Sometime in recent memory, I’m not exactly sure when, physicians discovered that they actually needed to market themselves lest they let new business in the form of patients fall into the hands of competing practices. 

 

At least some did. 

 

The need for marketing is most evident in specialty medical practices, especially electives such as cosmetic surgery, but in specialties such as dermatology, ophthalmology and orthopedics as well. 

 

Coming to terms with the notion that patients have options and therefore need a reason for choosing one practice over another, physicians are dipping their toes and sometimes more into the pool of marketing, often with disastrous results. 

 

The reason for this is simple. They don’t know what they’re doing and because of that sometimes make really bad decisions. 

 

Marketing for purposes of developing new business is complicated because there are so many things that must all go right in order for a successful outcome to occur. Since this space only allows for limited exposition, we’ll keep it simple in hopes that, if nothing else, some pitfalls can be avoided.

 

First, know your audience. Don’t simply think that because you read a particular publication or consume certain other media that your target customer/patient does as well. Know who you’re trying to reach based on the demographic, geographic and psychographic aspects of your current patient population.

 

Second, know what you want to say. The days of merely announcing your existence and then managing the deluge of new business that comes your way are over. Consequently you must be able to clearly and simply articulate why a customer/patient should select you instead of that other doc over there.

 

Third, commit to a plan. Neither yours nor any other business is built in a single day or as the result of a single ad. When you’ve determined who you’re going to speak to and what you’re going to say, say it as frequently and in as many ways as resources permit. 

 

Fourth, deliver great service. I know this sounds silly, but people like to do business, even with physicians, with people who make them feel valued and appreciated. You don’t get off any more with simply being good at what you do. Lots of folks are good at the same things as you are. But being good AND being nice, and this goes for your office staff as well, goes a long way toward sealing the deal.

 

Fifth, consider seeing a specialist yourself. Many docs have been somewhat of the belief that they are the smartest people in the room. When it comes to the practice of medicine and a particular specialty, typically you are. When it comes to matters beyond that relatively narrow scope, you’re often babes in the woods and are therefore as susceptible to being misled, misdiagnosed as it were, as the person who relies on his wife’s brother-in-law’s cousin for medical advice. Marketing isn’t as complicated as medicine but if you don’t know what you’re doing you can make a bunch of wrong-headed decisions and not even know it until it’s cost you a lot of precious dollars.

 

There’s an adage in our field dating back to one of the early pioneers of advertising that compares the business that doesn’t market with the guy who winks at a girl in a dark room. He knows what he’s doing but no one else has any idea. 

 

Even physicians need to find a way to differentiate themselves from all of the other choices that customers/patients have available to them in the uncertain and emerging world that is our nation’s healthcare system. Get out in front, get good advice and make good decisions, and you might gain an edge that can hold you in good stead for a very long time.