While watching my nine-year-old cousin play soccer this weekend, I received a text message on my phone. The team member sending it had raised two concerns she felt were going to hurt our patient volume numbers. Caught up in the excitement of the soccer game and not really thinking, I instantly forwarded the message to our managing partner for review, and he sent back a message explaining the backside to the issue and why it was a mute concern. He also wrote, “Start looking for the good, it’s easy to find the bad.” As I pondered that entire situation this weekend, I realized…

Carved pumpkins are lit on front porches across your community as the local kids get ready to transform themselves into goblins, ghosts, and their favorite cartoon characters this Thursday night to partake in the annual trick-o-treating event. How can your Medical Practice utilize this fun evening to market to one of your primary target demographics: Moms with kids still at home? Photo Contests on Social Media One easy thing you can do is hold a photo contest on social media for a chance to win a prize. Awards could be given for things like "Best Costume" or "Best Pumpkin". According to the…

This Friday our marketing team will spend the day together hammering out our 2014 Marketing Plan. We will review our numbers from the past year, set goals for the next year, and figure out what strategies to repeat and what new strategies to incorporate to continue to grow our presence in the different markets where we have clinics. Part of that process has already started. For the past few weeks the marketing team has been compiling a list of events and strategies they want to use in their individual markets for 2014. They will bring that list with them to our planning session, and we will…

With Thanksgiving just two days away, I thought it would be neat to look at some of the ways Medical Practices across the nation have used this opportunity to give back or to market their Medical Practices in their communities. Their ideas may help you come up with ideas to incorporate into your marketing plan for next year. HealthCARE Express (Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana) Each year for Thanksgiving, HealthCARE Express celebrates "Pilgrims & Indians Day" on the Tuesday before the holiday. In their decked out gear, staff from the different clinics create a "Thank You" video to send as an…

In my final prep for the Medical Practice Success Summit this week, I have been reviewing marketing materials and websites for Medical Practice clinics from across the country who will be joining us in Las Vegas. In doing so I have continually asked myself the question, “How does this marketing piece distinguish the Medical Practice from its competitors?” The easiest way to answer this question is by answering another question. “If I were to take someone else’s logo and replace it with the logo on this current piece of marketing collateral, would it make a…

Tomorrow we will open our seventh Medical Practice, and this go around I have been less hands-on than ever before, allowing my marketing team to take the reigns of opening this clinic. When we open our eighth location later this fall, I will be even less hands-on because each time we open a new clinic, we fine-tune and update our Policy and Procedures manual for how-to open a clinic. From checklists and timelines, to inventory lists and supply houses, every step of our opening procedures is spelled out. As the new chief brand officer, this was the first clinic opening since I started in 2006…

One of the hardest decisions you have to make as a supervisor is letting someone go from your company. When the time comes to make this decision at our clincs, we revert back to zero-based thinking and ask ourselves, “If I knew then, what I know now, would I have still hired this individual?” But the answer to this question shouldn’t have to come from a supervisor. If you are the owner of the company, there isn’t a supervisor to evaluate you. So how do you know if you’re doing well in your role? At the end of each month when I look back at the things I…

If your community is anything like the communities where we have Medical Practice clinics, you are not limited on the number of publication sales reps frequenting your business, leaving you voicemails, or filling up your inbox, all in hopes of getting you to spend your advertising dollars with them. With so many options, how do you know which publication to pick? Step 1: Look at Magazine Racks If the publication you’re looking at advertising in is a community magazine found free around town, make it a point to look at the magazine racks when you frequent different establishments where…

Just because you have a position open at your Medical Practice doesn’t mean your inbox will instantly be flooded with resumes – at least not with resumes of qualified and top candidates. So what can you do to get the word out about your new positions and recruit top employees? Post Your Career Opportunities On-Line The first place to start is by posting your job on-line. Every job posting should go on as many free places as possible. Your website, Craigslist, Facebook, LinkedIn are great starting points. Having an on-line job application is also a great way to increase the number…

In Marketing 101 you learn there are two types of ways to classify a business. The first is commonly called B2B, which stands for business-to-business. When a business caters directly to consumers, it is called B2C, which stands for business-to-consumer. So what is your business? An Medical Practice may be both. While your primary services are B2C, if you also offer occupational medicine, you are also B2B. While it is good to understand the difference between the two from an operational perspective, from a marketing perspective, I think it is more important you get to know their less talked…