What’s in a Brand? Previewing Ascend 2024 with Jamey Schrier

What is your brand? For many rehab therapy clinics, the answer might not come immediately to mind (or might require some googling to determine the definition of “brand”).  You’ve got the basic elements of marketing down—your very own website with a logo and a few basic social media accounts—but those things in and of themselves do not a brand make. 

To get a better idea about what exactly brand is and how practices can build theirs, I spoke with Dr. Jamey Schrier, PT, best-selling author, speaker, and CEO of Practice Freedom U, for his insights on the matter ahead of his appearance at our Ascend panel on “Creating a Digital Resume and Building Your Brand with Social Media.”

Every clinic is thinking about marketing; what’s your argument for why they should consider brand as part of that?

Jamey: Jeff Bezos once said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Everyone has a brand, whether they think so or not. I used to think that branding was something solely for companies like Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and Amazon—corporations with massive budgets—but the truth is that everyone has an individual brand. The question is, are you out in the world? Are you out there in your community? Most importantly, are you out there in a way that you can be proud of, and that’s aligned with who you are? If people are saying things about your company that don’t match your idea of who you are, then you’re not on brand. 

I’ll give you an example from my thirty years as a physical therapist. Whenever I would talk to neighbors and friends about their experiences getting physical therapy, it was in the broadest terms, like physical therapy was one big thing. Or in the most pedestrian way, like PT was simply getting some heat on their shoulder and a few exercises. So when I started my practice, I took that branding issue as a challenge. Ultimately, it wasn’t up to the APTA or anyone else to define  our brand; it was up to me to communicate what my brand was. 

Whether you’re communicating on social media, in a webinar, or on stage, you always need to communicate what you’re about and how you can work with people to help solve their problems. As PTs, I think we can get caught up in the mechanical (in showing the right steps) and we don’t let our authentic selves show through and talk to patients like they’re our neighbors. 

Many business owners look at the bottom line from a dollars-and-cents, black-and-white perspective. How would you explain the benefits of brand as something you may not see in the bottom line?

Jamey: I would respectfully disagree — I think how you show up communicates to people that you understand them and their challenges and problems. That can help you stand out in a world that’s otherwise commodified. 

Without that connection, people may think, “PT is PT” and opt for the practice that’s closest, cheapest, and takes their insurance. Private practices are going to struggle to compete in that world because larger companies have a huge footprint with hundreds of clinics.  These smaller businesses have to connect with people and deliver an amazing experience, and that becomes your brand and drives more people to your practice — which, assuming you’re running an efficient clinic, can help your bottom line. 

Are practice owners thinking of brand that way, or is that something they need to be pushed towards? 

Jamey: I don’t think they are thinking that way, by and large. I know that when I was in practice, I never thought that way. My mindset was, “I’m good at what I do,” so I spent a lot of time and money perfecting my craft. Then, as we began to grow, there weren’t enough people seeking our practice out for the number of staff we had. I learned that when you start to grow and hire other people, that’s a whole new game. It’s not just brand, marketing, and sales, it’s how to hire, how to train, not to mention financials and metrics—all stuff that you can learn. The problem is that all of that is getting pushed aside to focus on treatment, notes, insurance, and all the day-to-day stuff. They’re not thinking about branding and marketing until it’s almost a crisis.

Sometimes practice owners will look for a quick fix and hire a marketing agency for $3,000 or $4,000 a month, but it rarely creates a positive ROI. You need to understand the problem and be conscious of what you’re doing and what you want to do; you can’t abdicate it to someone else and hope they’ll make it go away for you. Even if they’re bringing in leads, who’s sifting through those leads? How can you be sure they’re quality leads? Having too many leads can implode a practice that is not ready for such demand.

Ultimately what works is having roots in the community. What separates us is the uniqueness of what we do and what we can provide for patients, and if we’re clearly communicating our values and who we are, that’s going to work more than another ad. But it’s not a quick fix; it takes being willing to do the work, to be coachable, and to look at yourself in a different light. 

If someone asked you what the first thing they should do to start building a brand and a marketing engine is, what would you tell them?

Jamey: On the marketing side, I’d say that the owner and/or the CEO have to give direction. Honestly, it’s different depending on where you are with your business. If you’re at, say, a million dollars, you shouldn’t be taking advice from people with businesses of three or four million dollars. You don’t have the same budget or complexities. You have to do things that make sense for where you are in your business, which I judge by their revenue. 

From a brand perspective, I’d just say to learn how to have a conversation with someone with a problem you can help them with. Get good at persuading them to come and see you. If you can’t do that, there’s no way you’re going to be able to build a business.  

When I started out, I was just having conversations with friends, neighbors, and family—and I was terrible at it! I sounded like a boring, robotic doctor with all this medical jargon. No one really wants to know about how a shoulder works; they just know that they can’t raise their shoulder. But l learned how to speak in layman’s terms, and how to listen and ask questions. Beyond that, I learned that instead of trying to solve their problems right there, I’d ask them if I could take a deeper look and if they’d be willing to come into the clinic. I’d end up converting about 95% of those people, and then they’d leave good reviews and tell friends, family, and coworkers. That’s ultimately how I built my business.       

You also need to get clear on the basics. Who is your target audience? What are their pain points? What problems are they having, and how are those problems affecting their lives? I built my business with a crappy website and almost zero social media presence. I've had clients who have done the same thing. What most people care about is getting help with their problem. 

Ultimately, it comes down to the basics. It’s about fighting the “Shiny Toy Syndrome” we see on social media,and instead focusing on the things that are going to really move the needle.

For more insights, join us at Ascend!

Want to hear more of Jamey's thoughts on building your brand, as well as a host of other interesting talks? It's not too late to get your tickets for Ascend, happening September 12-14 in Chicago! Head over to ascendevent.com to learn more.