Guest Blogs

This is the fourth installment in a 6-part blog series designed to walk you through the process of creating your practice marketing calendar. In September we discussed general tips to consider when getting ready to create your marketing calendar.  In October we covered the importance of surveying your patients. In November we looked at the process of creating the marketing calendar itself. However, the marketing calendar isn’t complete simply because you have events scheduled. The next step of the process is to set goals for each event.

When goal setting, you can use a formal system like Tony Robbins’ “S.M.A.R.T.” goals or Brendon Burchard’s “D.U.M.B.” goals (this is actually really great – check it out!). Alternatively, you can follow your own goal-setting process. Here are some tips to help you along the way:

This is the third installment in a 6-part series designed to walk you through the process of creating your practice marketing calendar (in September we discussed general tips to consider when getting ready to create your marketing calendar, and in October we covered the importance of surveying your patients). This blog will look at creating the marketing calendar itself.

Remember, a marketing calendar is a written document which outlines your projected marketing events and activities for the year. It can be used to help with scheduling, budgeting, and accountability. Ideally, your marketing calendar will include a mixture of highly effective events and activities that appeal to your ideal patient.

This is the second installment in a 6-part series designed to walk you through the process of creating your marketing calendar. (Last month we discussed general tips to consider when preparing to create your marketing calendar.)

The purpose of creating a marketing calendar is to establish a written document outlining your projected marketing events and activities for the year. It can then be used to help with scheduling, budgeting, and accountability. Ideally, your marketing calendar will include a mixture of highly effective events and activities that appeal to your ideal patient. (For more information about your ideal patient, review my guest blog that was posted in July.)

You’ve probably heard the quote “Fail to plan, plan to fail.” It reminds us that preparation and planning are critical to success. This is especially true when marketing your practice. However, many healthcare providers don’t construct a detailed, written marketing calendar for their practices. This blog, focusing on general tips to help you get started, is the first installment in a 6-part series designed to walk you through the process of creating your marketing calendar.

In my last guest blog, we explored the need for DPC or Concierge physicians to understand who their perfect patients are in order to develop clarity and certainty around their practices. But this is only one half of the equation: You must also understand yourself.

To have a successful, congruent, and genuine practice, it must reflect YOU…but in order to do that, you need to know yourself. It sounds obvious, but without a clear vision of your purpose and personality, even the most well-planned or well-intentioned practice can fall short of its’ expectations.

Making the decision to open a DPC or Concierge Medicine practice requires you to think critically about many things, including your financial goals, accounting, branding, metrics, practice software, and retention of patients and staff. These hard concepts and skills often demand much attention, leaving less time to focus on the mindset and emotions behind your DPC or Concierge Medicine Practice. In business literature, “strategic planning” refers to the concepts of purpose, mission, vision, values, goals, and culture. These softer intangibles create the very foundation of your DPC or Concierge Medicine practice and should be given equal attention…

Often, when we hear the term “marketing,” it brings to mind images of tricks and gimmicks that leave an unpleasant taste in our mouths. The reality is that we’re all trying to position ourselves, services, or products in a favorable light to others. In a word, marketing! While we’re all marketing ourselves to some extent, there are numerous ways in which to go about the process of marketing. Traditionally, you could spend a small fortune on TV, radio, or print ads, build a stellar website, have a Yellow Pages ad, and so on. While those things may be effective, the purpose of this blog is to talk about relationship marketing.

So you’ve opened (or are considering opening) a DPC or Concierge Medicine practice. Congratulations on your decision to put your patients (and the doctor-patient relationship) at the center of your practice. One of the fears of physicians considering the DPC model is how they’ll (quickly) obtain enough patients to be successful. That fear is understandable since business and marketing aren’t subjects traditionally taught to healthcare providers…