MARKETING IS “TOO” IMPORTANT – Part 2

The following are a few external marketing strategies to consider as you attempt to grow your physician practice. Remember that growing your top line should be a top priority in these changing times.

Brochures

Every practice should have a professional brochure it can hand to patients, mail out, or give to referring physicians. The brochure should provide general information about the practice, its services, and its policies. It can also convey an image about the practice. To create visibility for the practice, a primary-care practice may mail the brochure to a targeted list of people in the local area. A referral-based practice can distribute the brochure to its current and potential referring physicians. Again, the goal is to create positive visibility for the practice.

Direct mail

A primary-care office in particular needs to create visibility and name recognition in the local area. To create instant and ongoing visibility with direct mail, the practice could mail its brochure or similar marketing tool to targeted patients in the area. Keep in mind, however, that one mailing by itself will not create visibility. Any direct mail campaign must be consistent AND LONG TERM.

Newsletters

A newsletter from the practice can be sent out by both a primary-care practice and referral-based medical specialty practice. Usually created and mailed on a quarterly basis, the newsletter informs patients and referring physicians about clinical issues and the office.

Season’s greetings

Do not forget the year-end thank-you letters to all patients and referring physicians. The letters are final notes of appreciation to patients for their patronage and to both patients and physicians for their referrals. The thank-you letters also serve as reminders that the practice is growing and would like to receive additional referrals.

Advertising

The success of advertising will usually depend on the medical specialty; It works for some medical offices and not for others. If an office is receiving almost all of its new patient referrals from other physicians, it may not make sense to spend money on advertising. If, however, a practice does not receive much new revenue from referrals, it should investigate developing an advertising program in yellow pages or a local newspaper or periodical.

Relationships with other physicians or physicians’ offices  

For a practice that is based on referrals, the best marketing strategy is for the practice’s physician to go out of his or her way to meet potential referring physicians. Developing relationships is the key to generating patient referrals. To be successful, the physician should eat in the physicians’ lounge or nearby hangouts where the other physicians regularly eat. The practice’s physician should take referring physicians to dinner at regular intervals or go to the offices of potential referring physicians to discuss the possibility of developing cross-referral relationships. Make sure the practice’s brochure is mailed to all potential referring physicians.

Managed-care plans

When physicians sign with managed-care plans, they often feel that no further marketing efforts directed toward managed-care enrollees are necessary. Usually, when a managed-care plan enrollee gets ill, he or she chooses a physician by looking in the physician roster book or asking a fellow employee to give a referral.

The goal of marketing in a managed-care atmosphere is to eliminate both of these customs. A managed-care enrollee should have the practice in mind and call it directly when he or she needs medical attention. To achieve this, the practice must concentrate on marketing efforts that increase its visibility. The physicians could call the human resources directors at the companies that pay premiums to the managed-care plan and inquire about presenting a seminar to the employees. If the employer or managed-care plan has a newsletter, perhaps the physicians can submit articles. Finally, the practice can offer free or reduced-rate services to the employees of the companies. Examples include cholesterol testing and blood pressure screening. These kinds of activities will bring much needed visibility to the practice and generate patients’ visits to the office.

A referral-based practice in the managed-care setting should review the providers on the plan. If no referral relationship is in place, the practice should attempt to establish a relationship so it can expand its list of potential referring physicians.