SUCCESSFUL PROMOTIONAL ACTIONS

The following is a collection of marketing and promotional actions that have been found, over the years, to have been successful in medical practices. It is a mix of traditional marketing, online marketing and social media marketing.

As you go through the list, you may notice actions you have already implemented. You may also come across activities which you have no interest in.

Realize that no one practice is the same and thus not each of these points will work for you, but I thought it might be helpful and thought you could use this list to develop personalized programs for you for your practice.

1. Providing the highest quality dental care and service to your patients. This creates great word of mouth.

2. Getting your staff further training for their jobs as well as a general staff member. A highly trained and professional staff can make all the difference in the world. As part of this there should be job descriptions for each job and good general policy for the staff to following.

3. Encouraging referrals – when a new patient calls in, find out who referred them. This of course is done by the receptionist over the phone. Make a point to acknowledge the person whom referred the new patient. For example, if Sally Smith referred the patient, the receptionist would say something such as “My, Sally Smith’s such a nice lady, isn’t she? It was so kind of her to recommend our services to you!” This if the first time the new patient hears about referrals.

The new patient then comes into the office and fills out a New Patient form on which it has a question, “Who may we thank for referring you?” This is the second time the new patient’s attention has been directed to the idea of “referrals”.

Finally, the Doctor introduces himself to the new patient, looks at the forms, and notes who the patient has been referred by and says, “I see Sally Smith referred you. We all really enjoy her.” This is the third time the patient has thought about referrals. This impresses upon the new patient the fact that referring new people to the practice is very much encouraged and is appreciated.

4. Meeting with professionals and businesses in a related field to yours and providing promotion and information about your practice to create potential referral sources for new clients.

5. A modern web-site that is inviting, provides information and turns curious patients into future patients.

6. A Facebook page created to promote your practice.

7. A Linkedin page to promote your practice.

8. Writing a blog that promotes you practice by providing useful information to your prospective patients.

9. Website has been optimized so that when any prospective patient is searching the web your practices website is on the first page and stands out as the place to get what ever service the patients needs.

10. Using Google Maps, Yelp and Angie’s list to help prospective patients find out. This also helps you stand out on the web.

11. Other forms of social media to promote your practice.

12. Send a “thank you” letter to all clients/patients who have referred new people to the practice.

13. Send flowers to all patients/clients who refer.

14. Send gift certificates for dinner to people who have referred more than 5 new clients/patients.

15. In conversation with every person you meet, let them know the 3 W’s. Those are WHO you are, WHAT you do, and WHERE you are located. When indicating where your practice is located, mention landmarks that are easily visible. Sometimes an address is not really enough. Always offer a business card.

16. On the back of your business cards, print some sort of “offer”, such as “free exam, x-ray and consultation, stating the usual cost for such a service. Include an “expiration date” for the offer extended. If when you give a card to someone who has a doctor already, suggest that they pass the card onto someone else who might be in need of your services.

17. Arrange speaking engagements. Acquire a list of all clubs and groups in your area from your local Chamber of Commerce. Contact these organizations and offer to give a short lecture on some topic of interest. At the end of your talk, pass out business cards and practice brochures.

18. Become active in sponsoring things such as a baseball team. This gets you out into the community and creates goodwill. Send letters to the parents and children involved letting them know who you are and that you appreciate donation your time to the activity.

19. Arrange to give presentations at schools. Prepare handout packets to give the children after the presentation. Include things such as stickers, balloons, toothbrushes, anything that my have your logo on it, a letter to the parents introducing yourself, business cards, brochure, complimentary offer.

20. Create attractive displays in your reception area which communicates more information to your patients/clients on the services you offer. Remember that generally speaking people are coming to you initially because of some problem. They may not know what else you can do for them.

21. Send a practice brochure or some sort of information letter with all statements.

22. When you go to a restaurant, and you leave a tip, leave on your business cards along with a generous tip.

23. Send Birthday cards and Christmas cards.

24. Send a “Welcome to the Practice” letter to all new patients/clients.

25. Always greet patients and clients by name. If you run into a client or patient when you are out in the community, and cannot remember their name, greet them warmly just the same. Always make people feel important.

26. Send out a regular newsletter; monthly or quarterly.

27. Promote broadly with Direct mail.

28. Make up coupon books with discount coupons for your client/patients to use or give to friends.

29. Run regular newspaper ads. Keep the ad simple and readable in approximately three seconds.

30. Be enthusiastic about what you are doing at all times. If you’re enthusiastic, you’ll attract enthusiastic clientele. Discuss this regularly with your staff.

31. Create “clubs” for your patients and clients such as a “No Cavity” club for a dental practice or a “Weight Loss” club for veterinary clients with pets on diets.

32. Give gifts to youngsters (pumpkins at Halloween, stockings at Christmas.)

33. Give toys to child patients. For veterinary practices, give a low cal pet snack to the per after each visit.

34. Send notes to good patients and clients who are adhering to your treatment plans.

35. Hold patient or client appreciation events.

36. Serve coffee and tea to patients/clients in your reception area.

37. Place brochures for special services in businesses that cater to clients who may be interested in your services. For example, for the dental practice, place brochures on cosmetic dentistry tanning and beauty salons. For the veterinary practice, place brochures in Grooming Parlors. For the podiatry practice, place brochures in shoe stores.

38. Give lectures to high school students for career days. Hand out promotional packets as with the earlier mentioned school presentations.

39. Show educational films in your practice on interesting and informative topics.

40. Send flowers or some other gift after a patient or client has completed a large case.

41. Place a sign in your reception area stating that you do accept new patients.

42. Establish new office hours (offering extended hours).

43. Redecorate the office to create a more contemporary look.

44. Add new, unusual attractions to your reception area.

45. Create marketing incentives for your staff.

46. Hire a marketing coordinator.

47. Design new practice stationary.

48. Design new office signs.

49. Create a practice brochure.

50. Send feature articles to newspaper editors.

51. Hold open houses.

52. Give office tours.

53. Put on an educational fair for the community.

54. Create displays for public places.

HOW TO FIX YOUR PRACTICE

PRACTICE DIAGNOSTIC CHECKLIST

A practice, like any other business, must run like a well-oiled machine.

We know that a machine functions only if the gears are aligned properly, the pistons
are oiled correctly, etc. To do a proper diagnostic of a machine, we must check that all
the lines are connected, there are no wires crosses, it is oiled, aligned, there is fuel and
that it is flowing properly.

As the owner or manager of a practice or clinic you are its “mechanic”,
the “technician” responsible for ensuring the smooth operation of the machine (your
practice) and its long term operation.

Obviously, it is very important to be able determine the well being of a practice,
clinic or any other business for that matter. The truth is that the health of your patients
depends on the continued smooth operation of your practice. So it is clear that the
smooth operation of your “machine” is very important. But how do you determine what
needs to be fixed or if anything needs to be fixed at all? There could be hundreds and
hundreds of things that might be the cause of a poorly running machine. It could be
a fuel line, crossed wires, a missing nut or bolt, etc. Only if we run a proper and rapid
diagnostic can we locate the real cause and repair it.

I’ve found that when one point on this checklist breaks down, generally the rest start
to follow.

The use of this checklist provides a tool to diagnose what is wrong with a medical
practice and provides direction for a full repair of the practice. The list lays out each
operation in relation to the others and in the order of importance one should address
them. Start from the top and work your way down, point by point marking which is in and
which is out.

From there you can determine what steps and actions you need to take to get any
points that are out back in and as a result improve the general operation of your practice
and get it humming again.

Again, this checklist is laid out in order of importance.
­­­_______

1. Brochures and information sheets on the different services, important client
information, etc that enlighten your patients on everything you have to offer them
in broad circulation.

IN: _____ OUT: _____


2. Proper receipt of incoming communication such as calls, mail or email. Keeping
it on the correct organizational channels, handling it quickly with no undue wait by
the sender: ensuring that payments are correctly invoiced, calls are properly
routed and messages taken are routed to the right person to handle.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

3. Responding the same day to all inquiries by the doctor or other practice staff.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

4. Seeing all patients at scheduled times, with no wait.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

5. Verifying payment method when scheduling appointment and when the patient
comes in for treatment.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

6. In each examination or treatment presentation do a comprehensive examination
and sell the patient on the full health program necessary to get them doing as
well as possible.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

7. Pre-appointment each patient that comes in for their next visit.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

8. Filling all prescriptions and other cash orders quickly (immediately as possible )
and giving good service. No lost orders.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

9. Collecting payment immediately after service has been provided.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

10. Run an internal referrals campaign to get your staff to activate patients to bring
new patients in. Use games and awards to make it exciting for your staff.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

11. Run an external referrals campaign to get your patients activated to bring new
patients in. Use games and awards to make it exciting for your patients.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

12. Offering and up selling additional general services or products provided by your
practice.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

13. Deliver the best possible treatments with the fullest possible improvements for the patient.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

14. Keeping record of all inquires as potential future clients. You should have at least
their contact information for fallow up calls and mailings.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

15. Keeping accurate and complete records (either computer records or paper files)
on every patient receiving service or who has ever received service.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

16. Training patients on proper care to address whatever ailment and to give them
greater knowledge in how to better care for themselves.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

17. Staying connected to your patients between appointments by use of social media
marketing (such as facebook, Linkedin, tweeter, etc), sending out regular
newsletters or information letters. Ensure it is informative, briefs then on the
practice, upcoming specials, services your practice provides, etc.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

18. Contacting new patients by use of traditional marketing and social media
marketing (such as facebook, Linkedin, tweeter, blogs, etc), posting ads where potential
new patients may find see them.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

19. Regularly work on reactivating past clients and getting them back in the office to
complete their wellness programs or come back in for a new comprehensive
examination and further treatment.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

20. Handle business affairs properly. Such as bill payments, updating addresses,
administering special offers, hiring of well qualified staff, etc.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

21. Keep all legal basics in. Such as properly handling insurance claims, taxes, etc.
Also, keeping in good order with the bank.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

22. Keeping the public image good by keeping bad reviews out of the internet as
necessary.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

23. Answering general letters, emails and calls.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

24. Acknowledging staff through an awards game, bonuses and social gatherings for
staff.

IN: _____ OUT: _____

How to Make Blogging Valuable

To start, what exactly is a blog?

blog/blôg/

Noun: A web site on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information, etc. on a regular basis.

Verb: Add new material to or regularly update a blog.

Derivation: A blog (a blend of the term web log)

One of the most inexpensive, but effective, ways to promote and market your practice is blogging.

Now, I'll admit that "blogging", and the other types of online marketing, may be a bit confusing, but they are valuable, don't cost a great deal and with a little work, can be fairly easy to use.

With blogging specifically, this is a tool that can help direct interested, potential patients to your website where they can get answers on the services you can provide. Blogs create interest and word of mouth.

There are a few steps you should take to make blogging an actual valuable tool to your practice:

• Determine who in your practice is going to be the "Marketing Director." This can be the front desk person, an assistant that is marketing savvy, your Office Manager, you (if you have the time) or someone you hire (if you have the financial resource). 

• Hire a local marketing company to teach you the basics of blogging. This won't cost you very much and is an investment that will have a very good return. There are also other online training resources such as www.inboungmarketinguniversity.com, lynda.com, www.recognizedexpert.com, and others.  

• Set up a blog site for your practice. You can have this added to your existing website or you can set up a free standing blog. There are many resources you can use for this such as www.blogger.com, www.wordpress.com, www.myblogsite.com and many more.

• Write about things that are useful and helpful to your patients. A blog is not a place to "sell" your practice, but should be interesting and valuable information related to patient interest.

• If you have a free standing blog site, make sure it has a link to your website and vice versa.

• Add an option to your blog where interested and potential patients can make comments, ask questions, etc. This is a way to make your blog more interesting and useful to potential patients. A local marketing company can help you set this up and its something can that can be easily monitored by the "Marketing Director".

• Include a list of websites and blogs that you recommend to your patients. This is called a "blogroll" and will be useful to your readers, but also helps to increase the ranking of your blog and make it more findable.

• Publish blog posts as often as possible, at least once a week, but several times a week would be better.The more you post, the higher search engines will rank your site.  Not to mention, that readers will log on to your site more frequently to read new posts, creating that interest you're looking for.

• Have other staff contribute to the blog and writing blog posts.

These are just some immediate actions you can take to increase your online presence, contact more potential patients and increase the number of new patients.

Blogging is actually quite simple and is a very inexpensive way to promote and market your practice. It does work and is a good tool to have for any medical practice. 

Creative Promotion and Marketing Ideas for Your Practice

I think we can all agree the way to get more new patients (or returning patients) is to promote.

The truth is, if you stay quite no one notices you. But if you systematically promote, you get noticed. I know this seems much too simple and obvious to be useful, but this is the difference between medical practitioners (and business owners) that are making it and those that aren’t.


I've heard many practice owners say that “business is slow” or the “economy was effecting the new patient flow.” While this may be the case for their practice, there were practice owners I spoke to that aren’t feeling the “slow” in business and that have plenty of new and returning patients coming in.


So, what is the difference between the practice that can't get new patients and the practice that can? Those that were doing well were using any possible means to systematically promote.

They were calling past patients and getting them back in, they were asking currently patients to refer their family and friends. They had ads where their “public” would see them; on the web, in the paper, etc. They had there names in different types of directories and handed out their cards to whoever they met, they had existing clients referring their family and friends, etc.


They were “making” the business. Driving it in on their practice.


Those that were not getting new patients or were getting less patients were not promoting (or at least not promoting enough).


In today’s economic scene you need to create new patients through promoting yourself  and your practice through any means possible.


Some of the best methods I've found for external marketing were:

• Handing out cards to people you and your practice employees meet. 
• Prospecting outside the practice for new patients.

•  Handing out cards to and information brochures to other professionals, creating a potential referral network.
  
•  Advertising in the local paper, direct mail, Groupon and internet advertising.
  
• Promoting your services through social media, such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.
  
• Promotion through online social review sites, such as Yelp, Angie's List, etc.
  
• Putting on lectures and events for the community and other professionals that promote your practices services.
  
• Promoting specials.
  
• Posting a blog that provides useful information and directs people to come into the practice.

And some of the best methods I’ve found for internal marketing were: 

• Implementing referrals from existing patients. As part of this creating a monetary award to your patients (and staff) that get new patients referred to your practice.
  
• Thank you notes to patients that refer their family or friends into the practice.
  
• Calling past patients and reactivating them to come back into the practice.
  
• Writing to past clients (postal and e-mail letters) to reactivate and get them back into the practice for care.
  
• A good website that promotes your practice, stands out in searches and direct potential patients into the pracitce.
  
• A brochure and welcome letter to send to all new patients.
  
• A helpful and entertaining newsletter to send to all current and past clients.
  
• Putting on open houses and patient appreciation events.
  

Times have changed.


You have to create new patients and get past patients to return by getting your practice out there, promoting, making your practice and services known.

Market Your Practice to the Right People

One of the most important things to know in marketing is that you are trying to reach specific types of people with your marketing and not just a generalized group called “everyone.”

The area where you practice has many different, but very specific, groups of people, which makes up the population of your area. Each of these groups are different; they have their own ideas, they have their one sets of living standards, different activities and act very different one group to another. Each one of these separate groups is called a “public.” To define this further “a public is a section of the community having a particular interest or connection”.

Without understanding this you can get yourself caught up in marketing just for marketing sake. You can have all sorts of great ideas, flashy marketing pieces, spend a small fortune and not be noticed by anyone and end up starving! This is the fate of many practice (and business) owners that don't understand that there is a specific public in need of their service and that they have to locate this public and market to them.

To simplify this even further, a public is a type of audience. With this in mind you have to delineate the specific publics (audiences) you are intending to market to. For example your public may be parents of children, retirees or the health conscious business professionals.

There are a great deal of public types, but the trick is to locate and isolate the publics that will need your service and who in turn will be valuable to your practice. With that you can take your marketing efforts and focus them on specific groups, which will increase your marketing effectiveness and the the value of the dollar you invest in your marketing.

The key with your marketing plan is to always target specific types of public.

Let's Talk Promotion and Marketing for the Private Practice

Let's face it - marketing can be a pretty confusing subject!

Most people, when it comes to marketing one's business or practice, will happily turn over the marketing responsibilities to someone else in hopes that they won't have to worry about it or in hopes that the other person will do the job a heck of a lot better then they would.

Others go hog wild and do what ever comes into their heads, where it really just becomes a lot of noise and confusing messages to public. They hope that at least someone will get interested and come in to the business or practice and some money will be made as a result.

Neither has a guarantee of any success and more than likely will result in a waste of money.

The truth is - marketing is simple, once you understand some basics.

Marketing only seems confusing because some of the most basic aspects have never been defined. As a result most professionals are tossed around in the tornado of misconceptions and lack of know how.

But when you break it down it's actually quite simple. So, let's break it down:

Marketing is defined as the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers and the packaging of these products and getting them into the hands of the intended customers. It is the strategy and actions to prepare the product and to get it placed in the market so it reaches the greatest amount of potential clients possible.

Promotion is publicization of a product, organization, or venture so as to increase public awareness and thus sales. It is campaigning to get a product or idea well thought of and accepted. Promotion is the activity of offering a product in such a way that it creates response and want by the intended customer base.

Dissemination is scattering widely, to spread abroad; promulgate. When we say disseminate we are talking about making widely known the value and availability of a product, activity or service. This includes many different ideas and methods such as the use of the internet, social media, letters, calls, word of mouth, news paper ads, etc.

Each word is different and have distinct meanings. They are different words that are related, but at the same time are not the same. Understanding each should give someone a greater understanding of what makes up promotion and marketing.

Marketing really covers the entire evolution of selecting and preparing what products or services you have to offer, what you will promote to your client base and how you will go about getting that done. It encompasses the color of your office walls, how your logo will look, the type of paper you use, etc. It also includes the managing of your marketing activities to see that it is resulting in increased sales and determining what you have to reinforce or get rid of.

Promotion is an aspect of your marketing. It covers the actions reaching out to your customer base and getting a response. As covered above, this could be done in the form of an ad in the paper, a flyer, a tweet, a post on your fan page. It is the act of your staff promoting your service to your clients or patients and creating response.

Dissemination is a more all encompassing term that includes the promotional actions of sending out flyers, posting tweets, having a good website and also includes the packaging of your services and products and any methods to reach your customers.

All three of these together marketing, promotion and dissemination create a complete package and create the flow of new patients, new clients or new customers that all business, medical practices or other group, depends on.

What Makes a Genius?

This is a re-print of this fantastic article for your use and enjoyment, because let's face it - we all want to be a genius!

 The worlds greatest geniuses have all had 24 personality characteristics in common and you can develop the same traits yourself.

“Most people have the mistaken idea that geniuses are born, not made”, declared clinical psychologist Dr. Alfred Barrious, founder and director of the Self-Programmed Control Center of Los Angeles and author of the book, Towards Greater Freedom and Happiness.

“But if you look at the lives of the world’s greatest geniuses like Edison, Socrates, DaVinci, Shakespeare, Einstein, you will discover they all had 24 personality characteristics in common.

“These are traits that anyone can develop. It makes no difference how old you are, how much education you have, or what you have accomplished to date. Adopting these personality characteristics enables you to operate on a genius level.”

Here are the Characteristics Dr. Barrios lists, which enable geniuses to come up with and develop new and fruitful ideas:

1. DRIVE. Geniuses have a strong desire to work hard and long. They’re willing to give all they’ve got to a project. Develop your drive by focusing on your future success, and keep going.

2. COURAGE. It takes courage to do things others consider impossible. Stop worrying about what people will think if you’re different.

3. DEVOTION TO GOALS. Geniuses know what they want and go after it. Get control of your life and schedule. Have something specific to accomplish each day.

4. KNOWLEDGE. Geniuses continually accumulate information. Never go to sleep at night without having learned at least one new thing each day. Read. And question people who know.

5. HONESTY. Geniuses are frank, forthright and honest. Take the responsibility for things that go wrong. Be willing to admit, ‘I goofed’, and learn from your mistakes.

6. OPTIMISM. Geniuses never doubt they will succeed. Deliberately focus your mind on something good coming up.

7. ABILITY TO JUDGE. Try to understand the facts of a situation before you judge. Evaluate things on an opened minded, unprejudiced basis and be willing to change your mind.

8. ENTHUSIASM. Geniuses are so excited about what they are doing, it encourages others to cooperate with them. Really believe that things will turn out well. Don’t hold back.

9. WILLINGNESS TO TAKE CHANCES. Overcome your fear of failure. You won’t be afraid to take chances once you realize you can learn from your mistakes.

10. DYNAMIC ENERGY. Don’t sit on your butt waiting for something good to happen. Be determined to make it happen.

11. ENTERPRISE. Geniuses are opportunity seekers. Be willing to take on jobs others won’t touch. Never be afraid to try the unknown.

12. PERSUASION. Geniuses know how to motivate people to help them get ahead. You’ll find it easy to be persuasive if you believe in what you’re doing.

13. OUTGOINGNESS. I’ve found geniuses able to make friends easily and be easy on their friends. Be a ‘booster’ not somebody who puts others down. That attitude will win you many valuable friends.

14. ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE. Geniuses are able to effectively get their ideas across to others. Take every opportunity to explain your ideas to others.

15. PATIENCE. Be patient with others most of the time, but always be impatient with your self. Expect far more of yourself than others.

16. PERCEPTION. Geniuses have their mental radar working full time. Think more of others’ needs and wants than you do of your own.

17. PERFECTIONISM. Geniuses cannot tolerate mediocrity, particularly in themselves. Never be easily satisfied with your self. Always strive to do better.

18. SENSE OF HUMOR. Be willing to laugh at your own expense. Don’t take offense when the joke is on you.

19. VERSATILITY. The more things you learn to accomplish, the more confidence you will develop. Don’t shy away from new endeavors.

20. ADAPTABILITY. Being flexible enables you to adapt to changing circumstances readily. Resist doing things the same old way. Be willing to consider new options.

21. CURIOSITY. An inquisitive, curious mind will help you seek out new information. Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know it all. Always ask questions about things you don’t understand.

22. INDIVIDUALISM. Do things the way you think they should be done, without fearing somebody’s disapproval.

23. IDEALISM. Keep your feet on the ground – but have your head in the clouds. Strive to achieve great things, not just for yourself, but for the better of mankind.

24. IMAGINATION. Geniuses know how to think in new combinations, see things from a different perspective, than anyone else. Unclutter your mental environment to develop this type of imagination. Give yourself time each day to daydream, to fantasize, to drift into a dreamy inner life the way you did as a child.

1980 National Enquirer/Transworld Features