Online Video Marketing Could be an Effective Tool to Help Your Practice Grow

Is video marketing really that important?

With over 1 billion unique users every month from around the world, YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world, and also happens to be owned by Google.

The figures are mind-boggling. Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube.

To break it down even further and emphasize just how popular YouTube is, let us explain it another way: every day 500 years of YouTube videos are watched on social media sites and over 700 YouTube videos are shared on Twitter every minute.

To show you what this means for businesses, consider the case study of Red Bull. It holds the record for the brand with the most-watched YouTube channel of all time. Its videos have received a total of almost 550 million views and the channel has attracted a total of over 1.5 million subscribers.

[note_box]There is no getting away from it: video marketing is becoming more and more important as your next big marketing tool.[/note_box]

However, you may be thinking, “those figures are all very well and good but my business will never be as a big as a global brand like Red Bull. How will my small physical therapy practice benefit?”

What Your Practice Stands to Gain by Using Online Video Marketing

Your patients are spending their time watching online videos: According to TechCrunch, at the end of 2013, 90% of all web traffic was video. And global consumer and media insights company Neilsen released figures that in the US alone, over 13 million Americans watched about 3 hours of video on their mobile phones each month. That information combined with the figures presented at the start of this article should be a huge motivation for you to at least consider using online marketing for your private practice.

Your competition may already be using and benefiting from online marketing videos, as more and more companies are realizing what a fantastic marketing opportunity this is and are using videos as part of their marketing strategies. In fact, 81% of all senior marketing executives are using online marketing videos. That’s up 11% from just a couple of years ago.

If you don’t use video marketing your practice will miss out: Let me ask you a question: If one of your prospective patients was looking for information regarding physical therapy in their local area, where is the first place that they’ll go? In most cases, it will be Google or one of the other search engines. You already know that if your site can’t be found in the search engines, you’ll miss out on their business and it will go to somebody else, probably your competitor. As YouTube is the second biggest search engine, if your practice doesn’t have a presence there, again you will miss out.

Video is easy to search: Try this as an experiment. Search for a product or service on Google and see how many results come back that are video-related. When it comes to searching on Google, 70% of the top 100 searches are videos. Consumers these days are very savvy. They are searching for information on products and services and they are ready to buy when they find out what they want. YouTube is easy to search and if your business can be found then you will attract many more customers.

Consumers find videos educational, entertaining and inspiring: Over 60% of consumers spend at least 2 minutes watching a video about a product they are thinking of buying. Video is excellent for marketing because it engages your potential patients. It provides them with a visual example of the type of environment they could receive treatment in and will make it easier for them to quickly decide if they want to come to you for physical therapy. Combined with reviews and demonstrations of the treatments you offer, you will help make their decision an easier one and bring their business to your practice.

What an Online Marketing video can do for your practice

A video is a powerful tool that allows you to introduce your company to millions of potential new patients and show you in a positive light. You have full control of how you want to present your practice on a much smaller budget than traditional advertising.

When creating your online video, focus on how you can show your patients that you are an expert in the field of physical therapy by discussing some of the major treatments offered. This is much easier to do than having to rely on them reading the information on your website. Your video will establish you as an expert and show that you know what you’re talking about. This will build trust and confidence in your patients and help them to decide to come to your practice for treatment instead of your competitor.

Online marketing videos will help hugely with your ranking in the search engines. Nowadays videos are more than fifty times more likely to be on the first page of a search engine. Here’s why:

1. There is less competition with video compared to text-only content. There are literally millions of text pages competing for the top search engine ranking. In comparison, there are only thousands of video pages competing for the same space, so your practice has a far greater of chance of getting the pole positions.
2. Videos are ranked far more quickly than text content. It takes hours for video content to be listed in the search engines compared to weeks for text content. This gives you even more power as the content patients clients will see will be current and up-to-date.
3. Videos go viral. It is much more likely for people on social media sites to share a video than text. This is especially true if you put together a really good video.

In addition to how much of a difference video marketing could make for your practice, it’s also affordable and requires only a webcam/or video device, a microphone and a good script to enjoy the benefits.

Online marketing videos are the hottest tool business owners have at their fingertips. In today’s environment, a video is far more likely to lead to a sale than even the best sales page on a website. It is too good of an opportunity to pass by.

Not Sure What to Include in Your Videos?

Okay, so you are convinced that video marketing is a good idea but what if you don’t have a clue what to include in your videos? Here are some suggestions to get you started making some informative and entertaining videos for your practice:

Educate your viewers about the wide range of services and treatments offered: Tell them all about the potential benefits that treatment from your practice can have for them. Show them some common exercises performed for the most prevalent conditions treated, and let them know exactly what type of treatment they’ll be receiving when they come to your practice.

Tell a story: This is a great way to get people to relate to you. Weave in lessons that your viewers can take away from it. You can talk about a past event that shaped the person you have become today. You could talk about why you decided to become a physical therapist in the first place, perhaps because you experienced an injury and grew interested in the field during your rehabilitation process. Whatever it is, your viewers will find it interesting and it will help them to relate to you and feel that they know you better. This nurtures loyalty from your patients.

Expose the myths of the physical therapy industry: Every industry and market has its own myths and misconceptions. You can debunk some of these myths and offer real-life examples that expose them for what they are. You will educate your viewers and help them to see the facts. For example, explain to patients that numerous studies show physical therapy can be just as effective as surgery for treating certain types of injuries and conditions. By seeing the potential benefits physical therapy can provide and hearing it from you, they will respect you more and feel more confident coming to you for treatment.

Ask questions and then answer them: No doubt you get asked the same questions over and over again about some of your services. Why not create a video for each question and then provide the answer. This would be an extremely popular feature of your site and will be excellent for the search engines who will send everybody who asks the same question to your website.

You could even ask your viewers to ask a question that they have about your product or service and then answer them in your next video. This is a perfect way to engage with your patients and start a discussion with them.

Feature Case Studies: Most people love real-life case studies, especially if they can see the direct results that patients experience from treatment. You could even read out testimonials from some of your happy patients.

Create a video tutorial: This is an excellent way to create video content that will be searched for regularly in the search engines and attract more visitors to your website. Many viewers love step-by-step tutorials and they are so easy to create because nobody knows your services and treatments better than you.

Show them how to perform exercises: A marketing video should sell your vision while also showing the viewer how they can keep up with exercises at home. If you can show your viewers examples of these exercises and encourage them to follow them when performing home-based programs, they’ll be more likely to do them correctly and give you their respect for helping them in this process.

Respond to your patients with video: You won’t be the only one who will create a tutorial or review video about your services.

[note_box]YouTube is full of these kinds of videos from consumers who want to share their comments with the world. So if a consumer does take the time to create a video about your practice to either praise it, highlight certain features or even to criticize it, you have an excellent opportunity to interact and engage with that patient in conversation. You can thank them, expand on what they have highlighted or even attempt to change their mind.

Remember that this conversation could potentially be watched by millions of people and they will be very impressed with how you handle the matter and you will win many more fans and patients.[/note_box]

Create a video series: A single video is fine but if you create a number of them on the same or related topic, then you are going to bring back a lot of viewers who want to see your next video in the series. Plan each video to connect with the previous video. This is going to translate into more views, more likes and more business for you.

So Are You Ready to Make A Successful Marketing Video?

If so, then these 5 tips will set you off on the right path:

1. Define who your target audience is: Before you decide what you want to say and what you want your video to look like, you need to know who your audience is so that you can target them with your video. Think about the age of your target audience, their income bracket and other factors such as their sex. Knowing who your market is will help you to create a much better video that will be well received by the people you want to reach.
2. Set just one goal for your video: Many beginners make the mistake of determining their target audience and then create numerous goals that they want the one video to achieve.Ideally your video will be short and have just one goal to achieve. So choose exactly what it is that you would like your video to do. Do you want to talk about your practice as a whole, give a tutorial on an injury or demonstrate some exercises? You decide what the goal is and stick to it.
3. Turn another successful format into a video: If you already have content that has been successful, perhaps it was a blog post or a written tutorial on your site, take it and turn it into a working script for a video. Practice by reading it out aloud. Make small adjustments and retune it so the words flow naturally when spoken out loud. Share it with friends and family first to get their feedback and then when you are fully satisfied, start creating your video.
4. Press record: It’s easy to record a video. All you need is a webcam. In fact, you can even use an iPhone or other mobile device. Don’t over think it. You really don’t need a huge product suite consisting of professional lighting and equipment to make a successful online marketing video.
5. It’s time to share your video: Once you have created your video, you will want to share it on your website, blog or social media site such as YouTube. Get it out there and take note of the feedback. Find out what people like and dislike about your video. You will improve with every video that you make.

That is all there is to it. It’s not as daunting as you think. In very little time and with hardly any equipment, you too can be making successful marketing videos that will attract thousands of visitors and more patients to your practice.

[colored_box variation=”steelblue”]As you know, E-Rehab is a professional online marketing company and we have lots of advice and tips to share with you that will have a huge impact on your practice. Give us a call and see how we can help you take advantage of this marketing revolution.[/colored_box]