It's personal: Marketing to build your practice in the digital age

When the topic of medical marketing comes up, most physician practices think websites, social media, advertising, brochures and billboards. These can play an important role in building and sustaining your practice, especially if personalized to reflect your unique brand. However, as technical advances sometimes make healthcare seem impersonal and in a constant state of flux, your most important marketing tools are the personal relationships you develop — with your patients, your referral sources and your own staff.

Despite our increased “connections” thanks to patient portals, EHRs and mobile devices, people feel more disconnected than ever before. Patients are becoming more empowered, and physicians want to control their own destinies. It’s time to bring things back to a personal level.

Return to relationships

Much like being a good doctor, developing relationships to support your practice is an art and a science. It requires the right mix of creativity and thoughtfulness combined with disciplined tracking, reporting and action. It means examining the touchpoints you have with each of your core stakeholders — patients, referral sources and staff — and looking for ways to improve upon the experience they have with your practice.

While their individual needs may be different, they all have choices. If you don’t fulfill their expectations, they will move on to find someone who will. And if an experience is especially negative, unhappy stakeholders are also likely to share their opinions not only within their own circles, but also on social media and online review sites, doing further damage to your practice.

On the flip side, positive experiences, especially if unexpected or unique, also can create favorable sharing within a community, cultivating advocates and ambassadors who organically grow your practice.

The keys to cultivating enduring relationships are basically the same whether personal or professional:

• Connection
• Communication
• Trust and loyalty
• Commitment

Connection: Dare to care

Too often, healthcare today has become corporate, cold and indifferent. Patients share that they feel like “a number,” that no one cares about them as a person. What are some ways you can spark and sustain caring connections?

Extend an extravagant welcome and make a first impression.

• Make new patients feel welcome and cared for from their very first phone call throughout their initial visit. Then go a step further. Send a handwritten note on a card with your practice name and logo a few days later. Thank them for choosing and trusting you. Reassure them of your commitment to their care.
• For referring physicians, recognize and thank them after they make an initial referral. Send a handwritten thank-you note separate from the patient report or letter. Provide your personal cell phone number and encourage them to call or text anytime.
• For staff, provide a structured, comprehensive orientation to your practice. Outline your expectations and include customer service training. Empower them to share insights and ideas.
• Ask and then listen. Everyone has a story. Get to know new patients, referral sources and staff. Ask questions to find out what is most important to them. Maybe the 16-year-old patient with a torn ACL is also a baseball player pursuing a college scholarship. A referring physician who is new to town may have young children and needs recommendations for schools. Your new medical tech may aspire to earn his or her nursing degree in the next few years.
• Remember and acknowledge. Once you’ve welcomed and listened, remember. And you can cheat on this one. Make notes in your patient files or referral database, and use this technology to help you ask related questions at the next visit or to prompt you to send a notecard to recognize a significant life event or accomplishment.

In this world of indifference, dare to be different. Dare to care.

Communication: Stay connected

Communication can determine whether any relationship ultimately lives or dies. Once you have sparked new connections and know what is most important to them, determine ways that you can communicate to add value to those relationships. Here are a few ideas:

• Schedule outreach to your top referral sources. Plan time each quarter to talk with them, in person if possible. Ask about their current experiences, challenges and goals. Share yours as well. Explore ways you can work together or help each other.
• Create and send timely health news. This can be in the form of an e-newsletter, letter, postcard, blog or whatever works best for your target audience. Use this news as fresh content for your website and social media channels. Highlight current health concerns, preventive tips, new treatment options or the latest research. Spark questions and conversations. For referring physicians, highlight a new study, clinical trial or case report.
• Share important news about your practice. Whether it is a new or retiring physician, a new office or a new service such as extended hours, educate all your stakeholders in a timely fashion. And always tell your staff first. Find ways to reinforce the initial communication throughout your practice, such as through waiting room posters, exam room flyers, email, outbound phone calls/reminders and on-hold messages, etc.

Communicate regularly with your stakeholders in ways that make them feel valued and informed. This will position you as both a trusted resource and a leader, strengthening the relationships that support your practice.

Trust and loyalty: Listen, learn, adjust

We live in an era of skepticism. Social media and allegations of fake news amplify this feeling of uncertainty, and people are finding it harder to trust. Combine this with the constant changes to our healthcare system, and physician practices have their work cut out for them.

This makes each of your one-to-one relationships and interactions even more important. Here are some ways to build trust and foster loyalty:

• Be honest and transparent. When you make a mistake (and we all do), own up to it. And then sincerely apologize. We all have bad days. Be proactive in your communication when patients arrive or are waiting, apologize from the heart, keep them informed, offer to reschedule and assure them that this is not the norm (and make sure it is not). You will be surprised at how forgiving they can be. You can even go a step further with a handwritten note or give them a $5 gift card for a cup of coffee on you for their inconvenience.
• Never lose focus on the patient experience. At least once a year, involve your staff in evaluating ways to personalize and improve patient experience.
• Measure satisfaction. Do this for patients, referral sources and staff. Then based on the feedback you receive, make necessary changes to improve. And don’t forget to tell the appropriate stakeholders when you have.
• Never take longtime stakeholders for granted. You know who they are, or at least you should. These “ambassadors” for your practice, whether patients, staff or referring physicians, rave about you and refer their friends, family, neighbors and colleagues. Personally recognize and thank them. When they truly need something, go out of your way to accommodate them, even if you need to bend the office rules a bit. Take their call or see them after hours. Work them into the daily schedule. Quickly facilitate their prescription refill request. Don’t charge the 24-hour cancellation fee when they have an emergency.

Listening, learning and adjusting — that is how you build trust and loyalty.

Commitment: Avoid complacency

It is all too easy for established medical practices to settle into feelings of comfort, security and satisfaction. After all, you’ve done the careful, hard work of building your brand and the relationships that support it. It would be so nice to simply coast.

The problem is the world is constantly changing, especially in healthcare. What worked yesterday or even today may not meet the expectations for tomorrow. Patients are more discerning in their decisions. Physician referral patterns shift. Competitors are looking to capitalize on your weaknesses as well as new opportunities you may have overlooked.

Make sure you are inquiring, adapting, improving, evaluating, thanking and striving to make the human connection. Never stop nurturing the relationships that will sustain your success.

Make it personal and manageable

The bottom line: Creating a successful medical practice means building better relationships. It requires work, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Stratify and prioritize. Pick five to 10 relationships to start and focus on those for the first month. Then pick another five to 10 more the next month. It is about quality over quantity and creating healthy relationship habits throughout your practice. Make your interactions personal and people will share their experiences with others. Do the right things the right way and the effects will scale.