7 Reasons Why You Should Hire an Addiction Treatment Consultant

In the interests of saving a buck and further lining their deep (or not so deep) pockets, many drug and alcohol treatment and recovery companies make bad decisions that cost them lost profits and reputation, adding roadblocks into their future that, often, cannot be removed. These are just some of the many reasons why you should hire an addiction treatment consultant before you open your doors, and include them as part of your strategic growth plan.

The Get-Rich-Quick-Scheme in the Addiction Industry Is Short-Lived

People believe that getting into the addiction treatment industry is a good idea. For some, it could be the way to share their personal experiences and success in achieved sobriety with others in the hopes that their clients will do the same. But for certain individuals that may not be inspired by altruistic thought, opening a drug rehab is purely for profit. Sure, there is room in our industry for everyone to win: rehab owners, patients, clients and their families, and the compassionate staff that devote their time to help everyone involved in the addiction recovery process. But there’s a fine line between capitalism and greed, even with rehab. And it’s most evident in the staffing, marketing and facility decisions made by industry-related business owners.

So how can you get ahead in this business when there’s so many ways to fall behind?

Planning. Finesse. And an addiction treatment consultant at your side to take you through this random trip we call “worth the aggravation”. It’s how you get yourself and your business on the right track for the long haul.

Foundational Mistakes in Drug Rehab That Happen More Often Than Not

Enthusiasm for your business and the drive to help others is great but it isn’t a guaranteed recipe to fill beds and pay the bills. Running a successful drug rehab is no different than any other business as it requires the right tools, staff, marketing, and legal support to maintain relevancy and compliance.

An addiction treatment consultant can advise you in what you need and help allocate which aspects of your business need more focus or less, and when.

Refer to the checklist below and compare it to how your drug rehab is running right now.

Common Mistakes in Addiction Rehab Businesses

• Valuing social paid ads over organic campaigns
• Not staying current with digital compliance requirements or industry trends
• Not optimizing site design for mobile users
• Using one-off marketing instead of multichannel
• Not enabling call tracking to website and other media placement
• Believing that social media directly brings admits
• Missing opportunities for business partnerships
• Avoiding market positioning of specific services
• Using black hat SEO tactics for temporary rankings
• Misuse or neglect of Google My Business and Google Analytics
• Quantity vs. quality web content
• Using sales tactics instead of lead nurturing
• Ignoring importance of HIPAA and LegitScript Certification
• Using a commercial agent or broker to purchase facility real estate without addiction rehab expert

I could go on and on about the mistakes I’ve seen drug rehab owners make. It’s good for my business. But I’d rather see addiction-related companies set themselves up right from the get go, and help them grow from there.

Now that you know some of the more common mistakes in the business, in which you may be guilty of, here’s why you’ve got to consider running your marketing efforts differently.

Think of Addiction Treatment Marketing Like an Investment Portfolio

1. You don’t want to put all your marketing dollars in one area of focus. Because this business requires agility as search engines and social channels are constantly changing the rules. Yes it makes them money to do so. So we have to expect the unexpected and be ready to make adjustments without losing your market share shirt. Spread your marketing efforts across a wide net to include public relations, paid ads on broadcast and digital channels, website backlinks, and community outreach campaigns.
   

   Track Your Progress, and Failures

2. Consistently track ads and social placements to see what’s working and what isn’t. And because digital content can live forever, view your posts (facebook, Instagram, twitter, LinkedIn, and blogs). Review web page hits (bounces excluded). Over time, engagement will continue to grow. It’s a great way to assess what’s working, providing insights into the content modifications necessary to hone your brand.Not only should you be tracking your calls but if you have the budget and ability, dedicate specific phone numbers or email addresses to specific marketing campaigns. It makes tracking easier and less of a headache when the calls do come in.
   

   Admits Are Great But You Have to Get Them to Drink Your Kool-Aid First

3. Sales driven marketing campaigns miss the mark with your audience. Instead, you have to lead them to you, like a horse to water… It happens by meeting your audience where they are, literally and figuratively. Position yourself well in your local market via Google My Business and Google Maps. Also, make sure that your website is designed and optimized to meet user demand on mobile. More than 65 percent of people search online via a smart device. Make sure your website looks the part for tablet and phone viewing.
   

   Emotional Rescue Works

   Never underestimate the power of a kind face online. People who are searching for and ready to seriously inquire about detox, inpatient, outpatient, aftercare, sober living and family therapy for themselves or a family member are highly emotional – pun intended. They are already engaged in who you are and what you have to offer.

4. If you don’t have a web chat service attached to your web site you’re missing an opportunity to truly connect with that person. Even if they aren’t ready to speak with you, a web chat service can segment the web visit into various lead buckets: hot, warm and cold. These leads can be used for email marketing or telemarketing campaigns down the road, building your database.And start adding videos to your website and social media campaigns. Businesses will see an increase in engagement with videos near 70 percent, and conversions will follow.
   

   Drug Rehab Without HIPPA and LegitScript Is a Search and Destroy Mission

5. Shady rehabs have paved the way for increased regulations within the industry (about time) to help better protect patients, clients, rehab owners and staff and the addiction treatment business as a whole. With this, consumers are more aware of the pitfalls to watch for when looking for help with addictive behaviors. If you’re not sure how well you, your marketing content and your business practices follow HIPPA guidelines, an addiction treatment consultant can conduct an audit and alert you of any gaping holes that put your company at risk.
6. Last year, Google and Facebook basically shut PPC down for drug rehabs to reformulate how they allow businesses to market their programs and services to the public. With the addition of the third-party healthcare watchdog LegitScript, social presence now comes with new requirements, and a price tag. In fact, if your business doesn’t have the LegitScript certification, they will eventually get to your website and social channel presence and shut it down for lack of compliance. Remember what happened when Google put out the medic update?
   

   Even Drug Rehab Experts Need a Second Pair of Eyes

7. Flying solo is for heroes, not addiction rehabs. The more you can intermingle with the legitimate addiction companies, the better. But there’s more to it than that. There are other ancillary industries within healthcare that will be your best advocates – if only they knew you existed.
   An addiction treatment consultant has a plethora of other clients (if they’re any good at what they do) that can partner and refer additional resources and their audiences to you. It’s amazing to me how often I see drug and alcohol treatment facilities and interventionists forget to include a silo on their websites that speaks to physicians and psychologists, for example, that aren’t in the addiction industry but certainly have the patients and clients that could use the help. Remember dual diagnosis?

   This isn’t rocket science. Every expert needs someone on the outside to take a look at what you’re doing on the inside, without an emotional or financial attachment, and see what you can’t. Human-missed steps. Unforeseen foibles. And opportunities to build your business, save costs and help more people, as soon as possible.That’s what an addiction treatment consultant is for. And so much more.

Get an Introductory Addiction Rehab Marketing Review Now

Jim Peake

Jim is an Internet Oldtimer, literally, and he was making a living online before Yahoo and Google were incorporated and even before Al Gore “invented” the Internet. Jim was the catalyst for putting the internet on the front page of every newspaper around the world in one day when he sold the website design and development to IBM for the Kasparov vs. IBM’s Deep Blue chess tournament in 1996. Jim has been in the direct response and advertising industry (printing) since the early 1980’s. Jim’s primary focus is the healthcare and addiction treatment field where he is a management consultant as well as an analytics and digital marketing consultant. - Learn more about Jim Peake, President

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