Marketing

On-Target Marketing: Strike the Right Marketing Mix to Win New Patients

By Judith Lee

You have an opportunity to find new patients and solidify your existing patient base by investing in the right combination of marketing media.

Invest in New Media Marketing
Research backs the hunch many of you already have: that new media, such as social networks, is the place to invest more marketing time and dollars.

Just-released data from Arbitron and Edison Research indicates the optimum marketing mix will continue to shift to electronic/online media. A January 2011 study of 2,012 U.S. households shows:

  • 51 percentare on Facebook, up from 8 percentin 2008 when the question was first asked;
  • 51 percenthave more than one computer;
  • 81 percenthave internet access, and two-thirds of those have Wi-Fi installed;
  • Online radio is a new opportunity, with the number of users doubling in five years;
  • Smartphone usage more than doubled in a year, to 31 percentof respondents from 14 percentin 2010.

Calculate Ideal Spend Per Media
Changing consumer habits, such as using Google instead of print Yellow Pages to find doctors,are driving changes in marketing. Experienced optometrists are cutting out Yellow Pages, reducing TV and radio, and investing more in online marketing.

“Set your practice goals, then craft your media around those goals. Are you meeting the practice goals? If not, go back and reassess the marketing mix,” says Gary Gerber, OD, owner of The Power Practice consultancy. Dr. Gerber estimates “nearly zero” practices do this, mainly because optometrists don’t think like marketers. He counsels ODs to approach marketing like treating a patient: Make a diagnosis, construct a treatment plan, then monitor outcomes.

Jeffrey Kegarise, OD, owner of Cool Springs EyeCare, has followed Dr. Gerber’s advice, with marketing built into his practice budget. He devotes 3 percentof gross revenue to internal marketing, e-mail updates, patient education, attendance at health fairs, hosting seminars and trunk shows, meeting with health-care providers and patient surveys. Dr. Kegarise, who operates two practices in Nashville, Tenn., with his wife, Susan Kegarise, OD, has a part-time marketing director who ensures that marketing effort support practice goals.The practice then measures. “We continuously survey patients to see how we are doing in the practice,” says Dr. Kegarise. “We have an active complaint resolution department–we don’t get a lot of complaints, but we make sure they are resolved quickly.”

Use New Media to Incentivize Patients
You can use social networks to advertise give-aways and discounted offers to new patients, or reward existing patients with similar incentives to return for their next check-up. An established practice owned by Anthony Diecidue, OD, has slashed Yellow Pages advertising and added funding to in-office giveaways, recalls, web site and Facebook. The practice has little need for external marketing, but Dr. Diecidue intends to increase social media efforts in the coming year.

Tommy Lim, OD, owner of Berryessa Optometry, has gone almost entirely electronic, investing in web site, search engine optimization and ane-newsletter. He is “extremely satisfied” with his marketing results, and keeps the marketing budget to less than 2 percentof gross revenue.

The right marketing plan and budget for your practice (with the best blend of new and traditional media) can be determined by a detailed analysis of your present and future patient base–and the market environment in which you practice. One other factor: How well your practice is established in your community.

“Established practices can succeed very well with a marketing budget of 3 percent[of gross revenue] or less,” Dr. Gerber says. “A younger practice might need to spend more, up to 10 percent[of gross revenue] to create name recognition.”

Related ROB articles:

Set Up a Social Media Policy: Better Protect and Market Your Practice

Make Your Practice a Fixture in Your Community

Optimize Facebook: Prime Your Practice for High Growth
Judith Lee is a health-care writer and founder of Communication Works Now, an online communications firm. To contact her:Judith@judithlee.net.

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