10 Surefire Steps to Medical Marketing Success

Do you want to be considered an expert in your medical field and attract new patients to your practice? If so, you need to devise a strong medical marketing campaign. After spending years studying medicine and earning your credentials, you’ve undoubtedly learned that finding new patients takes more than just being a good doctor. You need to develop a sound medical marketing campaign in order to compete with other doctors for patients. Whether you are just getting started or you have been in business for years, the following 10 steps to medical marketing success will enable you to develop a strong brand for your practice, attract tons of new patients, and become an authority in your medical field.
1. Create a unified brand image and message
Don’t hire one person to design your logo, another to write the copy on your site, and a company to design your website. Hire a medical marketing firm with vast experience building successful campaigns for doctors and hospitals to take care of every aspect of your medical marketing campaign and promotional efforts. You don’t want your medical marketing efforts to look DIY and hodgepodge. Make sure that your logo, website, business cards, letterheads, brochures and all other marketing materials have a consistent brand image and message.
2. Write a mission statement
Spend some time thinking about what kind of image and message you would like for your practice to portray. Write a mission statement that outlines your goals as a practice and what you hope to achieve through your medical marketing campaign.
3. Promote a specific procedure or procedures on your website
In order to be considered an expert in your medical field, you must focus on the specific procedure or procedures you are most noted for on your website. What procedure do you perform most frequently? Try focusing on that procedure as your specialty. As a result, you may be asked to speak at conventions and be quoted in the media as an expert. This will help you attract more patients and become an authority in your specific field.
4. Organize your medical marketing campaign and set a budget
Not only must you develop effective messaging for your medical marketing efforts, you must also develop a plan that will help you achieve your marketing goals. Organize your campaign by setting milestones and a budget.
5. Develop strategic partnerships with other practices
In order to take advantage of referrals, try to develop strategic partnerships with other practices. Not only is relying on referrals an economical way to market your practice, it is also highly effective. Before approaching practices to discuss the development of a partnership with them, make sure that it would be a win-win situation for both of you.
6. Make sure that your waiting room is memorable and patient-friendly
If you have many patients with small children, create a small kids corner with toys in your waiting room. Leave free pens that feature your logo, brochures about the procedures you offer, and other promotional materials in your waiting room that people can take home with them or look at while they wait.
7. Optimize your website for the search engines
Make it easier for your patients and potential patients to find you online by optimizing your practice’s website for the search engines. Hire a medical marketing firm that also has search engine optimization (SEO) expertise so they can help you get your website on the first page of Google, Yahoo, and other major search engines. However, if you plan on relying primarily on referrals to attract new patients to your practice, SEO will probably be less of a priority for your site.
8. Determine which marketing strategies you will use
In addition to building a website for your practice, determine what marketing strategies you will primarily use to attract new patients to your practice. For example, if you are targeting companies or patients directly, you can use direct mail, yellow pages advertising, local newspaper advertising, and coupon mailing. If you are targeting referring physicians, you may instead need to focus on scheduling one-on-one meetings or sending marketing materials in the mail. No matter which marketing strategies you decide to use, at the very least, you’ll need a website, brochure, and appointment cards of the highest quality you can afford.
9. Hire a copywriter to author your marketing materials
To get your marketing message across clearly and ensure that you can build trust with patients and referring physicians, hire a professional copywriter to author your marketing materials. Poorly written marketing materials will reflect negatively on your practice and make it difficult for your potential patients to get the information they need. Hire a medical marketing firm with a professional copywriter on staff who can help to differentiate you from your competitors and capture what your practice is about. The more concise the copy, the better it will be because most people don’t have the time or patience to spend a long time reading about your practice.
10. Build a team of courteous, qualified staff
You and your staff members are the most important components of your brand. As a doctor, you probably strive to deliver the highest quality of medical care and service. Additionally, your staff members must offer excellent customer service and billing support. Your staff must act in a way that aligns with your practice’s mission statement and brand image in order for your medical marketing campaign to be successful.

The 5 Ps of Medical Marketing

Nowadays, people choose medical practitioners based on their perceptions rather than relying on endorsements from local authorities and so on. It has become increasingly important for doctors to market their medical practices in order to build their brand, reach out to new patients, and increase business from current patients.


No matter how great of a doctor you are, your skills will mean little if no one knows you are out there. Some doctors are reluctant to embrace marketing strategy because they think that being a great doctor is all you need to do in order to find new patients and keep your current ones. However, the truth is that visibility is incredibly important in this competitive marketplace. The only way to achieve visibility is through launching a medical marketing campaign. Here are the 5 Ps of medical marketing.

1. Product
The product of a medical practice is the service you are offering your patients. For example, if you are a cosmetic surgeon, your product is the cosmetic operations and treatments you offer. The atmosphere of your practice is also important. It is crucial to make a very good first impression so when patients come to your practice, you must ensure that the atmosphere of your practice is relaxing, comforting, and friendly. Make sure that your practice is clean, well-maintained, and well-lit. The colors of your décor and the lighting can make a massive difference in the way patients perceive your practice. Although the most important aspect of your product is providing excellent cosmetic operations and treatments, you have to give the overall impression that your practice is ideal for your target market.

2. Price
The price of your products is not only what you charge for your services – it is also defined by the perceived value of your services. The expectations of your customers will depend on the price you charge. For example, if you go to a five-star restaurant, you expect to receive top level service and food. If you service you receive at the five-star restaurant is comparable to the service you would receive at a fast food restaurant, and the food is mediocre at best, you will be disappointed and feel that you did not receive the perceived value of the product. This will probably lead you to tell everyone you know to avoid the restaurant. Likewise, people will spread the word that your practice should be avoided if you do not live up to the perceived value of your product. On the other hand, when your service matches its price, you will get a lot of word-of-mouth referrals. This provides you with free viral marketing benefits for your practice.

3. Place
The place of your medical practice is where it is located. The location of your practice is essential to your success. Factors such as its visibility and whether or not there is public transport that takes patients there will make a big difference in how many new patients you can attract on a consistent basis. If there are any logistical challenges that get in the way of patients arriving at your practice, try to eliminate them if possible. If your practice is far away and hard to get to for the majority of your target market, you may want to consider relocating, unless you offer such highly specialized services that people would be willing to travel far to receive them.

4. Position
Your position in your market is defined by the competitive advantages you offer. What makes your practice unique and stand out from the rest? You must define your unique position in your market in order to develop an effective marketing plan. Your perception of your practice may be very different from how your patients perceive it. Determine how your patients perceive your medical practice in comparison to competing medical practices by doing surveys and providing them with feedback cards.

5. Promotion
Although many people mistakenly believe that medical marketing is solely about promotion, the truth is that promotion should be the very last step in your marketing campaign. In order to promote your practice successfully, you have to plan extensively. The first 4 Ps are very important and must come first because they help you determine your competitive advantage and which areas of your practice you need to change or improve. Promotion of your medical practice involves a combination of PR, advertising, and direct marketing. Promotion requires a lot of resources so it is very important to plan carefully in order to ensure that you get a high ROI on your medical marketing campaign.

Once you define what the 5 Ps of your medical practice are, you need to find a professional medical marketing firm that can help you put your plan into action and build a highly successful medical marketing campaign. There are several medical marketing firms to choose from so your best bet is to narrow down your choices and compare them based on the results of their previous campaigns. Results must be measurable so you can be sure that the firm will be able to live up to their promises.

Essential Elements of an Online Medical Marketing Plan

There are several different ways that the internet can be used for medical marketing purposes. The internet can serve as an advertising medium, a direct marketing channel, an information resource, a customer service center, and much more.
In order to succeed in online medical marketing, you must first assess internal factors such as your strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities. Then you need to size up your competition and lastly, come up with a game plan.

While planning for traditional marketing could take anywhere from six months to a year, planning for online medical marketing is much faster. What used to take weeks to implement offline only takes days online. Give yourself three to six months max to plan your online marketing strategy. This is enough time to integrate online marketing tactics into your overall marketing strategy. When getting started, your best bet is to leverage the internet through your existing marketing plan.
The ten major areas that need to be assessed for you to build an effective online medical marketing plan are the following, in no particular order:

• Goal – Determine what it is you want to accomplish with your online marketing plan. Are you providing health information? Are you building brand awareness? Are you conducting public relations activities? Are you trying to improve customer service?

• Objective – Now you must define objectives that address the goals you set for your online medical marketing plan. You can have several objectives for each goal you set. Objectives are measurable and thus allow you to determine the success of your campaign. If your goal is to generate leads for a new program, your objective can be to do so by encouraging them to visit your website and sign up for a giveaway. Set the objective of generating a specific number of leads in a specific time frame so you can measure the results of your campaign later.

• Target Audience – You need to specify who you are targeting in your online medical marketing efforts. The audience may be the same as the one you target in your traditional marketing campaign or it may be different.

• Marketing Integration – Outline which elements of your traditional marketing campaign you will be integrating into your online marketing program.

• Strategy – Outline your strategy for working towards your goals, objectives, and integration efforts. Determine what offers you will be using online, and if they will be graphically similar to your offline marketing and advertising materials or not.

• Tactics – Specify exactly what types of content you are going to develop and how you are going to deliver it, whether by email, web, download, or newsletter.

• Logistics – Determine what the technical requirements are of implementing and executing the tactics you have defined. You also need to be sure that you have the database capabilities, staffing, and competencies to go through with your marketing plan. If not, determine how you will address your shortcomings and where you can outsource. If you are running an online campaign and expect to receive emails, assign someone to answer all of those emails.

• Metrics – Measuring the success of online marketing campaigns is far easier than with other types of marketing campaigns. Determine what information you want to track, implement a tracking tool, and then collect and analyze the results. Figure out what criteria you will use to measure the success of your campaign.

• Budget – Create an overview of all the different costs associated with developing your online marketing campaign. This includes the costs of developing online content, reworking broadcast materials, and paying programmers, consultants, developers, etc.

• Timeline – When planning a timeline for your online marketing efforts, the shorter the timeline, the better. Set specific dates in your timeline for content creation, beta testing, campaign launch, etc. as milestones.
Some medical marketing campaigns focus on maximizing the potential of the current patient base whereas others focus on recruiting new patients. When you are attempting to recruit new patients, applying the fundamental marketing principle of product differentiation is useful. You must focus on the aspects of your practice that make it different from the competition. Examples of aspects of your practice that may stand out include low cost services, superior customer service, and offering services that competing practices in the area do not offer. However, given the nature of healthcare, it is not as easy for medical practices to focus on these aspects as it is for other types of businesses.

For example, Southwest Airlines may be able to cut drinks and peanuts out from their flight service in order to offer lower cost tickets. On the other hand, doctors cannot give off the impression that they would compromise operational efficiency in order to offer lower cost services. Crafting the right marketing message is very important in the medical marketing arena.

Medical Marketing: A Powerful Way to Promote Your Practice

Contrary to popular belief, doctors are not exempt from the necessity of advertising and marketing. Doctors these days have a lot of competition and more and more medical professionals are recognizing the need for medical marketing in order to stay ahead. It’s an area that not a lot of practices are familiar with but actively promoting your business can really boost the number of patients coming in.

Back when each area only had one doctor, marketing just wasn’t necessary. Now, however, it’s not uncommon to find three to four doctors, even in the smallest towns, competing for the same patients. By increasing the visibility of your practice, you will find that no matter where you are located, competition won’t be a big issue and you will have a steady stream of new patients coming in. for more

Why Promotion is Valuable

Gone are the days when word of mouth was the chosen method of finding a doctor to suit the patient’s needs. As a medical practitioner, you must actively bring in client leads on a regular basis to keep your business running smoothly. It’s normal for your patient base to be in a state of flux – some patients may only come in once a year or less while others who schedule appointments on a regular basis may leave the area or choose another practitioner. While no one wants to lose a loyal patient, the only way to keep the appointment book full is to continue to bring in new ones.

For those medical practices looking to expand, it’s necessary to find enough clients to make it worthwhile to bring another doctor on board and medical marketing is the ideal way to do this. Good publicity and making your practice easy to find will lead to new patients flocking to your door.

Another benefit of attracting more clients is increasing the mix of patient types. Nearly every practice has some wealthier patients, while others have only patients with company insurance. Patients from a wider range of economic backgrounds means more money earned – something that is always advantageous because it enables the practice to continue treating those with less money.

How to Market Your Practice

There are a number of ways to get your practice in front of potential clients, but perhaps the best method is the Internet. When patients are fed up with their current GP or have just moved to the area, the vast majority turn to online research to help them choose a professional to see. If you aren’t online and visible, then your chances of being found by these potential patients are virtually nil.

With a number of websites and directories available to list your medical practice, it’s important to choose the right ones. Spend your advertising dollars on campaigns that will give you results. That means looking for directories that allow you to keep your listing in front of patients over a long-term period and that also provide space for vital information such as which insurance companies are accepted, as well as basic contact info.

Of course, there are other methods of increasing public visibility of your practice, though the Internet offers the lowest cost with the highest return. Other options include the following:

Television: While it can be expensive, a television spot on a local channel can really boost public awareness of your practice in particular. Ads aren’t the only way to go, however – providing news or an interview to the local news channel or morning show can also be a great way to get some publicity.

Print: The more traditional method of medical practice marketing is through print media, but you have a lot of options in this area. Many newspapers these days are online so when you place an ad, it usually appears both in the print version and the online version, giving you more bang for the buck. The Yellow Pages are another print medium that every doctor should use, as well as any local directories such as phones, service booklets or Welcome Wagon listings. Even in this digital era, there are quite a few opportunities to have your listing in print just as long as you know where to look.

Interacting: This is an area that many practices no longer engage in, but if you have the time, it’s a great trust builder. Simply connecting to the people in your community, whether or not they are patients can be invaluable. While there are a number of ways to do this, just getting out and meeting people is an excellent method of reaching the community. When people feel that they know you, they will be more likely to trust you with their health.

Medical marketing is valuable and necessary for doctors who want to continue growing and improving their business. Whether through online promotion, print media or another means, it’s important to continue bringing in new patients on a regular basis to keep your practice earning.