It is important and necessary for doctors to use more innovative techniques for marketing their practice. This is especially true since there are now a larger number of doctors who are competing in the same field. The lack of marketing for your practice could lead to loss of revenue, while those that do use advertising and promotions can expect an increase.
Here are some innovative strategies that can be used for physician/medical practice marketing:
Putting up Websites
• In this digital age, doctors need websites just as other businesses. Websites are able to target a vast variety of clients. Unlike before, when websites were used mostly by youth, even senior citizens have entered the internet for a wide variety of reasons.
• Having a website helps in doctor practice marketing by giving you an online presence. People who browse your site would be able to become more aware of your capabilities and specialties and may begin considering you as an option for treatment for their conditions.
• Of course, putting up your own website would take some skill and effort to accomplish. If you do not have those when it comes to design and content, then you may opt to use services that provide those kinds of sites for you.
Advertising through Social Networking
• Related to websites but slightly different, social networking sites like Myspace or Facebook could be used to great advantage. Having a facebook page about your practice would help you market your services to quite a number of people.
• The scope of this networking opportunity is more remarkable when you consider the fact that people all over the country (or even the world) own an account at one of the popular networking sites. As such, having a web page would open up your service to a more varied and wider client base.
Expand your services
• Another way to be able to market yourself both to current patients (to help in word of mouth) as well as new ones would be to expand your services. This could mean acquiring newer medical equipment that can help in your treatments, doing house calls, adding staff, or even a simple extension to your office hours.
• By expanding, the reputation of your practice would be enhanced—having a better service or a more accommodating office to go to are signs of enhancement. This kind of expansion would help you attract more clients. An added benefit would be that you would improve your relationship with previous clients which may help in spreading the word about your practice.
• Of course, the physician knows that advertising would ultimately be useless if he/she did not have the skills to back them up. So aside from pure advertising, a wise physician knows when he/she should refine his/her skills and capabilities.
“Philippa Kennealy MD MPH CPCC PCC of medical practice marketing site and doctor website development blog. A business coach whose passion is helping her physician and medical practice clients thrive in their businesses. She strongly believes that knowing how to market successfully using the Internet is a practice owner’s biggest challenge AND a major opportunity for success”.
