Who is spreading your idea? Seth Godin asked this question in a recent blog post. Seth makes the point that in order for ideas to spread, there has to be conveyances for that spreading.
Too often in healthcare, especially with medical practices, the conveyance is advertising. It is in fact, the most tradition form of promotion and therefore is the first one that people think of when they want to promote their idea or new service. More recently, the concept of viral marketing has taken some attention and the hope and desire that you can gain great awareness via people spreading your good news is attractive to many because it seems so cost effective.
We almost always encourage our clients to limit the expensive advertising efforts in exchange for testing other methods. Of course, if you are a physician, developing your referral channels takes relationship marketing to a new level. But let’s save that for another blog entry.
If you want to reach out to potential patients, one method (not THE method for we recommend trying a variety of endeavors to build your practice base) is the reach out to those “connectors” in your targeted community. Who are the people in a position of referring to your practice to a wide variety of potential consumers? The answer to this question varies on the type of medical practice or service you are providing.
Think about where your patients might come from? If you are a pediatrician, new patients might come from new families in the area. You might reach out to these families via newcomer groups or human resource departments at larger employers. If you offering sports medicine services, the local gyms and fitness centers might provide good connection bases. If you are an endocrinologist and want to build your diabetic treatment options, podiatrists often see many early stage diabetics.
Once you identify the possible connectors, you need to take some action. You want to reach out to these connectors and make sure they know about you and your service. You want them to feel good about recommending you, so you need to spend extra time to explain why your service is worthy of their attention. You might want to offer an open house/info session during a coffee break. Make sure you offer the coffee and snacks. Or you might do something that works with them but also demonstrates how your services are aligned. For example, a new pediatrician might coordinate with the local high school to provide sports physicals late in the summer before teams and their health forms need to be completed. Or a gynecologist might want to work with a women’s fitness center to offer an info session on menopause and exercise. The goal is to bring more people to the connector and to demonstrate your service in the process.
The focus, as Seth Godin relates, is to “find, court and delight the people” – the connectors — who are most likely to spread the good word about you and your service. Once you determine who those people are likely to be, it is then up to you to woo them and help them see the value and spirit of collaboration!
Tags: healthcare marketing, physician marketiing, physician outreach, practice development
