10 Low Budget Ideas to Market your Drug and Alcohol Rehab Facility.

Let’s face it. If you own a drug and alcohol rehab facility, marketing your business has become harder than ever.  You want your rehab facility to grow, but how do you make that happen without blowing the bank? It’s easy for huge companies that can spend time and money to market their brand, but you can’t wait around until that’s you

Instead market your addiction treatment center with these 10 low budget marketing ideas.

1. Alumni

There is no better word of mouth marketing than a happy Alumni. Create Facebook groups so they can share their experiences and help others who might be slipping. And don’t just leave the groups you create unattended. Participate. Share new “wins” from your rehab facility. Offer congratulations to their wins, but don’t sell! Whatever you do, don’t try to sell to the people in the groups you create.

2. Business Awards

There are many awards and accolades available from local organizations. Apply for them. Winning one of these awards can provide buzz for your addiction treatment facility as well as backlinks from trusted websites. Placing these badges or trophies on your website, or inside treatment center, also provides trust signals to someone looking for addiction treatment.

3. Reviews

Remember those alumni you created a Facebook group for? Ask them to post a review on your Google My Business profile. Make it easy and provide a link for them. These positive reviews can be powerful trust signals for families and clients searching online for treatment center reviews.

4. Host a Local Event.

Do you provide yoga classes at are your drug rehab facility? Why not invite alumni once a month to partake? Let the local newspaper know about your free event and ask them to post about it in their weekly events calendar. Make sure they link back to the proper page on your website. Better, why not lecture about drug rehab treatment at a college, or even a local co-working space. Again, make sure these organizations link back to the event that should be posted on your website.

5. Offer to Write Content for that HR Person You’re Trying to Contact

In your B2B plan, I’m sure you come across monthly business publications created by your prospective company. Offer to contribute an article about the struggles of drug addiction, or about a topic that has been plaguing that specific HR person. This individual receives valuable content for their newsletter or blog, and you get a link back to your website. Remember, again, don’t sell yourself in the article. Provide legitimate and helpful content for their readers and I bet they’ll ask you to write again.

6. Update your Online Listings.

Keep track of online listings of your drug and alcohol treatment center and make sure they’re updated regularly. Add new pictures or additional content. And if you don’t have any listings? Then get some. Trusted sources like Psychology Today can be a valuable asset for any addiction treatment marketing plan.

7. CRM

Customer Relation Management (CRM). How many phone calls do you get where the individual does not have insurance at the moment or is unable to perform a cash pay? This may not be the case forever. What if they get sober, get a job, but then relapse again? If you had stayed in touch with them from your first interaction, they may just seek you out for help. When you have them on the phone the first time, before sending them away, ask if you can send them information about your rehab facility and grab their email. Add this to your email list and stay in contact. Just make sure they can opt out whenever they want.

8. Connect on Social

You are posting to social media, right? Not just feel-good posts, but content people actually need. If so, people leave comments. Comment back. Show you are engaged. It goes a long way to build trust with someone who’s searching for the right treatment facility.

9. Podcasts

Podcasts are huge. Reach out to podcasters who discuss drug and alcohol addiction. Offer to come on and talk with them about issues they are discussing. Share your knowledge and in kind, they will talk about your facility.

10. Get involved with your Community

Most businesses fail to see the clients right outside their door. Everyone believes they need to go out of state to find better clients, but you would be surprised who’s just around the corner. You don’t need a national campaign. Sponsor a local charity event, a marathon, a local sports event. You would be surprised how far these efforts go. Just make sure you attend!