4 Quick Ways to Start Marketing Your Practice

So, you are convinced that you need to ramp up the marketing efforts of your physician office.  But you  still feel swamped, and the practice manager will not be thrilled to have another thing added to the to-do list.  What's a doctor to do?  Call for a consult?  Give up?  Keep doing what isn't working?  How about a few baby steps forward in your practices marketing efforts.  These are 4 quick, easy and relatively painless ideas:

1. Make marketing a priority. Find a few marketing activities that take less than 30 minutes of time, such as Twittering, writing a blog post or following up with networking contacts at other clinics. Then, commit to doing these activities first thing in the morning before you do anything else.
   
2. Create a marketing calendar for the practice. Block out set times every month when you'll only focus on marketing, just as you might block out specific times for call, meetings or patient appointments. Then, be sure to keep these "appointments." Display your marketing calendar prominently so you can't "forget" you're committed to marketing.
3. Review your marketing calendar monthly. Each month, schedule one hour to review your marketing calendar and plan for any upcoming events. If you plan to speak at a patient support group, plan out what practice marketing materials you will need to create before that date. If your clinic publishes a monthly e-newsletter, plan out when you'll write it. Any tasks you commit to should be added to your to-do list so you don't forget.
   
4. Consider hiring an assistant or free intern from a local college (Marketing Majors may need internships). If you or your office staff still doesn't have time to market the practice, consider hiring an assistant to do some of it. Try out a Websites like Elance.com to find qualified professionals cheap and easy.  Consider trying virtual assistants, designers, writers, consultants and other professionals to help you manage your practice.
   

When you market your medical business on a regular basis, it becomes a habit.  Once it's a habit, you know your clinic is on track to be strong, growing and able to best serve the patients over the long-term. 


Note:  The thoughts and opinions on Training Wheels are my own, unless otherwise referenced, and are to be food for thought.  If contemplating business changes, these blog posts are not a substitute for consulting your lawyer or accountant. I'll bet you already figured that out, didn't you?