Medical practice marketing in New Jersey is pretty predictable: “Acquire new patients” by building a better website, invest in SEO, and get noticed with Google Ads. That can mean a large investment. A basic website template can easily cost $2000 with $100 in monthly fees. SEO usually runs you a minimum of $300/month, and your Pay Per Click bill increases with every click.
Yet research reveals that online conversion rates are about 2.51% for medical practices, so is your investment going to pay off?
There’s more to marketing than uncovering “one time” patients.
Medical Practice Marketing in New Jersey fails: here’s why
Most marketing consultants focus on their ability to bring new patients into your practice. With claims of 10…25…50+ new patients a month, success is just a small investment away, right?
Not so fast. Focusing your success on simply attracting new patients isn’t a long term plan for success. Forrester Research shows that acquiring a new customer or patient is five times costlier than retaining an existing one. The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 to 70 percent, whereas the probability of selling to a new customer is 5 to 20%.
Where does your current success come from?
The answer is simple: Did you know that 55 to 70 percent of your appointments are with long term loyal patients, in spite of your investment in attracting new patients in New Jersey?
These patients demonstrate their loyalty (and value) to your practice every day. They already “know, like, and trust” you, and they’re most open to your suggestions about added ways you can help them.
Increasing practice revenue
Some of the best strategies for increasing your medical practice’s revenue don’t have anything to do with attracting new patients. Simple ideas include:
- Make your practice more welcoming with training for your front desk
- Offer patient-friendly experience: a clean, well-lit waiting room, free Wi-Fi, and good reading materials
- Don’t play the local news on a waiting-room TV. You can’t control the content. https://informermessages.com/waiting-room-tv/
- Compete on your strong points: quality and personal service beat low prices
- Participate in community events
- Expand your medical services
- Partner with local causes and groups
- Add “cash” services that may not be insurance covered products or services
Let your loyal patients know about these and other new ideas at every opportunity.
One tool that puts wasted opportunities to use is Informer Messages on hold. Informer messages give patients who call your practice information every time they have to wait on hold (According to AT&T research, 69% of your calls are asked to “please hold.”) Why not tell your patients about new ways that you can help them, added specialties, and profitable expanded offerings. Inform them about community activity and office amenities that will make their visit more pleasant.
Click here to find out how Informer Messages work
Your practice’s success depends on a lot more that attracting new patients. It depends on your loyal patients who will be with you for the long term.
