Think about how you plan for and schedule a busy day at home or in the office: You likely jot down key appointments along with their time, purpose and locale. This pretty much guarantees that you will be where you need to be, and that’s how things get done.
The same philosophy applies to your practice’s marketing plan.
As they say, failing to plan is planning to fail.
A simple marketing plan translates into actions, and actions translate into results. Sometimes the mere act of writing things down serves as the impetus for action.
I suggest creating a living calendar document and storing it in Google docs so your whole team has access to it and can make edits along the way.
Start with the big picture and work your way down to the nitty gritty details. What are you trying to achieve with your marketing efforts? Patients? Profits? Publicity? There is no wrong answer, but defining goals can make sure your efforts stay on track.
There are a multitude of ways to market your practice in 2019 –social media, e-blasts, blogs, paid referral sites, search engine optimization, videos, press releases and media outreach, to name just a few.
Consider who you really want to have in your practice and then figure out the best ways to attract and retain those patients. For example, millennials flock to Instagram while baby boomers prefer Facebook. Focus on the social networks that will help you meet your goals. Just because a network has more than a hundred million active users doesn’t mean it will really contribute to your overall objectives.
Once you have your plan in motion, assign roles to competent staff members so everyone knows who will be responsible for what. Who is going to manage your Instagram channel? Facebook page? Pinterest boards? Blog?
Now it’s time to add details. What new content should be added to your website every month to generate better search results or what kinds of Facebook posts are you going to publish? Other important questions include how often will you send out emails to current patients, and what special offers or news items will these include?
It’s important to monitor, track and constantly analyze your marketing strategy to gauge how effective it. What helped you get more new consults in a particular week? How many people opened your emails? What kind of engagement did your Instagram posts get and what are people liking most.
Find out what works and what doesn’t, and make tweaks along the way.
Want to learn more about how to make your plan work for you? Reach out to us Anne@wendylewisco.com
