When looking at the most successful private practices you will see that most are having the most success with a mix of 75% online and social media (a blog, an ezine aka an email news/magazine with an opt-in option, upcoming social media sites) and 25% direct mail marketing. However, you must track the numbers with the goal that a successful marketing campaign targeting your target patient population should increase your referrals by significantly over the next six months.
Time to Test
The least amount of time you should spend testing a marketing campaign is a month. Though, a month is just a snapshot. If your 1 month snapshot is dead or a real lightweight, make some changes! The key here is watching the data over time and collecting the numbers.
The online data is easy for you to collect when someone opts in to receive your ezine or the number of people who like your Social Media page increases.
Make sure that when a new patient calls in for an appointment your staff asks how they heard about your practice. Get the name of the referring patient or physician. Keep a running spreadsheet to track the results.
Analyze
Once you’ve tested your marketing campaign over30-90 days (and tweaked it where needed), gather all your results. Look at your ad spend vis practice revenues. Compare which marketing tool produced the best results and calculate the return on your investment.
Did your practice grow? Did it stay the same? In either case, the question to ask is why? Keep what worked and throw out what didn’t. Build on your success with a new mix of marketing tools for your practice and start another trial.
Share Your Results!
Share the good news with your staff and the rest of the Direct Care community. Let us know what worked and what didn’t.
And if your staff knows that their efforts were rewarded with success, they’ll understand why their extra effort was needed and be more willing to help in the next campaign.
Consider marketing your practice the way you think of treating your patients in your practice. You wouldn’t keep treating a patient in the same way if you weren’t getting the results you expected. Do the same thing with each marketing campaign, and you’ll be that much closer to living and practicing by design.
I wish you the best along your journeys! Marketing can be fun, and it is something I have been passionate about for years!
Please reach out with questions and please post your comments so we can help you the most!
Marketing Campaign Keys to Success
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