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How to Write a Medical Practice Marketing Plan |
“Nobody plans to fail. They just fail to plan.” This slogan from a commercial on investments is an apt representation of what happens with marketing programs in most medical practices. Busy days slip by with little to no attention paid to marketing, until one day the days just aren’t so busy anymore. Unfortunately, writing and implementing a marketing plan at that point will offer reduced or zero results because your practice will be playing catch-up to others at a time when revenues are lacking. The right time to write a medical practice marketing plan is now – here’s how.
- Begin at the end. Many practice managers have trouble getting started on a marketing plan because they don’t know what the first step should be. But the truth is that you don’t need to know the first step – you need to know where you want to end up. What demographic (gender, age, geographic area) do you want to attract, and what do you want them to do? Determine your goals before writing your marketing plan, and the rest will fall into place.
- Decide on a budget. Even if your budget is zero dollars, you need to know this ahead of time, because the truth is that there are lots of things you can do to get a marketing plan going on a zero budget. Just keep in mind that if your budget is zero, you’ll be investing a lot of time. If you can set some actual dollars aside for marketing, so much the better. But knowing your budget will enable you to avoid spending time on marketing options that exceed it.
- Do your research. A surprising number of practice managers select advertising and marketing options that their competitors aren’t using. Unfortunately, if your competitors are avoiding certain media and/or messages, it’s probably for good reason. Stick with the tried-and-true, especially if you have a small budget; this isn’t the time to reinvent the wheel.
- Write it down. Most people know that writing goals and objectives down increases their chances of achieving them, and that’s true of marketing plans as well. Writing an outline for your marketing plan will also help you focus on areas where you can delegate to others. Perhaps someone in your office can proof advertising copy, has a connection in the printing business, or can write blogs. Distilled facts from the previous three bullet points should go on your written marketing plan so everyone involved understands why you’re doing what you’re doing.
- Get approval. Your written marketing plan needs buy-in from the physician(s) in your medical practice. The last thing you want to do is implement it only to have it curtailed by someone in power who doesn’t like what you’re doing. Your research and a well-formulated written plan will make all the difference in convincing others of the need for a marketing plan.
- Stick with it. You probably won’t need to review your written marketing plan daily or even weekly, but be sure to pull it out once in a while, check off the items you’ve achieved, and review the areas that need attention. You’ll also need to update your marketing plan as your business evolves.
Latest from Desiree Scoggins
1 Comment
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Tuesday, 20 September 2011
posted by Chris Carraway, DC, DIBCN, CLS
Excellent and sound advice Desiree. One thing I do is market something new internally, to see how patients respond to a new service or change in the office. That way I can see first hand what works and what doesn't. I can tweak my interaction with the patient to see what keywords or concept really seem to click with them. I have to remember that what clicks in their mind is not always what clicks with me.
Starting you marketing internally is free and give you total control of the content and you can change it on the fly. Once you have a handle on what works then you can go public with a trial balloon to see what you developed in house translates to print, radio, the Internet etc.
I once ran a new paper piece that netted me a new case as day and the article was only in the paper one day a week. I had struck gold. The paper was a small paper and they had a fire and went out of business.
I tried the same copy in the big paper in town with no success. I even took to the airwaves on two different radio stations with the same copy. Minimal response. It was strange how that same effort in a different form just did not work.
Don't be afraid to change up your pitch and what media you use. As Desiree noted. Keep notes and review your successes and failures to fine tune your plan as needed.
Chris Carraway, DC, DIBCN, CLS
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