If you want to establish a strong referral base, increase the number of patients you receive in your practice, and build a positive reputation for yourself in the local community, you must have a solid medical marketing plan. Carrying out medical marketing activities without a plan will lead you to walk in circles without arriving anywhere at all.
Build a medical marketing plan so you have a course of action to follow and objectives to meet. Contrary to popular belief, developing a marketing plan for your practice doesn’t have to be a long and tedious process. Follow these 5 easy steps to craft a plan of action so you can start marketing your practice today.
1. Analyze Your Situation
The first step in developing an effective medical marketing plan for your practice, and a very important one at that, is looking at your current situation. You have to analyze your competitors and understand your target market and environment. Start out by analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relating to your practice and marketplace.
In order to determine what your strengths and weaknesses are, you have to look at your practice’s internal situation. Analyze areas such as your services, the credentials of medical staff, office hours, financial policies, the location of your office, the office itself, and the attitude of staff members. Determine what your weaknesses are so you can improve those areas and determine what your strengths are so you can use them as competitive advantages.
Factors that are external to your practice are opportunities and threats. Find opportunities in your marketplace to improve the reputation of your practice and build your brand. You have to counteract threats in the marketplace that could put your practice in jeopardy. Threats include variations in referral patterns, fluctuations in your population base, an increase in competition, or changes in reimbursement.
When you assess your practice and marketplace, be honest in your analysis. You need to be honest in order to uncover your weaknesses and emphasize your strengths. Discover what your obstacles are as you develop strategies.
2. Set Marketing Objectives
After you analyze your situation internally and externally, you need to set marketing objectives. Objectives in your medical marketing plan must be specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant to the mission of your practice. You should set timelines for achieving your objectives.
Examples of objectives that meet these requirements include:
The practice will expand by opening a satellite clinic in Toronto by October 2010.The practice will increase the number of referring positions by 20 in 2009.
Your objectives should relate to your clients, the services you offer, your image/brand/reputation, customer service, and the profitability and growth of your practice.
3. Determine What Strategies You Will Use to Meet Your Objectives
In order to meet your objectives, you must develop specific marketing strategies. Strategies you can use include introducing a new form of technology or service, using advertising and media relations campaigns to market your practice, providing superior customer service to achieve higher patient retention, doing community outreach to improve reputation, and conducting activities that would lead to the development of referrals.
You have to choose marketing strategies based on the type of market you are targeting. Obviously if you are trying to target physicians for referrals, you wouldn’t use the same marketing strategies as you would if you were targeting the general public. Your best bet is to use a combination of different strategies. That way you aren’t putting all of your eggs into one basket. The marketing strategies you choose will also depend on the specific objectives you have and the budget and resources you have available.
4. Ready, Set, Action
Write down the steps that need to be taken for each marketing strategy you plan to use. Also include a timeline and budget for your plan. Assign staff members to be in charge of different parts of the campaign. Once you’ve done all of the above, put your plan into action.
5. Measure and Track Your Progress
You need to develop indicators of your progress to ensure that your campaign stays on track. Evaluate key indicators on a regular basis so you can see the rewards that have come out of all of your hard work. Tweak your campaign and make revisions as necessary based on your findings.
When you talk to new patients, ask them how they heard about you. Then you’ll know whether or not they found you as a result of one of your marketing/advertising campaigns. Keep track of any mentions of your practice by paying attention to media and counting all the times the name of your practice is mentioned. Assess the number of new patients you receive each month and keep track of the numbers of patients coming from physician referral sources. Evaluate any variations in the number of patients coming from ph
Build a medical marketing plan so you have a course of action to follow and objectives to meet. Contrary to popular belief, developing a marketing plan for your practice doesn’t have to be a long and tedious process. Follow these 5 easy steps to craft a plan of action so you can start marketing your practice today.
1. Analyze Your Situation
The first step in developing an effective medical marketing plan for your practice, and a very important one at that, is looking at your current situation. You have to analyze your competitors and understand your target market and environment. Start out by analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relating to your practice and marketplace.
In order to determine what your strengths and weaknesses are, you have to look at your practice’s internal situation. Analyze areas such as your services, the credentials of medical staff, office hours, financial policies, the location of your office, the office itself, and the attitude of staff members. Determine what your weaknesses are so you can improve those areas and determine what your strengths are so you can use them as competitive advantages.
Factors that are external to your practice are opportunities and threats. Find opportunities in your marketplace to improve the reputation of your practice and build your brand. You have to counteract threats in the marketplace that could put your practice in jeopardy. Threats include variations in referral patterns, fluctuations in your population base, an increase in competition, or changes in reimbursement.
When you assess your practice and marketplace, be honest in your analysis. You need to be honest in order to uncover your weaknesses and emphasize your strengths. Discover what your obstacles are as you develop strategies.
2. Set Marketing Objectives
After you analyze your situation internally and externally, you need to set marketing objectives. Objectives in your medical marketing plan must be specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant to the mission of your practice. You should set timelines for achieving your objectives.
Examples of objectives that meet these requirements include:
The practice will expand by opening a satellite clinic in Toronto by October 2010.The practice will increase the number of referring positions by 20 in 2009.
Your objectives should relate to your clients, the services you offer, your image/brand/reputation, customer service, and the profitability and growth of your practice.
3. Determine What Strategies You Will Use to Meet Your Objectives
In order to meet your objectives, you must develop specific marketing strategies. Strategies you can use include introducing a new form of technology or service, using advertising and media relations campaigns to market your practice, providing superior customer service to achieve higher patient retention, doing community outreach to improve reputation, and conducting activities that would lead to the development of referrals.
You have to choose marketing strategies based on the type of market you are targeting. Obviously if you are trying to target physicians for referrals, you wouldn’t use the same marketing strategies as you would if you were targeting the general public. Your best bet is to use a combination of different strategies. That way you aren’t putting all of your eggs into one basket. The marketing strategies you choose will also depend on the specific objectives you have and the budget and resources you have available.
4. Ready, Set, Action
Write down the steps that need to be taken for each marketing strategy you plan to use. Also include a timeline and budget for your plan. Assign staff members to be in charge of different parts of the campaign. Once you’ve done all of the above, put your plan into action.
5. Measure and Track Your Progress
You need to develop indicators of your progress to ensure that your campaign stays on track. Evaluate key indicators on a regular basis so you can see the rewards that have come out of all of your hard work. Tweak your campaign and make revisions as necessary based on your findings.
When you talk to new patients, ask them how they heard about you. Then you’ll know whether or not they found you as a result of one of your marketing/advertising campaigns. Keep track of any mentions of your practice by paying attention to media and counting all the times the name of your practice is mentioned. Assess the number of new patients you receive each month and keep track of the numbers of patients coming from physician referral sources. Evaluate any variations in the number of patients coming from ph