practice marketing - Dr. Kelley

Healthcare Practice Marketing for Introverts

Healthcare Practice Marketing for Introverts. Many healthcare professionals are introverts, and that can make healthcare practice marketing and self-promotion challenging. But don’t despair! Here are some tips to help even the most introverted healthcare professional to market their private practice effectively.

First, change your perspective on your activities. Instead of getting overwhelmed at the thought of “marketing,” “networking,” or “promotion,” change your terminology. Are you more comfortable with “connecting,” “helping,” or “sharing?” It sounds silly, but words are powerful.

Second, take a close look at your effective healthcare practice marketing activities. With which ones do you stay relaxed? Which ones cause anxiety or stress? In general, focus more effort on those activities which allow you to stay calm and relaxed. If there’s a marketing activity which yields tremendous results but causes significant anxiety, look for ways to achieve the same results with less stress. For example, perhaps a health talk produces great results but you’re a nervous wreck for a week. Can you take a class on public speaking and become more comfortable? Or perhaps change the format to a panel discussion so you’re not the center of attention.

Third, consider adding marketing techniques and activities you haven’t tried before. Some ideas that may appeal to your introverted nature are: Writing practice-specific brochures for your target demographic, volunteering your time or services for a worthy cause, sponsoring a popular speaker on a topic important to your community, blogging, or joining a community service organization.

Fourth, remember that no matter what word we use, or what activity we employ, all relationships are built one person at a time. The same is true for healthcare marketing and building your private practice – it happens one person at a time. Those face-to-face interactions are oh so important.

Finally, don’t expect every event or activity to generate huge results. While some healthcare practices may develop signature events with extreme return on investment, that’s not the norm. Face-to-face interactions…day after day, month after month, year after year…add up. Take a long term view and realize that consistent effort over time will help you build the private practice – and life – of your dreams!

Are you an introvert in the healthcare field? What marketing ideas and activities have worked for you? Please share your experiences in the comments box 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!

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.

Healthcare Practice Marketing Indecision

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

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 Mastermind Group

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

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.

In its simplest form, the mastermind meeting allows each participant to introduce themselves, share a win, and share a challenge. The group is then able to offer advice or feedback regarding the challenges. However, the meeting format can be changed to suit the needs of the people involved. For example, the content discussed can be very general, concerning anything to do with business. Or, the discussion content can be narrowed down to a specific area such as goals/goal-setting, practice marketing, leadership, or practice procedures.

Topics for discussion in a healthcare marketing mastermind group could include wins, challenges, collaborative opportunities to educate the local community, evaluation of prospective marketing events, evaluation of completed marketing efforts, development of marketing plans (marketing calendars, “Connections CalendarsTM”), and so on.

One key piece to the success of such a mastermind group is the intent of the people involved. Each person must approach the group in a spirit of helpfulness and cooperation. This is not about competition. It’s about helping each healthcare practice to showcase itself in the community. This enhances local health awareness and increases the potential success of everyone involved. It’s been said that “a rising tide raises all ships in the harbor.”

Think of the local market as a pie. Each slice of the pie represents a “market share.” The bigger your slice of pie, the more patients you have and the more successful your practice becomes. A healthcare marketing mastermind group could help all healthcare providers. As the community becomes more educated about health and their healthcare options, the metaphorical pie (and your slice) gets bigger. As you help your peers, you also help yourself!

If the term “mastermind” doesn’t appeal to you, try another such as “Healthcare Marketing Forum,” or have the members collaborate on a name during the first meeting. A new meeting type that is gaining in popularity is the “accountability group.” These groups may be smaller than a mastermind group and meet more frequently as their goal is to help hold each member accountable to reach their goals.

What do you think? Would you be interested in creating or joining a healthcare marketing mastermind group? How have masterminds worked for you in the past? Leave your comments in the section below and help us create our own virtual mastermind group!

6 Signs Your Healthcare Practice Marketing is Failing

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

Sometimes the harder we work, the less effective we are, and the same can be true for practice marketing. This blog will explore 6 signs your healthcare practice marketing is failing and what to do about them.

Sign #1: You find yourself working harder, yet producing fewer results. For example, you’re doing more marketing events, but have the same number of new patients each month. Like a hamster on its’ wheel, you can’t seem to make any marketing progress. Tip: Do less marketing with more focus, planning, and intention. Create a written Connections Calendar™. If you need help with this, my Ramp Up For Success Package! is perfect for you. Click here for details.

Sign #2: Your patients or staff can’t explain what you do. Part of marketing is explaining to people what you do and how it can help them. Your patients and staff may see results, but if they can’t explain the results (in general terms) then your marketing has failed in its educational component. Tip: Provide constant education to your patients and staff. Make sure your staff is completely comfortable explaining what you do in multiple ways.

Sign #3: Low conversion. You’re able to attract people to your healthcare talks, marketing events, and practice, but few of them make the transition to becoming a patient. This can be closely tied to sign #1. Tip: Carefully examine your “close.” How can you change it to make it more effective?

Sign #4: Few referrals. Related to sign #2, internal marketing is a never-ending process of communication and education to current patients and staff. Tip: Provide multiple opportunities for patients to learn more about the variety of people and conditions you can help through testimonials, articles, health talks, podcasts, etc. And don’t forget to ask for their referrals!

Sign #5: Burnout. We could have a chicken-and-egg conversation here, but I think we’d all agree when you’re marketing-marketing-marketing it can lead to exhaustion and burnout. (And when you’re burned out, your marketing becomes less effective…hence the chicken-and-egg…) Tip: Build relaxation time into your schedule. Systematize and streamline your marketing so it requires less effort.

Sign #6: Stagnation. It’s been said the only constant in life is change. If your healthcare practice marketing strategy isn’t growing and changing, it’s stagnating. And that’s unhealthy. Tip: Review your written Connections Calendar™. Are the activities and events the same ones you’ve been doing for years, or do you try to add new items each year? How can you freshen it up?

Have you seen your own practice in any of these 6 signs? What did you do about it? Please share your thoughts in the comments section – I look forward to seeing you there!