Medical Practices: Getting Patients in the Door

This article organizes the original guidance on medical practices: getting patients in the door into clear sections for easier reading and reference.

Overview

This opening section presents the main context from the original post.

In the current competitive medical environment, people are presented with a range of options for medical care, so attracting patients is increasingly challenging for physicians. One key to getting patients in the door of your medical practice is to create a marketing plan, possibly with the help of a professional marketing firm, that incorporates an understanding of your target demographic and your brand identity, among other factors.

Who are your patients?

This section keeps the original guidance focused on who are your patients?.

It’s important to evaluate the age range of your patients, where they live, and how they found out about you. In theory, if yours is a specialty practice—a pediatrics office, an OB/GYN, or a podiatric physician, for example—your patients could be fairly easy to define.

But an analysis of a practice might actually find, for example, that the pediatrician is spending most of his or her time on teenagers, the OB/GYN might have an unusual number of menopausal patients, or the podiatric physician primarily deals with patients who have sports-related issues. Even a family practitioner might find that the practice skews toward a particular subset of patients.

Why? Some of this may be related to insurance, physician preference and reputation—or even geography.

Is the practice located in a college town? Near residential areas with a largely aging population?

Or in an area where the dominant employer offers specific health insurance options? All of these can affect practice demographics.

What is your brand?

This section keeps the original guidance focused on what is your brand?.

Defining what type of practice you have and whom the practice is serving is a way of determining the practice’s brand identity. And, of course, clarifying and creating the practice’s “brand” helps shape the marketing campaign.

Should your marketing aim at an aging population? If so, ads in the local college newspaper are a waste of time and money.

Outlets for marketing are numerous and include a practice website, the Yellow Pages, local or regional newspapers, direct mailings, and radio and TV. Other marketing avenues include:

• Lunches and talks with potential referring physicians,
• Lunches and talks with local public service organizations such as the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis and others,
• Writing local newspaper columns,
• Visiting nursing homes,
• Holding open houses, and
• Making presentations and setting up booths at local events.

Determining the kinds of patients you are likely to attract and getting a handle on your brand identity can help with the process of selecting the most appropriate marketing targets and outlets.

How much can you spend?

This section keeps the original guidance focused on how much can you spend?.

Another factor to take into consideration is a marketing budget. Generally speaking, a marketing budget that is about 2% to 4% of projected revenues is considered appropriate.

If your budget, or the amount of time you can spend on marketing efforts, is limited, then an evaluation of return on investment (ROI) is in order. Correction: an evaluation of ROI is always in order.

How effective are your marketing efforts at hitting your target audience? Once a Yellow Pages ad was a must-have, but now, thanks to the Internet, many physicians feel these ads aren’t worth the price, especially when a professional website is relatively inexpensive and can be tied to a patient portal and scheduling system.

Ads on radio and TV can be effective, but they’re expensive and depend on the practice’s market area. A major urban market has an enormous reach, but also is enormously expensive. A smaller, rural or suburban market is less expensive, but reaches fewer people. In that case, your advertising could be more targeted.

Why not multiply your efforts?

This section keeps the original guidance focused on why not multiply your efforts?.

It’s important to consider that your marketing efforts probably should cross several formats and platforms. Having a website alone isn’t enough.

The same is true for a Yellow Pages ad or a direct mailing. For a physician practice marketing campaign to be effective, it needs to occur on multiple platforms and be geared to your specific target audience.

With research and the added support of a marketing professional, your marketing strategy will be successful.

Related Resources

These resources connect the article topic with related Bowers service pages and approved professional reading.

• Tax Services
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• Careers
• Harvard Business Review
• Accounting Today

FAQ

The questions below summarize the main points already covered in the article.

What is the main focus of Medical Practices: Getting Patients in the Door?

The article focuses on medical practices: getting patients in the door and organizes the original guidance into sections for easier review.

What topics does the article cover first?

The article begins with who are your patients? and then continues through the remaining points in the original post.

Which additional areas are included?

Additional sections include what is your brand?, how much can you spend?, why not multiply your efforts?.

Does the post include action items or reminders?

Yes. The original post includes listed items that have been kept in list format for easier scanning.

Was the original post wording changed?

The revision keeps the author wording and updates the structure so the post is easier to read online.