We’ve run into more than a few physicians who don’t see the value of marketing their practice, who think it’s going to make them see less credible in the eyes of their colleagues, etc. To that we say: think about marketing simply as a way to educate the community about yourself, your specialty, and your practice’s capabilities. If you’re not constantly reminding the public of why they should go to you instead of the practice down the street (aka your competitor), they’re going to forget about you. It’s the same with any business.

Here we’ve assembled a few top reasons to market your practice. Don’t be overwhelmed by the thought of getting started — there are credible practice marketing agencies available to help you in your region (side note: we’re one of them).

1. Your referral and patient market is constantly changing. New families moving to the area, new referral sources arriving and leaving, doctors retiring — all of these things change your marketplace on a constant basis. One in five Americans move each year. Institutions change, physicians move from one practice to another, new doctors open up shop every year, new housing developments are built. If you aren’t marketing, you’re missing these evolving opportunities to garner new patients and new referral sources.
2. Your competition won’t quit. Referrals are habit-based. If you don’t continually remind your referral sources of your capabilities, they will simply return to their old habits and stop referring patients to your practice.
3. Marketing maintains morale. Your morale improves when you see your marketing work and your employees’ morale is uplifted as well. If you’ve been marketing and you stop or reduce what you’re doing, some referral sources and patients may see this as a sign of failure for your practice and they will run to other sources.
4. In tough economic times, there are always winners and losers. Your marketing program gives you an advantage over competitors who react with fear and tighten their belt. This is the time when you can pick up their referrals and patients through marketing.

Have questions? Are you marketing your practice and seeing the results? We’ve love to hear your story!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 10:12 am and is filed under All Posts, Marketing Ideas, Referral Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.