In the age of increasing costs and decreasing medical reimbursements by health insurers, both sole practitioners and medical groups are coming to know the importance of medical marketing for your practice, to survive, to thrive, and to help more patients.
Many doctors, like other professionals, resist the increasing call to work on the “business” side of their practice. “I didn’t become a doctor to go into business. I became a doctor to help people” expressed one doctor. But to be able to help people depends on keeping your medical practice viable, and attracting more patients. It depends on medical marketing.
Word of Mouth Referrals: a great medical marketing tool
American Medical Association research reinforces long time conventional wisdom that “word of mouth” referrals are your Number 1 source of new patients. Ask anyone in business and they’ll probably tell you the same thing. “Word of mouth” referrals are their most important medical marketing tool, and they’re virtually free. But how do you increase word of mouth referrals?
There is a way. When it comes to your practice’s medical marketing, most practices (and most businesses) feel they have no way to encourage or increase it. It’s out of their control.
Word of mouth is based on a few simple factors:
– How well you help you patients
– Awareness of all the services you offer
– Reputation
Simply helping patients is by far the most important of these factors, but even doctors who provide superior care don’t always benefit from all the word of mouth referrals they want. That’s often because they need help educating patients about the other factors: more of your services and your reputation
Awareness of other services you offer
This is where medical marketing comes into play.
If an orthopedist helps me with a painful knee injury, I’ll probably let friends who have painful knee injuries know about my results. But what if a friend hurts his elbow? Would I refer my orthopedist? Not likely. Because I probably don’t even know that my orthopedist works on elbows. Or shoulders, or wrists, or ankles…Why would the subject even come up? You didn’t go to medical school to learn medical marketing, but if you do want to help more patients, medical marketing is vital.
Reputation
You’ve worked hard at you education and experience. But other than a diploma on the wall, when do your patients get a better understanding of your expertise and reputation?
Again…why would the subject even come up?
An easy way to start medical marketing
When considering how to medical marketing ideas, doctors and practice managers have more “acceptable” options than ever: print and broadcast advertising, websites, brochures, etc.
Messages on hold are a proven tool in medical marketing
One easy and economical way to educate your patients about your reputation and more of the services you offer is Messages on hold. Virtually all overworked medical practices place telephone callers on “hold.” And most make callers sit in silence or listen to music while they wait. That’s a lost opportunity. When used properly messages on hold engage and educate your caller. As many as 69% of telephone callers to your practice are asked to hold. You know that your patients call to find out if you can help them. So why not start helping them in this wasted time?
Properly written, messages on hold for medical practices can make you sound more professional, enhance your reputation, and educate your callers about more of the ways you help your clients. Hold messages for medical practices require a bit more subtlety than for commercial businesses, but the opportunity they can offer to increase awareness of your services and enhance your reputation directly translate to increasing the word of mouth referrals that give you the tool you need, and an answer to the question of the best medical marketing for your practice.