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"Medical Practice Marketing News"|
Hi everyone,
In my last newsletter you were
exposed to the many types of marketing strategies
and some definitions. Today, I want to go into
much more detail about the major differences
between advertising and marketing because it's
critical to any marketing strategies you decide to
use.
"Advertising.....A Wart On Marketing's Finger"By Curt Graham, M.D. "It's intellectual and moral pollution," is what a professor taught students at the New York New School of Social Research and what one of the world renowned advertising expert, David Ogilvy, used to point out the common misconception held by Galbraith and Toynbee, among many others. In our world economy advertising has become the most efficient way to sell. How else would any person find out a product existed, what its benefits are, where it's sold, and how much it costs? In the case of physicians, how will any patient know you have a medical practice "out there somewhere," what kind of medical practice you have, where you are located, and how you treat patients? Relying on the outdated methods of building your practice, like word of mouth and surfing the yellow pages in this modern age of express information, is fraught with disappointment let alone the loss of income. It's, "Money left on the table." Advertising is a simple process of alerting patients in your area you exist and why they should seek your services. Use of printed or spoken words in any channel of media that patients see (TV infomercials), read (newspapers), or hear (radio) is the basis for delivering advertising to the public. The words and graphics must be presented in such a way it immediately attracts attention, quickly focuses attention on the product (your medical practice), and logically, clearly, and rapidly leads the viewer through the critical emotional benefits of using the product (seeing you for medical care). Constructing an ad which does all those things at the same time makes it highly effective in attracting patients to your practice. It's a skill that few do well without learning---but can be learned and used productively in a medical practice. Advertising can be quite expensive but doesn't have to be if you do it all yourself. Why advertising won't make doctors rich: It's because advertising has several short-comings marketing doesn't:
Ads are like shooting an arrow and hope you hit
something Advertising shines when it's merged with your marketing plans. Putting a great player on a poor team diminishes the player's ability, not his or her talent. Ads are only valuable when they're coordinated with your marketing plans and goals. If your efforts at marketing are less than desirable, advertising won't help much. Marketing is an ongoing process.
Marketing is a blanketing protocol. When you think
about the actions of the football team on the field
Friday night, do you consider the often unrecognized
factors responsible for the team playing such a great
game? The school must search for a coach with certain
qualifications. The marketing process begins as an idea for increasing income and expands into any and all steps required to bring it to maximum efficiency and use. It includes every detail to make it profitable from start to finish, modifications over time to extract the largest amount of income from the needs of the public, and refined to become a profitable tool for a prolonged period of time. What marketing a medical practice does that
advertising doesn't accomplish:
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“How To Improve Patient Compliance Using
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Marketing News is mailed to you only at your request. Hi everyone, Your CPA probably is bugging you for your K-1s about this time in order to complete your tax return for personal tax filing. Here in Nevada the Corporate tax return must be filed before the personal tax return. Why--I have no idea. It does get to me that I always seem to be waiting for the K-1s because the businesses mail them out as a last ditch effort to prevent me from hassling them each year with my phone calls to find out if they forgot me. But, the whole process forces, or should force, everyone to spend a reasonable time to pay attention to the final figures on the return and get a sense of income vs. expenses. And, that reflects on your own productivity for a year of hard work and time spent. Doctors should find a way to measure how much improvement they have made over the last year in their medical practices, not only in income, but also in efficiency of your medical practice management. That applies to group practice as well as to solo practice. The problem is that doctors are always
too busy to look at the figures. They rely on their
CPA, business office personnel, and attorney to magically
see your stumbling maneuvers and bring them to your
attention.
May your abundance increase, Curt
Curt Graham, M.D.
Deut. 8:18 Disclaimers-Policies / Links Page
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Marketing News is mailed to you only at your request. Hi Everybody, Dr. Graham here. A great free bonus for you.
Today I thought it would be beneficial to you to know in more detail than you may not have considered doing about the business concept of "positioning" --- not to be confused with location. Over the years you have often noticed business names boldly splashed in attractive colors and designs over the front of the building, thought about it for a second, and realized that you had absolutely no idea what the business actually did. Another, often
troubling, mind-set about pricing and fees has a
crippling effect on your freedom to charge what you
are worth. Sure, you come into town, set up your
medical practice, put out your signs, get listed in
the yellow pages, and then must decide what to charge
patients for office visits. Your image may not seem
to you to be a big deal because, after all, you have
an M.D. after your name, a specialty listed after
that, and maybe even some authoritative set of
abbreviations behind all that. Now that's an
image in itself--right? One of the most
intimidating things I discovered about myself was that
I found myself at the start of my medical practice in
a large group of other physicians, waiting and hoping
someone would appoint me to the top status, best in
town doctor, the expert that patients should go to for
their care. I'll tell you why. Article #1: Positioning is a marketing concept which, when stripped of it's advertising label, has become one of the most important strategies for your medical practice business. The best definition of positioning I've found is what Dan Kennedy describes as (my paraphrasing), "controlling how your patients and prospective patients think and feel about your medical practice business in comparison to other, similar businesses competing for their attention. Experts are quick to teach the most effective strategies for positioning yourself in any business enterprise. These three should be implemented into any medical practice, especially now because of restricted fees, continued high malpractice premiums, and ever increasing office overhead expenses that shackle your entrepreneurial spirit----and income. How to attract the patients you want: Patients need to know
what you do in your medical business. One way to
make it clear is in the name you choose for your
practice, business cards, and letterheads. It
should reflect exactly what your business does--your
primary focus. Patients who see "Surgical Obstetrics" quickly know you love to do c-sections and even forcep deliveries, and migrate to your office for care and their repeat c-section. What would you understand if you saw signs like "Emergency Chiropractic" or "Chronic Pain Chiropractic?" Do they steer any patient to the right place? You bet! You need to think in terms of targeting those patients you prefer to work with. Titles make profound
imprints on patient's minds as well. If you
don't believe that, then why are Osteopathic
physicians given the choice of using D.O. or M.D.?
In the past the training levels of each profession
were Labels placed on business ventures, if done with marketing and attracting patients in mind, are very effective in areas of value, interest, and benefit. A friend and associate
of mine in practice moved from obstetrics and
gynecology, to allergy, to "Environmental Ecology
Specialist." In the 1970s there were only 200 in
the whole USA. He actually increased his
practice flow using that EES label for what he was,
and still is, doing. He stepped out of his
comfort zone and made How to use fees and pricing to position yourself: Fee strategies used by doctors have never in the past been able to overcome their fear of losing patients or never having enough patients in their practice to make their medical practice financially stable. It's a myth which has been perpetuated for decades in medical circles. The only area in our profession that seems to have overcome that barrier is in plastic surgery. However, a small number of physicians have managed to beat the odds in their cash only medical practices residing in affluent neighborhoods. It is clear that any business dependent on "lowest prices" concept alone are prone to fail for many business and economic reasons. To illustrate how you might look at this process, let me ask you a question. Would you rather serve 100 patients at 20 dollars a visit, or serve 1 patient at $2000 a visit? The latter, of course. By understanding the
dynamics of money, you recognize that you are not
selling price in your medical practice.
You are selling your services, expertise, skills, and
knowledge. These are unique to you alone--no one
else. They are worth a lot more than most
physicians One of the most powerful dynamics of marketing any product is what's called "scarcity." So if you raise your fees well above what comparable doctors are charging, what happens? You would think you'd lose most of your patients. Not true. Human nature says that
the harder it is to find a product, the more it's
worth to you. People naturally fear missing out
on deals, bargains, and products in short supply.
Doctors who begin to restrict their practices by
raising their fees find that they become even more in
demand. This has proven to be true in all
aspects of the I firmly believe that
most financially stable medical practices are linked
to the highest quality medical A scary thought: You are selling your services for less than you need to. A scarier thought: You're selling less of your services at a lower price than you would at higher prices. A fact. Why is this true? Because business owners are so fearful of raising prices. The same is true for physicians. One well researched factor is that fees are not linked to your patient's actual knowledge of what your fees should be or what the comparable fees locally actually are. It leaves you with far more flexibility and freedom than you probably take advantage of to set your fees at a level which pleases you. The more effectively you use your marketing skills, the less your fees will matter to your patients. The Harvard Business Review contains examples showing that raising the prices on goods increases demand for the more expensive item. Net profit may be more for sales of the higher priced product. The fear of losing patients as a result of increasing fees is a myth. How to make your image help your practice income: It's generally accepted that if you want to be perceived as a successful trustworthy physician, you must be the image of a successful doctor. You can deliver a profound and motivating speech in your jeans and a T-shirt knowing the high value of what you are saying. Your attire, however, will have everything to do with how that speech is received. People judge you by your looks in spite of what you've heard. Dressed up physicians creates an authoritative look and avoids the psychological barriers for acceptance patients have for the doctor in jeans. If you'd rather be rich than right, dress professionally. How to become an expert: Simple, just be one!
Being an expert does not require approval by any
person or organization, nor does it have requirements
that must be met first. If you have ever read
Robert Ringer's book, "Winning By Intimidation,"
you'll understand his concept of "leap-frogging"
You want to get out of that group of doctors at the bottom of the line who are waiting for permission from somewhere to move higher in the hierarchy. Expert positioning is all about self-promotion and declaring yourself as an expert. As a physician there are areas of skills, knowledge, and expertise that no one else has and makes you unique. No other physician knows all the same things you do, nor has all the skills you do when you get right down to it. Among those skills is the need to retain certain amounts of modesty and appreciate that others have the right to be important. To position yourself
and your medical business it's necessary to clearly
determine who you are, and drive that home in every
marketing effort you do. Don't short-change
yourself as most doctors do. If you feel like an
expert then, it follows, that you will act like an
expert. It's fascinating how
those around you will usually accept the position you
choose for yourself and present to others. Look
at the doctors around you every day. You have a
perception of each of them relative to their strengths
and abilities. Your perception of them is what
they present to you about themselves, and you You know the doctor who takes it on himself or herself to take over the discussion in every committee meeting he is a member of. There's more than one on every medical staff. Is he a leader with real knowledge, or is he a blow-hard with little to add. Your perception is the same as everyone there about this person. Use this track to develop and promote who you really are and how you want to be perceived.
******************************* Article #2 Why People Fail A series of No B.S. Articles from Dan Kennedy How To Make A Lot More Money, Fast
This will require accurately determining what a customer is worth and what cost of replacing a customer really is….so you can decide how much you are willing to invest NOT to lose a customer. Next, taking that investment and deciding how to apportion it, between preventive measures and rescue and recovery measures. Then designing or re-designing, beefing up and actually implementing both, the “keep ‘em” program and the “rescue/recovery” program. Then testing, evaluating, improving, again and again. Bill Glazer and I often meet to discuss strategies for our business, Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle™. During our last meeting, we spent a lot of time – and now Bill will spend a lot of time, money and work – doing exactly this, and we already have low loss/high retention stats and sophisticated, multi-step, multi-faceted “stick” (for new); “keep” (for continuing), and “rescue and recovery” (for lost) programs. (Do you?). But now we will add to, experiment with, refine and hopefully improve all three. (Will you?) I counted 23 different, specific “adjustments” we agreed on, all to be implemented within the next 90 days; some minor, some major, some simple, some painfully complex. (How many improvements are you testing in your three programs in the next 3 months?) Every year, I’m somebody’s lost customer. Many don’t even realize I’m lost. I guess they think “gee, he hasn’t been in, in a while,” if they think at all. Every year, national companies and local shops lose me as a customer. I can’t recall even one, ever, doing anything proactive and significant about their loss. Okay, so that’s one very practical suggestion for making a lot more money fast. Here’s another: upgrade customers before you lose ‘em. You’ll then lose less automatically. You ought to give that a lot of thought.
You ought to HATE – and I mean,
HATE – losing
customers. The athletes or
teams who win a lot hate losing – even more than they
like winning. To win races, you’ve got to hate losing.
Winning is not sufficient motivation. You NEED to
understand the true economics of losing customers. You
NEED to get yourself highly motivated and passionately
committed to invest aggressively in not losing
customers. The WHY PEOPLE FAIL articles are provided by Dan S. Kennedy, serial entrepreneur, from-scratch multi-millionaire, speaker, consultant, coach, author of 13 books including the No B.S. series (www.NoBSBooks.com), and editor of The No B.S. Marketing Letter. WE HAVE ARRANGED A SPECIAL FREE GIFT FROM DAN FOR YOU including a 2-Month Free Membership in Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle, newsletters, audio CD’s and more: for information and to register, visit: www.freegiftfrom.com/drgraham
May your abundance increase, Curt
Curt Graham, M.D.
Deut. 8:18 |
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Marketing News"