Can you tell me—exactly—how much you are really spending on marketing? It seems like many medical groups and healthcare institutions are not aware that their budgets are out of control. Often, it takes an independent marketing audit and plan to expose the problem.
First of all, these healthcare providers simply do not know how much they are spending. They don’t know where their budget is going. And worse, their Return-on-Investment (ROI) is in red ink.
Probably, this is how things get out of hand. Does this sound familiar to your situation?
Consequently, the result is deceptive and divisive. All too often the principals of the practice don’t recognize the muddled misdirection. A fresh marketing audit and plan revealed the problem. There was never a single, calculated decision. A thousand cuts caused the slow (financial) demise of the marketing budget.
Group and institution leaders can balk at a $20,000 per month budget recommendation. In addition, they were unaware that the organization was spending $18,000 on sports bottles and charities.
For another client, an audit revealed a wasteful allocation of $80,000 on (old school) Yellow Pages advertising.
In other situations, charitable donations were incorrectly listed as “marketing expenses.” Consequently, in all instances, the expense produced no results.
Invariably, the primary culprit is neglect. First of all, an independent audit shows the lack of a cohesive marketing plan. It’s prudent business to have a defined plan and budget before you start spending money. As a result, trial-and-error marketing leads to wasted resources.
Instead, a comprehensive marketing plan will empower your goals. Furthermore, it will consider market research, online presence, search engine optimization, digital advertising, media buying, creative efforts, staff training and more.
Specific strategies will also include reputation management, professional referrals, advertising, public relations, internal marketing, branding, and tracking and metrics.
Hence the starting point for success is an unbiased audit and comprehensive marketing plan. If your group practice or healthcare organization needs objective, professional and experienced help, please call us at 800-656-0907. Let’s get started today.
Marketing a healthcare organization can be challenging - even painful if you don't approach it with the right knowledge, tools, and guidance. By reading about mistakes and lessons others have learned the hard way, you can boost your marketing effectiveness and take a shortcut to success. Discover how to avoid these "Seven Deadly Sins". Plus, join over 30,000 of your fellow healthcare providers with a free subscription to our Insight Newsletter.
