Dr. Kelley S. Mulhern

Patient Education

Patient education can make or break your practice. No amount of marketing can make up for a lack of patient education.

What Do You Do?

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.

How Does That Help Me?

The most important part of patient education is to teach how what you do can help a patient. (Also, why is it important for the patient that they should take care of their health issue?) Sure, fixing knee pain takes care of the immediate problem, but what else happens when the knee is fixed? When the body is taken care of, walking and exercising are less painful, favorite hobbies can be resumed, and quality of life is improved.

Educate patients on the positive “side effects” of using your services to resolve their current health issues — and to prevent future health concerns.

Your Site is Your Chalkboard

In 2012, 72% of people used the internet to find health information, and you can bet that number is even higher now. This means that one of your first (and best!) opportunities for patient education is your website. You want all the nuts and bolts such as your hours and if you accept insurance. However, you want more meaningful forms of education available, too. Tell your potential patients what you can do to improve their lives.

This is where having a section of your site devoted to blogging can be useful. It’s a more personal way to connect with patients and tell them all the great things you can do for them and their health.

Videos are Worth a Million Words

While you have patients in your waiting room, you have a captive audience. Rather than fill that time with outdated copies of People Magazine, set up televisions to play patient education videos. Sure, a few people might read brochures or check their FaceBook while they wait, but others will allow their attention to be captured by something on TV. Leverage the time patients spend in your reception area by using it to educate them on your practice.

Train the Troops

Make sure your front desk staff knows how to properly educate patients on the telephone. This is especially important if you don’t accept insurance. If that is the first thing a prospective patient hears, they may say, “Thank you,” and hang up.

Do you file with insurance as a courtesy? Do you have low-cost monthly plans that make your practice affordable for those who don’t have insurance? These should be the first things your staff is trained to convey to prospective patients calling with insurance inquiries.

Patient Seminars

Seminar Holding patient seminars is a great way to share your knowledge, educate current patients, and engage with potential new patients in a relaxed, informal setting. You can demystify procedures that seem “scary” to some people, showcase services that current and future patients may be unaware you offer, and increase awareness of yourself and your practice within your community.

These seminars can be very inexpensive, especially if you have space to hold them in your office. You’ll want to advertise the event on all your social media outlets and perhaps take out some ads in local media. Patient word of mouth will likely be your best advertisement, so encourage patients to bring along a friend or family member.

Always Be Teaching

Every encounter – physical or virtual – you have with a patient or potential patient is an opportunity to educate, and that’s an opportunity to grow your business. Patient education is one of the most important aspects of any practice. Always be teaching!

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!

Junk Food Marketing

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

Junk food marketing works in the short term, but it’s not a sustainable way to grow your practice. Make sure you aren’t a junk food marketer! Hot dogs

Have you ever read ingredient labels while food shopping? Almost everything is filled with sugar, even savory foods like bread and tomato sauce are loaded with the stuff! Why? Because it’s a cheap, lazy way to make food palatable. Is it good for you? Certainly not, but it’s cheap and easy. The same thing holds true for practice marketing.

Junk Food Marketing

Cheap and easy and not good for you seems to be the way some practices approach marketing. Good marketing, like good cooking, takes time, and there are no shortcuts. So while you might initially tempt some people with cheap and easy “junk food” marketing, it’s not sustainable.

Have Something to Say

Regular engagement is important, but make sure you have something meaningful to say every time you communicate with your patients. Don’t send out a communication for every little holiday. Your patients won’t mind if you don’t Donut wish them a Happy National Donut Day (yes it’s real, it’s June 3!).

If you’re a veterinarian, though, your patients might get a giggle if you wish them a Happy National Puppy Day (also real, March 23!). But things like that are a special case and just meant to give your patients a little laugh. The other 99% of the time, you should have something informative and engaging to communicate whenever you reach out to your patients.

Make it Professional

All your marketing materials should look professional. It’s easy to take shortcuts like printing out brochures on a regular old office printer or to take your own photos for your website, but those are perfect examples of junk food marketing. Those kinds of things stand out to potential patients; it makes your business look cheap and unprofessional. Have your marketing materials professionally done.

Quality Over Quantity

There’s a fine line between marketing and spam. Even the best quality content will be ignored if it’s too much. You want to engage your audience and keep your practice on their radar, but people are bombarded 24/7 by information. It can be overwhelming. You don’t want your marketing content to be thought of as spam.

You Only Promote Services

It’s understandable that you want to use your marketing to promote your services, but make sure that isn’t the only thing you’re doing. People want to read information that’s helpful, funny, or interesting. Consider your demographics. Do you have a lot of athletes in your practice? Write a post or newsletter about ways athletes can avoid injury. Do you have a lot of families in your practice? Write a post about fun summer activities coming up in your area.

People don’t want to read constant self-promotion, they want to feel like you’re writing for them. You can feel free to add a few lines about your services at the end of a post, but it shouldn’t always be the entire focus of every post.

Set a Schedule and Stick to It

It’s frustrating when you find a blog you like and it’s not regularly updated. It seems unprofessional. If you worry that you can’t keep up a regular writing schedule, batch several articles and schedule them regularly. This not only helps to keep the readers engaged, but it also helps with SEO ranking too. Frequency matters, but it matters less than consistency.

Get in the Kitchen!

Don’t feed your patients and potential patients junk food marketing! Get in the kitchen and cook up something good for them. No one can live on a diet full of sugar forever, and your business can’t survive on a diet of junk food marketing.

Choosing Membership Services

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Once you decide to become a membership practice, the next step is choosing membership services for your patients. We know the benefits for providers: A smaller patient load, reduced overhead, and less record-keeping. But what services will you offer your patients?

Ask Your Patients What Membership Services They Want

When some people think of a membership practice, they think of fluffy robes and private waiting rooms. Those things are nice extras, but they don’t do much to make a patient’s experience better. Ask your patients what would improve their experience. The most common things patients are looking for all relate to time: Faster access to appointments, longer appointments, and a practitioner who listens (which takes time!).

How Available Do You Want to Be?

From a patients’ perspective, one of the most attractive things about a membership practice is the increased access they have to their provider. What used to be handled with an in-office visit can now be handled on the phone or over email. Simple follow up questions that used to take days to get answered can now be answered in hours or even minutes.

But this kind of access means that the provider no longer leaves work when he or she leaves the office. You’ll be tethered to your practice in a way that traditional providers are not. And while most patients won’t take advantage of this 24/7 access, there are bound to be a few who do pick up the phone for every little thing. So consider if you can handle providing that level of availability. Open

For patients used to the old model, simply being able to schedule same or next day appointments, and not having to wait once they arrive for that appointment, will be an incredible improvement. So if you’re unsure about 24/7 access, you can still provide much greater access than what your patients have been used to.

Consider Your Demographics

If your practice is in a very affluent area, then luxuries like fluffy robes and private waiting rooms may indeed be something you want to offer your patients. If your patients are seniors, they may want help navigating the healthcare maze, things like coordinating specialist referrals and appointments and medical records. For patients with limited mobility, house calls would be an attractive feature and something well worth paying a membership fee for.

If your patients are focused on wellness and preventative care, they desire services that cater to their healthy lifestyle. You might consider hiring alternative therapists like an acupuncturist, naturopath, or nutritionist and adding an on-site lab to provide simple blood tests for things like vitamin deficiencies and lipid levels. Phone

Tech-savvy patients will appreciate patient portals, so they can do things like make appointments, access medical records and get lab results on-line. Even better if you have a patient portal app so they can do all of that right on their phone!

A Perfect Match

Choosing membership services to include in your practice is a matter of finding the right balance between what is best for your patients and for you. This shouldn’t be too difficult because providers and patients often share many of the same frustrations with traditional practice models. Therefore, what makes your patients happy can make you happy too.

Ways To Structure a Membership Practice

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Previous blog posts focused on membership practices, and you’re convinced! This post will discuss ways to structure a membership practice.

Before we look at the different models, remember that much of your success when transitioning to a membership practice depends on understanding your patient demographic, choosing the right structure to serve them, and educating them on how the new practice model will work. If you’ve selected the right practice structure for your demographic, communicating the benefits to your patients should be easy. Now let’s look at the three most common ways to structure a membership practice.

Hybrid Structure

A hybrid model is ideal if you’re nervous about making the leap into a full concierge practice or think your patients will be resistant to the idea. Many people still have a negative connotation with the word concierge, assuming it’s something they can’t afford.

A hybrid structure charges a membership fee (to cover services that insurance doesn’t) while billing insurance for office visits and other covered services. This allows patients to carry a high-deductible policy for major health issues, while covering select routine and preventative services with the membership fee. This structure can also provide the amenities that make concierge services attractive to patients, such as longer appointments, same day appointments, and telephone and e-mail access to the doctor.

Another way to structure a hybrid practice is to maintain a traditional practice while offering additional services for a membership fee. This type of hybrid structure can be controversial. Some people consider it “two-tiered” care where those willing and able to pay more get better care than those relying only on insurance.

Fee-for-Care

If you’re considering a fee-for-care structure, you first must decide if you want to accept insurance. You’ll also need to decide what services the fees will cover. Typically, patient fees cover most services that are provided in the office. Some services such as vaccinations, lab work, and X-rays may be excluded from the fee and charged separately.

If you choose not to accept insurance, and your fees will not cover out-of-office services, it’s important to develop relationships with local labs and imaging centers. Establish a close relationship with your representative from these providers so they’ll work with you to facilitate same day appointments and discounted services.

Menu of Care

Would you eat in a restaurant that didn’t disclose their prices? Doubtful. This is how many people feel about going to the doctor, whether they have insurance or not. But very few doctors disclose their prices, and some might not even be able to answer if a patient asked how much a visit or procedure would cost.

This can be nerve-wracking for those who have no insurance or who have high-deductible plans. To address these fears, some practices are establishing a “menu of care” structure. All of the pricing is spelled out. There are various categories of memberships and a listing of what’s included in each one. (You’ve probably seen tiered packages such as bronze, silver and gold on non-medical websites…it’s the same idea.) Some practices provide a la carte pricing for every service offered. You can even set up a menu of care practice without a membership component by pricing everything a la carte.

From a marketing standpoint, this is one model that can really benefit from accepting insurance. Patients with high deductible plans love this model because they know exactly how much they have to pay and what’s left to meet their deductible.

Which Structure Is Right For You?

If you want to test the waters before deciding to discontinue taking insurance entirely, the hybrid method is the choice for you. If you know what services you’ll cover for a membership fee and have good relationships with labs and imaging centers, a fee-for-care structure will serve you and your patients. If you like to put your cards on the table and have a lot of patients with high-deductible plans, you’ll both be happy with a menu of care structure. If you’re still uncertain, consider a brief survey of your patients to determine what would best match their needs and comfort levels.

There’s no “one size fits all” approach to moving into a membership practice model. Fortunately, there are many ways to structure your practice so you can get the right fit for you, your staff, and your patients.

Membership Practices, Concierge Practices, and Direct Primary Care: Similarities and Differences

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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.

Membership Practice Model

A “membership practice” refers to any practice model that charges an annual or monthly fee or retainer to its’ patients. This umbrella term can be used to refer to several different practice models, including direct primary care, concierge, or boutique practices. The membership fee frequently covers a variety of services, procedures, or treatments, delineated by each office. Thus, a membership model is highly flexible and can be structured to suit the needs of the doctor, patients, and community.

Concierge Care Model

concierge medicine dr kelley pendleton The mid-1990’s saw a rise of wealthy patients who wanted VIP care without the interference of insurance companies, and “Concierge Medicine” was born. The defining feature of concierge medicine is that it gives the patient nearly limitless access to the doctor, often including same day appointments, round the clock telephone access, and even house calls in some practices. While many concierge practices do accept insurance to pay for services or procedures not covered by the retainer fee, they’ve often negotiated better pricing, further reducing patient expense.

Direct Primary Care Model

In the mid-2000’s, the frustrations of patients and providers converged to create a “new” model of practice. Direct Primary Care, or DPC, seems to be a throwback to the bygone era of small town doctors who developed direct relationships with their patients without the involvement of a third party. DPC practices offer primary, preventative, urgent, and wellness care in addition to disease management. The defining feature of the DPC model is that the provider does not accept nor bill insurance. Payment is arranged solely between the doctor and his or her patient. Eliminating insurance allows doctors to spend more time caring for patients, and less time dealing with the hassles of insurance.

The Similarities

Both concierge and direct primary care practices charge a membership or retainer fee.

Each practice model has much smaller patient loads than a traditional practice, thus allowing for longer patient visits and a higher level of care. These types of practices typically limit their patient panel to several hundred while a traditional practice can have as many as 2,500 patients.

Both models provide greater access to doctors, including telephone and e-mail consultations.

Concierge and DPC practices provide much faster access to the doctor including same or next day appointments, and little to no wait time upon arriving for an appointment.

In a traditional model, doctors are only paid for office visits. Because membership practices don’t rely entirely (or at all) on insurance payments, follow up care can often be handled via telephone or e-mail. (How convenient is that?)

Another thing both models have in common is how little they are understood by patients. That’s why patient education is so vital to making either model a success.

The Differences

The major difference is that while direct primary care practices don’t bill insurance at all, many concierge practices do.

Direct primary care practices tend to attract younger patients, those in their 20’s-40’s who are middle class. Concierge practices attract an older and wealthier clientele, those in their 50’s-80’s who are considered upper middle class.

Overhead between the two models is another key difference. Because DPC cuts out insurance companies, there’s less need for billing staff, software, EMR, and the other expenses typically incurred when a practice accepts insurance. Concierge practices often have higher overhead because they still bill insurance and because the patients may expect fancy extras for their annual fee like plush offices and private waiting rooms.

DPC’s charge a lower fee, on average, $50-150 per month. While the average concierge practice’s monthly fee is higher, it’s surprisingly not that much higher, at $200 per month.

While DPC offers faster access to doctors than traditional practices, many concierge practices offer 24/7 access every day of the year via the doctor’s personal cell phone number.

Which Model Is Best?

The answer will heavily rely on your patient demographic. Younger, middle-class, Gen X and millennials will favor the DPC model. Even with the advent of the Affordable Care Act, many people’s medical coverage is still tied to their employer, and it’s comforting for patients to know they can remain under your care with or without insurance.

If your patients are older and more affluent, they may be willing and able to pay for concierge medicine. For those in this demographic, health has become a matter of prime importance and they want to build a close relationship with a doctor they can trust.

Whichever model you choose, you can look forward to better serving your patients, improving their quality of life and your own, while reducing your own insurance-related frustrations.

Healthcare Practice Marketing Indecision

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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.

For example, do you have a written description of your ideal patient? If not, this lack of focus can cause you to dilute your practice marketing efforts. Do you track your healthcare practice marketing activities and calculate specific metrics? If not, this lack of information can cause you to continue to conduct low-performing practice marketing events. Do you suffer from decreased confidence in your skills, abilities, or knowledge? If so, this changes the way in which you communicate with patients and prospective patients about your ability to help them.

Sometimes the roots of indecision run deep, and it takes a little soul-searching to dig them out. Here’s a simple exercise that may help you combat indecision or uncertainty:

Step 1: Think about your car. (Wait…what does your car have to do with healthcare practice marketing? Read on and I promise it’ll make sense!) What happens to your car when you step on the pedal to the right? Well, since it’s the gas pedal it’s designed to make your car “go.” What happens to your car when you step on the pedal to the left? As the brake, it’s intended to make your car “stop.” What happens to your car when you step on both pedals at the same time? In that scenario, you’re sending mixed signals as to what you want your car to do. If you drive a standard, you just lurch about until the car stalls. Automatics are a little more forgiving and will respond to the pedal you have more pressure on.

Step 2: Think about your healthcare practice marketing efforts (and your life in general). Where do you need to step on the proverbial gas? On the proverbial brake? Where might your lack of focus, certainty, or information be causing you to step on the gas and the brake? Let’s look at these a little closer…

Healthcare Practice Marketing Indecision

What are some ways in which you might simultaneously accelerate and decelerate your healthcare practice marketing? Consider the language you use to promote your practice. Is it specific and consistent, or do you describe your practice different ways in different settings? While some minor variance is normal, some practices try to please everyone. They might describe themselves as a wellness practice, a personal injury practice, a sports rehab center, and a weight-loss clinic. Tip: Determine who your ideal patients are and how you can best serve them. Let your healthcare practice marketing verbiage flow from those decisions.

Here are a few more ways in which you could be stepping on the gas and the brake at the same time in regards to your healthcare practice marketing:

Accelerating Behaviors	Decelerating Behaviors
Setting written and specific goals	Never reviewing or modifying those goals
Creating a written marketing calendar	Ignoring the marketing calendar – adding and removing events or activities based on how you feel at the moment
Focusing on what you want in your practice – for example, wanting 15 new patients this month	Having conflicting thoughts or energies – for example, wanting new patients, but dreading the paperwork or time involved
Establishing solid marketing processes and procedures	Not following your established marketing processes and procedures

Step on the Brake!

Next, where are some areas you may need to step on the brakes in order to improve your healthcare practice marketing? (These topics are easy to come up with, but maybe a little harder to address.) For example, slow down or stop negative self-talk, procrastination, fear, sloppiness, and disorganization.

Rev Your Engines!

Finally, where are some areas you may need to put your gas “pedal to the metal” in order to ramp up your healthcare practice marketing and take it to the next level? For example, accelerate your accountability and decisiveness, turn your weaknesses into strengths, train your staff, and practice positivity.

Taking the time to figure out what you need to do more (or less) of in terms of your healthcare practice marketing strategy can lead to clarity and certainty. This can produce tremendous results for your practice

What works for you? Do you have a clarity tip to recommend? Please share your comment, quote, or story in the comments section!

Healthcare Practice Marketing Sabotage: 3 Surprising Tactics

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

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.

Healthcare Practice Marketing Sabotage: 3 Surprising Tactics:

Negative Self-Talk. If you were to listen in on the chatter filling your mind, what would you hear? For many people, they’d hear an overwhelming amount of criticism, skepticism, and negativity. This can destroy your practice marketing before it even gets started! Imagine you want to host a premier wellness event for your community. If your self-talk says “You can’t handle such an event,” or “You’re not organized enough to develop the event” you might not even try. How many times have you talked yourself out of a practice marketing activity due to negative self-talk? (Please remember there’s a difference between negative self-talk and the truth. If you truly are not in a position to try a particular marketing activity, the self-talk may be accurate.) Tip: Keep an ear out for self-talk that raises fear, doubt, or otherwise holds you back. Make an honest assessment as to the validity of the self-talk. When appropriate, quiet the inner voices, be brave, and try something new!

Procrastination. When running a healthcare practice, numerous things demand your immediate time and attention. Your patients need you, your team needs direction, the web developer needs feedback, the equipment needs maintenance, and so forth. Under such busy circumstances it’s easy to put off projects or activities, especially if they don’t ignite your passion. (And let’s face it, for many healthcare providers “marketing” is a four-letter word!) But when we procrastinate practice marketing activities, we slam on the brakes in our practices. Tip: Set aside time every year to develop a Connections Calendar^TM complete with your marketing strategies and events for the year. (Check out my last blog post for more information on Connections Calendars^TM: ) Make a written plan, and then take steps to work that plan every single day.

Keeping “tolerations.” I first heard this term used by The Master’s Circle chiropractic practice management company. Essentially, a toleration is anything you put up with in your life. It can be seemingly small, like having a closet full of old clothes you plan to sort through “someday,” or it can be hugely impactful, like breaking promises to yourself. Tip: Scour your life and dedicate yourself to finding and eliminating tolerations. In terms of your practice marketing, what tolerations have you allowed to creep in? Are you using the same old tired marketing events and activities because you don’t have the energy to create new ones? Perhaps your website needs a complete overhaul, but you get depressed just thinking about it. Are your business cards the same ones you started practice with 20 years ago? Whatever your marketing tolerations are, select one and attack it! Empower yourself! Take a stand and eliminate tolerations. As you whittle away the things you “put up with,” you’ll feel a sense of renewed control and focus that can change your practice.

There you have it! Three surprising ways you might be guilty of healthcare practice marketing sabotage. Sometimes we really can be our own worst enemy. However, if you pay attention to your self-talk, stop procrastination, and eliminate tolerations you can nip self-sabotaging behaviors in the bud. Did this blog resonate with you? What’s been the single most self-sabotaging behavior you’ve noticed? I invite you to share your comments, stories, and tips in the comments section!

Healthcare Marketing and Zonkies [Dare to be Different!]

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

Healthcare marketing and Zonkies? Seriously, what’s the connection? Healthcare providers often do the same, old, tired events and activities for their healthcare marketing. Certainly there’s a place for those things…they became “standard marketing” (or “workhorses”) because they were effective or provided useful information. We don’t want to throw them out completely…but consider enhancing them with some new, fresh, and interesting healthcare marketing activities where you dare to be different! (The zonkey!)

That’s right! Think outside of the box. Pretend there is no box! Be clever. Be unique with your marketing. Stand out from the crowd of healthcare providers clamoring for the public’s attention…

But how?

That’s a great question…

And I don’t have a specific answer for you.

Why not? Because your marketing should be as unique in your community as you are…and I don’t know you personally to be able to give you the perfect answer. Instead, look for general ideas. Then see what resonates with you…what looks like it would be fun…what your community needs…and tweak it to fit your situation. For example:

Develop a unique twist on an old standard. For instance, if 5Ks are a favorite stand-by, freshen them up by creating a new theme. Some fun runs that have been popular lately include zombie runs, color runs, and bubble runs.

Ramp up your professional use of social media. There are an infinite number of ways to creatively use social media and market your practice. There are even ways to systematize and automate it so it doesn’t suck time from your busy schedule. Refer back to my May 2015 Marketing Tip of the Month Newsletter for more on this topic of social media automation.

One newer social media tool to make a splash is “Periscope” by Twitter. Set up a free account, then dive in to real-time video experiences. Sure…there are people “scoping” strange things…but it can be very useful from a professional perspective. Imagine hosting a patient dinner or delivering a healthcare talk and having people drop in from all over the world! They can see and hear you…and interact with you via chat. Viewers can even send “hearts” (by tapping on their screen) to give you applause or to show their agreement. Or imagine a patient “scoping” their appointment with you…how else could you use it in your practice?

What fun and unique practice marketing activities have been successful for you in the past? Please share them in the comments section so we can continue the conversation!

External Marketing for Healthcare Practices [Easy Definition]

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

We examined the concept of internal marketing for healthcare practices in a previous blog. Let’s turn our attention now to the concept of external marketing for healthcare practices. Simply stated, [external marketing] for healthcare practices is any activity or event done outside the walls of your office to promote your practice. The most effective marketing strategies utilize a combination of internal and external marketing for practice success.

What are some examples of external marketing for healthcare practices? Effective and attractive business cards and brochures you give to prospective patients at events…a healthcare talk or series of healthcare talks hosted off-site…providing services at an athletic event…sponsoring a 5K…and so on. (Remember, don’t get caught up in the labeling because it is possible for an item or activity to be used for internal and external marketing.)

When establishing your marketing calendar each year, start by scheduling one external and one internal marketing event or activity each month. You may be tempted to schedule more than one of each, but resist the temptation. Consequently, you may overwhelm yourself, your staff, or your available resources. Then when the event occurs, you’ll likely be exhausted and unable to project the best image of your practice. You can always add more activities and events to your calendar throughout the year as your resources and energy permit.

Once the events are scheduled you can begin the planning process. Create a system to organize all your event information and materials. Try a 3-ring binder or a digital folder structure, depending on your preference. This way, the next time you host the same (or similar) event, you don’t have to start from scratch! Establish reasonable goals for what you hope to accomplish with your marketing activity (i.e.: New patients, increased awareness, raise money for a charity, etc.). Determine how you’ll track the progress of those goals. Research, collaborate, delegate, and modify as needed.

Finally, with proper preparation, you can relax and enjoy the event when the day arrives. Afterwards, debrief with staff and volunteers. (If you can get feedback from participants that’s even better!) Discuss what went well, what could have gone better, and what to change for next time.

I’d love to hear from you! What types of events and activities does your practice do for external marketing? Share your most creative and successful ideas in the comments section below!

Healthcare Marketing Mindset I

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

Healthcare Marketing Mindset I

If you spend any amount of time speaking with healthcare professionals in private practice, it’ll quickly become clear as to their healthcare marketing mindset. In other words, what do they think about the concept of marketing their healthcare practice? I find this topic so interesting that I decided to write a series of blogs on the subject of practice marketing mindsets. This first installation will discuss the two main mental perceptions regarding the financial aspect of healthcare marketing.

We all know marketing takes time and money. The question is, how do you view that expenditure of resources? Some healthcare professionals focus on the expense involved, while others accept the cost as an investment into their practice. Have you ever had this conversation with a patient? Where they saw the cost of care in your practice as an expense and you tried to help them see it as an investment into their health and future?

When you view something as an expense – in this case, your marketing efforts – the tendency is to want to minimize the expense. Every decision becomes about the bottom line – dollars and cents – instead of how it could impact your practice or community in multiple ways. An expense is part of the cost of maintaining a business, but doesn’t necessarily help it to grow and thrive.

Conversely, when you view something as an investment, there’s a willingness to commit the necessary resources to make sure it’s successful. The hope is that the investment will pay off in some form in the end. An investment seeks a long-term outcome such as practice growth.

It can be easy to fall into the habit of seeing marketing as just another expense…dollars flowing out of your accounts, never to be seen again. And actually, that can be the reality if you aren’t monitoring, measuring, tracking, and modifying your marketing activities to implement the ones that work best for you.

A better approach is to look at your healthcare practice marketing from the perspective of an investment. Do your research. Determine your goals (what are you hoping to achieve with your healthcare marketing?). Consider your options carefully. Obtain expert guidance when necessary. Have a plan. Invest in the future growth of your practice and your life by financing those activities that successfully grow your practice.

A word of caution – not every marketing activity will produce spectacular results in terms of new patients or revenue. In fact, not every healthcare marketing activity is intended to produce patients or revenue, so be clear on your goals. (For example, perhaps you host an event simply to raise awareness of a serious health condition.)

I’d like to hear from you! How do you perceive the commitment of time and resources necessary to market your healthcare practice? Have you recently switched from seeing healthcare practice marketing as an expense to an investment? How did that happen for you? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below!

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