Healthcare Marketing Mindset Series: Pace Yourself

Healthcare Marketing Mindset Series: Pace Yourself

The way in which you think about marketing your healthcare practice – what I call your healthcare marketing mindset – is critical to the success of your business. In my last blog, we explored the difference between looking at your practice marketing as an expense versus as an investment. (To briefly recap, marketing your practice is an investment in the future health and success of your business, and should be viewed as such.) In today’s second installment of the healthcare marketing mindset series, I’d like to consider attitudes about time and pace as they relate to marketing.

When a patient receives your service, treatment, or product, when do they wish or expect to see results? Immediately, right? (One of my professors jokingly used to say “patients want a forever cure, yesterday, in the mail, for free.”) We’ve been conditioned to expect fast results in this fast-paced world. How many times have you had to explain to a patient that results – and healing – take time? It’s common sense: You can’t take one small action and reverse months or years of behaviors and choices.

However, many practice owners are guilty of looking at their practice marketing in much the same way patients look at their health. These practitioners want (and perhaps need) a “quick fix” to generate cash flow, dozens of new patients, office visits, and referrals. My professor might say they want marketing results…yesterday…easily…for free.

In this mindset, practice marketing might be thought of as a sprint, with the practice pushing fast and hard for immediate results. The focus is on the short-term, such as how many marketing activities can be done in a short amount of time to obtain the desired results. There’s a brief flurry of activity, then the event is over and although you’re exhausted it’s time to plan the next activity. Does this sound familiar?

Imagine if – instead of viewing marketing as a sprint – you approached practice marketing as a marathon. You’re in it for the duration. The expectation is not about quick results, but rather a steady pace. Practitioners with this mindset focus on the long-term, and their marketing reflects that attitude. They take the time they need to develop genuine relationships in the community instead of seeing how many business cards they can distribute in 15 minutes. Healthcare practice marketing activities are carefully selected and planned for maximum impact.

In the end, the businesses of the practice marketing sprinter and the practice marketing marathoner may wind up in a similar place, but the sprinter expended much more energy and perhaps burned themselves out mentally and physically. I’d like to hear from you! Do you approach your marketing from a short-term or long-term view? How has your healthcare marketing mentality changed over the years? I invite you to share your story in the comments section, below.

For more information on building community connections, I encourage you to read my new book Community Connections! Relationship Marketing for Healthcare Professionals. If you want more valuable information about how to Connect with YOUR Community, you can find FREE healthcare practice marketing content, PowerPoint Presentation Jumpstart Kits, workbooks, blog articles, and my FREE “Practice Marketing Planner” Now!