The Simplest Small Practice Marketing Strategy in 2024
Marketing strategies be like 😳 🤯
I totally get it, being the owner of a small healthcare practice is off the charts bonkers. You’re overwhelmed, confused, and to be honest a bit done with marketing.
In the current fast moving landscape of healthcare marketing, it's really easy to feel like that ,BUT I’m here to tell you, and I want you to really hear me
“It does not have to be anywhere near as complicated as you are probably making it”
My word for 2024 is simplicity and simplicity can be a powerful approach, especially for small practices just trying to stand out locally.
In this blog post, I aim to provide a super simple marketing roadmap tailored to small local healthcare practices in 2024. By focusing on just a few online and offline channels, we'll explore how to establish and strengthen your patient marketing cycle in the simplest way possible.
“Wait Jill . . . my what cycle?”
OK let’s back up a bit.
Your marketing essentials
For your marketing to be effective there are three things you need to identify and execute.
- A marketing objective - using our super simple Practice Momentum approach I want to encourage you to make your objective "Becoming famous locally for the thing you do"
Can you get on board with that?
Yes - OK great, so now that’s done let’s move on - see I told you this was simple 😁.
- A marketing strategy – this is where your patient marketing cycle comes in and I’ll explain that fully in a minute.
- Your marketing tactics - the actual marketing activities you are going to execute to bring you that local fame.
Yes, it really is that simple.
With me so far?
If not feel free to add your questions in the comment section at the bottom of this page 😁.
Local marketing focus
Before you get totally carried away and start firing out all kinds of promotional marketing that you’ve seen other people using, or see promoted online, first you need to understand your local healthcare business landscape.
Firstly be clear that you are only competing locally. You don't need to be the best at marketing your profession in your country, region, or even town in many cases, to be successful. This is great news because it means your marketing does not need to be wildly sophisticated or cutting edge.
It just means you need to be a bit better than the practices around you at some pretty simple marketing tactics.
Let’s face it, unless your practice is somewhere remote, being famous locally for the thing you do is all you have to achieve with your marketing to attract enough patients to thrive.
There are a million different combinations of marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics that you could be using BUT as a small local healthcare practice, operating in a fairly uncompetitive market, your marketing objective, strategy, and tactics can be really simple and still really effective – great news, right? 🎉.
OK so now we are clear on that let's work through your marketing strategy. To do that first you need to understand the patient marketing cycle.
The patient marketing cycle
Put simply (because we love simplicity) you are taking every potential patient on a journey from the point of not even knowing you exist to the point where they're a loyal patient and advocate for your practice. This is represented by this simple cycle.
Your relationship starts with your potential patients at the top of the diagram, at the point they become aware that you exist. From knowing you exist they move clockwise around the cycle one step at a time.
So your simple marketing strategy is to make sure you have at least 2 marketing tactics in between each phase of the cycle to move potential patients round the cycle from one stage to the next without having to take a leap of faith. A leap of faith has to happen if there is no marketing activity at one particular step of the cycle and they have to jump from one step to another without any support.
Understanding the patient marketing cycle
Here's a simple list of the seven stages in the patient marketing cycle along with brief descriptions for each:
🤔 Know
This is where potential patients go from having no idea that you exist to having some awareness that you exist and how you might be able to help them with a specific problem.
👍🏼 Like
Once people are aware of your practice, the goal is to cultivate a personal human connection. You have to introduce ways that people can get to know your personality, your values, and your bigger mission, and decide if they like you as a person.
🌟 Trust
So if Like is all about you as a person, Trust is all about you as a clinician. Building clinical trust is crucial. You have to be able to show that you can do the things that you say you can do.
🆓 Try
This means encouraging potential patients to experience your expertise for the first time without having to pay a penny for it. Something that they can try for themselves to see some kind of progress in terms of the relevant problem they are struggling with.
🛒 Buy
This is the point at which a potential patient becomes an actual patient by committing to a paid service. You need to ensure the process is smooth, and the patient feels confident in their decision. Plus there needs to be a very easy way to book an appointment and to pay for it.
🔄 Repeat
Assuming an automatic repeat appointment in healthcare is unethical, but your objective with every patient is to help them with an optimal transformation. To achieve that will often require a follow-up visit. So in that case getting as many of those patients to rebook is the most ethical thing you can do to best support your patient's recovery.
🎁 Refer
Happy and satisfied patients are your best advocates. Nurturing relationships with your existing patients so that they become your marketing department is the ultimate goal of your service. A healthy flow of referrals is a sign of a great practice.
Your simple marketing strategy
This is really simple.
Your strategy is - To guide potential and existing patients around the marketing cycle by ensuring every step in the journey is supported by a minimum of 2 marketing tactics.
That's it . . . honestly it is that simple!
Summary so far
Marketing objective - To become famous locally for the thing you do ✅
Marketing strategy - To use the marketing cycle with supporting marketing tactics at each step ✅
So that just leaves . . .
Your marketing tactics
Here I'm going to look at each step in the cycle and suggest relevant marketing tactics at each step.
These tactics need to be a combination of:
- External marketing - outward facing promotional marketing tactics
- Internal marketing - activity that supports the progress of existing patients round the cycle
- Online marketing - as the name suggests any marketing activity using online or digital platforms to deliver the marketing
- Offline marketing - any marketing activity conducted in person, in printed media, or TV and radio - although the line on the latter is a bit blurred
Use what follows as a shopping list and select the tactics you know you will enjoy using, you know will resonate with your dream patients, or that you have seen good results with before.
Never just copy what the practice down the road is doing!!!
Know: You have to establish a local presence
Essential
1. A website optimized for local search - Ensure your practice has a user-friendly website with essential information like services offered, contact details, and working hours, along with educational blog content, that is optimised for local search by including location-specific keywords.
Top Tip – Don’t try and figure this out for yourself. Pay a professional to at least get the site pages optimised as a one off - but know SEO goes out of date quickly so needs maintaining.
2. A Google Business profile - Make sure you have claimed and optimised your GBP and then use it regularly to showcase your services, practice news, and make special offers.
Top Tip – Don't front load your GBP with fresh content every few months and then leave it in between untouched. Little and often is the secret here.
Great to have
- Easy to read and understand premises signage to catch people's eye
- Changing seasonal window display with QR code based engagement
- Local face to face presentations
- Local or online workshops
- Advertising in local community magazines - about the only kind of offline advertising that still works
- Attendance at relevant local events
- A social media profile containing location specific pictures and posts & using local hashtags as well as commenting & sharing posts by other relevant organisations and businesses
Like: People can decide if they like you as a person
Take your pick from:
Engaging digital content - Create video or audio based content so people can see and hear the real you. Share patient success stories, healthcare tips, and relevant community news.
Events - Face to face virtual or in person events where people can hear you speak and get a feel for who you are as a person.
Interviews - Podcast or radio interviews give you an opportunity not only to share your expertise and help people but also give people an opportunity to get to know you more as a person and what you believe in or stand for.
Personal photos or videos - Shared on social media, your website, and Google Business Profile that show you out of work so people can get to know more about you as a person.
Showcase philanthropic work - To help demonstrate another human side to you and your team (if you have one).
Taster sessions or workshops - Run alone or in collaboration with other local organisations, these are another opportunity for people to meet you face to face and decide if they like you.
Trust: People need to trust you as a clinician
Take your pick from:
Online Reviews - Encourage satisfied patients to leave positive reviews on platforms like Google, Yelp, Facebook or healthcare-specific review sites.
Testimonial videos - Patients talking on camera about the transformation you helped them achieve.
Expertise showcase - Highlight the qualifications, experience, and CPD of all your practitioners on your digital platforms.
Before & after - Show people examples of before and after patient presentations using photos or videos.
Case studies - Write case studies to showcase the transformations some of your patients have experienced. Share them via email, digital newsletters, or blog posts.
Try: Help potential patients try your expertise for free
Take your pick from:
Free workshops or webinars - Where you host informative sessions on health-related topics to showcase your expertise and allow potential patients to learn new things they can try themselves to help improve some part of their current situation.
Free consultations - Some practices get great results from offering complimentary 15 minute consultations to encourage local people to experience their services firsthand.
Educational videos - To provide patient education around self treatment or prevention type activities.
Downloadable pdfs - Documents that provide a whole range of educational information, cheat sheets, checklists, etc that will support patients on their recovery journey.
Buy: Convert interest and enquiries into new bookings
Staff training - train your staff answering the phone, email, or speaking to walk-ins, on how to successfully get those enquirers to book their first appointment.
Incentivise first-time patients - Provide special offers like adding extra value for free to the service they are booking, to incentivise new patients to give your services a try.
Build a new patient package - Where your competitors are providing a very uninspiring "First appointment". Work on structuring a more complex offering to include elements to hlp people see the real value you are offering in that very first appointment.
Streamlined appointment booking - Make it VERY easy for potential patients to schedule appointments online or over the phone.
Repeat: Where ethical to do so, get patients returning
Sell packages of care - Bundle up multiple appointments plus physical products and support material and mechanisms to encourage return appointments to maximise results.
Educate - Take time during the treatment to educate your patients on the importance of follow up appointments in order to maximise their recovery.
Develop your product - Focusing time and energy on every element of the patient experience is going to help make it the best it can be and lead to more patients returning.
Nurture your relationships - Strengthen relationships with new and existing patients by using surprise and delight activities alongside regular communications to keep people connected to your practice and feeling valued and part of something.
Patient loyalty programs - Implementing a loyalty program with a tiered reward system can encourage repeat visits by patients who may have been tempted to go elsewhere.
Refer: Encouraging patients to make referrals
Build a system - Create a standardised system in your clinical practice to routinely ask every patient once every 6 months to help you grow your practice by making referrals. It just becomes part of how you do business.
Reward referrals - a simple thank you or a voucher from another local business can go a long way to encouraging patients to make referrals.
Champion top referrers - making a fuss of the patients that refer the most new patients to you by shining a light each year on how much they have helped you grow, is a great way of encouraging more patients to make referrals.
Conclusion:
In 2024, the key to successful marketing for small healthcare practices lies in simplicity and authenticity. By focusing on building a strong online presence, fostering personal connections, and consistently showcasing trustworthiness, your practice can create a lasting impact in your local community.
Embrace the power of simplicity, and become more strategic with your marketing.
OK, that is it. I hope that helps you see how simple your marketing strategy can be for 2024, and it can help you stop overthinking what you need to do to create effective marketing.
If not feel free to add your questions or comments in the comment section at the bottom of this page.
Until next time - Stay curious
