Healthcare marketing resources for private practices.
Employees can make or break a practice. Even the best doctor can’t overcome a bad staff. If you want to keep your practice successful, you need to understand the cost of good employees.
We all know the cliché that your staff is the front line of your practice. They’re the first impression potential patients and patients get of your practice when they call or come into your office. And many of us emphasize this ad naseum to our employees.
In order to gauge the success of your practice, you need to track certain data. In a sea of numbers, you need to know what metrics to measure by.
It’s never easy to raise your fees but sometimes it’s necessary. You don’t want to do it arbitrarily, on January 1 for example, because it will seem to your patients, well, arbitrary!
Summer is over and everyone’s lives are hectic again. When you’re marketing among the madness, make sure your message doesn’t get lost. 
Summers tend to be slow for a lot of practioners. We hope you used your slow summer season productively. But summer is over now and we need to make up for the downtime and ramp up business through smart marketing. However, during this time of year, when people head back to reality, your marketing has to compete with all the other things vying for the attention of potential patients.
There are unique financial challenges facing physicians. We earn more than the average person but we have some problems that our contemporaries do not.
The average student loan debt for recent medical school graduates is nearly a staggering $200,000. The average salary for a primary care physician is $195,000 per year, the average for a specialist is $284,000, the average for an “alternative care provider” can be anywhere from $30,000 to $150,000. Add on another $8,000 in non-education related debt (most likely due to credit cards) and perhaps a mortgage. Being a resident or new in practice may not pay well, and there isn’t time for a second job, so a lot of life’s expenses get charged.
Patient education can make or break your practice. No amount of marketing can make up for a lack of patient education.
It sounds like a ridiculous question, but ask the average person what an orthopedist does. Answers might range from “I don’t know” to, “Something to do with knees.” But what if you’re an orthopedist who specializes in shoulders? A potential patient with a shoulder problem might pass you by because they don’t know orthopedists do more than deal with knee injuries.
It’s up to you to educate patients on what you do…everything you do.
Even if you haven’t intentionally created an on-line presence, you may still have an on-line presence. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you and your practice are up for review.
If you’re thinking of trying a new restaurant or hair salon, do you hop onto a site like Yelp to find out what others had to say about them? Many of us do, and increasingly, patients are doing the same before choosing a practitioner. A lot of patients are doing this, and as much of 85% of patients let these reviews influence their decision.
The terms “membership practice”,”concierge medicine,” and “direct primary care” are sometimes used interchangeably. While they have similarities, they have distinct differences too. It’s important to be familiar with the differences so you can help your patients understand them and be more comfortable with your new practice model.
If you’re among the many doctors seeking a better way to serve your patients, you may be considering a membership, concierge, or direct primary care practice model. To help you make the best decision for you and your patients, this post will outline what these practice models have in common and how they differ.
Healthcare practice marketing indecision can cripple your practice growth and stability. Wow, that’s a pretty bold statement…but it’s true. Indecision can result from a lack of focus, certainty, information, or confidence. Since most healthcare professionals receive little education in how to successfully conduct healthcare practice marketing, it’s no wonder they struggle to make strategic marketing decisions.
Healthcare practice marketing sabotage exists, and should be considered when reviewing your practice marketing strategy. Sabotage is the intentional destruction (or obstruction) of an action, process, or accomplishment. Most of us would be furious to discover someone sabotaging the healthcare practice we’ve worked so hard to build…yet sometimes we’re the ones unintentionally sabotaging ourselves. For example, you’ve probably seen a patient sabotage his own efforts to stick to a new exercise regimen, or her own efforts to lose weight. Self-sabotage happens in personal life, as well as in our businesses.
Mastermind groups have been around for several decades, but have you ever thought of creating or joining a healthcare marketing mastermind group? A mastermind is a group that meets on a regular basis (typically monthly or quarterly) to share challenges, successes, and ask for feedback. The participants can be from the same profession or from a variety of professions. For a healthcare marketing mastermind, I’d recommend working with practitioners from various healthcare disciplines.
