Episode 14 brought us Marketing, which was an extension of episode 13, Branding. If you didn’t have a chance to listen to or read about Branding, we’d recommend going back to that one before continuing on with this one. When you’re ready, Marketing can be heard on Soundcloud or iTunes.

Marketing is most widely defined as the communications between a company and its customers. More specifically, according to the American Marketing Association, it is defined as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, or society at large.”

Core components of Marketing, the 4 P’s:

• Product: is the good or service that will meet the consumer’s demand/ need.
  • Our product is sports medicine services. More specifically, it is prevention, evaluation, and rehabilitation of orthopedic injuries.
• Price: how much it will require to obtain the good or service; often determined based on the value the good or service is deemed to provide
  • Price is always a heated debate in AT and there is a reason why what we get paid varies across the country and across settings. This reason is perceived value. Going back to branding, we have to increase our consumer’s perceived value in order to charge higher prices.
• Place: how and where the product will be delivered. The environment in which a good or service is supplied makes a difference in how the consumer perceives and values it.
  • Think of place as setting. The setting we work in has an impact on what people are willing to pay for our services. When we go to a doctor’s office (clinic setting), we expect to pay more for a service than when we go to a football game (secondary school setting). That’s why we all pay a $20-$30 copay to be seen by a doctor, whereas we wouldn’t pay more than $10 to get into a high school sporting event. It makes a difference in the placement of our athletic training product/ service.
• Promotion: is advertising, sales, promotions, etc. This is the communication aspect of marketing, especially when you think specifically about advertising.
  • This is an areas where secondary school ATs or per diem workers have the upper hand to clinical or industrial. The promotion of an AT on the sidelines or at a sporting event is far more valuable than promoting an AT who works in a doctors office or PT clinic. Mostly because in the sideline scenario, the AT is the sole medical provider, thus increasing our value. Whereas in a doctors office or PT clinic, there are several medical providers whom our value has to compete with.

Examples of how to market the 4 P’s in your setting:

• Secondary School AT: baseline concussion testing or PPE’s & cardiac screening – offering a service to the community that reflects your personal AT brand and markets toward the audience you are looking to attract.
• Industrial setting: ergonomics and improving workspace functionality. This is a unique skill set to your type of AT practice that is marketable to your employer and end user to increase perceived value.
• Performing Arts/ Entertainment: workers comp proficiency. As we heard in the Case Study with Kelly Hudson, the ability to read and understand workers comp is unique to the entertainment industry AT.

Why is it important to understand and know your brand prior to marketing?

1. Branding is the consistent message that the consumers knows and sees.
2. Branding should precede any marketing efforts.
3. Your marketing techniques should complement and build upon your brand identity.

Now that you have taken time to determine what your brand of athletic training is, what can you market about yourself, your position, or your setting that helps to build that brand and engage the customer? What are things that your brand offers that sets you apart and differentiates you from other brands of Athletic Training?

Identify 2-3 aspects of your personal & professional brand that you could market in the next couple of months. What is that product or service, what is the placement of it, how will you promote it, and how can you price it? If you could focus on putting to market 2 ideas/ year, you would be benefiting your brand and the overall brand of athletic training. NATM is an excuse to market once/ year, so identify one more opportunity for yourself. NATA also provides resources you can utilize to develop your brand and market yourself.

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