. That way, you can increase your traffic as well as build a name for your physical therapy clinic.

4.     TOFU-MOFU-BOFU

One of the most common mistakes you could make is creating content without taking your sales funnel into consideration. Here’s the thing: someone at the top of the funnel who just learned about your physical therapy clinic isn’t ready to convert. They are there to learn more about your services. Bombarding them with sales pitches is a surefire way to make them leave.

That’s why you need a content marketing framework that addresses every stage of your funnel. Here’s how:

• Top of the funnel content (TOFU): focus on presenting the problem to your audience.
• Middle of the funnel content (MOFU): educate your prospective patients about an existing solution.
• Bottom of the funnel (BOFU): explain why your PT clinic is the best solution to their problem.

Here’s this framework into action.

Let’s imagine that you’ve written an eBook about physical therapy for hip pain. You plan to use it as a magnet lead and get more people to subscribe to your blog. To promote your eBook, you write an article about hip pain and how it can affect the life of patients.

At the top of the funnel, you should talk about what causes hip pain. Then, you need to introduce the problem: most medications only treat the inflammation but not the root problem.

In the middle of the funnel, you need to tell your prospects that there is a better solution for their hip problem and paint the prospect of a better, pain-free future.

At the end of the funnel, present the solution: your eBook that gathers the best physical therapy techniques and exercises for their hip pain.

5.     The Skyscraper Technique

Link building is one of the most effective ways of generating more traffic for your PT website. But, that’s usually easier said than done. Luckily, there’s a content marketing framework that can help make this process easier and generate high-quality backlinks.

Its’s name is The Skyscraper Technique.

Here’s how it works:

• Find Compelling Content That Your Audience Will Love

Use tools like BuzzSumo to look for content that is performing exceptionally well. Make sure to choose something that you are certain your audience will love and that you can improve.

• Make it Better

This is the hard part: making an already great piece of content even better. Try to figure out how you can add value to the article. Maybe you have an interesting insight that can give the article a fresh perspective. Or maybe you can make a hard to digest article more engaging by turning it into a video.

• Reach Out

Once your article is out, reach out to bloggers and influencers in your niche and let them know about the improved version. Make sure to link to the original article and credit the author into your article and emails.

Conclusion

Producing engaging content that drives traffic and converts readers into leads can be a challenge. But, don’t get discouraged. With these frameworks, you can hack your way to content marketing success. Just make sure to adapt them to your audience and their needs.

If you need help with your content marketing efforts, whether you lack the time or the skills to create something valuable and relevant to your audience, then PatientSites is here to help you. Get in touch with us today, and we can help you grow your practice, acquire new patients, and nurture existing ones.