Medical practices are complex. Compounding this complexity is that, unlike other businesses, medical practices have to deal with the regulatory and compliance issues that come with interacting with patients. Because of these realities, it can be challenging for medical practice owners to create marketing programs that deliver. In this article, we’ll discuss a few strategies that you can use to market your small medical practice on the cheap.
Create a Marketing Plan: Without a marketing plan, you are leaving a lot to chance. Your marketing plan should set out the specific marketing objectives you want to achieve and provide an outline of the specific marketing activities you need to undertake to meet these objectives.
Make the most of your waiting room: There is no time better for a patient to ask family, friends and neighbours about their experiences with you or another dental professional than while waiting. Post flyers in the waiting room, put your business cards on each chair and encourage patients to give you a call if they know of anyone looking for a dentist.
Exceed patient expectations: When you do, people will be more likely to talk about your practice with friends and family members. If you do not want to miss a shot at turning a new patient into a reference, show attention and care.
Children are not the only patients in our offices. More people will see our office than our kids. That is why it is important to understand how consumer psychology can help your practice market itself to patients and attract new ones.
The same rules apply when it comes to marketing your clinical practice as for buying a product. Two main psychological triggers lead people to buy include:
Social Proof – They are more likely to buy a product if social groups recommend them or if there is a collective belief that the product is worth buying.
Reviews – Consumers consider reviews as trustworthy recommendations and are willing to buy products based on those recommendations. In other words, if you have 9/10 people say “yes” about your product, they are more likely to buy it.
Improve social media presence
When it comes to marketing for your small clinical practice, it is all about the budget, right? It helps to get the best bang for your buck and doesn’t hurt to work in some fun. The first thing you need to do is ask your patients for testimonials about their experience with you. You can get these online or via email, and you can put them into your promotional pieces or simply display them on your website if it has a blog or testimonial section. Another great strategy is to identify the top 3-5 things you do that make people love coming into your practice and highlight them on your website. For example, many practices love to talk about their interests in the community, such as sponsoring local Little League teams or being involved in local philanthropy.
Offer Discounts
A discount rate is a percentage discount offered to customers by manufacturers and service providers. Patients love to seek treatment with doctors who offer discounts on their services and procedures. Discount rates are also a great way to attract new patients into a practice. But, if you’re like most small business owners, you don’t have the budget for discounts.The solution? Offer discounts on services that your patients will likely purchase even if they aren’t discounted.
Solicit patient testimonials
Ask your patients for testimonials, preferably on video or audio.
Keep it short and simple. Tell them you are writing a letter to a publication and need a testimonial to include in your submission. Prepare them for the video by telling them that you will ask them about their experience with you as a healthcare provider. You may want to ask if they could please try not to say “good” on the video
Give back to the community
You have to reward people for their time and trust. Marketing your small practice is a tough deal, but you have to make an offering to the world that will be beneficial to others. If you can do that, you will succeed. If you can’t find your rhythm, then you have to stop and ask yourself WHY? You have to get back to the essence of what your business is about and not get lost in the noise. Find your core message, define your systems and then begin marketing your business as a statement that says, “help me help others.” It will work if you truly want it to!
Participate in regional and local trade shows/events
If you live near large medical conventions, attend them. That’s how you’ll get your name and brand out there. To start, local chambers of commerce are an excellent resource for identifying the largest shows in your area. They’re also a good place to begin networking with other businesses and physicians in your area. If starting a business is new to you, these people can help you figure out how to get started on the right path.
Post clinic staff photos on your site
As prospective patients search for you online, they will enjoy virtually meeting the clinic’s staff. Seeing pictures beforehand will alleviate patient anxiety at a first time visit. Likewise, it’s critical to design a simple site to navigate and easy for patients to find what they’re looking for. Compile an inventory of the services you offer, such as skin treatments or laser hair removal. Then, link to pages with more information and include contact information directly on your homepage in a section that lists your hours of operation, so patients can find all of the info they need without having to hunt around on your site.
Make sure your signage is right
Make sure your signage is visible. If there is anything that your patients will see repeatedly, it’s the signage outside your surgery. Posters in the waiting area and decals on the doors are far less important than what’s outside the building. If you want to make sure that people can find you easily and tell their friends about their experience at your practice, make sure that your signage is visible from the street. You can find signage and other branding materials for your clinic here at https://www.craftsmenind.com/
Conclusion
We hope you find this guide helpful. You may be working with a very small marketing budget, or maybe you don’t have any money set aside for marketing at all. In either case, there are still ways to get your name out there and build awareness within your community.