Halloween Medical Practice Marketing Ideas
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 site Social Media Today, 30% more people are likely to enter a contest during Halloween than at other times of the year. Host or Sponsor a Trunk-O-Treating Event With less and less people wanting to take kids trick-o-treating through local neighborhoods because of safety concerns, more and more parents are turning to the annual “Trunk-O-Treat” events hosted by area churches and businesses. A trunk-o-treat event allows kids to go from parked car to parked car in a safe parking lot playing games, asking for candy, and participating in other fall festivities. Your Medical Practice could consider hosting a trunk-o-treat at your clinic. Alternatively, you could contact area churches and other businesses to see how you could have a booth (or car) for your company at their event. Free Candy X-Rays on Halloween Night Many Medical Practices open their doors to kids Halloween night to come and get their candy X-Rayed for free. The Digital X-Ray offers an added degree of safety for parents, who may be worried about pins, needles, razors, or glass being snuck into their child’s candy. Additionally, it gives kids the opportunity to learn about how X-Rays work when they’re not sick or injured. Sponsor Safety Blinkers Another idea for marketing during Halloween is to sponsor items that will help families cut down on trick-o-treating expenses. One idea is to sponsor free safety blinkers for parents to pick up at your Medical Practice throughout the month of October. The blinking light can be attached to a child’s Halloween costume to help increase visibility. Halloween is the deadliest night of the year for pedestrians, and kids are four more times likely to be hit and killed by a car while out walking on Halloween night than on any other night of the year. Sponsor Trick-O-Treat Bags Finally, contact area daycares or elementary schools and see if your Medical Practice can sponsor the trick-o-treat bags to send home with kids. You can stuff information about your facility into each bag, along with information about other Halloween promotions your Medical Practice may be participating in. While it may be too late this year to do all of the items listed above, it’s not too late to begin planning for Halloween 2014. At the Medical Practice Success Summit in Las Vegas, NV this December 5-8, we will spend time helping you create a year long marketing plan, to ensure you’re ready to market through all of the holiday seasons. Click here to learn more about the event.
Article By: Tina Bell Tina Bell is the Director of Marketing for HealthCARE Express®, where her responsibilities include spearheading the company’s social media and internet strategies, leading the in-house physician recruitment team, and developing aggressive programs to promote patient satisfaction and effective service recovery. Tina speaks nationally at industry conferences including the Medical Practice Association of America and the National Association of Occupational Health Professionals. She is the director of business development for Medical Practice Success and an independent Medical Practice marketing consultant.
