How to Find New Clients for Your Rehab Center for Under $10,000/month

If your rehab center is running successfully, your clients will eventually complete their treatment and leave. That means you’re going to need a continuous stream of new clients to fill the roster. Some of those clients will come naturally. Others, you may have to work a bit harder for.

In any case, if you’ve got $10,000 to put toward your monthly lead generation and marketing efforts, you’ll find plenty of tactics, tools, and resources. Some will be more effective than others, but they will all have the same focused goal: attracting new business.

The methods you use to reach people will also be a bit different than those used by other businesses—but that’s precisely the point. Rehabilitation services aren’t just any other business. You have a unique service to offer and therefore, you also have a unique audience to reach and need approaches that can deliver. Here are some tactics to add to your list. 

Tactic #1: Get reviews and testimonials 

Cost: Free

In the business of rehab and recovery, testimonials and reviews are critical. While some industries could do without them, reviews are going to be a big part of attracting new clients over the years. As the increase in addictions continues to plague the country, more facilities are popping up all over, but they’re not all created with the same reputable, professional approach as yours. Take the time to solicit reviews and testimonials from those who have worked with your rehab center. 

It's even better if you can get professional reviews from a third-party source. This will ensure people that your rehab facility is reputable and capable of delivering the services and support they need. While firsthand insight is helpful, this is one industry where third-party professional reviews help a lot of people make the decision about which rehab to work with. 

Tactic #2: Become an industry expert/authority

Cost: $0-$5,000 

You could spend nothing on this step, or you could invest a decent chunk of your budget to get better results. Becoming an authority or expert within the rehab industry is an integral part of getting the best rankings, and thereby getting more clients for your facility. It’s helpful for you to learn as much as you can, seek out professional training and certifications, and share information freely with your visitors without expecting anything in return. 

One of the best ways you can showcase this authority is to establish a blog where you can post regularly. Here, you should cover all kinds of topics and news from the industry, as well as information and insight about addiction, recovery, and other relevant topics. This reassures people that you are the source of support and assistance they need and helps you rate yourself as a more reputable business all around. 

Tactic #3: Optimize for local SEO 

Cost: $200-$2,500, or more, varies

Local SEO is something that often gets overlooked, or very poorly executed. And it’s usually not anyone’s fault—not many people outside of the marketing world really know much about local optimization and how much value it has. If you’re operating a rehab center, however, reaching your local audience is going to make all the difference. 

Local SEO is a lot more than just adding the city name to your keywords. That’s part of it, of course, but it also includes:

• Getting listed in local directories
• Utilizing your Google Business Profile
• Creating a mobile-friendly website that’s accessible to local mobile searchers
• Building links and relationships with other businesses
• Social media engagement and interaction

It’s usually best to hire someone to handle this if you’re not familiar with SEO best practices, or if you just don’t have the time to do the work yourself. And when you hire someone to help, you can always guarantee that your local SEO is done right. 

Tactic #4: Get registered with the right resources 

Cost: Free, unless you pay for membership or pay someone to submit the listings

There are plenty of professional associations and other resources that offer business directories for their visitors. These are places that you want to be registered or listed so that you can find new clients. This is a great way to go about getting clients because these directory listings will be the proof that people need that your rehab center is legitimate and reputable, saving you a lot of work in proving it to them. You should make sure that your rehab center is listed on the SAMHSA website, as well as any local, state, and other sites or forums that focus on rehabilitation and addiction recovery. 

*Sidenote: When creating these listings, make sure that you choose a single format for your name, address, and phone number and stick with it. That way, search engines will see your rehab as a professional, reputable option for users seeking professional rehabilitation services. This is known as your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) and it can impact your rankings and reputation. 

Tactic #5: Outsource customer service and communications 

Cost: $250-$5,000 per month, varies depending on what you outsource

While you’d like to pride yourself on award-winning customer service that comes from your own team of dedicated agents, you might not have the means to do so. Or, you might have a better place to spend the funds that you have allocated for admin tasks and customer service, leading you to consider outsourcing in the first place. For a fraction of what you’d spend on in-house employees, you can outsource all of your customer service and communications needs. 

Partner with a team like the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai and in addition to providing your clients with a 24/7 answering service, you’ll also get support for lead screening and intake, appointment scheduling, live website chat, and even your outreach campaigns to draw in the leads in the first place. Plus, it all comes with a custom-tailored strategy to ensure that we don’t miss a single detail. 

To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai. 

‍