MARKETING - How to Create a Powerful Marketing Program

Marketing is not something we simply “do”.  It’s not a random bunch of “good ideas” that we implement in the hopes of yielding some new patients. Rather, our marketing efforts should be a carefully planned and well executed Marketing System.  It should be a reliable program that we can consistently repeat with minimal effort and cost to the practice that generates significant increases in patient referrals.

So, how do we go about creating a Marketing Program? How do we target those who can refer patients to our practice?  And what are the steps to building and maintaining a system that automatically generates practice growth?

Creating the Marketing Program

1.  Identify someone in the practice that can oversee your Marketing System

This may be the doctor (in a starter practice), the Treatment Coordinator, Office Manager or one of the Front Desk staff who is enthusiastic about marketing.  It will require 10-20 hours of dedicated time per week to have a significant impact.  The Marketing Coordinator (MC) may have a small team to help her execute the program, but one person should be ultimately accountable for its implementation.

2.  Establish a budget.

In a young growing practice, that may be 4-6% of collections and in more established practices as low as 2-3%.  That may seem like a lot of money, but we must understand that any expenditure in marketing should be tracked and should generate more practice production than it cost.  If it doesn’t, then it should be dropped!  Marketing should NEVER be an expense; it should always be viewed as an investment.  To decide whether it’s an expense or an investment, remember to ask, “How many patients does it 'cost' (expenditure vs your full treatment fee)?  And, will it generate that many or more new patients?”  So, if the marketing effort costs $6000, will it generate one patient or more?

3.  Develop a Marketing Calendar for the year to create consistency and evenly distribute your efforts over time

Marketing shouldn’t be haphazard.  It must become a system that everyone follows under direction of the Marketing Coordinator.  It needs to be planned, implemented and incorporated into the practice’s everyday regimen. Time for planning and meeting must be provided if there’s any hope for success.  It’s too important to be left to chance.

How to develop an Annual Marketing Calendar

1.  Make a list of your existing strategies, including the frequency and the month when your office typically implements this strategy.
2.  Analyze your present Strategies

Evaluate them to determine:

• What is the present expenditure/budget?
• Is it worth keeping?
• Are we doing it when it has the most impact?
• Do we need to increase or decrease the number of times we do this?
• Should we keep it as it is or change some of the elements of the strategy?

3.  Download the sample Annual Marketing Calendar below

On the left vertical column, this spreadsheet lists:

• the categories of groups we wish to target (Direct Influencers) and
• the specific activities we plan to implement.

For example, for referring dentists, we may be scheduling regular lunches, sending year end appreciation gifts, etc.  For Dental Staff, we may be periodically delivering goodies (“bun runs”) or having Lunch & Learns.

Across the horizontal column are the months of the year.  Eventually, we want our efforts to even out over the year and not overload any particular month.  So, if we’re planning a big practice event, that particular month will have fewer other activities on the calendar. 

We also want every group of “Direct Influencers” that we wish to target to have consistent marketing efforts. So, make a blank copy of the planning calendar and create a working copy by entering your existing strategies. 

Think about how you can be more strategic.  For example, if you have a Patient Appreciation Event in which you invite your patients to a large event, plan it for the second week in June after school is out.  Why?  Because patients often go on vacation in the first week after school ends and you want the “buzz” about your practice to be highest when their friends are considering where they want to go for treatment this summer.

4.  What new strategies do you wish to add, subtract or modify?

Similar to your present strategies, every new marketing idea also needs to be analyzed to see how it fits in with your plan.  Analysis of your present efforts may indicate that you haven’t targeted a particular group of Direct Influencers well enough.  If so, focus on adding in this area to be “firing on all cylinders”.  Your Marketing Program should be consistent AND comprehensive.

5.  Establish a daily, weekly or monthly review meeting with your Marketing Coordinator

This step is SO important.  You don’t want this critical aspect of your practice to fall by the wayside.  This calendar is a tool to help you stay focused and organized.  It’s flexible so items can be added, subtracted or moved to different months as you evolve your program.

Finally, developing the calendar will take several meetings and a few months.  Involve your entire staff in the process and build some excitement for the program.  It’s the lifeblood of your practice. 

But once established, you can rest easier knowing that you now have a carefully planned and well executed Marketing System to grow your practice.

Download and example of an Annual Marketing Calendar.