Co-Kinetic Journal Issue 100 - April 2024

Avery warm welcome to the Anniversary issue of the Co-Kinetic Journal, marking 25 years and 100 issues –not a bad milestone for the vision of a naïve 27-yearold, with no publishing or business experience.

It’s celebration of where we’ve come from, where we’re heading, and how we plan to help you build a healthier, more sustainable physical therapy business in the process. Reflecting on the path this business has taken from its start, through to today –

lthe people who helped it come to fruition (p4-7),

lthe people we’ve loved and lost on the way (p8),

lthe ‘coming of age’ of our company philosophy (p9),

lthe footsteps we’ve taken to get here (p10-13),

lthe global events that have run alongside our journey (p14),

lhow we’ve learnt to hyper-tune in to our customers’ real pains (p15),

land how we’ve finally built the most complete marketing solution available in this industry, to those pains (p16-23),

lwith an honour and integrity that the people I’ve loved the most (particularly my Dad), would salute (and so will your patients) (p24),

lby adopting the philosophy we encourage our customers to adopt, of giving value without asking for anything in return (p29),

lAdvancing towards a future of building thriving communities (think Blue Zones), healing social disconnect, and educating on the symbiosis between mental and physical health, environmental integrity, and sustainable food systems becomes a core part of our businesses (p32).

With this big picture view, it reminds me that what’s important is not the destination, but the journey it takes us on, a journey that's about more than just business growth; it's about impact, transformation and personal development.

My vision for the future combines two of the things I feel most passionately about, firstly the value of physical therapists and the impact they can have in their communities.

Secondly, the state of nature, biodiversity, our environment, our food production systems and the devastating effect of capitalism, where profits rule, at the cost of society’s health and how that cascades into every other part of our lives.

Supermarkets' with their huge customer bases, push farmers to overwork the land (cheered along by the agrochemical companies), destroying hedgerows and degrading soil with over-ploughing and use of chemicals. This pursuit of cheap food sacrifices nutritional value and devastates ecosystem health, and yet a third of that food still ends up wasted. Our grandparents’ food was significantly

richer in nutrition than the food we eat today and had far less chemicals in it; today’s system is broken.

I write this editorial having just sold my home of 25 years in Wimbledon (the timing is not lost on me!), and moved to a rental property on the pioneering rewilding estate, the Knepp Estate, in West Sussex.

At Knepp, the aim is to blend rewilding efforts with sustainable food production. They have initiated a regenerative farming project on an adjacent land, where organic cattle, poultry, and a market garden coexist with conservation goals. This approach produces healthy food and also contributes to better soil, clean water, and carbon sequestration. I believe the long-term goal is to demonstrate that farming and wildlife-friendly land use can be mutually beneficial, supporting a productive and sustainable model for agriculture

Why am I here? Well partly because I wanted to learn everything I can about what’s happening here and I wanted to be part of their “army for good”. From my perspective we can take this a step further, from the health of the nature, to the health of the land, and on to the health of the our communities. They are intimately connected.

The way I see it, physical therapists are uniquely qualified to bridge gaps in community wellness. Through the Health Hubs I discuss on p32, they can become ambassadors of health, helping to build networks that address the growing social disconnect while at the same time providing opportunities for education on the relationships between the health of our environment and our own physical and mental health.

If this editorial inspires just one person to get in touch with me personally to explore what this could look like in reality, then my hours spent writing and rewriting this editorial will have been worth it

I hope this issue brings you much enjoyment and hopefully also food for thought

Very warm wishes

Tor

Email me at tor@co-kinetic.com

PS. If you’re wondering about what award we’ve won, it’s Best Physical Therapy Marketing Specialists 2024 – UK, Global Health & Pharma Magazine's 2024 Global Excellence Awards programme

BRINGING A VISION TO LIFE: 25 YEARS IN PUBLISHING 4-6

THE EVOLUTION OF A BRAND: FROM SPORTEX TO CO-KINETIC AND BEYOND 9

THE STATE OF PHYSICAL THERAPY MARKETING TODAY 15

BEHIND

22-23

THE CO-KINETIC MARKETING LIBRARY

COVERS WITH A CAUSE

10-11

CO-KINETIC MILESTONES

12-13

THE CO-KINETIC CONTENT JOURNEY

FROM THEN

Business

Technical

Art

Sub-Editor

Journal

22-23

EVOLVING WITH THE TIMES: SMART SOCIAL MEDIA FOR PHYSICAL THERAPISTS

24-28

MARKETING WITH INTEGRITY: TRUST OVER TRANSACTIONS

29-31

THE PHYSICAL THERAPIST'S CONTENT MARKETING CHEAT SHEET

32-34

BUILDING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES: A CALL TO ACTION FOR PHYSICAL THERAPY

TO NOW

shown. No other unauthorised reproduction, transmission or storage in any electronic retrieval system is permitted of any material contained in this publication in any form.

The publishers give no endorsement for and accept no liability (howsoever arising) in connection with the supply or use of any goods or services purchased as a result of any advertisement appearing in this magazine.

What a milestone! Here we are, 25 years and 100 editions later - a journey of words, wisdom, and literally countless contributions that have shaped this journal into what it is today. In this article, I’m taking you back to where it all started: a simple idea for a physiotherapy journal. It’s also a moment to give thanks to the incredible people who’ve been part of this adventure.

Bringing a Vision to Life 25 Years of Publishing, Perseverance and the People Who Made It Possible

By Tor Davies, physiotherapist-turned Co-Kinetic founder

The Inception

I can still remember as if it was yesterday, coming to the end of a long day of business planning with a friend, feeling absolutely exhausted and dramatically throwing myself onto my bed in the adjoining room with a wail, “I can’t do this. I’ll never again be free. Once I start, I’ll be on a relentless hamster wheel publishing journal after journal and I’ll never be able to get off!”

For a 27-year-old who absolutely loathed routine, that prospect was terrifying. Looking back, it occurs to me that it was also rather arrogant because I clearly took it completely for granted that my brainchild of a journal would survive that long in the first place (which given the cataclysmic shift the publishing industry was about to experience as the world was enveloped by the World Wide Web was certainly not a given).

It was 1998 and the largest wall of my spare room was covered with pieces of handwritten paper, stuck in a form that resembled a very amateurish Gantt chart, documenting exactly what had to happen and when, over the next 7 months, to get that first copy of sportEX medicine journal into the big wide world.

It’s 100% true and valid, but the story hasn’t changed for 25 years and I was bored writing about it for the third time. I needed a new challenge. I’d dreamt for years of not just running a business, but about publishing my own magazine.

With A-levels in biology, English and art, I was a classic ‘jack of all trades, master of none’, which made no sense to anyone else but surprisingly did set me up well for publishing.

I’d trained as a physio but decided that wasn’t my future. I had a degree in sports science and a wide variety of sporting accolades at all levels of participation, which I group under one of my favourite sayings, “the older you are, the better you were”. And I’d had a few false starts with a couple of marketing jobs (how ironic given that’s what I do most these days). But what did it all amount to?

I WAS DEEPLY PASSIONATE ABOUT NOT JUST SPORTS MEDICINE, BUT ALSO THE ROLE OF EXERCISE AS MEDICINE

My friend just shrugged nonchalantly and said, “That’s fine. Just go back to your job as a medical journalist then”. She knew me well.

It wasn’t that I’d hated my job as a medical journalist, in fact quite the opposite, it had been hugely exciting and energising (at least for a couple of years). But did I mention I hate routine?

After 2 years I was already bored with the same dramas circling around each year. Take for example, “junior doctors are underpaid and overworked and they’re about to strike”.

So I did what I always do, followed my heart. I was deeply passionate about not just sports medicine, but also the role of exercise AS medicine, and as backwards is never an option for me, forwards it had to be. That was the day in my mind, that I committed fully to starting my first business and my first journal, sportEX medicine

Creating the Dream

Finding a designer to first design a logo, and then the first issue of a magazine that would form our ‘look’, was probably the most exciting part of those first few years. I still remember the excitement as I looked through those very first proofs in an office somewhere in North London. It was, well literally, a dream come to life.

I have no idea how I found him but I remember the designer’s name, Adrian Pini, and his company was called Grafico. He still runs it today, and according to his LinkedIn profile has designed for some big names including Sony PlayStation, Barclays Bank, and BBC Worldwide, so clearly he was a good

choice to help me set the sportEX stage. I knew the journal had to look the part if it had any chance of success. Black and white photocopied newsletters were never going to cut the mustard.

That sportEX logo and first issue of the journal cost me every penny of the £10,000 that my parents had given me in exchange for 10 shares, to get my venture off the ground. That was a massive amount of money to a rookie journalist who was on a salary of just £13k a year. I paid them back 5 years later with interest (I’ve always taken my loans very seriously – I am the daughter of an accountant after all!).

I STILL REMEMBER THE EXCITEMENT OF SEEING THOSE VERY FIRST PROOFS – IT WAS LITERALLY A DREAM COME TO LIFE

Perseverance Paid Off

Building the Business: Key Contacts and Advisors

Some connections with media buyers from my previous medical journalism job got me off the ground. By guaranteeing to mail a certain number of copies (around 5,000 I believe) to sports physicians and GPs with an interest in sports medicine, the media buyers were prepared to buy pharmaceutical ad space in the journal.

I bootstrapped it from there. The first goal was to get enough subscribers in one quarter to pay for the next issue of the journal, and the same again the next issue and so on. It was brutally hard work and incredibly stressful. I still remember battling with the unpredictability of mailing lists, mail merge documents and renewals letters, long into the early hours of the morning.

With the help of some very influential advisors, including Prof. Dr Nick Webborn OBE, Dr Paul Jackson, Dr Simon Kay, Donald Macleod and Domhnall MacAuley, I managed to get it into the right medical hands for long enough.

Behind the scenes I scraped away building a subscription base with the audience I really wanted, physical therapists. My mentor, Helena Sturridge, who had given me my first pivotal journalism job, was by then surfing in the top ranks of Reed Business Publishing. I remember one conversation where she strongly cautioned against going down the subscription route on account of it being hideously hard work to get off the ground. She wasn’t wrong, but thankfully I ploughed ahead anyway. And thank goodness, if I hadn’t I’d have fallen by the wayside with the rest of the publishers that have disappeared over the last 25 years.

The business teetered on a knife-edge for a couple of years until a fortuitous call from a man with an impressive ‘radio voice,’ Kim Harvey, who was then at the helm of the Organisation of Chartered Physiotherapists in Private Practice (OCPPP), now known as PhysioFirst.

He told me that he’d recently received a number of glowing reports from his members about this new musculoskeletal physiotherapy ‘magazine on the block’ and he wanted to know if I’d be interested in negotiating a deal to allow him to include it with the PhysioFirst magazine that went out to more than 3,500 members every quarter.

That phone call and the subsequent agreement, secured the short-term future of sportEX medicine

It wasn’t the income that changed things per se because we’d agreed he’d pay cost price (and as Kim produced the PhysioFirst magazine he knew exactly what those costs were), it was the simple fact that I had a 3-year contract that would keep me stable, and my print run increased significantly, which meant the unit cost to send the

magazine to my own subscribers, came down dramatically.

This was a very good job, as I’d launched my annual subscription at a price of just £15 per year for a quarterly print journal (which doesn’t even cover the postage cost alone these days). Who says physios have a problem setting their prices?!

Eye-Catching Patient Advice Leafets Created Confdence

Once the short-term future of the journal was secure, I was able to turn my attention to developing other areas of the business, most notably a series of patient information leaflets promoting the role of physical activity for health (in 2002 this was a topic nobody else was covering).

These leaflets somehow caught the eye of Nicki Cooper at the British Heart Foundation, who contracted me to print several million BHF-branded versions, which led to several other charities including Diabetes UK, following suit.

These nods from such significant, nationally-known organisations, after several years of struggling to stay afloat, gave me the much-needed confidence that I was on the right track, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Who and What Has Kept Me Going

In July 1999 we launched the first issue of sportEX medicine and we haven’t missed a single issue since that day. Even when my father died suddenly mid-production of one issue, my small but very trusted team swept in and took over

Far from being the noose around my neck that I feared it would be, publishing 100 issues has been an absolute joy. Every single one has been unique and thrilling, and there’s nothing like leafing through that first print copy when the ‘overs’ arrive back from the printers.

My designer Debbie Asher, a contact from my old journalism days, has been by my side since issue two and what an incredible

Prof. Dr Nick Webborn OBE

Kim Harvey

Dr Simon Kay

Domhnall MacAuley

Dr Paul Jackson

Donald Macleod

Helena Sturridge

THE SMA AND CO-KINETIC CONTINUE TOGETHER IN A PARTNERSHIP THAT I HOPE HAS STRENGTHENED US BOTH

THE AUTHOR

Tor Davies, a former physiotherapist with a degree in Sport & Exercise Science, transitioned into publishing after a two-year stint as a medical journalist. She founded sportEX medicine in 1999, which evolved into Co-Kinetic, a respected professional education journal in physical therapy.

In 2016, feeling there was more to be done for her industry, she consulted more than 1500 physical and manual therapists worldwide to discover their burning need: help getting clients, which meant help with marketing and sales. This led her to create an innovative marketing solution combining high-quality content with a technophobe-friendly web platform designed to put that content into action, helping physical therapists build their businesses authentically.

Recognised for her expertise, Tor contributes to trade journals, speaks at conferences, delivers to international mastermind groups and recently has taken up a post as a guest lecturer to sports therapy undergraduates. Her latest project, ‘Built on Trust: A 9 Step Roadmap for Attracting Your Ideal Physical Therapy Clients’ offers a practical course for therapists seeking effective marketing strategies, while staying true to themselves.

Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ CoKinetic/ Connect with Tor: www.facebook.com/cokinetic.tor

and versatile designer she is. She’s turned her hand (albeit sometimes with a squawk of alarm when I first suggest it) from pretty intense multi-page clinical articles to eyecatching posters, conference banners, infographics, social media, animations – you name it, she’s done it – and there is absolutely no way I’d still be running this business without her. This magazine in fact, is probably one of the best examples of her incredible versatility.

The next tribute is to the Sports Massage Association (SMA). In 2003, at a fairly desperate request of SMA founder, Joan Watt, one of the very first sports physios, we took over the management of the organisation which was about to go into administration. We built it from 130 members, to nearly 900 over just a couple of years, only for it to be almost hijacked by a coup, a group of people who wanted to take it over. There were a couple of very difficult years in which the SMA and Co-Kinetic fought side by side to get it back on safe ground (we all know who we are !!!). And we continue together in a partnership that I hope has strengthened us both. Despite several changes in personnel since then our bond has continued and we wouldn’t have made our 100th issue without the SMA’s support.

And the final, even more heartfelt thank you goes to my subscribers without whom I certainly would not be here. This issue is a tribute to every single one of you who has backed my dream whether it’s been for one year or 25 years (there are a few of the latter out there). I hope I’ve delivered everything you’d imagined when you signed up, and maybe even more. It’s been quite a ride!

My Small But Mighty Team

I can’t close this article without giving credit to my small but very mighty team. Most people don’t realise that we are still a small business, albeit punching way above our weight. I am still the only full-time employee at Co-Kinetic, however, I’m superbly supported by:

l My sub-editor Alison Sleigh, gets poached by most PhD authors she works with because, well, she’s brilliant at her job;

l Our Girl Friday Sheena Mountford, with a fierce eye for detail, is invaluable in keeping the journal and subscriptions on track;

l The witty and incisive Journal Watch editor, Bob Bramah, whose candid comments definitely breathe fresh perspective into our research reviews.

l And our rock star of a designer and art editor, Debbie Asher, with me from the start, can bring any vision to life beautifully (this journal is testament); These guys are truly amazing. They have been consistently by my side, guiding both the journal and me, calmly through the inevitable storms of life. I couldn’t have reached this milestone without them. So team, you have my most heartfelt thank you

The Future

The last quarter-century hasn’t been kind to the print side of business-to-business publishing and a huge number of much bigger, more successful publishers than us have had to call it quits (probably because we’re not so cut-throat about our profit margins!). Everything has gone online and costs for printing and mailing have gone through the roof, so to still be here, 25 years on, publishing this 100th issue, is a milestone I wasn’t going to miss!

So what does the future hold? It is likely that costs will eventually become too burdensome to continue with our quarterly publishing schedule, at least in the current format, and to some extent the future will be guided by our new direction and vision, which you can learn more about on p32.

For now I would like to say the handon-heart BIGGEST thank you to every single one of you who has played a part, however small or large, in this journey. I hope you enjoy the celebration and memories that this anniversary issue brings and I can’t wait for part 2, affectionately nicknamed Co-Kinetic 2.0.

With the most sincere thanks Tor

Behind the Pages:

For 25 years, we’ve built something special here at Co-Kinetic. I might have been leading the way, but it’s been a solid team effort every step of the journey. I’m kicking off this tribute with a huge thanks to all of us. Here’s to the teamwork that made it all possible.

Our Editors

Firstly, a huge nod to our editors — these guys have been beacons of our industry, whose expertise and influence have led our content journey. These exceptional therapists have not only contributed their own insights but have also drawn from their well of professional respect to bring us contributions from some of the best practitioners in our field. It’s their specific commitment to practical, applied knowledge that has kept our content not just informative, but incredibly actionable, bridging the gap between cutting-edge research and day-to-day practice.

l 1999-2008 – Sharon Turl, MSCP who was also editor of the BMJ/ACPSM collaboration Physiotherapy in Sport Journal

l 2004-2024 Bob Bramah, physiotherapist, massage therapist and former SMA board member, has been involved with sportEX/ Co-Kinetic for nearly as long as Tor! He has been an advisor and editor to sportEX dynamics and since at least 2008, Journal Watch editor to Co-Kinetic.

l 2006-2011 – Lynn Booth, MSCP, co-ordinated physiotherapy/sports medicine services and worked clinically at major sporting events, including the 2012 Olympics and the 2014 and 2022 Commonwealth Games

l 2011-2018 – The editorial board was led by Dr Dylan Morrissey and the sports medicine team at Queen Mary’s University London

Some of Our Most ro fc Contr tors

Next up are our regular contributors, who have been nothing short of a goldmine of knowledge. They’ve been with us time and again, tackling topics big and small. It’s their reliable insights and lively take on things, that keep our readers coming back for more. They’ve also got us out of more than one or two scrapes, filling in for contributors who’ve failed to make the deadlines!

l Dr Dylan Morrissey l Joanne Elphinston

l Dr Simon Kay l Dr Paul Jackson

l Dr Simon Lack l Dr Chris Norris

l Paula Clayton l Dale Forsdyke

l Julian Hatcher l Rachel Fairweather

l Joan Watt l Susan Findlay

l Ruth Duncan l John Sharkey

l Dr Joe Brence l Dr Jason Masek

l Stuart Hinds l Ben Cormack

l Prof Cathy Speed l Dr Sarah Morton

l Julian Baker l Lee Herrington

l Ron Alexander l Daniel Lawrence

l Nick Dinsdale l John Gibbons

l Jack Chew l Wayne Gill

l James Earls

Some Notable Contributors

Lastly, we raise our glasses to those singular contributions that really made waves. These are standout excerpts from the excellent books brought to us by the remarkable team at Handspring Publishing. A big shout-out to Andrew Stevenson and Mary Law for an incredible partnership. Although Handspring’s extensive catalogue found a new home with Jessica Kingsley Publishers in 2022, the impact of their works within our pages is noteworthy.

l Janet Penny – Oncology Massage: The Lymphatic System

l Susan Lowell de Solorzano – Biotensegrity and Human Movement: The Importance of Closed Kinematic Chains

l Ann and Chris Frederick – Fascial Stretch Therapy™ for the Lower Body

l Giles Gyer and Jimmy Michael – Manual Therapy and the Pelvis, Hip and Sacrum

l Sharon Wheeler – ScarWork: A Different Approach to Working with Scars

l Jules Mitchell – How to Unpick Postural Locks Yoga and Biomechanics: A New View of Stretching

l Dorren Killens – Assessment of Fascial Dysfunction

l Diane Lee – Role of the Thorax in Treatment of Recurrent Hamstring Injury

l David Zulak – Spinal Motions: Structure and Function

l Philip Austin – Efficacy of Manual Therapy for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

l Leon Chaitow – Adding Lessons from TCM to your Manual Therapy Toolbox

As we turn the page on this particular chapter (sorry I couldn’t resist the pun), I confess that despite my best efforts to keep track of every contributor through the years, we’ve moved through at least four different content management systems and some records have sadly slipped through the cracks. If there’s anyone I’ve inadvertently missed, please know it’s not for lack of gratitude. I am deeply thankful to each and every one of the contributions that I’ve received, they run into several thousand over the 25 years (I gave up trying to count!). I couldn’t have done this without you.

l 2018-2024 – Kath Thomas, South African sports physiotherapist who took the helm most recently as the in house editor and technical writer, contributing no less than 45 in-depth evidence-based reviews and 37 content marketing campaigns.

l Andrzej Pilat – Upper Quadrant Assessment for Myofascial Dysfunction

l David Lesondak – Connectivity: Fascia-Related Therapies

l Wilbur Kelsick – Functional Training Methods for the Runner’s Myofascial Systems

l Marnie Harman and Niamh Moloney –Roots of Yoga and How It Pertains to Pain

In Tribute:

Honouring Our Guiding Stars

There are three people that have been pivotal to me personally as well as to sportEX/Co-Kinetic and I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge their contributions.

Alexa Smallwood (nee Thompson)

Many of my original subscribers and SMA members will no doubt remember speaking to Alexa, as she looked after subscriptions for us for several years in early 2000. She was the younger sister of a school friend of mine and was studying to become a physiotherapist just down the road from our sportEX office, at St George’s Hospital, London. We nicknamed her our “breath of fresh air” when she arrived at the office to process our subs, after a day’s studying. She moved to New Zealand with her husband Giles and then returned to Dorset, where I spent the night with her family in Sept 2019. She is

mum to three gorgeous young boys. She was diagnosed with an extremely rare cancer known as cholangiocarcinoma at the end of 2018 and despite throwing the book at it, even travelling to China just a month earlier in search of a cure, she died, aged 40, on the 1st November 2019. In that short time after her initial diagnosis, she passionately raised money and spoke publicly about the disease, funding research and raising awareness. She was my inspiration for buying a campervan and using it to travel. RIP Alexa, you may be gone but you will never be forgotten.

Paula Clayton

Paula mostly likely doesn’t need any introduction to my Co-Kinetic readers, she was probably my most prolific article contributor, in addition to running many CPD workshops for us. She was the most superb trainer and communicator. She was my favourite kind of person, pragmatic, down to earth, called a spade a spade, practical and an incredible therapist. She wrote great content like nobody else I know. It didn’t matter how experienced you were, or how inexperienced you were, Paula made you feel through both her workshops and her articles, that you could change the world with the new skills she taught. She didn’t care if she rubbed up the wrong people, her patients were her number one priority bar none. She started life (in our industry at least) as a massage therapist, before completing her physio training with of course flying colours. She once told me this was down to being offered a job with Lewis Hamilton, which required her to have physio training, which at the time she didn’t have. She became an Olympic physio and can be credited with bringing Jessica Ennis Hill into the SMA. There will never be anyone like Paula. She passed away on the 17th Oct 2021 from a rare form of thyroid cancer. My thoughts are still with her husband Rick and her family.

I don’t even know where to start! Joan was literally right at the forefront of sports physiotherapy over a career that spanned more than 50 years. She has so many sports physiotherapy accolades, they would fill at least a page of this journal alone. She was first involved with the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1970 and there aren’t many hats she hasn’t worn or national or international sports events she hasn’t attended! She was the first female president of Scottish Athletics, and the major force behind the creation of the Sports Massage Association. It was my acquaintance with Joan that led to us taking over the management of the SMA in 2002, after it was nearly killed at birth by some poor financial choices at the National Sports Medicine Institute. She ran numerous one day courses for us and also wrote many articles. I spent a lot of time with Joan during our professional careers and in the early days she was the cause of more than one or two hangovers after a night of putting the therapy world to rights! The last evening I spent with Joan (and her wonderful husband Neill who was her greatest supporter) was at her house in Stirling, having narrowly escaped being snowed in at Glen Coe on my virgin campervan trip, in March 2019. We spoke and met regularly in the first 15 years of sportEX and she felt like my professional mum! She was passionate, outspoken and one hell of a force to be reckoned with. She passed away at the age of 82 in July 2023 and I still miss being able to pick up the phone for her wise counsel.

Joan Watt

The Evolution of a Brand: From sportEX to Co-Kinetic and Beyond

The origins of sportEX were simple, I did my sport and exercise degree at Birmingham University where our department was nicknamed Sportex, and I wanted to launch a magazine on the topic of sport and exercise medicine. It was a quick and easy decision.

sportEX served us well for 16 years. We published three magazines under the brand, sportEX medicine (the original), sportEX dynamics (sports massage focus) and sportEX health (exercise as medicine focus).

But by 2014 it was pigeonholing us into sport and exercise, and I wanted the freedom to expand into other areas, like business and marketing, and that required a brand that was a bit more flexible.

As luck would have it, one of my oldest friends was married to a senior brand designer for one of the top 20 design agencies in the UK, so on a mates rates agreement, we embarked on a rebrand.

A LOT of thought went into the Co-Kinetic logo (much more than my impatient nature was used to tolerating). I just wanted to “crack on”, but no, Jono made me jump through all the hoops, defining my WHO, WHAT, WHY and HOW and the purpose of this new brand.

It’s no accident that when I set out in business, one of my driving goals was to prove him wrong. Sadly he passed away in 2017 before I could, but it’s still one of the core principles behind my company. He would have been incredibly excited to witness today’s explosion of businesses putting social and environmental good at the centre of everything they do.

We’ve gone NAKED!

Everyone who knows me will know that cogitating at this level of detail is not one of my strengths but as I was lucky enough to have the expertise of someone with more skills than I could usually have afforded, I dug in and did what was asked.

And I’m really glad that Jono didn’t let me cut corners, because after 15 years in business, I was becoming much more tuned in to the business I was building. In the early days it had been a scrap for survival, 15 years on I had the luxury of being more consciously deliberate.

So Why Co-Kinetic?

My father believed it wasn’t possible to make money and be successful if you wanted to retain integrity and honesty in business. He did well because he worked hard and put in long hours, but he once told me he could have made much more money if he’d been prepared to put aside his principles. Thankfully he wasn’t.

So here are the WHO, HOW, WHY and WHAT for my new brand, that I came up with in 2015.

1 WHO – Co-operative: Ethical, mutual, fair, transparent, collaborative

2 HOW – Hands-on: Practical, translational, actionable

3 WHY – Evolving: Iterative, selfrefining, virtuous circle (win-win-win) for everyone involved

4 WHAT– Growth-focused: Developing skills, personal and professional growth, progress, evolution.

The driving force of the logo was the CO which represented;

l COllaboration

l CO-operation and

l COmmunity based around

l COntent.

But even more importantly, that everything we did in that process, was designed to work as a ‘virtuous circle’, the definition of which is a chain of events, in which one desirable occurrence leads to another, which further promotes the first occurrence and so on, resulting in a continuous process of improvement. This is why the CO is designed similarly to the symbol for infinity showing the flow of energy in the colour changes.

The word KINETIC was perhaps a more obvious choice, coming from the Greek verb meaning “to move”, that alone was very relevant for the field of physical therapy. It can also refer to energy (again relevant) and mean animated, dynamic, or lively, which is exactly the approach we deliver through our content. The little dots on the top of the two i’s are also indicative of movement, like a ball rolling.

So that’s the thinking that went into our brand, and as you’ll read on page 32, it is perhaps even more relevant today, with our vision of the future focused on the role of physical therapists within the community, embodying the ‘CO’ in Co-Kinetic as the co-operative heart and collaborative strength at the centre of a healthier society.

Launch of sportEX medicine, a translational journal on sport and exercise medicine, accompanied by patient resources, written for medics and physical therapists.

Thanks to the foresight of CEO Kim Harvey, we secured a deal to provide sportEX medicine to all Physio First members. This pivotal partnership threw us a lifeline and led to some great collaborations.

Launched sportEX health out of sheer passion for physical activity’s impact on health. It evolved into HealthEX and rocked for a decade before we had to say goodbye. A pet passion, but the ride was fun.

2003

On the request of the late Joan Watt, sports physiotherapist and SMA founder, we took on the management of the Sports Massage Association (SMA), growing it from 200 to 900 members in 2 years.

We built our own elearning platform and introduced our SCORM-compliant CPD quizzes.

That resulted in us winning the contract to publish the Register of Exercise Professionals Journals (REPs) which we did for 5 years, doubling the circulation from 30,000 to 55,000 and digitising the sale of ads valuing over £120k per year.

2007

A number of organisations commissioned us to rebrand and print several million copies of our patient information leaflets, including The British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK, Walk 4 Health and PhysioFirst. These pivotal collaborations were crucial to our survival in those make-or-break early days.

In an bid to top our 2006 success, we brought a stellar cast of speakers over from the US, Canada and Australia for a final conference hurrah. The business model had changed to exhibitor-funded events (not our bag), so we decided to exit on a high.

With the support of the SMA membership, we launched our third title, sportEX dynamics and began running educational conferences and one-day CPD courses.

Already utilising interactive content in sportEX and having built several content management systems for ourselves and other organisations, we were commissioned to build an elearning platform, and develop elearning content for YMCAFit and Central YMCA Qualifications.

We ran one of our most ambitious massage therapy conferences bringing Tom Myers (Anatomy Trains) over from the US, along with the late Leon Chaitow –phew that was quite a conference to manage – but thanks to the 400 strong delegates, it was hugely successful.

A year later, we launched an iPad and Android app for both sportEX medicine and sportEX dynamics

Milestones

Began work on the “perfect publishing platform”, which encompassed content management and permissioning, customer and subscription management and a selfdesigned royalties system designed to create a “virtuous publishing model” rewarding article contributors based on content popularity.

The launch of our new platform neatly coincided with a rebrand – from sportEX to Co-Kinetic, designed to give us the freedom to expand our content focus.

And then Covid struck! With many of our customers unable to work, we steered our efforts towards supporting our community through daily webinars focused on business survival. We also pushed our IT capabilities to the limit, developing new tools to help our subscribers adapt and find alternative sources of income. The challenge was healthy and positive.

We

In January we merged the two sportEX journals into one Co-Kinetic journal and spread our content wings by watching the social channels for our readers.

survey pointed to

We finished our transition to full sustainability, using only plantbased inks, paper that meets the FSC’s top environmental and social standards and embraced a ‘naked’ approach, eliminating our compostable mailing wrap.

Without our knowledge our IT contractors had let Co-Kinetic 1.0 fall to its knees. Tough decisions were needed. In June, we asked our customers to support us while we built a brand new platform. They did unwaveringly. We were back up and running by October.

The Marketing Grader is something we developed in 2017 as a means of delivering a free email course on marketing, specifically designed for physical and manual therapists. It ran between 2017 and 2022 and has been completed by just over 1,500 therapists from all over the world. It consisted of 20 yes/no questions designed to establish where you were with your current marketing and to help you to decide what actions you should prioritise, going forward, to give you the most time and cost-effective ‘bang for your marketing buck’. Unfortunately today, with the exception of a higher percentage of people having a Google My Business Profile and more customer reviews, very little else has changed.

The State of Physical Therapy Marketing Today

Results from the Co-Kinetic Marketing Grader

What are the standout travesties here?

l The amount of time being spent on marketing without results – 9.3 hours a month (which is sufficient by the way, as long as you’re doing the right things).

l The lack of use of people making the effort to first nurture (warm up), and secondly build, their email lists.

l The lack of analytics telling you what’s working and what’s not.

l The biggest marketing obstacle is a lack of knowledge.

If you’re interested in sharpening your marketing skills I’m offering my 4-hour marketing course for free until the end of April 2024. There’s no catch, it’s just honest straightforward talking.

It’s called ‘Built on Trust: A 9 Step Roadmap for Attracting Your Ideal Physical Therapy Clients Without Selling Your Soul.’ You can find the course here:

https://bit.ly/3x3E7ci

Click Buy and enter the coupon code bot_complimentary to access it for free.

Evolving with the Times

By Tor Davies, physiotherapist-turned Co-Kinetic founder

Back in early 2017, we found ourselves at a crossroads. The volume of clinical content freely available through the internet meant our place in the publishing world wasn’t as clear as it once was.

We needed a change, a way to keep solving problems for our customers. So, I asked several hundred customers what the one thing was that they needed most in their professional day-to-day life. The answer came back loud and clear: more customers, without the hard sell.

I then surveyed more than 1,500 therapists all around the world about what exactly they needed from their marketing (we turned the results from this survey into the infographic you can see on p15). The results were not only incredibly helpful but also eyeopening and it gave us our route forward.

Social media had become the new darling on the block, so we started there, but it soon became clear that using social media scheduling tools, or at least the ones in existence in 2017, was a technical barrier for most. This led to us building a social media scheduler into the Co-Kinetic content platform, and integrating it with the social content we were already creating, thereby banishing the technical barrier while at the same time making the whole process super quick.

Fast forward from that pivotal moment in 2017, and it’s like we’re in a whole new world. Social media has shifted from being a ‘nice to have’ to an essential part of any marketing toolkit – or is it?

Let’s take a look at how things have changed since 2017, whether social media is worth the effort or not, and if it is, how you can maximise your chances of success.

WHICH SOCIAL NETWORKS SHOULD PEOPLE PRIORITISE? MY ANSWER IS ALWAYS THE SAME, HAVE A CLEAR IDEA WHO YOUR AUDIENCE IS, AND GO WHERE THEY ARE

The Social Networks

In 2017, the social media giants like Facebook and Twitter (now X) were the main stages for online engagement. Instagram was just beginning to gain traction, harnessing visuals to attract and engage audiences, and LinkedIn was steadily growing from a professional network into a valuable content-sharing space. Today, TikTok has entered the fray, bringing with it short-form video that the other networks have quickly added to their own platforms. And although TikTok has seen quite a dramatic drop in engagement in the last 12 months (and will no doubt follow the pattern the other networks have as volume of content increases), it’s still getting considerably better engagement than any other social platform currently.

One of the questions I’m most frequently asked is, which social networks should people prioritise? My answer is always the same, have a clear idea who your audience is, and go where they are. If the demographics of a platform don’t match those of your perfect customer, don’t waste time on it. That does of course require you to have a clear idea of who your audience is, which unfortunately still too many businesses don’t.

Content Formats

Back in 2017, the content focus was on text-based posts, which then moved to static images (and particularly infographics), and today we’re very much in the realm of video, which gets considerably higher engagement rates across all the networks.

For example, tweets with video attract 10 times more engagement than those without, and video posts on Facebook have a 6.09% higher engagement rate compared to other types of content. On Instagram, video content receives 49% higher engagement rates than photos.

Short-form videos (usually

under 60 seconds in length) are proving particularly popular. For example, for accounts with up to 500 followers, Instagram Reels can reach an astounding 892% more people compared to images. This suggests that even with a smaller following, video can dramatically increase your visibility on social media platforms.

That said, content purpose is also important to consider, and it’s important to offer a variety of content. Just like learning styles, different people have different preferences and, as the saying goes, variety is the spice of life. We’ve massively upped the ante in video creation over the last couple of years, but other media still works well too. Whatever the format, all the content we create for our customers follows our EIRE framework (more about that shortly).

Algorithm Changes

The world of social media is constantly evolving, and algorithms are at the heart of this change (don’t glaze over, this is important and I promise to keep it simple ). The algorithms prioritise user engagement, which means that the way content appears in a user’s feed is not based on when it was posted date and timewise, but based on what the platform believes the user will most likely interact with (hence why you shouldn’t get obsessed with the timing of your posts!).

Understanding these algorithms is important if you’re looking to be effective with your social media. The social networks want to keep people online for as long as possible so you can view as many ads as possible and increase the likelihood of you buying something. For the social network, that means continually filling your feed with content that keeps you scrolling and engaging. The focus for us as content creators is therefore on creating quality content that sparks conversation, which in turn signals the algorithm to increase

the visibility of these posts, something I refer to as ‘social success’ in the social impact equation. We’ll take a look at some examples later in this article.

Engagement Rates

Engagement rates dropped off a cliff in 2019–2020 and then again in 2022. I’ve looked specifically at Facebook to demonstrate this, as it’s been the most consistently present network during this time (Image 1).

In short, the engagement rate has decreased by 63% from 2017 to 2024.

If you have 1,000 followers in 2024, you can only expect half a person to engage with one of your posts , which will hopefully give many of you comfort that your social media gets such little engagement.

There are of course a bunch of other factors, most notably the overwhelming number of poor quality ‘all about me’ posts that I regularly rant about in my various training courses on social media. These posts are generally ‘selfish’, not ‘selfless’ in nature, ie. they’re self-promotional, they don’t encourage engagement, aren’t relatable and don’t add any value to the reader (Images 2 & 3). All of which leads to the opposite of social success – social suicide.

Don’t believe me? Go and do a quick audit of the last 10 posts you posted on your most active social network: how many are ‘selfless’ (ie. purely about adding value to your viewer) and how many are ‘selfish’(ie. blowing your clinic’s trumpet)?

Note: it’s important to make sure you’re comparing like with like when it comes to engagement rate by clarifying whether someone is measuring engagements by number of unique views of a piece of content, or by total followers. Unique views will be a much lower smaller number of people, so will give a much higher engagement rate, whereas engagement divided by followers gives a much lower percentage (that’s what we’ve used above).

User Behaviour

Since 2017, the way people interact with social media has shifted noticeably. It used to be about broadcasting ‘me-focused’ content,

PEOPLE TODAY ARE DRAWN TO CONTENT THAT ADDS REAL VALUE –WHETHER IT’S A PRACTICAL TIP, A HELPFUL RESOURCE, A RELATABLE STORY, OR JUST A GOOD LAUGH. IT’S NO LONGER JUST ABOUT HAVING A PRESENCE; IT’S ABOUT MAKING AN IMPACT

Image

Do your posts lead to social success or social suicide?

Image 2: ‘Selfish’ posts don’t encourage engagement

3:

Image 1: Facebook engagement rates 2017–2024

PEOPLE SPEND AN AVERAGE OF NEARLY 2.5 HOURS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS EVERY DAY – THAT MAKES THEM A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE IF YOU CAN GET IN FRONT OF THEM

which became a one-way street of self-promotion (unfortunately too many people are still stuck doing this).

Over the past few years, user behaviour on social media has changed too with ever-decreasing attention spans. People are now more likely to engage with quick, clear and compelling content that doesn’t demand much time to consume. This explains why short-form video has been so popular. The trend is for instant, digestible content.

These days if you want to get the most from your social efforts (and that’s a question in its own right), it’s about creating a two-way conversation –posts that are about sharing, not just showing off. People today are drawn to content that adds real value – whether it’s a practical tip, a helpful resource, a relatable story, or just a good laugh. It’s no longer just about having a presence;

it’s about making an impact, being the kind of account that others look forward to seeing in their feed.

Content Volume

The sheer volume of content being produced daily has skyrocketed and the numbers are so staggering that it’s hard to put them into context so it doesn’t add much value to the conversation, but rest assured it’s a LOT! So where does all this leave us? Should we even bother with social media? And if we are going to, how can we optimise our efforts so that we get the best return on our investment?

Why Bother with Social Media?

So yes, content engagement may have plummeted, but there are two particularly compelling reasons why

you should be on there.

Firstly, people spend an average of nearly 2.5 hours on social networks every day – that makes them a captive audience if you can get in front of them (Image 4).

Secondly, social networks are becoming search engines in their own right: 70% of users visit local business pages at least once a week.

Like it or hate it, people will actively look for you and your business there and they’ll expect to find you. If social media is used well (and sadly it rarely is), it’s a dynamic platform where you can establish your expertise, sharing valuable insights that build that allimportant reciprocity, or the desire to give back.

Engaging with your audience on these platforms helps to build trust and increases the exposure of your business to a new audience (again something few people bother with). You can broaden your reach, through both organic ‘outreach’ efforts on other groups as well as through targeted ads, and you can demonstrate social proofing, through partnerships with other groups, endorsements and

Image

reviews.

An aspect of social media that many people are still unaware of is its role in supporting your SEO efforts both directly and indirectly, by driving traffic to your website and encouraging wider content distribution. It’s a space where the lines between content sharing, community building, and commerce blur, offering direct and indirect opportunities to encourage enquiries and sales (although we recommend doing this sparingly).

Lastly, having an active social media profile adds to your brand’s legitimacy; it shows that you’re relevant, present and engaged in the same spaces as your customers. All of these factors combine to make social media an indispensable tool in your marketing arsenal (if done well!) (Image 5).

What Strategy Should You Adopt?

I should clarify, we’re talking organic social media here (so not paid promotion). As always, you should start with the end in mind and ask yourself what you are looking to achieve.

1. Do you want to establish a presence so that you are visible, can be found, and can build trust, authority and reputation? In short, that should be the minimum you look to achieve.

2. Do you want to raise awareness of your business outside your own circle of followers? Often this is something people assume will happen just by posting posts on your page. This is not the case. If you want to reach new eyes, you have to engage in community participation on other pages, and groups. This is something I refer to as ‘outreach’ and I talk a lot about in my Social Success for Physical Therapists online training course.

These are the two sides of the same social media coin and many businesses don’t realise that they are two distinct, separate things.

If you want to achieve Purpose 2, you must first invest in Purpose 1. There’s no point in participating in ‘outreach’ and drawing attention to yourself/your business, if – when they

come back to your page (which is the ultimate goal) – it’s out of date, and full of self-promotional posts. So you have to get Purpose 1 ticked off first.

What Content Should You Be Publishing?

Marketers rarely agree on anything, but one thing they can agree on is the type of content, or content pillars, that work well, and we’ve created a framework around this called EIRE (Image 6).

l Educational – providing knowledge or solutions to problems. We always start with this because it also builds authority, trust and a sense of reciprocity.

l Inspirational – fuelling action or change.

l Relatable – resonating on a personal level: think posts where you say “that’s so me!” which then make you want to share them

because it’s, well, “so you”.

l Entertaining – delivering a delightful experience that makes people smile. We all need more of that in our lives!

Our goal is to hit one or more of these pillars, ensuring the social media we create is not just seen but felt and remembered. Why? Because these kinds of posts are the ones that are most likely to encourage user engagement, in other words comments, shares and saves.

Each industry is different though and we’re very conscious when creating content on behalf of our subscribers, that building trust, reputation and authority is key, which is why we often lead with an educational angle (it’s also very ‘unsalesy’). That doesn’t mean you can’t also make it fun.

So we intersperse humour with infographics, with sharable patient leaflet resources (great for encouraging

Image 5: Social media can benefit your business when used properly

Image 6: The important aspects of good social media content

people to tag others), with myth busters, with dingbats (these are GREAT for engagement), inspirational quotes, and memes (which are great for sharing). The end result is helpful, value-adding advice that also entertains. And wherever possible we turn these into videos for all the reasons we’ve mentioned above.

Your Time Matters

We carried out some research that showed that on average physical therapists post around 3 posts a week and each post takes 28 minutes to create. That’s just short of 1.5 hours a week, 6 hours a month, 72 hours a year, which is equivalent to nearly 10 days in time. That’s a two-week holiday! Not to mention the lost earnings when you think how many patients you could see in that time (if you chose to).

So my advice to people is “get in, get it done and get out” and use any resources you can to speed up that process – the service I provide through Co-Kinetic is just one of them (Image 7).

First, make sure your page is current, topical, up-to-date and filled with value-adding posts. Then, if you choose to, you can move to Purpose 2, where your focus is on increasing awareness of your business, and use your social networks to build community. Instead of spending time creating social media, you invest that time on outreach, encouraging

Image 7: Don’t be blind to resources that will save you time conversations on your page and also on other local pages and groups, always remembering to focus on adding value, not self-promoting.

I’ve written and recorded two online training courses, one specifically on Social Media and the other a 9 Step Marketing Strategy - as part of our celebration of this anniversary issue I’m giving readers complementary access to both courses until the end of April. See below for more details. There are no tricks or catches, just my genuine desire for people to get the most from their social media efforts.

In Summary

The key takeaway from the changing social media landscape is that you don’t HAVE to compete in the content frenzy to stay relevant. Engagement rates will probably never get much higher, so don’t invest huge amounts of

your time creating the best content ever, when in real terms that will at best only lead to one or two more engagements. It’s a really poor use of your time. The key part is having a consistent, value-driven presence. It’s about being smart with your time, ensuring you’re ‘ticking the boxes’ efficiently. If expanding awareness of your business through social media is your aim, get your page in order utilising ready-made resources interspersed with the odd personal post, and then invest your efforts towards outreach, sparking conversations, and adding value within your online and offline community, instead of wasting valuable time trying to get one more like, comment or share. It’s not going to change lives! This is all about working smarter, not harder.

Social Success for Physical Therapists Online Training

In this course, I’ll show you how to get a meaningful return on investment (ROI) from your social media efforts with expert guidance, practical strategies and insider tips, all aimed at helping you navigate the everevolving social media landscape with confidence. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting your own practice, this course is designed to provide you with the practical knowledge and strategies needed to elevate your social media presence. No prior social media expertise is required – just bring your enthusiasm and readiness to take your physical therapy business to new heights through social media success.

At Co-Kinetic, we create new social media content on a new topic every month, and that social media prioritises adding genuine value to your viewers, by sharing links to resources we’ve created on your behalf and communicating important messages. Our foundational EIRE method

– Educational; Inspirational; Relatable; Entertaining – is designed not just to inform, but to help our customers build authority through their social pages. Beyond disseminating knowledge, we aim to forge connections. It’s through relatable memes, inspiring messages, and engaging entertainment that we spark the kind of engagement that leads to likes, shares, and comments. This wellregarded strategy isn’t exclusive to us; it’s the same one employed by some of the most successful brands worldwide.

l Educational

l Inspirational

l Relatable

l Entertaining

Built on Trust Online Training

The goal of Co-Kinetic is to simplify marketing for physical therapy clinics, providing you with affordable, specialist content and easy-to-use marketing automation tools that save time, attract more patients and support clinic growth.

l Pre-Created Content: Access a library of pre-written educational content that guides patients through a journey, turning interest into appointments, while saving you time on creating materials.

l Streamlined Automation: Beneft from a built-in scheduler pre-loaded with social media posts, enabling you to plan and maintain a consistent online presence effortlessly. Edit and schedule pre-written emails designed to nurture customer relationships and keep your clinic top of mind.

l Email Growth Tools: Use readymade leafets and pre-built email lead collection pages to build your email list and draw in new patients.

l Connected Content: Beneft from content that interlinks for a seamless marketing experience, where each piece supports the others.

l Trusted Relationships: Build lasting trust with patients by providing consistent, valuable interactions, establishing your practice as a reliable healthcare authority.

Marketing with Integrity Prioritising Trust Over Transactions

In this article Co-Kinetic founder, Tor Davies, delves into the often misunderstood and maligned concept of marketing within the physical therapy industry. She challenges the common misconceptions surrounding marketing and e plores t e ide-ran in benefts of using marketing to build trust with your audience by leading them through a value-adding customer journey. Through a combination of personal insights, industry research, and practical strategies, Tor presents a compelling case for embracing ethical, content-driven marketing as the foundation of a thriving physical therapy practice. This article is a must-read for any physical therapist looking to forge genuine connections with their patients and to establish themselves as a trusted aut orit in t eir feld

By Tor Davies, physiotherapist-turned Co-Kinetic founder

When it comes to marketing in physical therapy, I know full well that many of you have reservations. In fact, a lot of reservations. The idea of ‘marketing’ pretty much always carries a negative connotation of pushy sales tactics or making unrealistic promises. As healthcare professionals committed to our patients’ wellbeing, I know that feels at odds with who we are as people.

But let me be clear, true marketing (ie. marketing done well) is not about aggressive selling or gimmicks – quite the opposite. It’s about building genuine trust with your audience by providing significant value through advice, education and obviously great service. In a field like ours where people have to put their physical health in our hands, earning that level of confidence is absolutely fundamental.

Think about what we do – because after a few years in practice it’s easy to

forget the significance. When patients come to us for care, they have to make themselves vulnerable by getting undressed and allowing us to examine and treat them. They’re literally putting their bodies in our hands, carrying tension, pain and physical issues that need resolving. That requires an incredible amount of trust that we’ll not only care for them properly but, most importantly, that we have the necessary skills to help them get better. This is not a given that they will just assume, it’s a privilege we need to earn.

Marketing plays a vital role in establishing that foundational trust even before a patient walks through the door. By sharing our expertise freely through educational content, offering advice rooted in care rather than self-interest, we begin cultivating credibility. Potential patients see us as professionals committed to their wellbeing first.

Really effective marketing in any industry is the opposite of the pushy sale. It focuses not on convincing, but on helping. It shows the value that we can provide through transparency, expertise and a track record of achieving positive results for other people in similar circumstances. This ethical approach then guides prospective patients naturally towards working with us when the time is right based on the trust built over time

Most clinics make the mistake of focusing their efforts solely on the small percentage of people who are ready to take action and book an appointment immediately (around 3–5% of people). However, this approach ignores the vast majority of potential patients who are at earlier stages of the buying process.

According to the Buyer’s Pyramid

model, a common breakdown of potential customers is as follows.

l Awareness: 80% of potential customers are aware of a problem or need but are not yet familiar with your specific solution.

l Interest: 20% are interested in learning more about potential solutions, including your offering.

l Desire: 7–10% have a strong desire for a solution and are actively comparing options.

l Action: only 3–5% are ready to take action and make a purchase.

By focusing only on the 5% who are ready to book, clinics are competing with every other therapist for a small slice of the market. Meanwhile, they are missing out on the opportunity to educate, nurture and guide the 95% of potential patients who are at the Awareness, Interest and Desire stages.

Effective content marketing strategies target these earlier stages of the Buyer’s Pyramid, providing valuable information and building trust with potential patients who may not be ready to book an appointment today but could become loyal customers in the future. By creating content that addresses their needs and concerns at each stage, you can guide them through the buying process and establish your clinic as the go-to choice when they are ready to take action.

That’s good marketing done well!

The Evidence Behind the Impact of Trust on a Business

Plenty of research shows that businesses able to build genuine trust with their audiences see significantly higher customer lifetime value – up to 95% higher, in fact. When patients feel confident in your expertise and commitment to their wellbeing, they’re

more likely to continue seeking your services over time.

In general, 83% of consumers say trust is one of the top factors influencing their purchase decisions. However, in healthcare, where people are putting their physical health in your hands, that need for trust is exponentially higher. Patients aren’t buying a simple product or service –they’re entering into a deeply personal partnership for their wellbeing.

Educational, informative content plays a key role in building that trust. Studies indicate that people are 60–70% more likely to take a desired action (subscribing, following, purchasing) after engaging with content that demonstrates your expertise and credibility. It’s often how prospective patients vet potential providers before booking an appointment.

And once you’ve established trust, it tends to spread quickly through word-of-mouth referrals (as long as they continue to have good experiences of course). On average, 85% of new customers come from personal recommendations of trusted businesses. When patients have a positive experience, they naturally want to share it with others in their circles.

The Impact of Trust on Patient Outcomes

Beyond the business benefits, building trust with patients has a significant impact on their overall health outcomes. When patients trust their healthcare provider, they are more likely to openly share important information, adhere to treatment plans, and engage fully in their own recovery process.

Studies have shown that high levels of trust between patients and clinicians lead to improved patient satisfaction, increased treatment adherence, and better overall health outcomes.

MARKETING DONE WELL BUILDS GENUINE TRUST WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

TRUE MARKETING IS NOT ABOUT PUSHY SALES GIMMICKS

Patients who feel a strong sense of trust are more likely to follow through with recommended therapies, lifestyle changes, and follow-up appointments, all of which contribute to more successful recoveries.

On top of this, trust fosters a sense of partnership and shared decision-making between patient and provider. When patients feel heard, respected and supported, they are more empowered to take an active role in their own care. This collaborative approach not only enhances the patient experience but also leads to more personalised, effective treatment plans.

The Long-Term Compounding Effect of Trust

It’s important to understand that building trust is a long-term strategy, not a quick fix or overnight solution. It takes consistent effort and genuine engagement to establish your reputation as a credible, trustworthy provider. But the good news is that the benefits compound significantly over time.

As you continue to provide valuable, educational content and build relationships with your audience, you start to become recognised as the go-to authority in your field. Patients begin to actively seek you out when they need care, rather than you having to constantly chase new leads. Your investment in trust pays dividends in the form of a steady stream of engaged, loyal patients who view you as their partner in health.

The Role of Consistency and Authenticity

To effectively build trust, it’s important to keep a consistent voice and

BUILDING TRUST RESULTS IN BETTER HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR YOUR PATIENTS AS WELL AS BENEFITTING YOUR BUSINESS

message across all touchpoints. Whether a patient is reading your blog, browsing your website, or interacting with you on social media, they should feel like they are engaging with the same trusted provider at each stage. Inconsistencies or contradictions can quickly eat away at credibility.

Authenticity is equally vital. Patients can sense when a provider is being insincere or using gimmicky tactics to get their attention. Focus on being genuinely helpful and transparent in all your communications. Share your expertise freely, admit when you don’t have all the answers, and always keep the patient’s best interests at the forefront. True authenticity fosters deeper trust.

Balancing Automation with the Personal Touch

Marketing automation tools can be incredibly valuable in helping you get the best use of your time. They allow you to scale your educational content distribution, maintain consistent communication and nurture relationships with a larger audience. However, it’s important not to overrely on automation at the expense of personal, human engagement.

The key is to find a balance. Use automation to handle routine tasks such as email newsletters, social media scheduling, and targeted content delivery. However, make sure you’re still dedicating proper quality time for direct, one-on-one interactions with prospective patients and you community. The whole purpose of automation is to free up your capacity to engage in high-value, personal conversations – not replace them entirely (the latter of which, unfortunately, is where many people’s marketing is at currently).

Distinguishing Marketing from Sales

One common misconception is that marketing and sales are interchangeable terms. In reality, they serve distinct but complementary functions. Marketing is about building awareness, nurturing relationships, and establishing trust

with your target audience. It’s the process of guiding potential patients from initial interest to the point where they’re ready to take the next step. I refer to it as leading someone to your clinic door.

Sales, on the other hand, is the process of converting that interest into a concrete action – booking an appointment, signing up for a service, or making a purchase. It’s the final stage in the patient journey where trust is translated into commitment. Effective marketing paves the way for sales by priming the relationship and providing the necessary information and confidence for patients to move forward.

Common Marketing Mistakes and Misconceptions

Although the principles of trust-based marketing are straightforward, many physical therapists fall into common traps that can hinder their efforts. Let’s take a look at some of the most prevalent misconceptions and mistakes to avoid.

The Myth of Instant Results

One of the most common misunderstandings is that marketing should deliver an immediate influx of new patients (mainly because that’s what marketers often unrealistically promise is possible). Many practitioners come to me expecting a sudden surge in appointments right out of the gate. But the reality is, effective marketing is a long-term game.

Building trust and establishing your reputation as a credible authority takes time and consistent effort. It’s not a light switch you can flip for instant results. Expecting a flood of new patients overnight is like planting a seed and expecting a full-grown tree the next day. Marketing is about nurturing relationships and guiding potential patients through a journey – one that ultimately leads to trust and loyalty.

The Pitfall of Inconsistency

Another common mistake is approaching marketing in fits and bursts – ramping up efforts when patient volume is low, then tapering off when things get busy. But this inconsistency can actually erode trust and credibility.

Imagine if a friend only got in contact with you when they needed help, then disappeared when things were going well for them. It would be hard to build a genuine, trusting relationship. The same principle applies to marketing. Consistency is key to establishing a reliable, trustworthy presence in your patients’ minds.

The Importance of Patience and Persistence

Successful marketing requires a shift in mindset. Rather than viewing it as a short-term fix, you have to approach it as a long-term investment in your clinic’s growth and stability. This means committing to a steady, ongoing effort – even when you don’t see immediate results.

It’s not uncommon to feel discouraged when your marketing efforts don’t yield a flood of new patients right away. But the key is to stay the course and trust the process. Over time, as you consistently provide valuable content and engage with your audience, you’ll start to see the compounding effects of your efforts.

The Value of a Holistic Strategy

Many practitioners also make the mistake of focusing all their efforts on a single marketing channel or tactic, like social media or email newsletters. However, the most effective approach is a holistic one that combines multiple touchpoints to build trust and credibility.

Think of it like building a strong, stable foundation. You wouldn’t rely on just one support beam – you’d use a combination of elements to create a solid base. In marketing, this means leveraging a mix of content formats, platforms, and engagement strategies to reach and resonate with your target

audience. It’s a classic case of the ‘whole’ being ‘greater than the sum of the parts’.

a anc n fc enc with Personal Connection

There are plenty of tools and platforms out there to help streamline your marketing efforts (I provide one which contains both pre-created content as well as automation technology). These solutions can (and should) automate repetitive tasks, such as sending email newsletters (helpful ones not spam) or scheduling social media posts, ensuring they’re done consistently, while saving you valuable time and energy. However, it’s important not to let your whole marketing strategy rest on these at the expense of genuine, human engagement.

Although automation can certainly make your marketing more efficient, it’s not a substitute for personal interaction. The goal should be to use these tools to handle routine tasks, freeing up your time and capacity to focus on building real, meaningful connections with your patients and community. That’s exactly the purpose of my Clinic Growth Hub subscription.

Instead of hiding behind a computer screen, use the time saved through automation to get out into your local area and network face-toface. Attend community events, host

BUILDING TRUST IS A LONG-TERM STRATEGY, NOT A QUICK FIX

educational workshops, or collaborate with other local businesses. Even in the digital realm, prioritise personal engagement through one-on-one consultations, live webinars or interactive social media conversations.

Remember, people crave authentic human connection – especially when it comes to their health and wellbeing. Automation should be a means to create more space for these valuable interactions, not a replacement for them. By striking the right balance between efficiency and personal touch, you can build lasting, trusting relationships with your patients and establish yourself as an engaged, accessible provider in your community.

Putting Content Marketing into Action

Building trust through ethical, consistent marketing is the foundation of a thriving physical therapy business. But how exactly do you implement these principles in your day-to-day efforts? That’s where the

AUTOMATED TOOLS CAN MAKE YOUR MARKETING MORE EFFICIENT AND FREE UP TIME TO SPEND ON FACE-TOFACE INTERACTIONS

power of content marketing comes in.

By sharing your expertise through informative, educational content, you can demonstrate your credibility and build trust with your audience at scale. And with the right tools and strategies, you can streamline this process to make it more efficient and effective.

In our next article, I’ll talk more about the practical application of content marketing – both behind the screen and out in your community. We’ll explore how you can use automation software and patientfacing materials, such as the ones we provide through Co-Kinetic, to streamline your content creation and distribution. From educational posters and peer-reviewed information leaflets to pre-written blog posts, social media and email campaigns, they all have a place in your marketing.

Key Points

I’ll discuss how these resources can be integrated and automated into one holistic big picture, allowing you to deliver valuable content to your prospective clients at key points throughout their customer journey. Whether it’s sharing informative social media posts, nurturing leads through targeted email sequences, or educating patients in your waiting room, you’ll learn how to put these principles into action.

But content marketing definitely isn’t just about digital distribution. We’ll also explore how you can use these resources to create connections within your local community. From hosting educational workshops to collaborating with other healthcare and wellness providers, I’ll show you some simple but incredibly effective ways to extend your trust-building efforts offline and transform the way you connect with a growing audience.

l Marketing and sales serve distinct functions, with marketing building trust and guiding patients to the point of taking action.

l Common marketing mistakes include expecting instant results, inconsistency, lack of patience, and relying on a single tactic instead of a holistic strategy.

l Digital marketing and automation tools should be used to free up your time, so you can spend it instead on building genuine connections and partnerships.

l Building trust not only benefits your business but also leads to better health outcomes for your patients.

l Building trust is a long-term strategy that requires consistent effort but yields compounding benefits over time.

l Instead of competing with everyone else for the 3–5% of patients ready to take action, focus on nurturing the 7–10% in the “Desire” stage who are actively seeking a solution and are more likely to convert with the right guidance.

l Sharing expertise through educational content helps to cultivate credibility and positions practitioners as professionals committed to their patients’ wellbeing and not just their bottom line.

l As practitioners, we must recognise the vulnerability patients experience when entrusting us with their physical wellbeing. Acknowledging this is key to building the trust necessary for effective treatment and lasting relationships.

The Physical Therapist’s Content Marketing Cheat Sheet

uildin rust nline and f ine

Proactively attracting patients and building trust as a physical therapist can be hard. In this guide we’ll share practical content ideas to help you connect with your audience both online and offline. From blog posts and videos to posters and advice leaflets, we’ll cover a range of strategies to help you showcase your expertise and engage potential patients. We’ll also discuss the value of community outreach and partnerships, which is sadly all too often neglected in favour of digital activities.

For each content type, we’ll provide examples and explain how they can help build trust and attract patients. Whether you’re new to content marketing or looking to improve your approach, this cheat sheet will give you the tools to get started. By the end of this article, you’ll have a roadmap for creating valuable content that resonates with your target audience and positions your practice as a trusted resource for physical therapy and wellness.

By Tor Davies, physiotherapist-turned Co-Kinetic founder

Content marketing, or education-based marketing as it’s also known, is not new. It’s been around since at least 1732 (1) but it continues to prove itself one of the most powerful tools for attracting, engaging and retaining customers in all industries. It’s based on the premise that by providing valuable, informative content,

SECTION 1 Educational Blog Posts

YOU CAN:

l share in-depth articles on common conditions, treatments, and preventive measures;

l provide practical tips and advice for managing pain, improving mobility, and enhancing overall wellbeing;

l discuss the latest research and advancements in physical therapy; and

l offer guidance on when to seek professional help and what to expect during treatment.

Why it Works

Blog posts are a fantastic way to improve your website’s search engine optimisation (SEO). By consistently creating highquality, keyword-rich content, you can attract more organic

you can establish your business as a trusted authority in your field and build lasting relationships with your target audience. In this article we’ll explore a wide range of content types and ideas that you can use as a physical therapist, to help you build trust both online and offline, while also explaining the ‘why’ behind each strategy.

traffic to your site and establish your practice as a knowledgeable resource in your field. Additionally, blog posts provide value to your readers, fostering trust and encouraging them to share your content with others.

SECTION 2

YOU CAN:

Informative Videos

l create short, engaging videos demonstrating simple exercises or explaining about injuries or medical conditions;

l share patient success stories and testimonials to build trust and credibility;

l offer virtual tours of your practice to familiarise potential patients with your facilities and team; and

l host live Q&A sessions to address common concerns and provide personalised advice.

Why it Works

Videos are a highly engaging and shareable content format that

can help you connect with your audience on a more personal level. By answering questions, educating about conditions, or demonstrating exercises, you provide value and build trust with potential patients. Videos can also improve your search engine rankings, as Google often displays video results prominently in search pages.

SECTION 3 Infographics and Visual Aids

YOU CAN:

l develop eye-catching infographics that break down complex concepts into easily digestible formats;

l create visual guides for proper posture, ergonomics and injury prevention; and

l share illustrated step-by-step instructions for home exercises and self-care techniques.

Why it Works

Visual content is highly effective in capturing attention and conveying information quickly. By creating infographics and visual aids, you make complex topics more accessible and engaging for your audience. When shared on social media, these visuals demonstrate your authority and commitment to patient education, which builds trust and credibility.

SECTION 4 n or at e d ce Leafets

YOU CAN:

l create professional, branded advice leaflets on various physical therapy topics and conditions;

l cover common concerns, such as back pain, sports injuries, posture tips, or post-surgery rehabilitation;

l offer practical guidance, exercises and selfcare techniques that patients can implement at home;

l distribute leaflets in your clinic, local businesses, sports clubs and community centres;

l share digital versions of your leaflets on your website, social media and email newsletters; and

l encourage patients and followers to share your leaflets with friends and family.

Why it Works

SECTION 5 Eye-Catching Posters

YOU CAN:

l design attractive posters showcasing your services, specialties and unique selling points;

l create educational posters highlighting common conditions, preventive measures or wellness tips;

l display posters in your clinic’s front window to attract passing traffic and demonstrate your expertise;

l use posters to announce upcoming events, workshops or new treatments available at your practice; and

l rotate posters regularly to keep your display fresh and engaging.

Why it Works

Posters are a powerful visual tool to capture attention and convey important information quickly (they can also draw attention away from shabby waiting areas that might need updating!). By displaying eye-catching posters in your clinic’s front window, you can attract interest from passing traffic and establish your practice as a knowledgeable, up-to-date resource. Posters also help reinforce your brand identity and showcase your commitment to patient education and wellness.

SECTION 6 Email Newsletters

YOU CAN:

Advice leaflets are one of the most versatile and effective tools in your content marketing arsenal. By providing valuable, expert advice in a tangible format, you establish your authority and build trust with potential patients. Branded leaflets distributed locally help raise awareness about your practice and position you as a go-to resource in your community.

Digital versions of your leaflets can be easily shared on social networks, extending your reach and attracting new patients to your practice. When you link to your leaflets from your website or blog, you also boost your SEO by providing the valuable, keyword-rich content that search engines favour. Advice leaflets are a powerful way to educate, engage and convert potential patients, making them an essential component of your content marketing strategy.

l send regular newsletters featuring valuable content, such as health tips, success stories, and upcoming events;

l segment your email list to deliver targeted content based on subscribers’ interests and needs;

l offer exclusive resources (such as downloadable guides or access to webinars) to incentivise people to sign up;

l encourage readers to share their own experiences and engage with your practice; and

l make sure the emails are 100% value-adding, not sales pitches – think ‘selfless, not selfish’.

Why it Works

Email newsletters allow you to build a direct, personal connection with your audience. By providing valuable content and resources straight to their inbox, you keep your practice top-of-mind and foster a sense of community. Segmenting your list ensures that subscribers receive content that is most relevant to their needs, which increases engagement and trust.

CONTENT MARKETING IS A POWERFUL TOOL FOR ATTRACTING

AND

RETAINING CUSTOMERS

SECTION 7 Social Media Engagement

YOU CAN:

l share bite-sized tips, inspiration and insights on platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram;

l engage with your followers by responding to comments, questions and messages promptly;

l collaborate with other local healthcare professionals or wellness experts to expand your reach; and

l participate in relevant online communities and discussions to establish your expertise.

Why it Works

Social media platforms offer tremendous opportunities to connect with your target audience, build relationships and establish your brand personality. By consistently sharing valuable content and engaging with your followers, you increase your visibility and attract more potential patients to your practice. Social media engagement can also positively impact your SEO, as search engines take social signals into account when ranking websites.

SECTION 8 Community Outreach and Events

YOU CAN:

l host educational workshops, seminars or webinars on topics related to physical therapy and wellness;

l participate in local health fairs, sports events or charity initiatives to raise awareness about your practice;

l collaborate with schools, senior centres or community organisations to offer free screenings or presentations;

l sponsor local sports teams or fitness events to showcase your commitment to community health; and

l partner with local businesses (such as running stores, cycling shops or yoga studios) to cross-promote services and reach new audiences.

Why it Works

Community outreach and events allow you to connect with potential patients in person, building trust and credibility through face-toface interactions. By collaborating with local organisations and businesses, you expand your reach and tap into new networks of potential clients. These partnerships also demonstrate your commitment to community wellness, fostering goodwill and trust among your target audience.

Joining it Together

The real power comes when you join everything together and everything links to each other. This collective linking boosts SEO and ensures your message is consistent across your various communication channels. In this way, the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts and creates a virtuous circle.

Conclusion

By using a broad range of content types and community outreach strategies in your marketing plan, you can build trust effectively with your target audience and position your practice as a go-to resource for physical therapy and wellness. Remember to prioritise value, authenticity and consistency in your content creation efforts, and always keep your patients’ needs and interests at the forefront.

For a more in-depth exploration of how to leverage each content type effectively, be sure to check out our comprehensive downloadable guide Building Trust with Content: A Holistic Guide to Physical Therapy Marketing (https://bit.ly/3TIvddb).

References

1. Pulizzi J. The history of content marketing [infographic]. Content Marketing Institute 2016 (https://bit.ly/4co976W).

Building Healthy Communities A Call to Action for Physical Therapy

As we mark 25 years at Co-Kinetic, we’re not just looking back at our journey from an educational content provider to a leader in marketing content and automation technology for physical therapists, we’re also looking forward. Our world faces new challenges every day – social disconnection, environmental issues, and health crises. But in this disrupted world, we see a chance for physical therapists to redefine their impact on health and wellness.

This vision is about more than just surviving these challenges – it’s about thriving by creating new opportunities for ourselves, our practices and our communities. We’re talking about a future where physical therapists are at the heart of Health Hubs, bringing together the best of healthcare, community support and sustainable practices, with Co-Kinetic right there beside you, supporting you with our content, technology and a shared commitment to innovation, we want to help you lead this change. This isn’t just an invitation; it’s a partnership for a future where we all grow – from our businesses to the planet.

By Tor Davies, physiotherapist-turned Co-Kinetic founder

As physical therapists, we have the chance to make a real difference in the lives of our patients and the communities we serve. But, in today’s fastpaced, technology-driven, social mediaobsessed world, we’re facing a growing challenge: the disconnect and isolation that many people experience, can and is, taking a serious toll on our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

We’ve become increasingly disconnected from the people around us. We don’t interact with our families and friends in the same way we used to. We often feel isolated and alone, even when we’re surrounded by others. This sense of disconnection extends to our communities as well. Many of us don’t feel a

strong sense of belonging or responsibility for the people living around us.

This societal breakdown is having a significant impact on our mental health. It’s not just affecting those with pre-existing mental health conditions, it’s taking a toll on all of us. Loneliness, stress and anxiety are becoming all too common, even among people who might consider themselves ‘normal’ or ‘welladjusted’.

On top of that, the state of our natural environment is also an accelerating worry. The damage to our ecosystems, the loss of biodiversity, the increasing pollution levels and the impact of an ever-increasing use of chemicals in our food production systems not only affect the planet but also have direct consequences on our health. There’s plenty of research showing that spending time in nature

and green spaces can significantly improve mental health, reduce stress levels and promote overall wellbeing. Not to mention the health benefits of eating better quality food on improving wellbeing and reducing the risk of disease.

As healthcare professionals, we’d be mad to ignore the deep connection between environmental health, social connection and physical wellbeing. It’s all interlinked and, by recognising this, we have an exciting opportunity to approach health in a more holistic way.

As physical therapists, we’re in a unique position to be at the centre of this model. We generally have very holistic backgrounds, not just in movement, function, pain and rehabilitation but also often in physiology, nutrition and exercise. Additionally we understand the interconnectedness of physical, mental, social and environmental factors in shaping a person’s overall wellbeing.

Community Outreach and Engagement

One of the easiest ways to get started with community outreach is by offering talks and workshops on topics related to health and wellness. This could be anything from injury prevention and exercise techniques to stress management and healthy eating. The key is to choose topics that are relevant and valuable to your community, and to deliver them in a way that’s engaging, accessible and easy to understand.

This is where the idea of the Health Hub comes in. By putting ourselves at the heart of community health initiatives, we have the power to create a ripple effect that goes way beyond our individual clinics. We can bring people together, build strong relationships, and empower our communities to take control of their health and wellbeing.

But the benefits of this approach aren’t just for our patients and communities. By stepping up as holistic health leaders, we can also stand out in a crowded market, show off our expertise, and open up new opportunities for growth and success. We can find a sense of purpose and fulfilment that goes beyond the day-to-day activities of our clinics, knowing that we’re making a real, tangible difference in the world around us.

The Health Hub Concept

At its core, a Health Hub is a collaborative, community-centred approach to health and wellness. It’s about creating a space where different professionals can come together to address the diverse needs of the people in our community.

By embracing the Health Hub concept, you can expand your role beyond the clinic and become a leader in your community. This means collaborating with a whole range of other healthcare professionals, to deliver to the needs of your community. It could also mean partnering with local organisations, schools and businesses to promote wellness initiatives and create supportive environments that encourage healthy lifestyles.

One of the key benefits of the Health Hub model is its potential to create a sense of belonging and connection within your community. By bringing people together around shared goals of health and wellbeing, you can help build social bonds and combat the isolation and disconnection that so many people experience in today’s world.

The beauty of building a Health Hub model is that you can do it step by step, working with partners you may already know in your community and seeing where the journey takes you (or the community leads you). It’s not something that needs to happen overnight, and the potential rewards – for your patients, your community and your practice – will make a real difference to the lives of the people around you.

When planning your talks and workshops, think about partnering with local organisations and groups that share your values and goals. This could include schools, community centres, Women’s Institute groups, faith-based organisations, or even local businesses. By collaborating with these groups, you can tap into their networks and reach a wider audience, while also building relationships that can lead to future opportunities.

Another powerful way to engage with your community is through nature-based activities and events. This could be anything from organised hikes and outdoor yoga classes to community gardening projects and park clean-ups. By getting people outside and moving in nature, you’re not only promoting physical activity and reducing stress, but also fostering a sense of connection to the environment and each other.

When working with specific populations, tailor your approach to their unique needs and challenges. For older adults, focus on fall prevention, mobility and maintaining independence. For new mothers, offer postpartum exercise classes and support groups. Listen to your community, understand their priorities and adapt your services accordingly.

Explore existing community initiatives such as walk and talk groups, Men in Sheds or She Shed groups. Speak to local primary care practices to identify needs that you can help address, such as women’s health and menopause support.

and build relationships and credibility within our communities.

In our own practices and Health Hubs, encourage sustainable behaviours and make eco-friendly choices whenever possible. This could include reducing paper waste, using natural cleaning products, and promoting active transportation like cycling or walking. Educate patients about the health benefits of eating local, organic, plant-based foods and provide resources to make these choices more accessible.

Partnering with schools and youth organisations is one of the most impactful ways to promote lifelong healthy habits. Involve young people in community gardens to develop an understanding of growing healthy food and generate consciousness about food wastage.

Social media is a great tool for expanding your reach and engaging your community. By providing valuable resources and fostering a sense of connection among your followers, you can establish yourself as a trusted leader. Remember, community outreach is about building relationships and trust over time through consistent value and support.

Promoting True Holistic Health

As physical therapists and health leaders, we have a unique opportunity to promote environmental health through our work.

Educate patients and communities about the interconnectedness of environmental health, food quality, soil health, physical health and overall wellbeing. Many people don’t realise the massive impact that factors like air and water pollution, pesticide use and soil degradation can have on their physical and mental health.

Partner with local environmental organisations and initiatives, such as supporting farmers markets, communitysupported agriculture programmes, treeplanting events, and park or beach clean-ups. By aligning ourselves with these efforts, we contribute to the health of our environment

The Health Hub model has exciting potential to create community spaces that promote both human and environmental health, such as community gardens where people can grow fresh food while learning about soil health and sustainable agriculture, or outdoor classrooms that encourage a connection to the environment from an early age.

By starting small, focusing on our own spheres of influence and collaborating with others who share our vision, we can make a meaningful difference.

e s ness enefts

Becoming a leader in community health will help establish you as a trusted expert in your field. By consistently providing valuable resources and support to your community, you can build a reputation as a knowledgeable, credible and compassionate healthcare provider. This can help you stand out in a crowded market and attract patients seeking a holistic, integrated approach to health.

Aligning your practice with sustainability and community health values can differentiate your services and build brand loyalty, especially as people increasingly seek out socially and environmentally responsible businesses.

The Health Hub model also provides opportunities to collaborate with other healthcare professionals, learn from diverse perspectives, and make a tangible difference in people’s lives. This can generate new business opportunities, networks and referral sources to help grow your practice. You may also develop new products or services that

HEALTH HUBS ARE ABOUT BRINGING WELLNESS FULL CIRCLE, FROM OUR CLINICS TO THE COMMUNITIES WE SERVE

align with your community’s needs, such as group exercise classes, wellness retreats, or environmental education programmes.

Perhaps most importantly, embracing the Health Hub model can give you a deeper sense of purpose and satisfaction, knowing you’re contributing to a larger movement towards a healthier, more sustainable future. By aligning your professional goals with your personal values, you can find renewed passion and motivation in your career, knowing you’re not just treating individual patients but also building healthier communities.

How Can Co-Kinetic help?

Health Hubs are about bringing wellness full circle, from our clinics to the communities we serve. It’s a path to greater impact and connection, and we know it starts with the right support.

This is where Co-Kinetic comes in. We’re here to provide content that aligns with your day-to-day work – the kind that supports the conversations you’re having and the relationships you’re building. Whether it’s social media snippets, informative flyers or email templates, we’ve got the practical tools to help you communicate and educate.

Our content is designed to be used. It’s made to be shared – not just by you, but with the community of health professionals you’re teaming up with. Everything we create is written to help you build that sense of belonging and togetherness that’s at the heart of the Health Hub vision.

If you’re ready to start making these connections and growing this vision, we’re ready to help. And we’d love for you to be part of our free community where ideas flourish and collaborations begin. Get in touch, join the conversation, and let’s make Health Hubs the cornerstone of our communities together.

Please get in touch with me directly through my website (https://co-kinetic.com/), if you like what you read, and together let’s bring this vision to life.

Take the Pain Out of Marketing Your Physical Therapy Business

Award-Winning Content and Streamlined Marketing Tools

lPre-Created Content: Content campaigns written by physical therapists, featuring blog posts, social media updates, customer emails, and patient resources. All designed to turn interest into bookings, while saving content creation time.

lStreamlined Automation: Utilise our inbuilt tools for effortless scheduling of social media and email communications, ensuring regular, high-quality engagement in a completely unsalesy way.

lEmail List Growth Tools: Grow your email list with our professionally designed peer-reviewed leaflets and ready-to-use email sign-up pages, welcoming new patients into your practice.

lConnected Content: Experience a coherent marketing flow with interconnected content that naturally guides patients through every touchpoint, all reinforcing a cohesive message.

lTrusted Relationships: Build genuine trust with high-value, educational interactions that resonate with patients, reinforcing your reputation as an authoritative healthcare provider.

https://bit.ly/3TMWFp9