Compelling Clinical Cases Boost Reputation and Professional Referrals in Medical Practice Marketing

Here’s a real-world marketing case study about…using clinical case studies.

Cindy Gall sends us this medical practice marketing success story about how the Central Texas Spine Institute (Austin) is effectively using physician-to-physician clinical case examples.

Cindy writes, “I attended a Healthcare Success seminar in September of 2010. Lonnie Hirsch recommended using case studies as a marketing technique. I loved the idea! Our referring docs love [the case study page], even those that don't like marketing at all. I change the pics, verbiage and heading for each case study.”

A recent example is compelling, with the leading edge topic: Lumbar Spinal Fusion Utilizing Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells (clinical trial) by Randall Dryer, MD, presented in a nicely organized, one page format for a quick read. Typical sections are History, Examination & Diagnosis, Treatment and Results.

Central Texas Spine Institute has been circulating their case study information in this format for the past year. “I produce a new case study roughly every eight weeks,” Cindy tells us. “I rotate among the four doctors in our practice and vary the topics. I run 500 copies on high quality paper and distribute them to primary care, internal medicine and orthopedic physicians. Additionally, I fax them out to over 100 area chiropractors.

“I have heard excellent feedback. In fact, I have often left these behind in doctor's boxes and have received follow-up calls from the physician asking for additional information.” Cindy summarizes the benefits of the case study marketing tool from her perspective:

• They are quick and inexpensive.
• They quickly gain attention during an office call (usually due to the pictures).
• They provide a "jumping off point" for a conversation during an office call.
• They paint a picture of the patient type a physician might refer to our practice.
• They are an interesting, relevant leave-behind item when a doctor is not available for a conversation.
• They provide a talking point when I take the author/doctor on a sales call. It helps my doctor feel less awkward because he has something to discuss.
• It sets up our practice as providing successful, cutting-edge services.
• By authoring a case study, a specialist can connect with his referring doctor base with minimal time investment and without leaving the office.

Our thanks to Cindy Gall for providing these insights to success—and we invite all of our readers to do the same. Do you have a success story we can share with readers? Send us your healthcare marketing ideas and we’ll include the best material at the Healthcare Marketing Exchange. Email to [email protected], or click through to our info for writers.

You’ll find additional reading about physician marketing and professional referrals in this related post.

Lonnie Hirsch