How To Market Most Effectively In A Recession
If you are like most healthcare practitioners, your biggest challenge is attracting and retaining patients in the current economy. That is according to Practice Builders’ 2008 Marketing Tactics Survey, completed in late December. This first-ever survey of its kind reported responses from more than 860 healthcare practitioners, a statistically significant sampling.
Designed to uncover the marketing tactics that are generating the best results for private practice owners during the current recession, participating practitioners reported their most effective tactics as:
• Internal prospecting to current patients
• Community events (health screenings, seminars, etc.)
• Websites
• Requesting referrals from colleagues
Marketing more, less or the same?
The survey also revealed that 34.5% of respondents are marketing more than one year ago; 18.8% are marketing less than a year ago, and 46.6% are marketing the same as they were one year ago.
A large percentage of healthcare practitioners reported that none of their marketing tactics were successful during 2008.
While reducing your marketing budget may seem like a prudent choice in a tough economy, the reverse is usually true. Those who market less continue to spiral downward and lose market share, while those who increase their marketing budgets usually hold their own or perform better. Marketing is an investment in your practice success, not an expense (though your CPA might see it differently).
You might be surprised by what’s working best!
One surprise we found in the survey results: Many respondents indicated that community events such as health screenings and health talks were generating better results (more new patients) for them than were ads in newspapers, magazines and Yellow Pages, or other popular marketing tactics.
In tough times like these, it’s important to adjust your marketing strategies. Many patients are skipping not only the high-end elective services, but also the routine health visits and diagnostic tests that might save them from potentially higher-cost procedures. Your marketing goal is to help patients understand why their healthcare should be a priority – especially when money is tight – and why patients should come to your practice instead of another.
To see the Practice Builders’ 2008 Marketing Tactics Survey results in their entirety, visit: http://www.practicebuilders.com/news/reports/esr200812.asp.