Winning with Google Ads for Speech Therapy

Today on The Practice Marketing Podcast, we're joined by Wendi Stanley, VP of PR & Marketing at Rebound Physical Therapy, to discuss how their practice is using Google Ads and Facebook Ads to grow its speech therapy program and connect more families with the care they need. Rebound, a three-location practice in Topeka, Kansas, has partnered with Practice Promotions since 2018 on everything from Google Ads and websites to patient newsletters and marketing materials. 

In this episode:

•  Why Rebound invested in Google Ads for speech therapy and the opportunity they saw 
•  The biggest marketing challenges speech therapy practices face and how to overcome them 
•  How to create Google Ads that focus on patient outcomes instead of just listing services 
•  How Facebook Ads build trust and awareness before patients even need therapy 
•  Why Google Ads and Facebook Ads work best together, not against each other 
•  What it's like working with Practice Promotions and why ongoing optimization matters 
•  Wendi's advice for speech therapy and rehab practice owners looking to grow through digital marketing 

Ready to attract more speech therapy patients? Practice Promotions helps rehab practices grow with Google Ads, SEO, high-converting websites, social media, and more. View our Marketing Plans & request pricing at PracticePromotions.Net 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hello and welcome to the Practice Marketing Podcast, highlighting successful strategies from North America's fastest growing clinics and experts so you can learn from their wins and power your practice growth. Hi, I'm your host, Neil Trickett, CEO of Practice Promotions, and today we're going to talk about winning with Google Ads for Speech Therapy. And today we're talking with Wendy Stanley, the VP of Marketing for MPR for Rebound Physical Therapy, which is a three-location practice in the Topeka, Kansas area. And Rebound has been with Practice Promotions since 2018. And over the past eight years, we've worked together on a variety of different marketing initiatives from patient newsletters to marketing materials, their website, Google Ads. And in this episode, Wendy's going to share with us Rebound's experience using paid advertising to grow its speech therapy services and generate new patient inquiries and reach more families in need of care. And Wendy's going to share why they chose to invest in Google Ads, the results that they've seen, and what other therapy practice owners should know if they're considering Google Ads or even Facebook ads as part of their growth strategy. So, Wendy, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Awesome. So let's talk about rebound here and marketing speech therapy. And so, you know, when families are searching for speech therapy services, what type of concerns or challenges or questions are they typically looking to solve?

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Um, at least in our area, um when parents are looking, it's more of solving a problem. So they don't really know that they need speech therapy per se, but it's, you know, they've identified with their child that maybe they're not speaking like, you know, other kids their age, or they can understand their child, but then, you know, maybe another family member or a teacher or um, you know, someone they come into contact with are having a hard time understanding their child. So, you know, it it gets the parent wondering, well, is my child behind or, you know, what's going on? So it's more looking to solve a problem that they don't really know at the time that it is a speech therapy problem. Um for our adult population, it's more like the swallowing or post-stroke. So um they're having a hard time with cognitive issues and things like that. So, you know, it's typically family members of the um individual that's seeking out help. You know, my spouse or my mom or my dad, they're having a problem remembering things, or they had a stroke and you know, their gait is off, their uh memory, they're swallowing. So there's things that have been affected that, you know, they're seeking out to solve those problems.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Yeah, and so you got two critical audiences there, right? You've got your pediatric population and and moms looking and families looking for help, right? And then you've got adult population, which is probably a little bit older uh population. So uh you're speaking to caregivers of those people. Um, and so there's a there's different ways to approach it, right? Uh, and I think that's important in terms of your marketing how how you're approaching those two different critical populations. And you're right in that, you know, a lot of people we think people really don't know much about physical therapy and why you go see a physical therapist. But when it comes to occupational therapy and speech therapy, I think it's even harder, you know, for what the general public really understands about those professions and when they should go see some of those people. And I think, you know, for myself with one of my kids, like we've gone through, you know, some of those uh therapies. And even for me, like being a PT, I still had a little a lot of misunderstandings about what was needed and what could be done with speech therapists and occupational therapists in terms of uh you know, a lot more cognitive things, right? Not just the the speech part of it, but it's the mental processing and all the different uh things that were needed neurologically there. So that was really enlightening for me to understand, and heck, I've been in that world for decades, right? So someone in the general public really doesn't know why they should go see a speech therapist unless they have something, you know, like this, something very severe. But you're right in that um you need to be able to speak and and help call out those common issues and problems that those families face because then they start to get enlightened of, oh wow, like that I I can get help for this.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Right. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

And so, you know, based on your experience, looking at that type of messaging, marketing strategies, what have you found to be most effective in connecting with those families about that and ultimately choosing your practice?

SPEAKER_02 4:49

I mean, definitely we uh I mean, when they're looking, you're always what to help solve that problem. So not we don't ever go for the selfie approach. It's more of how, you know, what are they struggling with? So um is your child meeting current expectations or age expectations? Um, we've done different workshops, you know, bringing families in like a pre-K prep. So, you know, let's talk about what is all going to be expected in kindergarten. Is your child ready? Um but when we're looking just at plain marketing and what we have found to really draw individuals in, definitely a no wait list in our area. And one of the main reasons, frankly, that we chose to start offering speech therapy is because for a parent to get their child speech therapy help, the wait list was eight to twelve months before the child could even be you know seen for that initial eval. And then once evaled, then it was even longer. So, you know, these fam, I mean, I can't imagine if it was my child. I mean, you're waiting, and then they're, you know, all you see is them getting worse and more behind. And so what we wanted to do is offer those services, you know, as soon as we could, you know, when they were needed. So the no wait list is what, you know, that's what we started with was no wait list, same-day appointments. Um now, once we grew so fast, we we can't offer that today, but that's where we started. Um, and just looking for those key things. So um, are you having trouble swallowing cognitive issues, you know, really hitting on what those pain points were, what we found that patients or caregivers and families, what they were searching for, what was needed, um, you know, to help them understand there is help. So those key things that, you know, we were trying to help individuals solve and know that speech therapy could help with.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah, I so that's really interesting. Obviously, you saw a big need there in the market for one, right? So that that that there's and I would say that for for many areas of the country, you know, we have a shortage in PT big time, right? There's even bigger shortages in OT and especially speech therapy, right? Uh so there's that need there. And if um it if you see a a lot of possibility in your particular community, like can you add that service, right? Can you be the one to add those adjunct services to your to your practice? So great job identifying that for one, right? And then you're you looked at, okay, how can we be the differentiator here? What's the biggest pain point for these people that are trying to find this help? Well, it's the wait list, it's so long to get in for help. How can we address that and use that in our messaging? So fantastic job on that. Of course, your messaging can change over time depending on obviously you get busier, you can't promise the things that you used to be able to promise, but you can still position yourself as getting people in relatively quickly to other areas in the market, right? So I think that's critical for our audience to hear is that look for those opportunities within your market. Hey, can I create another program within my practice to solve that problem for that, you know, those people in the community? And then what do those people really, really need? What's the messaging that's going to connect with them? Uh convenience, not having to wait long. Um, a lot of a lot of triggers for uh the public out there when it comes to medical help is is that time period? Like it takes me so long to get to my doctor or go to a specialist or get an MRI or go for this or go for that. People are sick and tired of waiting, right? So if you can you speak to speed of delivery, can you speak to convenience, convenient location, convenient times? So you don't have to really sell your service a lot of times and like all the different things that you can do. It's just right mentioning, hey, we make it easy for you to come see us. Like that's a pretty easy message.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Well, and I, you know, definitely it's important for them to know and trust your practice. So we really um build on that too, as far as really putting the personal touch on it, because you know, you do want to be able to trust who you're putting your child, you know, in the care of or just any loved one. Um, so I mean we definitely hit on that, you know, and that our therapists are experienced. So these aren't new grads, right outer. I mean, they have experience working with all these different conditions. So I think that's super important too, which we have definitely added to our marketing um for the speech therapy.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Do you find that uh the people that are coming in have had some sort of speech therapy before and they're looking for certain things? Or they are are there people that have they've never experienced that, so they don't know what to expect. I'm just curious what you typically see there.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

I would definitely say both. Um, so we have had individuals that maybe are on that long wait list that see that now we are offering it. They already know and trust us from having physical therapy here. Um, so they know our brand, they know us, and then they switch over. Um, but we also have brand new that seeing, oh, speech therapy can help with vocal. I'm having some problems singing them the church choir. I would love to. So brand new to even what speech therapy is, and they will come in on that line too. So I think it's really there's no, you know, one way or the other, we see definitely both.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Yeah. And I think that goes into obviously your market. So your ads, your face, whether they're Google ads, Facebook ads, you need to make sure you don't you have a uh some variety in terms of your messaging in your ads, obviously to speak to those two different types of audiences. And then certainly as they get deeper into your website on your pages there, being able to speak to some of those key points of, and I was learning this formula a long time ago, which was um, you know, what's their key problems that they're facing? What are the solutions that you can offer them against those problems? Why should they choose you? And then why should they act now? So it's like four critical components. If you can answer those relatively comprehensively in uh in your ads and then also on your website, um, that's when people are really going to connect with you. And like you said, there's those different markets that you're trying to tap into. So they have a little bit different problem, they have a little different solutions that they're looking for. Uh, and then uh for some of them, they really uh if they I think if they've gone to uh speech therapy before or PT or OT, they're looking for why you guys different, right? Why should they choose you, right? Yeah, yeah. Um and so for you also, um can you speak to the like uh in your messaging, are you really trying to sell what the therapists do or more of like what the outcomes that they're trying to achieve?

SPEAKER_02 12:03

More of the outcome. Um, so how the families can benefit from receiving the service um or your child. So we are we're looking for the end result. So, you know, really letting them know that there is help. This is this is where your child can be, or this is what we can do. So I would, I mean, yeah, we definitely raise awareness on what speech therapy is for those individuals that don't know it, but we really want to promote um, I hate the word sell, but sell like what we can offer you, what's speech therapy, how it can change your life. Um in the end, like, you know, what is possible, you know, yeah, where you were and what let's get you back there. So really, you know, promoting that side of it.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Awesome. Love that. And uh something again, like I felt this way for a long time in my practice, and then I had some business uh coaches that helped me understand that uh selling is what we do, right? We we sell our services all day long, we sell each other all day long, right? But you have to convince my wife to go to see a certain movie, like I'm selling her on the movie, right? Um so sales is a really critical part of the success of your practice, and that's you know, you've got your market and your PR, get people interested coming on in, but then you have to have a really good front desk that's able to sell the service. You have to have your therapists that are really good and get people to sell the planet care that they need to get over their, you know, their their condition. Um, so we're selling all day long, right? And I think too, like the word sales comes from the Irish old Ir Gaelic word uh salin, which means to help. So we're helping people, right? Yes. Um But I I think you know, one thing that uh we talked about before was um what is some of like the the verbiage that we want to use with those outcomes? Like because because sometimes we get a little stuck in being too too PT or OT or speech talk, right? What kind of things that you look for there?

SPEAKER_02 14:09

So like we've used not talking yet, let's talk, or hard to understand, we can help. So things that parents are looking to solve or they've identified um that they're like, oh let me, you know, tell me more about that. Um helping children find their voice, building confidence at home, school, and beyond, because a lot of these, you know, they do notice it. Maybe a s a teacher has mentioned it and they're like, Yeah, I don't know. But then a family member has noticed it. So really looking at all the different and you know, helping them, yeah, it's okay. It's you know, we can help, you know, all avenues. Um, that's more in the PES, but then um there are a lot of individuals that their first concern is financial. So we do put that on there as far as you know, we are in network with this or um we accept this. So then it there's no stop, you know, it doesn't create a barrier from the get-go that they're already worried. Um, well, if they don't take my insurance and then don't ever call. So um I did want to mention that because that's one that we have definitely Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Um well, you certainly want to have like, so if you think about what's a great thing to do is what are the most common questions you get in the clinic, right? So the front desk, what are the most common questions? Do you take my insurance? What time are you guys open? Where are you guys located? Uh can I get a convening appointment? And then from the therapist, like what are the things that they typically hear, right? Uh, how many times do I need to, you know, kind of come in? And can I work around my schedule? Like there's lots of like questions. So then you can take those like key questions and make an FAQ, right? Make an FAQ on that particular page, and that helps people answer their questions before they ever reach out to call you, things like that. Right. And it creates that certainty of like, oh, they they they know this and they have they've answered these questions that that I would have, or I didn't even think about that question, but yeah, I do have that question, and you you get it, get that handled, right? So I think that's a great thing to do is look at what are those common questions, write them down, get the answers, put an FAQ section on that particular page.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

And then you're not, they're not already decided for themselves and answer the question themselves and maybe don't call us. Like, well, they probably don't, or so um, we definitely work with the therapist, our front desk, like, you know, and I'll do this with different pain points for um, you know, shoulder and things like that with our therapist. Okay, what are you going over with every shoulder patient? Like, what do you feel like you're always talking about or you're always answering? Um, so we definitely do that with speech too. Okay, get with our, you know, speech therapist, and like, what is it that on a daily basis you feel like you're answering when it comes to speech therapy? And that has really been helpful too, because I'm not a speech therapist. I mean, he's definitely the professional, so it's like, gosh, what do you see every day with these patients that you feel like it's just a stable datum that you are constantly saying? Um I think that's uh if we can answer that question ahead of time, yeah. I mean, it just makes it much easier.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

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SPEAKER_01 18:04

Absolutely. And Wendy, I think you're doing something there phenomenal. Um, and so for our audience out there that are marketing directors or you have a marketing director in your clinic, uh, one of the key things for that marketing director is to really understand those types of questions and what's asked within the clinic, because that's gold, right? And and the more they can extract that out of the patients and extract that out of the therapists and front desk and billing and those kind of things, they can craft that messaging so much better and then use the different channels social media, Google Ads, Facebook ads, website, all you know, direct mail, all this different stuff. But you you can really hone in on the messaging because you you're doing a phenomenal job of that because you're you're listening, you're trying to question and understand what's happening within the clinic, and then how do I extract it and tell that to the world?

SPEAKER_02 18:52

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Love it. Um, and I think too, like what you were saying from the messaging you would use in your ads, your website, um, the key things that get a person thinking. And so you said, for example, like with the pediatric side, um, we're often not aware. And I I went through this myself, like again with my my son. We're like, okay, he he doesn't really have any issues, like, what's the problem? But he was getting in trouble at school, right? And he was having this kind of like these kind of issues, and then um, and if you know, it felt like sometimes he wasn't connecting or getting things right or um you know, struggling in certain areas, and then you're like, well, is it just like part of being a kid or he's just not good at a certain thing? But then um, you know, we came across um uh a company that that did a lot of cognitive help, and they said the exact same things, like, oh, you know, is he's is he getting in trouble at school? Is he not playing has like no attention and blah blah blah blah. I'm like, wow, that's our kid, right? And again, I'm I'm a PT, like I should know these things, right? But not really, uh, because I'm also a you know a concerned parent. And um once that messaging from their marketing uh spelled those things out for me, it clicked, it started to make sense, right? And I so I think that's critical for you know our speech, our OTRPT lines that we're talking the patient talk, that we're helping them absolutely get those particular questions that they're that that makes them aware, right, that there is an issue, right? So I think that's great that you brought that up. Um and is there anything else too that that you guys use as like a a differentiator against other clinics, um, you know, being a trusted local resource?

SPEAKER_02 20:40

I mean, we definitely really put into the community. So we do a lot of, so like our speech therapist, he'll go to different um schools and offer screenings. Um, and then he'll go back. So he'll follow up. So he sees, you know, they're in kindergarten this year, but we're gonna go back if there was any type of question, and then we're gonna do it in the first grade and see where they were back here. So offering those community um outreach things. So we do definitely set ourselves apart that way. Uh, we're always educating, so we hold workshops um for the community. We have super strong relationships with our um referring doc offices, which is different. I mean, we really we build the relationship. Paul, you know, built the company 33 years ago, and he started with that's what was the main important thing was he building those relationships. And I mean, honestly, that has been our savior throughout all the years. Um I mean, and it sets us apart. So when someone does see our logo, they're like, Oh, they were at that um community event at the church, or they were at the community event at our kids' school. So we really want to, you know, show up and educate. Not you know, not just about the profession, but also as, you know, our individuals. So our PTs, our staff. So they are engaged in the community, which I think is a a huge win.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Definitely. That's a huge selling point, right? They could, like you said, name recognition, right? And um you it often takes multiple touch points for people to make a decision, right? So they they might have um come across one of your therapists at an event and they start to they start to do their own real research online, right? So that you come up in searches that they're doing, oh yeah I remember that person. And then they go check out your social, they go check out your Google reviews and they go to your website and now like you know they gone through maybe 10 touch points and they're going, you know what? I think I'm gonna give these guys a call and see what I can do to help my my child or my you know my significant others. So I think that's so so critical that you're out and about in the community and it does position yourself differently. So to getting a little deeper here into the actual Google ads themselves for speech therapy I'm kind of curious you know what made uh Rebound PT decide to to go ahead and invest in Google ads and the spend of that and promote your speech therapy services.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

So we uh adding a new service to our practice um it really didn't take off the way we thought it would um having those good relationships with the offices and being out in the community we thought we'll just add speech it's wanted I mean we surveyed a ton um to make sure that it was a want and a need of the community and it just didn't take off um the way we thought and we had to do something different and the more that we looked at it so we would never discount the relationships we have or you know website Facebook nothing like that. But when people are scrolling on Facebook they're not scrolling on Facebook looking for help or to solve a problem it's more social. Google ads um after really taking a deep dive into it that's where individuals they're searching everything is online now.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

You know everyone goes and sometimes even before going to the physician they look online you know people joke don't Google it you know ask your physician first but that that's what people do they go to Google and they search you know having this problem what should I do or what do these symptoms um mean so we really needed to bridge that we needed something out there that you know Facebook definitely tells who we are tells about our therapist all that we do in the community but it's more of a social engagement it tells our you know full story of the company we needed something that when individuals have a problem that they're looking to solve our name comes up yeah absolutely and and it it comes back to the awareness triangle right so there's this triangle of awareness and the top part of the triangle maybe your your top five or 10% are people who are you know the problem aware their solution aware they're trying to find somewhere to go right and and so you want to be able to capitalize on that top 10% of people who are ready to do something right that they're ready they're they're looking for a speech therapist right so that's where you have to be competitive on your ads there, your Facebook ads, your Google ads um and and just getting right in front of those people as they're ready to buy right but buy your services. And then you've got the next you know 20% that are um sort of problem aware like they're like you know I've got some sort of speech issue or I'm I'm concerned about my kid with this and maybe have seen my doctor about it but I haven't really like done anything about it. So they're aware of their their problems but they haven't really gone enough into the solution side of it yet. So they might be Googling um common terms or looking for free advice on what they could do about things. And that's a great way for your website to pop up, your ads to pop up in front of them or maybe they are scrolling on social media for entertainment and they come across your ad and they're like you know what I really need to think about that. And then you got the bottom part which is not even problem aware or solution aware uh you know they're suffering with something or they're you know the family is and they're like well you know I kind of noticed something about that right and so you're trying to make them more aware but we really want to capitalize on that top part of the the you know the problem and solution to our people how can we get in front of them quickly and that's why Google Ads is so critical for that.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

Yeah I mean Facebook definitely raises brand awareness. So you know when they are scrolling they keep seeing our ads our you know logo which is 100% I mean they definitely complement each other very well Google ads and Facebook they both serve a very different purpose um at least what we have experienced um but they work very well together. So you know and we did when we first started offering speech we had Facebook ads um going on speech because they had been very beneficial for our PT screenings and it just wasn't I mean since we have taken ad money from our Facebook and put them on our Google just because you know speech therapy is we need to raise awareness of the problems and that's what Google did for us. Facebook ads they just weren't when they're on Facebook yeah after seeing us hearing about us if a problem does come up they're likely to choose us but for a free screening and things like that we just found that individuals weren't ready for a free screening when looking at Facebook. Yeah you know they're learning it's just you know it's awareness which is great but you know Google ads that's where when they are in the middle of a crisis or you know a problem they Google us we're right there.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Yeah yeah and you're you're 100% correct right and I think that's important for our audience to understand it's not Facebook or Google like where do you put your ad money it's not Facebook or they're different right they're different and and so in this situation you're you're 100% correct like Facebook is about awareness right you know people who are not even aware that they that you have a solution here you get in front of them right and you know relatively low cost to be able to to reach a lot of people but you have to realize people are there looking at family they're looking at cat videos they're looking they're on there for entertainment and you're interrupting their entertainment with an ad. So it's a pattern interrupt right and so your ad has to be enough of a pattern interrupt and it has to generate enough curiosity for them to then click and then you know look they might do something from that I would say that's a small percentage of people that are going to do something. They'll probably save it for later right so they're gonna take time to uh you know get off of their entertainment and then go figure something out. But yeah then the Google ad side of things is they're looking for something they need some help right or they're curious about how to solve this problem. They're they're in their research mode. And so you have to get in front of them with that. So it's not one or the other it's both and it's important to really look at you know where you're allocating your marketing budgeting to to accomplish that for sure. Just kind of curious too was there any other uh challenges you faced in attracting you know speech therapy patients before you started running ads no I mean just getting the word out to physicians too that now we offer something in addition to physical therapy. So um no that would I mean yeah totally and I think what's what I've noticed too over the years and so what what when I had my practice in South Florida we had more seniors you know about 50% Medicare and uh and we had children in pediatrics and stuff too but it was uh 50% Medicare but it was very interesting because the uh that population that that that generation of baby boomers uh they got the white coat syndrome right they they it's like what the doctor says I have to do right to the point where I put all of my therapists in white lab coats because they listened to those therapists when they had a coat on it was really funny uh today's generation and you know your are your Gen Xers and your Gen Z like your young moms and everything like that they research they they they hear what the doctor says right but they're gonna go look online to to make sure what the doctor said is what Dr. Google is all fixing. Absolutely and we notice it in PT a lot also with um referrals like there's a referral coordinator typically like in a bigger uh physician practice and that referral coordinator gives you a sheet and says here's the different clinics for you to go to right and then the it's up to the patient to decide where they're gonna choose. So it comes back to this online presence because even though the doctor recommended speech therapy OT or PT uh it's up to the patient to make more of their own decision on where they want to go from an online perspective. So I'm just kind of curious what differences have you noticed then since adding Google ads to your marketing strategy for speech therapy?

SPEAKER_02 31:46

We definitely have well we need two more speech therapists now. So um and we have a wait list um but definitely the patients who come in from our Google ads they're ready. So it they're not seeking for you know advice or a free screening our Google ad people that reach in they're ready to go like their evaluation. So we've really looked at that too you know as far as looking at different ways I mean we keep all types of stats and so we look at direct access patients. So the value of a direct access patient, you know, Google what's the value of that patient versus you know maybe friend or a family member um Google ones are higher because they are there there's no question they've already done their research they know what they want um so they come straight in for an evaluation versus you know we have found that different avenues of direct access even when it comes to physician referrals we might have a hard time getting a hold of that patient once the physician sends the referral you know then we're playing phone tag or maybe we don't have the right number or you know or or or or versus that patient that's calling I saw you guys on Google I want to schedule an appointment appointment set and they're more likely to arrive too because they're ready.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

They're already sold yeah um so that is the biggest difference that we found I mean these patients are more likely percent wise to show up complete their plan of care um it's just it was it was really fascinating um to me and a big surprise uh to be honest yeah I I think that's a a big part of it too right so we're we're in um we're in a world now where we're very online we're very digital very hooked in right and people have a lot of choice and for the rehabilitation side of things PTOT speech we're we're you know we're in an industry now where we have a shortage we have a huge demand uh of people and we have the greatest opportunity that we've ever had uh to to grow in in the rehabilitation space the problem is we're not churning enough PTs and OTs and speech out of college right uh and and people are retiring and doing other stuff so we're we have to be in in our business we have to be in a place now where we're more choosy about the ideal patients we want to serve right and so we can't serve all the patients that would be a wonderful thing to do but the reality is you know we have to be able to work with the people that want to work with us to get the best possible outcome and best possible result. And so I think you know that's again like do you want to fill up your schedule with people who come in they want to just try come show up for one time and then they don't show up the next time and you got to keep calling them they don't call you back like do you want to fill your schedule with those people or do you want to fill your schedule with people that are more committed you know they want to show up they want to get better like we love those type of patients right and so you have to be smarter in your marketing of the type of people you want to attract and even from the get go like in your Google ads, in your website you should be promoting what top insurances that you want to take also because I'm sure there's certain insurances that you prefer to take because they pay you more than very low cost insurances. Maybe it's Medicaid maybe it's a Medicare advantage plans that are HMOs that are not very good at paying or United Healthcare which doesn't like to pay you at all and give you all these other headaches like why why choose that right be selective about who you want to help and call it out in the get go in your ads. I think that's a great way to to navigate in today's world. Absolutely kind of curious too have you started doing any Google ads for recruiting we haven't but we have definitely our last uh marketing meeting that was definitely brought up yes yeah I mean we're seeing results it's not again it's just you got to get in front of people at the right time it's a smaller market because you know there's not that many you know speech therapists in in your vicinity so you have to kind of go wide you know what's in the counties around you or even the state and be able to you know uh advertise there. But that's the beauty of Google ads is that you can be you can target where you want to show up. So if you if you need so for for recruiting purposes you can have ads that show up for you know if you need new PT, OT or speech therapist, you can have your ads there, direct them to your careers page your job post on your website and um again you can target where you want those. So and sometimes you got to go even beyond uh your state right to oh absolutely yeah yeah and so you can pull and have a broader reach that way. So you know we've worked together for a while and I'm just kind of curious uh as the person responsible for marketing in your organization like what has your experience been like working with practice promotions and uh what would you say to other speech therapy or rehab practice owners who are unsure with Google ads and is it worth the investment um to answer the first question so I am a huge fan of practice promotions.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

So we do we've been doing the newsletter since 2018. We had our website redone. I would just say that the staff are they're very efficient. They're good communicators and that's something that is priceless in my position just because I it's usually you know on the fly or looking at something oh we need to do this or what about this um the team at practice promotions really they spend time to get to know the practice as a whole um to understand you know I work with Melissa and Kayla and they they know our practice they know me as an individual um the speed of response so if I have a question or I send something out I mean they're they're fast and um in my world that's where you know I would love for everybody to live. And I have high expectations um I'm I guess sometimes a perfectionist when it comes to our pieces what I want things to look like um the result that I want of things and I feel that the staff at practice promotions share in that um and that also is hard to find um but you know we have weekly report meet or not weekly I'm sorry monthly report meetings that go over here's where the month started at um here's where you are now you know gosh what can we do to get it up here let's set goals so there's goals set with the team every month um so that that's huge I have zero um gosh complaints about practice promotions at all it's it's just really worked nice with our company for all the the avenues that's awesome to hear thank you and and then uh how's it been working on with our Google ads team? Good good same thing um so you know we were new to Google ads and so I did have a lot of questions and you know they again to be successful with Google ads you really have to know the practice you have to know the different services and I feel like they spent the time to learn you know so they could get the us the top of the list we could see improvement so they really researched our practice and you know how we could gain more access to more people by what are the keywords. So what do you guys really want to see? What are you focused on when it comes to speech therapy in your area you know what are people looking for so just really spent all the time answering questions and learning about our practice because they you know I feel that they want it to be just as successful you know as I do which is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

100% yeah we we love seeing your success that's what makes our team thrive and go is when we see our clients grow that's super exciting for us. We know that they're helping more and more people and I think oh gosh what was it um I think last year yeah last year was about 1.2 million leads that we generated for clinics across the US and Canada. So exciting right like having the impact on so many people's lives um being a PT like that's what I live for too like just making sure everybody's successful at that um well yeah and I I think what you said there is is super important because when it comes to you know especially Google ads like when it comes to Google ads what we find is there you know the clinics there's a lot of clinics that are dabbling in it right they're trying to do it themselves like we're good at PTs trying to figure things out we we always want to try DIY it we think we're experts at everything. But you end up becoming more of your own bottleneck in the end. So what we find is that a lot of practice owners dabble in it. They've tried it or they're trying it themselves they're not quite sure if it's working they're spending money on it. And what you really need is the the challenge out there is you either do it yourself. Google's super complicated so you're gonna not know the technical side of the Google ads, right? And then you end up wasting a lot of money. A good example of that for is uh there's a lot of networks and so you might show up on gaming networks. Now why do you want to be putting your therapy services on like a kid's iPad like that doesn't make sense right so there's there's things like that. So the technical setup and the technical operations and maintenance but then there's also the know-how of the PTOT and speech side right and so that's where sometimes like a local agency you get into a challenge because they don't really know the intricacies of of rehab right right um and so you need both of those worlds so we need to be able to to work with the practice what's their nuances what are they really trying to accomplish who are they trying to really reach what's their ideal patient audience uh and then you know have the expertise the the technical know-how uh and then um also the the background right in rehab knowing the little nuances that go on with our particular industry and so that's where I feel like we can really help um clinics like yours grow is because we got those kind of best of those both worlds and that's why we're uh and after we you know we have our meeting they just kind of run with it so I know it's being taken care of I know it's being managed so that's you know something off my plate that is definitely shown in numbers and stats to be beneficial but it's it's something I don't have to do.

SPEAKER_02 42:56

So they are you know and they're watching it all the time. You know they're recording it so it's not you know they have attention on the account all day you know not all day but every day. Yeah. So and that takes I mean we did try to do um Google um ourselves and yeah it's you have to have so oh my word yeah so yeah and I would say to because to follow up your second question about what we would tell or advice for a practice owner that's looking at it. I mean really I think you have to question how individuals are looking to solve their health problems these days. Things have changed and you know yes they're going to the physician but they're going to Google first that we have found, you know, they're asking Google first and we do have direct access um in Kansas so we will get patients that come to us first because they have done the Google search and they have found us on Google. They've answered their questions. So um you know you really have to look at where are people getting their information?

SPEAKER_01 44:09

So 100% and well you've done a phenomenal job marketing there at Rebound physical therapy and obviously the building up the speech program and helping them with that. So I'm kind of curious do you have any final words of advice for practice owners out there or other marketing directors?

SPEAKER_02 44:24

Um I you just have to be the front end so be very visual. You want people you know to see your logo and know oh they're authentic that I you know already have built that awareness um and just focus on caring for the patient first. So that's first and then the growth will just naturally come is what we have found for sure.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

Yeah yeah you gotta put the patient first right patient experience first and everything else will come around that be real like you know totally totally so Wendy thank you so much for being on the podcast with us today sharing your experiences of growing the speech therapy program there at Rebound Physical Therapy congratulations on all your success with that uh for our audience out there definitely check out reboundphysical therapy.com check out uh Wendy Stanley there on LinkedIn Wendy with an eye right yes um uh so if you'd like to you know ask her some questions uh so again thank you for being on the podcast with us here today and thank you very much excellent and so for our audience out there thanks for being on the podcast uh don't forget to like and subscribe and then also on our YouTube channel we have all these uh podcasts up there uh video recordings as well as other trainings and then on practicepromotions.net we got tons of marketing ideas and free advice for you on that so check that out this is Neil Trickett from the Practice Marketing Podcast wishing you much success in your practice a free way for you to support our show is by leaving a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

It's a chance for you to tell us what you love about the show and it helps others discover it as well. Just scroll down to ratings and review on your phone and click write a review. Thanks for the