Concierge Marketing and Advertising That Works

Concierge Medical Marketing: Attracting the Patients and Cases You Want

Evidence-Based Marketing Reduces Risk and Helps You Sleep at Night

by Lonnie Hirsch and Stewart Gandolf

Concierge practice. Boutique medicine. Premier medical services. Platinum practice. Retainer medical practice. The new names are daunting and the issues are tough.

But since you're reading this article, there's a good chance that you're unhappy working in a traditional practice and are seriously considering moving to a retainer medical practice.

There are lots of issues. By now, you've worked through the ethical, legal and operational questions...but you're still worried about one big thing: "How do I get people in the door?" Is there a market for what I want to do? Can I successfully attract enough of the patients and cases that I want to make it all work?

Experience says there is good reason for concern. If you market poorly or not at all, the enterprise will crash against the cliffs in a very expensive failure. OR - if you do it right - a concierge practice is both possible and rewarding.

Getting it right from the start can be a major challenge for a busy doctor who has never had to market for cash patients. Here are seven things to consider - You need to...

1. Remember, concierge medicine is really a form of elective care - a world which is vastly different than what you are accustomed to.   You are asking patients to pay their own money out of pocket, and the bill will come to a lot more than a $20 co-pay.   Therefore you'll need to run your practice much more like a high-end retail business than a typical medical practice. Be prepared in advance so you don't suffer from "culture shock."

2. Demonstrate exceptional value to a skeptical public. Your prospective patient base wants to know "Why should I even consider this?" How will you "productize" yourself - to be highly compelling to this audience?

3. Plan for a serious marketing budget. A well-considered marketing plan provides the direction, but you can't get away with $500 a year and expect serious results.

4. Differentiate yourself. At the core of "branding" is doing, saying, and delivering on the differentiating experience that your practice promises and provides. (And doing so consistently.)

5. Convert inquiries into first visits. What happens when marketing makes the phone ring, but inquires don't become first visits? Here's a hint: Staff training is necessary, and patients will not behave at all as you may expect.

6. Convert prospects to regular patients. Having arrived at your office, the individual is still an unconverted prospect.   The positive experience in the office - fulfilling on their expectations - will convert them to become and remain a regular patient.

7. Raise the bar on the level of service. Voluntary, fee-for-service, cash-pay patients expect (even demand) more and the entire practice will contribute to that experience.

If that sounds challenging - it is. It's scary. And risky. But the comforting news is that powerful help is available for retainer medical practice marketing. And it's help based on a proven, trackable, successful system that reduces risk - and ethically and effectively attracts patients who appreciate and can afford quality care.

Evidence-Based Marketing System™

A system is always more profitable than occasional or episodic activity. So here are the four cornerstone principles of the Evidence-Based Marketing System that will help deliver the fulfilling cases you want:

1. Learn from the experience of others before you. Beginning in the dark or re-inventing the wheel is high risk. But medical practice marketing is not new, and there's a world of experience to draw upon. The key is to find and use the proven strategies that have worked repeatedly in the past in similar situations. This is much more than having a random collection of marketing ideas that you think (or hope) might work. It means organizing a core group of proven strategies around a plan.

QUICK TAKE: You may be the first "Platinum Practice" in town, but you're certainly not the first up-scale practice, the first fee-for-service practice, the first elective/cash-pay practice. The previous experience base is a deep (and rewarding) well. Having enough patients show up at your doorstep is a legitimate concern, but it's by no means unique. More importantly, there are answers and success stories.

2. Follow a well-designed marketing plan. A plan for most every healthcare practice will typically include:

• Internal Marketing - such as, inspiring referrals, staff effectiveness, retention;
• External Strategies - newspaper advertising, publicity, broadcast, internet, for example;
• Professional Referral - developing a referral base, communicating, recognizing; and
• Branding Strategy - to communicate and demonstrate what makes you different.

QUICK TAKE: A solid marketing plan has to be exactingly specific, both in terms of who you are as well as what you'll do. It will be tailored to you and your community, the people, the geography, your goals, the competition and dozens of other considerations. All of these factors and the right combination of proven and prioritized concepts need to fit together and work together to produce the outcome you want.

3. Have an effective implementation process. This is your action plan...the engine that puts your plan to work consistently. These are the ways and means, systems and processes, people and resources that help you achieve ongoing success with your marketing plan. Without this, the plan is only paper, and your goals remain wishes.

QUICK TAKE: One of the most common reasons that a plan fails is when it's neglected, forgotten or ignored. (Like a patient who simply doesn't use the prescription.) This is where energy and good intentions are off the chart in the first week of the plan, but then reality intrudes and the priority slides. This is where you need a process in place to make the plan happen everyday. You may need help with this one.

4. Use a reliable method to evaluate results. Marketing is a constant process of testing, tracking and adjusting. And you can't make smart, profitable adjustments if you're not tracking your results. You are measuring and evaluating the Return-On-Investment for each item in your plan. It is this data that allows you to know to what degree you achieved your objectives. And of course that information brings you back to the beginning of this cycle.

QUICK TAKE: Having and using a solid and accurate tracking system is fundamental, relatively easy and often ignored. A good tracking system doesn't require a computer, an accountant or be elaborate. It does require discipline, however, because without it, you'll never know exactly how well the plan is working. But when you do know, you can push your winners for even greater success, and cut your losers to improve performance.

And now, of course, the cycle is repeated again with #1. And you do it all again, this time armed with experience of your own as part of the mix.

Ethical Practice Marketing That Works.

You'll have to get comfortable about making a change (or not) to the concierge model. But there are ethical and effective ways to do concierge medicine marketing, platinum practice marketing and/or boutique practice marketing.

If you want to do practice marketing due diligence, invest two days with us and we'll create an effective and ethical marketing plan for you. Healthcare Success Strategies specializes in evidence-based medical marketing for all physician and surgical specialties including retainer medicine, plastic surgery, internal medicine and others.

When you're ready to talk marketing for your practice, please call us at 888-679-0050 or 949-713-9500 - or you may also email us at info@healthcaresuccess.com.

PS: Also see our free marketing articles on this site about evidence based marketing and attracting better patients.