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13 Marketing Ideas for Medical Practices

When patients have the ability to choose their own medical practice, even one that falls outside of their insurance plan if they so choose, then marketing must become a priority. Without marketing to people, you can’t show off what your strengths happen to be so that people will want to come see you instead of head down to that other medical practice down the street. The good news is that there are effective marketing ideas for medical practices that you can implement right now that will bring patients straight to you.

It all starts with your ability to show off something unique that you can provide. What do you do differently than anyone else? With creative treatment plans, proactive interventions, or even just a focus on wellness, you can provide more value to people just be separating out individual strengths and talking about them.

Creative Marketing Ideas for Medical Practices

1. Focus On Getting Referrals
Patients are more likely to come if they are referred to you and that can be from other clinics or from patients that are already seen in your facility. Talk to local doctors to see if they’d be willing to refer their patients to you if they need a specialty treatment for some reason. Even if you just work in a primary care setting, the type of treatments that are provided can help to bring people to see the doctors in your practice.

2. Get Out and See People
Patients often come to see doctors, but the doctors rarely go out to see their patients in a proactive way to manage wellness. Offer to give a lunch presentation at a local employer to discuss healthy ways to kick a bad habit, like smoking, that can improve health. Talk about your care approach and why your ways are better. Even attending a non-profit’s fundraiser to discuss patient care can create a win-win situation.

3. Be Active in the Community
Patients who see you walking the talk are patients that are willing to come see you with an ailment. If you’re encouraging people to be active, then be active with community events like community walking or running fundraisers. If you’re encouraging weight loss, then get involved with local wellness programs.

4. Offer Free Services
Even just the offering of a free risk assessment is enough to begin working on a new relationship with a potential patient. People need to feel like their doctors care about them and you can start showing that by offering something as basic as a BMI assessment. Offer positive choices that people can make to improve their lives and you’ll be giving people a lot of value they can use.

5. Offer Samples
With the high costs of health care, people are more willing to come see you if they know they’ll get something they need for free. It could be a free flu shot or it could be a quick checkup to screen for high blood pressure or diabetes. You don’t have to spend a lot to get a lot and the extra 1-on-1 attention that a prospect receives could turn them into a regular patients in the near future.

6. Change the Dynamic
Patients get very frustrated when they need to wait for a long time so change how you have people come to see your doctors in your medical practice. Offer a paging system so that people can continue on with their day if you’re overwhelmed or running behind.

7. Give Forms Out Ahead of Time
If you need forms filled out for a new patient, then email those forms to them ahead of time or make them available on your medical practice’s website so they can be filled out in advance. This will eliminate the extra wait times that are required just for paperwork and you may save a lot of time on your end because you’re not hunting down missing data.

8. Change Your Schedule
When someone has a sore throat, they don’t want to wait a month to get in to see a doctor. They also don’t want to pay a ton of cash to be seen at the emergency room or fight with their insurance about the extra costs of a walk-in clinic. Consider keeping up to 50% of your doctor’s schedules free for same-day appointments so you can meet immediate needs right away and get your patients feeling better a lot sooner.

9. Keep the Personal Touch
Nothing is more frustrating than having to navigate an extensive automated menu when you’re trying to book an appointment as a patient. Keep the system as simple as possible and let people bypass the system so they can speak with someone right away.

10. Follow Up Every Day
Being sick is never pleasant, but seeing the doctor doesn’t make it stop immediately. By checking in with people who have been seen, you can make sure that they are doing fine and don’t need to be seen again. If they do need to be seen for a faster follow-up appointment, you can make that happen too.

11. Upgrade to Electronic Tools
Not only will electronic tools make you eligible for new funding options, they will also help you connect with your patients in a more effective way. Email, texting, and an interactive website can all help you achieve better overall communication with your patients and even give them faster access to their records.

12. Treat Some Patients First
Sometimes certain patients need to be given a priority and that makes it imperative that this aspect is included with your efforts to market your medical practice. If people who are fasting know that they can get in and seen first, then they’re more likely to utilize your practice for their specific healthcare needs.

13. Get Everyone On the Same Page
13) No marketing plan will ever be effective if there are multiple people all coming from multiple perspectives. Create a consistent plan, work toward 100% implementation of it, and you’ll end up experiencing a lot more success.

Social Media Marketing for Medical Practices

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