The 7 All-Time Most Frequently Asked Questions
about Healthcare Marketing
And answers that have guided thousands of practices and
health care
organizations in achieving their growth goals.
Our daily work puts us on the receiving-end of a
stream of healthcare and medical marketing questions of all
kinds. We wouldn't think of saying that we've "heard
'em all," but our collective experience adds up to fielding
many thousands of questions.
Still, some common themes tend to come up time and time again.
With only a small amount of literary license, here are the
7 all-time most frequently asked questions (and answers) about
medical marketing:
1. "What kinds of problems can marketing help us solve?"
The answer: Plenty...let's list just a few.
The bottom-line objective in healthcare marketing is usually—but
not exclusively—to grow the practice or organization. Often
this means attracting more patients, but a well-rounded marketing
plan will achieve much more for the provider. Effective and
ethical marketing opens the door to benefits for providers
to:
- Achieve profitable growth;
- Attract cases that the doctors either enjoy or have special
expertise for;
- Protect and grow market share against competition;
- Build the professional reputation of the provider with
the community and peers.
These high-level objectives also translate into answers for
challenges and opportunities such as:
- Attracting better paying or more profitable cases;
- Reaching "ideal patents," directly and cost-effectively;
- Changing the mix of patients or types of cases;
- Winning more professional referrals;
- Supporting a new location, provider or technology (or
all of these);
- Building volume for an ancillary service;
- Transitioning to a "cash business" or "all-referral"
practice;
- Standing out from the crowd in positive ways;
- Answering competitive challenges;
- Finding more personal time and greater professional enjoyment;
and
- Tastefully building and extending your reputation.
Read more about this Question and Answer in our library:
»
Ethical Marketing Systems - A whole new way to "work
smarter, not harder"
2. "Sounds great, but how can we tastefully market
without hurting our reputation?"
The answer: It's all in how you do it.
It is no secret that many doctors and healthcare organizations
remain "marketing-shy" more than 30 years after
the landmark 1977 Supreme Court case Bates V. The State Bar
of Arizona made marketing legal for doctors and other professionals.
What's more, while the licensing boards deemed marketing to
be ethical in the early 1980s, and over time many thousands
of healthcare practices and organizations nationwide began
marketing, many doctors still feel uncomfortable because they
are worried about coming across as "needy, cheesy or
greedy."
If that sounds like you, we certainly understand your concern.
After all, your most precious asset is your reputation, and
you certainly wouldn't want to jeopardize it through distasteful
or unethical marketing.
What's important to remember, however, is that the way you
market your practice or business — and therefore the reputation
you build — is completely up to you. Think of it this way:
Marketing is an important channel for positive influence
in shaping how others think of you. You're telling patients,
prospective patients, colleagues and others what you do, and
reminding them when, how and why to think of you and your
organization. The message that's received depends entirely
on the message that you send, so you want to control and direct
this process.
Healthcare marketing—done professionally and using the right
strategies and tactics—will produce professional results in
measurable growth, and actually enhance your reputation in
positive ways. (And, of course, the reverse would also be
true.)
The starting point for marketing is like a blank canvas:
people who don't know you are completely unaware of what you
do and have no image of you at all. The professional marketing
messages of your organization communicate your credible, impressive,
ethical and highly professional image and reputation.
Surprisingly, many doctors would argue that marketing is
actually more ethical than not. Their rationale?
Marketing is a positive tool to inform and influence people
toward a better quality of health and life. On the other hand,
NOT marketing would be withholding valuable and helpful information.
So which is the more ethical approach?
Unfortunately, like most tools, marketing can deliver a disastrous
outcome if you don't know what you are doing or understand
how to use it properly and effectively. So, you'll want to
do proper homework and then seek out expert guidance prior
to embarking upon a new marketing program.
»
Watch a video from our recent DVD on this topic
3. "Gee, isn't marketing expensive and/or risky?"
The answer: Results-based Marketing reduces risk
and maximizes ROI.
Clearly, there are no guarantees in business any more than
there are absolute outcomes in a clinical practice. But—to
continue the clinical analogy—a knowledgeable doctor applies
his own skills and depth of experience (and that of many others)
to reduce risks in achieving the desired outcome.
Likewise in marketing, learning from the outcomes of thousands
of healthcare marketing campaigns significantly reduces risk.
Over the years, our real-world experience in working with
thousands of clients around the nation enables us to recommend
an results-based marketing methodology. The key steps that
we apply in reducing risk and achieving success include:
- * Learn from the marketing outcomes of thousands of other
healthcare practices and organizations;
- * Create a strategic marketing plan based on strategies
and tactics most likely to be successful, including geography,
specialty, personalities, strengths and weaknesses, etc.;
- * Test whenever possible before committing significant
sums of money;
- * Track results carefully; and
- * Roll out the "winning" strategies.
And NO, marketing is not an issue of expense or "expensive."
Some highly effective marketing strategies and tactics are
low or no cost. And while other tactics may require a reasonable
investment of some kind, they will also have a Return-on-Investment
attached.
This is where the above steps of testing, tracking and roll-out
apply. Let's say that investing $4,000 a month on marketing
produces $200,000 or more in new revenue—it would not be "expensive,"
it would be a successful 400% ROI.
»
Watch a video from our recent DVD on this topic
4. "How should I establish a marketing budget?"
The answer: Budget by objectives. This is probably
easier than you think, but it's even easier to get it wrong.
There's just not enough space here to list all the wrong
ways to approach a marketing budget. And even well-intended
clients have been known to give up in frustration and try
to "play-it-by-ear," or worse, they do little or
no marketing because they have no budget. (As you can imagine,
this self-fulfilling, no-budget-and-do-nothing approach would
be getting it wrong.)
The correct approach to a sound marketing budget is to begin
with the end in mind. Clearly define what you intend to achieve
in specific and quantifiable numbers.
Start with the overall incremental growth objective even
if your marketing plan has several segments. You may have
to work through this exercise several times for adjustments
and refinements. You'll find a practical worksheet by way
of the "Read More" links below.
Keep in mind that your goals and your budget are two parts
of an equation that need to be aligned with each other. The
purpose of your 12-month budget is to assign adequate resources
to achieve realistic goals, and this goes hand-in-hand with
tracking and calculating Return-on-Investment.
»
Watch a video from our recent DVD on this topic
5. "What is the difference between medical marketing
and medical practice management?
The answer: These are relatives, but they have quite
different roles in the practice.
Broadly defined, Medical Practice Management embraces operational
matters such as coding, payer selection, accounts receivable,
staffing, HIPAA, software, cost cutting, and about a million
other issues that are the day-to-day business of the business/practice.
In its purest form, Medical Marketing is about building a
positive reputation, getting your phone to ring, getting people
to come in for a first appointment and converting them into
patients.
Practice Management is largely about the wheels that turn
inside the practice. And Practice Marketing is the planned
process of communications that goes on with individuals who,
for the most part, are not yet aware of or part of the practice.
6. "Is marketing synonymous with advertising?"
The answer: No. Advertising is a small sub-set of
marketing, and one that you may not even need.
While marketing and advertising are often mistakenly used
interchangeably, marketing is the very broad, overarching
heading. Marketing encompasses many variables, oftentimes
referred to as the Seven
Ps of Marketing. These "Ps" include Product
(the services you deliver and needs you fulfill), Packaging
(how you bundle services), Price, Place (physical facility
and geography), People (you and your staff), Positioning (why
you) and finally Promotion.
That final "P" for promotion includes doctor referral
marketing, patient referral marketing, publicity (free press),
branding (the sum total of experiences the patient has with
you), Internet marketing, community marketing, case presentation,
point of purchase displays and finally advertising.
A well-considered marketing plan may or may not include some
form of advertising, depending upon objectives, budgets, philosophy,
marketplace and many other factors .
Read more about this Question and Answer in our library:
»
What is Marketing?
7. "I never market."
The answer: Opps...sorry, but nearly everything you
do is marketing.
We'll let it slide that this is a statement and not a question.
But the fact is that you DO market your business. Like it
or not...call it something else if you like...but virtually
everything you do is sending a marketing message. Paul
Watzlawick was right when he postulated, "You cannot
NOT communicate."
It may be that a organization does not have a written Marketing
Plan, or that it deliberately avoids newspaper or other forms
of external advertising. But it is a mistake to think that
a provider "never markets." This is more than semantics.
The way a business greets and interacts with patients...the
deccr and appearance of the office...the demeanor of the staff
in person and on the phone...caregiver manner...what patients
are likely to say (or not say) about the business to others...among
dozens of examples, are ways the business is marketing itself.
The result of this—intentionally or unintentionally—represents
the messages that are communicated about the business. Marketing
includes communications, by any means, about a business that
encourages the recipients of the communication to respond
positively.
The question is, "Are you actively controlling your
message and therefore reputation and results, or are you simply
allowing things to happen by chance?"
Read more about this Question and Answer in our library:
»
What Is A Health Care Marketing Plan and Why Do I Need One?
Conclusion
Because marketing is so widely misunderstood, doctors and
other healthcare providers often dismiss it out of hand. Yet,
marketing can be a powerful tool to enhance both your reputation
and bottom line. Call (888) 679-0050 ext. 4 to find out if
marketing could work for your organization, too.
Stewart Gandolf, MBA, and Lonnie Hirsch are two of America's
most experienced healthcare marketers. They have worked with
clients throughout the nation for a combined 30 years, have
written numerous articles on practice marketing, and have
consulted with more than 3,000 healthcare clients. Additionally,
they have spoken at hundreds of venues across North America
to tens of thousands of doctors. You may reach them by calling
(888) 679-0050, through their web site at www.healthcaresuccess.com,
or via e-mail at info@healthcaresuccess.com. |
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