Campaign don’t promote to get new patientsIn this article I want to challenge you on your mindset of promoting your practice as a means to generate new patients. I will almost go so far as to say…Don’t promote your practice!Let me explain…To reach deeper into the community to build the practice I’m sure you were told and read that to grow the practice you have to do promotions to promote you and the clinic. On the surface that seems to make sense doesn’t it. You want to tell people about your products, services and programs so they invest in them. But what is it about this way of building the practice that’s faulty and maybe even detrimental?Will a promotion generate new patients and sales? Yes it can, but it may not be the best investment of you time, energy and money. It could also hurt your growth.If I asked you what exactly is a promotion anyways? You might say something like “it’s marketing to get potential clients to invest in our products or services”. True. However, a promotion is a singular marketing piece or a series of touch points with potential clients that essentially say “Buy my product or service”. And at its root, the whole premise is based on price to get people to take action.And what happens if they don’t buy? You send the same marketing piece again and again hoping they will next time. Some will, but you will drive a lot of potential customers away and drive others crazy so they start to tune out to your marketing!Just think about all those flyers that come to your door at home. Do you read them all or do they just go into the recycling box. Worse, do you put up a “No flyers” notice? The same can apply to your marketing!I want you to think about this for a moment. Do you want clients who only come to you because of low price?
What is the mindset of people whose whole way of shopping is price focused?
Are they loyal customers and repeat buyers?
Is their focus on quality?
Do they care about the experience of dealing with you and your staff?
Will they talk about you and refer others?
How is their compliance to your programs and protocols?
And do you want the reputation of “I go there because they’re cheap!”
I want to be up front and realistic with this issue. Watch out! Building a practice based on low price and discounting is not a long-term sustainable plan. It’s a plan for frustration and burnout. I’ve seen this way to many times over my last 25 years with start-ups, new grads or established clinics who have plateaued.As a solution, a better question you should ask is “How can I build long-term, repeat buying patients?” I want to share with you a way of marketing that’s not sales-y, not pushy, not irritating and not high pressure. As a matter of fact, it’s the opposite too those traits. And generates a lot more sales and many, many more referrals. Interested?It’s called Sideways Educating Campaigns. It’s based on the idea of meeting clients where they are at and leading them to where you know they need to go. It’s based on the idea of adding value, educating and building the relationship so clients get to know, like and trust you. You lead, teach and inspire! You pull instead of push. How good is that!How does it work? You would be adding lots of useful value in small chunks. You provide great content and educate. You add value by providing useful and practical information that improves their lives with the idea of giving to get and building the relationship.Then and only then, once the clients had being “educated” about what you are offering and how it helps resolve their “issue” do you offer a “solution”. You promote a product. “Hey, if you liked that and want more, then you will love this XYZ”. This is a natural, normal next step in the process. No pressure, just thank yous and appreciation!Experience has clearly shown this way of Marketing:· Makes you life way easier· Saves you a ton of time· Increases demand for your products and services,· Boost conversions and sales to “Yes”,· Greatly jumps referrals· Really helps retain clients· Closes the backdoor to clients leaving care· And is much closer to your heartAnd as a special added feature, this system can be set on autopilot to become “evergreen”. It becomes a passive source of income and new patients! Wonderful right! This is a Best Practice strategy.What do you do if they don’t buy? You start another campaign. You keep delivering good valuable content that helps educate and improve their lives. This shows you’re in it for the long haul and truly care about them, not just the sale. This is “Heartfull Selling”.It also allows you to develop an interaction and dialogue so you can really get to what their wants, needs and challenges are. You can really find out what they want. They then update you messaging and communication. Thus your next campaign is just that much more targeted and helpful to them. They greatly appreciate and love you for this. They buy and refer more!How does this impact you? This is how you reach into the community to have a bigger impact with more influence as it positions you as the trusted authority. This is how you build the practice and your income!Now to be upfront, it does take some time and thought to generate the content, build your timeline and delivery sequence. I will get into this in more detail in later articles.For now I want you to think about how you are currently marketing. What has worked, what hasn’t, how do you feel when it comes time to make an offer? How do you follow-up if they don’t buy?As well, how do you feel about this new concept? Does it make sense to you? Can you see how it is so different and effective? And is it something you want to invest in to build the practice? How much better do you think this concept would work over your current methods? When would you like to start implementing it? Would you need help and guidance to do so?If you want to take your practice to the next level, find out why so many love our practice building program called Practice Growth Marketing Strategies.This comprehensive practice development program has close to 50 training videos on all aspects of building and growing the practice. It is our number one utilized program for good reason.It’s not enough to say “I want new patients”, you need a structured methodology that helps give you clarity on how you want to grow the business, how you want to generate and attract new patients and all the tools and steps to help you get to the next level.Click here to learn more.