The Tale of Two Letters

I'll begin this post by referring you to Rob's previous post about marketing.  Neatly tucked away at the end of that post is a comment about how marketing really is getting the right message out.  Repeatedly, in the right places, over a long time.  Eventually, you (or your profession, or business) become branded. 

Physical Therapists have been struggling to overcome certain branding for some time now.  As you know, it is a long road from reconstruction aides to autonomous practitioners.  As we move toward a profession based in doctoral level education and post-professional clinical training like residencies and fellowships, we really need our branding to take hold.  What we do not need, is efforts to the contrary.

Available on the APTA website is a letter written late in 2006 to the New York Times in response to an article about heavy handbags.  In the letter, Marilyn Moffat kindly offers up her expertise in the form of suggestions for "fashion-conscious women" to avoid all the terrible maladies that go with heavy handbags. 

I would argue that this letter does nothing but work against our efforts as a profession to create a branding as experts in neuro-musculoskeletal medicine.  Yes, I know that posture is important, and handbags can be primary drivers of insult to your body, even perpetuate dysfunction.  Please let's look past that and examine this issue purely from a marketing perspective.

If I pretend to be an outsider to the profession, I have learned from this article that if I need common sense tips about how to carry a handbag or my posture, I could talk to a physical therapist.  I could also just go and ask my grandmother for some advice, as there really is no expertise included in suggestions like, "Shrug the shoulders and do shoulder pinches to help with proper posture."   Surely, no profession in need of improved market awareness as experts in a medical field should rely on such examples of their product! 

Please, APTA, remove this letter!  I am not impressed that it was in response to a NYT article.  I am not impressed that Physical Therapists feel they need the last word on such silly things as 50lb handbags.  I am impressed that, through this letter, Physical Therapists seem like insignificant posture helpers.

Lest all hope be lost, let me direct you to another letter on the APTA website which is finely crafted and could be used as an example.  This letter was written by the venerable Scott Ward in response to a pro-chiro article in which "physical therapy" was reduced to "related treatments" that "can cost more."

What is my message here? 

Please consider branding in marketing efforts.  I, like so many others out there, did not work to obtain a doctorate education to be perceived as one who offers Dear Abby-like advice to fashion-conscious women!

ERIC