Step One in 12 Steps to Better Drug Rehab Marketing: Admit There’s a Problem
As a rehab owner, you are attached to your business. By attached, I mean you probably eat, drink and sleep it, and on a good day, fantasize about all the people you’re going to help and the success you’re going to have. That’s great.
But here’s your wake up call: If you’re not getting traffic to your website, if people aren’t talking about you, or if you’re not filling beds, YOU DON’T EXIST. Period.
“Houston, I think we have a problem.”
You Can’t Solve the Problem If You Don’t Admit It Exists
If you’re in the rehab business, you know all about the 12-step program to sobriety. (If you don’t, you’re in the wrong business). So we’ve created our own 12 steps to use as a guide to restore your business back to a healthy balance and refer to it, one day at a time.
According to the tenants of Alcoholics Anonymous, the following is step one of the renowned 12-step program:
“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.”
While this may not apply in a word-for-word literal sense, the philosophies behind it ring true. In fact, it applies to the marketing of your business, in many ways. Think about it. In order to resolve something, anything, you have to accept defeat in whatever it is that’s in front of you first.
But when you’re in rehab marketing, especially if you’ve been through an addiction treatment program yourself, you think you’re the expert. Wait. No. You KNOW you’re the expert. And this, the ego, can be one of the fatal flaws blocking the success of your business, because the downward spiral of defeat grows from there.
Addiction to Success and Substances Have a Common Denominator
I ran across an article in Forbes magazine about what happens when entrepreneurs lose control of their business. There were some great insights, but one in particular hit hard and has stuck with me ever since: “Entrepreneurs are largely a class of overachievers who want to be validated.” Ouch! The truth hurts.
Pride can block our best accomplishments yet to come. If you continue to lead your business with ego, you’ll never see it succeed. You see, to tackle a problem effectively, you’ll have to step out of your own way.
The good news is…you already know how to do this.
With addiction, any addiction, there’s that element of loss. We all know what that feels like. It comes from deep inside of you, living in your intuition. And if you’re not ready to face it, you block it by focusing on other things. Maybe if we ignore the idea that something’s wrong, it will go away by itself. But it never does.
So here’s what you need to do to take the bull by the horns of your rehab business and get a handle on making whatever’s wrong right again.
Five Signs You Have a Business Problem
Identify the issue(s). This may not be as easy as it seems. If the hot mess of chaos has gone on too long, you might need to do a rehabectomy first. Remember, whether the problem is with your marketing, an employee, a contractor or your call center, as the business owner or investor, THE PROBLEM IS YOURS. You need to own it.
Still not sure if your concern is just a momentary emotional lapse of reason? Maybe it’s time to dissect your operations. Go through the following list to see if anything resonates with how you run your addiction rehab business.
5 Signs Your Drug Rehab Business Has a Problem:
- If time is spent reacting to issues instead of future casting.
- If you can’t get with the marketing program because you don’t have one.
- Just consider, reconsider and vet your sources.
- Because you’re the one-off wonder.
- When intuition overrides stats and trends.
Let’s quickly break down the details of this list.
If most of your day-to-day is spent putting out fires instead of planning and implementing strategic business practices that will support growth, you have a problem.
If you don’t have a well-thought-out marketing plan that includes website, SEO, social media with PPC and organic outreach (at the very least), you have a problem.
If you fail to do your homework when it comes to business-to-business alliances, vendors and employee hires, you have a problem.
If you continually come up with great ideas that can’t be put to use together within a strong, ongoing, successful addiction treatment marketing campaign, you have a problem.
If you make decisions based on that “little voice inside your head” and ignore rehab industry statistics and positive trends, you have a problem.
Rehab Business Problems Are the Best Reason to Revisit Solutions
Facing fears and acknowledging problems probably won’t put you in a happy place, but it’s what you have to do to get there. Just like we see in addictive behavior, losing control in business is the precursor to losing it all. Dealing with challenges opens the door to new ways of doing business and, ultimately, supporting long-term success.
Following step one in 12 steps to better rehab marketing isn’t a one-time phenomenon. You’ll need to work step one, revisit it, and rework it to identify business issues as they come up. And they will.
Solutions that work today may not work 90 days from now. That’s why consistent refining of your marketing plan and business operations is vital to maintaining control and having the flexibility to seize opportunities as they arise.
Look for additional steps to come throughout the year, so you can work the Addiction-Rep 12 Steps to Better Rehab Marketing Program effectively.
