The 7 Biggest Medical Marketing Mistakes You Can Make

Contrary to what it was like 50 years ago, providing great medical care and customer service is simply not enough if you want your medical practice to survive and thrive today. In order for medical practices to prosper, doctors must learn important medical marketing tactics and apply them consistently. It’s particularly important to have a strong marketing plan when the economy is in a slump, as it is now. The following are the 7 biggest medical marketing mistakes that you should avoid when promoting your medical practice.

1. Only putting an ad in the yellow pages and local newspaper
For many doctors, the extent of their medical marketing plans is to put an ad in the yellow pages and in the local newspaper. Not only is this the least cost effective of all marketing/advertising solutions, it is not nearly as effective as it used to be. Doctors need to update their marketing strategies, such as through leveraging the power of social media. By learning to market their practices on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, doctors can reach more people and build a stronger reputation.

2. Cutting down the marketing budget during a slow economy
Many medical practices cut down their marketing budget when the economy is slow. Although it may seem logical to spend less when money is harder to come by, cutting down on marketing costs during a slow economy can be detrimental to the prosperity of your medical practice. Your practice will shrink and by the time the economy picks up again, you won’t be in the financial position to take advantage of the economy’s improvement.

3. Focusing on just one marketing action
In order to achieve success in medical marketing, you cannot focus on just one marketing action and expect it to bring you prosperity. Your best bet is to develop an effective marketing strategy that consists of a combination of different marketing actions. You will only end up overworked and in financial trouble if you pin all of your hopes on one strategy alone. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket when planning your medical marketing campaign.

4. Not hiring a consultant or company to oversee your marketing campaign
It is critical to hire a consultant or company to oversee all of your marketing activities to ensure that your campaign is headed in the right direction and that all of your staff members are a part of the campaign. A consultant can implement an ongoing training program so your staff can understand the fundamentals of medical marketing. Furthermore, a consultant or medical marketing company can be in charge of developing your campaign, enabling you and your employees to focus on other priorities, such as patient care. When hiring a marketing company or consultant to oversee your campaign, make sure they have plenty of relevant experience, credentials, and a track record for success to back them up.

5. Implementing a medical marketing strategy that only consists of putting out a newsletter
While newsletters can be an effective part of a larger medical marketing campaign, putting out a newsletter alone is simply not sufficient as a marketing strategy. Marketing requires daily activities on your part to ensure success. Most of your patients and prospects will throw newsletters out without even reading them. The key to success is building a marketing campaign that enables you to develop a stronger connection and communication with your patients and prospects.

6. Not getting involved in the community
It’s a good idea for any doctor to get involved in the local community in order to generate some free PR and credibility. Learn about what is going on in your community and how you can help. Contribute time or funds into helping the community in order to generate positive PR. This kind of publicity can go a lot further than advertising. Not only will your visibility in the community increase, you will earn people’s respect and they will look up to you and recommend you to potential patients.

7. Marketing without a strategy
Before launching your medical marketing campaign, it’s essential to set objectives, goals, and strategies for achieving those goals. You can’t jump into marketing blindly in hopes that everything will work itself out. Make sure you have a clear cut roadmap that will lead you to achieving your goals. If you need assistance building a plan, hire a medical marketing consultant to help you determine what your goals are, whether or not they are realistic, and how you can achieve your goals. If you work through trial and error, it can take you a lot longer to learn what works and what doesn’t. Save yourself time and money by hiring a medical marketing company or consultant to spearhead your campaign.

The Role of Social Media in Medical Marketing

In most industries, overcoming objections to social media can be a daunting task. Not only is social media marketing difficult to measure, it is relatively new and many people are still not so sure how it works. Social media also plays an important role in medical marketing, but physicians face a number of challenges when it comes to making the case for social media in the promotion of their practice.
Physicians have to deal with numerous obstacles, including privacy regulations, staff shortages, and an increasing amount of demand for their services, thanks to the Baby Boomers who are hitting retirement age. Although social media medical marketing does not require a significant financial investment, it does require an investment of time, something which most doctors have very little of.

Although, social media has taken a while to catch on in the medical marketing arena, physicians and hospitals are slowly but surely jumping onto the social media bandwagon. The following are a few reasons why investing time and resources into social media is well worth it for medical professionals.

The Movement is Growing… and Succeeding
Although doctors have been slow to adopt social media marketing, there are an increasing number of medical professionals and hospitals that are using social media to promote themselves and connect with patients and potential patients. According to a recent survey, 367 US hospitals are using social media outlets, including Twitter. For example, the Henry Ford Hospital performed a live brain surgery on Twitter while taking questions from other users. Other hospitals use Twitter to answer patient questions as well as provide customer service. There are also community websites dedicated specifically to the discussion of healthcare, disease, and other relevant topics, for both patients and doctors.

According to a March 2009 Nielsen Report, 67% of the global population uses social media. That percentage is likely to continue growing. Clearly, many patients and potential patients are using social media. Doctors and hospitals can promote themselves on social media sites by answering questions about illnesses and healthcare or providing general medical information.

Many patients use social media sites to get information about different doctors and hospitals in order to comparison shop. By building a presence on social media sites and connecting with patients and potential patients, doctors and hospitals can build a stronger reputation online and attract more patients to their practice. Social media gives doctors greater visibility. Even if you are an amazing doctor, no one will think to go to your practice if they have never heard of you. If a potential patient has seen you on social media, it is often enough to sway his decision to your advantage when he has to choose between your practice and that of a competing doctor with no social media presence.

Patients aren’t the only ones using social media. Doctors are too. According to statistics from Manhattan Research, 89% of physicians rely on the internet and use it in their professional practice. 41% of all research that physicians do takes place online. Around 64% of doctors use smartphones. Simply put, doctors are already online so it only makes sense for them to plunge into the social media world, given the many benefits it can provide doctors with in promoting their practices. When doctors allow their employees to share information via social media networks with other medical professionals, it helps to create an exchange of information about best practices and more. Furthermore, when a doctor’s employees are involved in social networks, it can make recruiting new employees easier because it gives you access to a network of people in the same field.

Not only is social media usage for medical marketing a highly efficient promotional method, it is also very cost-effective. Social media medical marketing does not require a significant investment. Since budget cuts are very common in healthcare these days, it certainly is beneficial to have access to a low cost method for marketing and advertising.

If you want to determine whether it is worthwhile for your hospital or medical practice to pursue social media medical marketing, it’s essential to clarify exactly what it is you would like to accomplish and if the goals you have set forth are realistic. Your medical organization must also be comfortable with the idea of openness and transparency, both of which are inevitable in social media involvement.

If your patients are happy with the services you provide and your employees are content with working for your organization, launching a social media campaign would probably help to further your achievements. However, if you are having problems with current employees or your patients are dissatisfied for whatever reason, it’s advisable to address these issues prior to launching a social media campaign. Whether you build a social media presence or not, your patients will be talking about you online, but if you want to ensure that your social media campaign promotes positive talk rather than criticism, you’ll want to sort out any issues prior to a campaign launch.