Running a successful medical practice takes long hours and a multi-disciplinary approach. It needs a perfect mix of good management and the right marketing strategies. Today, healthcare patients have more options than ever before. They have a plethora of information available on their fingertips. While chapter 4 went over how to create medical office policies and set up your office, this chapter covers how to manage and market your practice to ensure you reach the maximum number of prospective patients and establish your authority in the industry. Plan to do this about 1-2 months before opening your medical practice.
How to Market your Medical Practice
It’s not uncommon that most doctors just start a medical practice and wait for patients to start swarming in. In today’s world, no business functions like that.
Sharing the right message at the right time on the right platform can give your medical practice the awareness it needs to succeed. This involves having a strategic and holistic approach towards marketing.
When forming a marketing strategy, ensure that you explore multiple channels and forms of communication to understand what works and what doesn’t. Here are a few effective marketing strategies to promote your medical practice:
A Great Website
Build an amazing website that has all the necessary information about your practice. You can either use a ready template or hire a developer to build it for you.
Claim your Google Business Listing
This is important and highly recommended to promote your business locally. Add all the details and make it as informative as you can so people know exactly what you offer and where to find you.
Surprise your Patients with Care Packages
Everyone loves freebies and care packages are a great way to build a special connection with your patients and get the word-of-mouth going.
Leverage Patient Reviews
A good word goes a long way. Request your patients who love you to leave a positive review about your practice and then use that information in your marketing material to get the most out of it.
Invest in Paid Digital Campaigns
Investing some money in doing digital campaigns is a great way to reach a more relevant audience set and drive traffic to your website. It’s also a great way to gauge the kind of messaging the works best with your audience.
Marketing your medical practice is similar to marketing any other business. To begin, you need a good understanding of who your ideal audience is and what message do you want to convey. Then you need to form a strategy that identifies various marketing channels that you need to include in your plan. If you need more information on how to better do this then these 10 marketing strategies will come in handy.
How to Manage your Medical Practice
Managing a medical practice involves a lot of different elements working in tandem. A lot of these factors require significant investments at the outset but they offer great benefits in the long run. After all, how you manage your practice can have an impact on the quality of care you’re able to provide your patients.
Here are a few medical practice management tips that you can start implementing right away.
Be Well Aware of all the Job Functions
Knowing all the different roles and responsibilities is key when it comes to managing a medical practice. You must know who does what and how it contributes to the success of your practice.
Be a Good Leader
This involves clear communication, providing timely feedback, establishing expectations, and constantly motivating and appreciating your staff for their efforts.
Know the Basics of all Job Functions
As an entrepreneur you should know the basics of accounting, the various technologies and machines being used to manage your practice. It also involves hiring the top talent who can take multiple aspects and put them together to give you the maximum output.
Put Maximum Focus on Patient Service
The way your staff treats your patients directly reflects the quality and standards of your medical practice. From booking appointments to billing, it’s important that every aspect enhances a patient’s experience.
Keep Remembering your ‘Why’
Often the daily routine and challenges of building a business can get to you and affect your motivation. Times like these it’s important to remember the bigger picture and go back to your ‘why’. This will also help you keep your staff motivated to do their best.
Managing your practice in an efficient way will lead to improved morale and higher profitability. Take baby steps every day and work up from there. Set the right expectations and ensure that they’re clearly communicated to your staff. This will allow everyone to work in tandem and do their best.
