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How to Stand Apart from Competitors  and Position Yourself as the Expert in Your Area

There are thousands of ways you can stand apart from your competitors.

Think about it: Are you better trained or more experienced in a particular procedure? Do you use more advanced diagnostic or treatment technology? Are you the only one in your area to offer a certain kind of testing or patient convenience? Is your office the most modern, comfortable or patient-friendly place? Do you have more polished, professional looking marketing collateral or more effective print ads or radio spots? Think about all the ways in which you really are different.  

Differentiation is one of the keys to marketing success. Potential new patients and referral sources will judge you by how different you are from the competition. If your differences have real or perceived benefits to your target audience (new patients and referral sources), you need to describe those benefits clearly and succinctly in your materials.

How many ways can you be seen as the expert?

Take a look at all the newspapers, magazines and journals in your area. Listen to all the local radio and TV programs. Do they publish regular health columns or broadcast health-related news items? Do they ever feature insights from real healthcare professionals? Health topics are among the top ten most popular subjects for mass media coverage. Consumers like health topics.

And you are an expert in those health topics that relate to your area of specialization. So why not offer your expertise to the public through one of the many media outlets available to you? Write a health column for a newspaper or magazine. Or do a weekly or monthly 5-minute health segment on a local radio program. Most radio shows want and need this kind of information for their listeners. Best of all, you won’t even have to pay for your five minutes of airtime.

The mystique of the “author”

Perhaps one of the best ways to be seen as an expert in your field is to write a book about it. It doesn’t matter if your book makes the bestsellers list or not. It still makes you an expert in your field, and experts on any topic are nearly always in demand. By authoring a book, others will perceive you as an expert in your field. And you will have a great calling card – your book – to prove it.

Look for a specialty “book packager/publisher” who can help you with the design, layout, text editing and even ghostwriting of your book. Just ask a Practice Builders marketing consultant or senior account manager to guide you in the right direction. And soon, you’ll be the local expert on your area of specialty, just as you differentiate your practice from your competitors.