How a New Grad is Using Tech to Build her own Client Base

My daughter recently graduated as a physiotherapist and against my best advice, opted to join me in the tough world of private practice. Five months in, and with the gloss of qualification and employment fading, she is now facing the stark reality of too few clients.

To her credit, she has recognised that she now has a choice if she wishes to succeed in private practice.  By flipping the traditional employer/employee relationship paradigm on its head she has realised that she is her own business, working within her employer's practice. Her employer provides her with rooms, equipment and administration. Her job is to find the clients.

Born into a connected world, she is tech-aware and so has instituted a remarkable four step digital marketing strategy to build her own client base. I couldn’t help but be impressed by her achievements and wanted to share them with you as a roadmap for other young practitioners who are seeking to build their own client base.

Step 1: Decide on her brand identity  

Obviously it is a no-brainer for her to use her own name, Jamison Ruscoe, as her brand identity for her business. It is a unique and clear identifier. But being willing to promote her name as a new graduate, with little credibility beyond just a qualification, takes a special kind of ambition and confidence. Or in her case, the tech-smarts to recognise that plenty of relevant content is already on the Internet, her opportunity lies in being a curator of that content and connecting it to her own local audience.

Step 2: Build a personal website to grow her brand

A personal website is like a billboard that works 24 hours a day and gives her complete control over what people know about her. It can grow and change as her career evolves, and it always shows her best side.

For a website Jamison needed a domain name and it just made sense to use her name (brand identity) and connect it to the profession (service offering), so she opted for www.jamisonruscoe.physio. A perfect choice, the domain is short, memorable, highly relevant and builds on her existing brand identity. With just a few words it says who she is, what she does and where to go for more information. Plus as only members of the physiotherapy and physical therapy community are eligible to register a .physio domain, it offers her a badge of credibility.

Next Jamison built a simple website using a template from Wix and then connected it to her domain. And just like that she has a presence on the Internet where she can promote her skills and expertise in a manner that is important and relevant to her local audience.  

Step 3: Create Social Media profiles that match her brand  

The purpose of Social Media is to connect with her audience, post meaningful information for them and drive them back to her website. Currently she has connected her Instagram account on her website and is re-posting useful information from the more experienced and expert physiotherapists that she follows.

Building her Social Media audience locally means connecting with local people. So between patients Jamison visits local proprietors offering mutually beneficial opportunities for promotion. For example, posting a photo of herself exercising at a local gym with a positive comment and their tag. This strategy of mutual promotion is a great way to build connections with local businesses, which are often run by and service, local people. Plus selfies of herself exercising around local parks, landmarks and council amenities, strengthens her message and builds her local connection.

Step 4: Create her own website content

As Jamison begins to develop her own niche expertise she can begin to put her own content on the website, then put teasers on her Social Media accounts to attract people back to her website.

Jamison’s four step digital strategy is a clever example of using technology with local marketing strategies to grow her client base. Plus with a strong connection reinforced with regular communications her client base will be loyal and will likely follow her no matter where she works. One day soon she will have such a strong client base that she may choose not to need an employer.

Register your own .physio domain name at www.dot.physio.